seanblee

Given the state of the rest of the installation, I was unsurprised to find the glazed unit wasn't packed in correctly on my test window - it was sitting on a couple of packers at the bottom but otherwise free to move. I've packed it on all four sides and inserted some backer rod around the unit, so I'll see what happens - only another 16 units to sort if it's successful...!

Thanks, I'll take a look. My only concern with foam would be blocking drainage holes in the profile - I'm assuming there would be some to drain any water that got past the external frame-to-glass seals? I saw another thread where someone wedged foam backer rod between the glazing unit and frame, perhaps that's a safer option?

I recently bought myself a thermal imaging camera, which I've started using to try and find issues with cold bridging and inadequate insulation. I've already fixed one issue with the back door cams missing their receivers so not pulling the door onto its seals properly, but I've found another issue with almost all of my (2007) double glazed windows - they leak air from the seals on the beads at the corners. My newer windows have beads that are mitred at the corners, so the seals meet neatly, but it looks like the shorter beads here are scribed around the longer beads and the longer seal is holding the shorter one away from the glass. Any thoughts on the best way to trim them to resolve this, please? Thanks!

Oh, couple of photos from the inside of the vents, and the damp reveals that are still drying out - you can see the mould on the caulk around the trim that I need to clean once again, fingers crossed for the last time this time!

The Higroster vents finally arrived from Brookvent last week (delays at the Brevis end apparently), so I spent a few hours over the last couple of days fitting them. As I mentioned, the windows didn't have trickle vents before, so I ended up making a couple of templates from MDF, one for inside and one for outside, then removing each opener in turn and routing a slot into it. All went well and they're now fitted to all bedrooms and the lounge and playroom downstairs. I also removed the PIV yesterday and stuck it on eBay. I'll be keeping an eye on things over the next few weeks but initial signs are good - much less moisture inside the bedroom windows last night and the reveals stayed dry, which is better than the night before. Thanks again for the advice!

First night with the dMEV in the en suite last night and, even without the trickle vents, the CO2 in the bedroom didn't go above 1000ppm all night. By comparison, the previous night it hit 2500ppm at peak. I'd say that means it's working! Looking forward to getting the vents and getting rid of the PIV now...

First two CV2 dMEV are now installed in the bathrooms. Sadly I discovered the underside of the roof felt was covered in condensation when fitting the second extractor today - I've already had ridge ventilation fitted to try and resolve this, so now I'm hoping reducing the general humidity in the house might also solve my loft issues. Brevis refused to sell me the vents so I've had to go through Brookvent, I'm currently waiting on a pro forma...

Thanks both, I now have a couple of Greenwood CV2GIP on order from eBay and I've dropped an email to Brevis about the vents. I'll update once everything's been installed!

Thanks! @JohnMo bathrooms are back to back in the rear right corner of the house, with the main bedroom front right and the other bedrooms rear left and front left - landing is rear central. Hoping that means dMEV in the ensuite will purge the main bedroom if there's a trickle vent in the window at the front, then I'm relying on the main bathroom to clear the other two bedrooms, which may be a bigger ask... @HughF thanks, I've had a quick look but struggled to find a UK supplier online - I saw yours came from Brookvent, don't suppose you have a contact you could share please?

Hi folks, looking for some advice on ventilation strategy please. I live in a small-ish 90s 3bed detached house with 2 bathrooms upstairs and a toilet and utility downstairs. It has 15yo Everest double glazing with no trickle vents and intermittent extractor fans in the two bathrooms. Now that the weather has turned cooler overnight, as with every year, we're having big issues with condensation on the bedroom windows overnight, in addition to damp on the window reveals at the bottom corners. I have a Netatmo climate monitor and I'm finding that the bedroom CO2 level is getting up to 2500ppm overnight too, so it's clear there isn't sufficient ventilation. I installed a Nuaire PIV a few years ago, pushing air into the upstairs landing, but it hasn't really helped, presumably as there's no circulation through the bedrooms. In an ideal world, I'd like to retrofit MVHR, but it's not practical to get ducting downstairs so it would only cover upstairs and I'm not sure it's worth the cost. I'm therefore considering alternatives. My current thinking is to ditch the PIV, add dMEV fans in the bathrooms and add humidity controlled vents in the bedrooms, either as window trickle vents or wall vents. Is this my best option or is there something else that I should be considering? Any advice gratefully received, many thanks! Sean

Many thanks all - managed to core drill out for the 40mm today and feed it into a temporary run, so I'll get a roddable bottle gully and see how I get on with installing it! Looking at a rectangular hopper so I get a section to feed the 40mm into as well as a removable grid.

Thanks to my builders (who have since gone bust and left me to pick up the pieces), no internal waste pipe was allowed for the kitchen sink in my new extension. Rough drainage layout is as below, where green is the original main drain run (shared with next door, flowing left to right), blue is original drainage and red is new (again, blame the builders...!). The blue dotted line shows the original outfall from the soil stack, which had to be moved to make way for a pile. Everything underground is 110mm plastic. At the moment, the red pipes sticking out to the north are capped, but these are intended to be inspection chambers (condition of the build-over agreement as we had to remove two). The construction under the extension consists of six piles, 250mm reinforced concrete slab, ~250mm concrete infill, DPM, 100mm PIR topped with 65mm screed embedding UFH pipes, so I don't see any possibility of going down - I think my only option is going to be an external gully with 40mm through the kitchen wall, but I'm interested to hear if anyone has any other ideas! If I do have to fit a gully, I'm thinking I'd be best running the pipe across to the right-hand inspection chamber so the flow doesn't have to make a 180-degree turn - does that sound OK? Having never done this before, I'd appreciate any tips on how to make sure it works and doesn't look completely awful... Many thanks in advance for any advice! Sean

Hi all, and apologies in advance for the newbie questions! I'm having an extension built and I've decided to take on fitting the windows and door myself. I've already purchased these (A-rated Rehau white UPVC) and, once the builder gets around to completing the roof (!), I'll be ready to get them installed. The walls are conventional concrete block inner leaf / brick outer leaf, 100mm cavity with full-fill mineral wool insulation. There will be standard cavity closers installed, again when the builder gets around to it. Having read around quite a lot about this, I purchased the windows and door with 180mm sills to allow me to set them further back into the opening, overlapping the cavity closers, to reduce cold bridging. I have galvanised straps to mount them with and I was planning on using the Illbruck i3 system (TP600 Compriband outside, FM330 foam around the frame then ME508 membrane inside) to seal and secure the window in place. My questions are mostly about the sill fixing. I understand I've got a couple of different options... Bed the sill onto mortar first, then fit the window on top - if I do this, given the depth of the sill, presumably I need to put some packers between the sill and the cavity closer to support the back edge, then fill the gaps with foam? Do I need to worry about putting DPC up the back of the mortar and sealing to the bottom of the sill? Attach the sill to the bottom of the window first, then bed onto packers, sealing along the outer edge with Compriband then filling with foam. If I go this route, given the bricks in the window reveal are laid frog up, do I need to fill the frogs with mortar first, or just use extra foam to fill? Do I need to worry about mechanically fixing the sill down to the brickwork? I guess this is more of a concern at the door, where someone might step on the deep sill by mistake. And does the fixing detail change at the doorway? I asked my builder about how he's planning to close the cavity at the door threshold and he just said they'd put a cavity closer then run the screed out to the door once it's fitted. Finally, when it comes to the Compriband, do I fit in in the outer "groove" on the side of the profile? Presumably I need to allow for the depth of this groove in addition to the gap between the outer frame and the masonry when I size the Compriband? Thanks again! Sean