j_s

In terms of expanding foam, my main worry were the entirety of the house cabling going through the foam and downrating etc. It is obviously an option if I can get the can in to position, I do have some spare extension sections that may help to get the nozzle in the right place. Is there a way to work out if it's not a potential overheating risk?

I think I may have posted about this years ago when we were working on the other side of the hole but I am now working from the internal side. When the house was built back in 2006 by an incompetent builder they decided in their wisdom to bash an almost entire celcon block out instead of core drilling it for the CH and water pipes from the boiler and the cables from the consumer unit that are both in the attached garage. It is extremely difficult access wise, when working from the hallway ceiling that is within the attached garage part of the building we did our best in getting dritherm 32 cavity batts in there which doesn't do a great job I expect if there are pressure changes or wind picks up. Now I am on the last few little jobs in fixing all the issues in the house I want to try and tackle this again. Part of the plasterboard ceiling will be removed but we will only have up to 110mm wide access to it. The pipes are relatively central to the gap but the cables go off one way for the circuits and then the other and will be very difficult to seal around. I was wondering about a membrane that I could cut to size and tape together in some way that could be glued/taped to the blocks around it (will use a spray primer on the blocks first). On top of this we could box it in to some degree on both sides and above and below, maybe use some 25mm pir board to line the timbers being careful not to encase the cables in the pir board. It's going to be very fiddly no matter what I do but I have tape, timber, airtight paint etc to go at it. I realise that if access is required to this area then it'll be a right pain to get at again but I may just have to live with that for now. My only slight worry is materials used and any possible condensation trapped in some way so I want to make sure that at least is catered for. No photos yet but we are tackling this in January I expect. In order to remove the pipes and cables and start again would be a monumental task and cost I don't really want to contemplate after all the time and money on the house so far.

Same issue here but only on a couple of inlets.

I have serious issues on our double glazed (4-20-4) aluminium window in the ensuite and master bedroom. I also have mvhr so the room has fresh air coming in and doesn't drop too low in temp over night. I'm confident that it's due to them being set too far forward and not on packers. Are your windows set back into the reveal over the cavity and that the closers were 100% sealing the cavity off? If not then cool air will be getting around the frame and cool air hitting those points you show. My newer aluminium triple glazed windows are set much further back in the reveals on packers and although cool to the touch are doing their job. Reveals are also sealed off from the cavity with closers that are foamed and glued and taped in along with insulation right up to the closer insulation.

Cheers all 🙂

86% outside humidity and 11c outside. Not quite sure on the calculator though which is a tad embarrassing.

Currently renovating the utility room. Half of it is under the detached garage roof (cold roof) and the other half within the house. No heating in there at all apart from what gets through from the 1st floor void and the internal door. The half that was under the garage roof has been completely open/removed since April. About a month ago a fair few thermalite blocks were replaced when the poorly fitted concrete lintels were corrected. I would say about 18 or so blocks. Heavily dampened by builder to ensure good adhesion of mortar. Various other pointing around soil pipes etc was done. On Thursday the builder finished fixing the block firewall that separates the house from the garage in the loft so it goes up to the roof by adding 10 or so blocks. Again heavily dampened for the mortar. We've just completed insulating the ceiling with pir board but a day or 2 before I put a humidity and temp digital device to see what low temps we were getting with the more recent lower temps. The temperature was around 10.1c and humidity was 76 or so. Reading it today it is 81 and a temperature of 14.5. Gutters are not leaking, water pipes are all visible and no leaks. Washing machine in the room and door is left open when not in use. Sink is disconnected and waste pipe is taped up. I still have to finish sealing up the pir board joins - foaming gaps and cutting out a groove if there is a small gap first. Will then tape all joins. 25mm board will then go under joists and again foam any gaps and tape. Perimeter will be using blowerproof airtight paint between 25mm board and walls. Nest thermostat in hall says 61% but will rise and fall up to 65. We do have mvhr (utility extract is not setup yet) but the house (built 2007) is renovated and not completely airtight but doing my best to do so. When outside air dries a bit more then humidity sits at 52/53 during the winter. Summer is around the same or slightly higher at 55 ish but obviously fluctuates. Could it still be drying out in the utility room or is there something hidden that could be causing the much higher humidity? The concern being the stark difference between the hallway and utility room.

Small scale build ( 3 houses). Construction quality was appalling but hidden so not obvious until we moved in. Only just about finishing fixing the problems after starting 4 or 5 years ago. This is now another one.

Just had Severn Trent out to locate a blockage. Blockage already cleared without intervention (I apologised as should have checked it again). They got the camera out anyway and inspected and found no sign of obvious issues to explain the blockage. They did however find a 90 degree bend under my garage and there is no inspection chamber. This wasn't the issue as the blockage was further down well beyond the bend based upon my kitchen waste gully pot pretty much overflowing too which is 10m the other side of the house that connects further down on the shared sewer run. There is an inspection chamber I believe in next doors garden (lhs of us) where our kitchen waste joins. You could in theory rod from that side but it's around a 10m run to the 90 degree turn. To complicate this our neighbours on the rhs have their waste connect to ours 3m before this 90 degree turn. Pipe diameter is 4" I believe. Severn Trent guys said the buried nature isn't ideal but as its shared they would just deal with it if a problem arose and dig up the garage floor. My question is, is this not covered by building regs? Property built in 2006/7 and I'm the second owner. Should this stuff not be inspected by building control? It's pretty poor in my opinion and I guess I either be proactive about it and get an inspection chamber fitted somehow but as it's Severn Trent's responsibility they may need to agree but I doubt they would pay for it, or leave it until a problem arises and it gets fixed in an emergency instead. Any thoughts?

Knauf Dritherm 32 (cavity batts) might do it but it comes in 100mm thick. Batts are 1200 x 460 I think. They did do a 75mm option but I've never seen it in stock. Dritherm 37 isn't quite as dense/rigid.

Any luck with the other areas you were fixing?

Thermal imaging when it's cold should show the issues. Have you checked the loft insulation yet? The extractor ducting MDC mentioned is definitely something to look at too. You would be surprised at the total lack of care builders take on these sort of things.

Check the utility room loft is insulated. I am currently fixing exactly the same setup but have some very poor workmanship to remedy. Utility room is much colder than the rest of the house. Originally the ceiling had no insulation at all. I sorted that but only made a little improvement. On further inspection I found huge holes in the inner blockwork. These are now fixed and now about to start getting it all airtight. Does the garage to utility door have seals? Is the door a typical internal door? As Radian said, how well is the wall separating the utilty from garage insulated?

@richo106 I have done some major renovation. All wall junctions need to be sealed. I used blowerproof brush on paint. I also had to seal with nicks and cuts in the radon barrier where it was pulled too tight and sharp concrete edges had caused those little cuts. I used radon tape over those as well as building adhesive and tescon tape on larger exposed parts of the membrane. Took a good few hours per room to do this. I also found all gaps however tiny in the blockwork behind the plasterboard (removed), sealed all blockwork with blowerproof paint. When I had all new windows and doors fitted, the reveals were all exposed and new cavity closers fitted and completely sealed using building adhesive, expanding foam (soudal "airtight" blue) as well as large nails as we had major issues with external brick completely out of alignment with internal blockwork. I then taped over the nails. Cavity closers were all taped at the junctions. All windows had Soudal airtight foam between window and cavity closer, I was meticulous with the foam. I then taped between window and cavity closer. Finally all exposed blockwork on the reveals were painted using Blowerproof. Is there a way to refit the skirting to seal it behind and then your boards are purely decoration rather than part of the airtightness? In the loft I taped all plasterboard joins, I also taped plasterboard to the wall plates. I used 25mm pir board over wall plate to plasterboard junctions, also using expanding foam to seal them in. I left space at the eaves by using 25mm pir board between roof joists. I could then use the dri-therm batts butted right up to the edges without fear of the eaves being blocked. I have a hipped roof, not fun working around the perimeter. For all light cables, I used the rubber tape that seals itself inside some conduit, I then also taped (Tescon) the cables as they came through the ceiling. No doubt that if work has to be done up in the loft on any cables then it'll be a nightmare to work with. I do not have a solution to that unfortunately. House is definitely as good as it could be but with 75mm cavity insulation and questionable coverage of some of that insulation, without extreme cost I can't get it any better. I don't have much insulation under my block and beam floor, it really is a pain we have all the ventilation under the house as that must take away any potential heat in the floor in no time. Only solution I have seen is pumping insulation beads under there but it needs approval and not sure how I can go about it as well as if it will have any ramifications with radon build up (if there actually is any under the house)

Hi all Just finishing making lots of improvements to my house (fixing all the bodges the builders made back in 2007). They didn't bother putting cavity closers in a fair few reveals but put the odd one here and there but not sealing them or anything. The brickwork is not even and out of alignment to get a decent fit with the cavity closers so I'm doing my best with what Ive got. I was thinking of doubling up the insulation at the reveal to seal the cavity so adding the left over 25mm pir boards in first and foaming / using a building adhesive to get them airtight. Should I tape up the non foiled edge that will face the outer brick to stop any chance of water absorbing or will the foil tape add a very small cold bridge? The closers will then go in afterwards nice and tight to the pir boards. I have the closers already and cut to size. Final fitting will be done when Ive removed the rest of the plasterboard on the external walls in the 2 rooms ready for block repair and sealing up all junctions and blocks.

Looking at some of the warmcore stuff, the thermal break is larger than other aluminium only windows, I've not seen mention of a foam core as well unless changed recently

I have 5 triple glazed warmcore windows. Perform well I think but a bit rough round the edges with regards to aesthetics, not awful but could be better. I do not have their bi-folds but have seen some negative feedback on the internet. Have you considered composite? Timber internal and alu external, price difference isn't that much between warmcore and better performing windows.

I thought I'd have more time once our life changed 3 months ago, what time I did have is now much less!

Cheers guys, yes fire protection might be an issue I forgot to consider

On same ply lining with hooks etc

I thought it was just the one room to start with, I'm not quite sure what the person was thinking when they asked someone to do this unless it was diy

Hi guys I want to sort out shelving, storage etc in my double garage which is attached to the house. The garage is insulated with wool in the loft, thermalite inner blockwork, fiberglass batts in the cavity and brick outer walls. Interior is all dot and dabbed plasterboard and plaster. I wanted to batten the walls and then add 18mm ply to the rear large wall and then some of the side walls. My worry was causing mould to form behind the ply as there is a gap for potential moisture to get behind. No sign of any mould anywhere at the moment, garage gets to about 5c when the temperature really drops. Garage door is an insulated ryterna sectional door Garage is not heated and Car is stored in there which will be wet from time to time due to weather Thanks James

I'm about to sort my Comms cupboard out very soon. Will be using a poe switch and then running a few ubiquiti WiFi units. Question is, do I go for a patch panel or just terminate the cat5 with rj45 connectors and plug them straight into the switch? Space is not great so if I can get away with it is like to leave the patch panel

Thanks for the update. I have some thanks but it has caused more issues due to excessive moss on the roof and can bung up the tops of downpipes etc. I know it's job is to stop debris dropping in to gutters but it doesn't completely. I have a very high roof so it's not something I want to have to keep going up there for to check constantly. I might try and add some spare lead pieces to the bottom of the downpipes for extra mass for when the water falls/drips

Lizzie, did you rectify this in the end? Ive got sound deadening sheets left over from a pack I bought for our large stainless steel sink. Ive also picked up some rubber washers and plastic washers that might help the echoing around our cavity when it's raining. Unfortunately, I don't think I can stop the water flowing sound in the gutters, the fun of thin aluminium! Does anyone know if the sound deadening will likely peel off eventually due to weathering or it will stay on long enough to make it worthwhile and a small maintenance upkeep only? Thanks James