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Ok cheers, will measure the lowest point to make sure the 27mm board will fit

Thanks guys Onoff, which product did you use for the 27mm board?

Ok thanks declan, do you think using the Soudal low expanding flexible foam would suffice or a foam more designed for fixing boards like Dow insta stik

I ended up drilling a hole or 2 and firing some foam in. Still not taped yet but will do that tonight. I'd like to add about 12mm of pir board to the lintel (only got about 30mm to play with including plasterboard and skim). I have 25mm celotex already so will potentially rip that down to 12. Any advice as to attaching the pir to the lintel. My worry is the pir will be a bit crumbly and something like sticks like **** or CT1 or sikaflex won't hold too well to the pir board. Any ideas guys? Thanks

Hi guys Got an issue with one lintel that is currently accessible in a bedroom I am renovating as part of sorting the whole house. This cold windy weather has allowed me to feel draughts coming from all the little gaps that I assume are for the plasterboard adhesive etc to stick to. I've tried to foam them but they are too small. I do have Jeremy's little home made foam gun attachment but I think I need to get a lot more foam up in there. The lintels are insulated and I will be taping the lintel to the window after I sort out the foam. Can/should I drill some larger holes so I can really get some foam in there. It's really cooling the room down as no radiator or insulation above the ceiling yet due to overboarding needing to be done and I want to make sure holes are taped if any are made into the loft space by accident and the insulation will get in the way. Thanks James

I got one from Screwfix that has the bendy attachment. Attachment is long gone. The gun itself is great, still going strong after over a year. As nod said, leave can on the gun, if not in use for a while then spray a bit of foam every week or two just to make sure it's not seized up inside. Clean end with wonder wipes every few mins minimum, if stubborn then get acetone or gun cleaner and spray on to wonder wipe and clean gun end with the wipe. I find the wipes to be strong and course to clean the gun quite well. I use the flexible low expanding foam (blue) from Soudal. I use an old serated small kitchen knife to trim the foam.

As you know Mike I am doing similar. I've gone for blowerproof on all floor to wall joins, wall to ceiling, wall to wall, all blockwork mortar so very little left of the blockwork is visible. All back box interiors are taped, encased in plasterboard adhesive. Plasterboard adhesive on all board perimeters. Upstairs ceilings are all double boarded, first original ceiling is sealed to wall with blowerproof first ,before hand gaps filled with flexible expanding foam and tescon tape above it in the loft. All cable penetrations, foamed if existing and sealed from below if accessible. New cables are put in conduit and using Stoppas to seal them, these are good but don't hold up to well when moving cables for new lights from below and need refitting (get pushed off of the conduit) which is a pain when it comes to the insulation in the loft. It's been going on since April last year and still got 5 rooms to sort and not managed to switch on the mvhr yet as too worried as not all the ducting is covered in insulation (this week hopefully it will be sufficiently covered) Don't forget to make sure insulated cavity closers are used on door and window openings, not just fitted but sealed with no air leaks whatsoever. We fitted or i should say the builder with a bit of my help fitted them using expanding foam + CT1 or sticks like **** adhesive. Made a difference around our windows that's for sure. Make sure no holes are in the lintels too. For me it's been a massive learning experience and I wish I was less caring and just turn up the heat as the cost has been huge but we like where we live and plan to be here a while.

I have aluminium windows. Express bifold (based on smart systems) fitted (not very well) about three quarters of our windows. These are all double glazed 4-20-4 with planitherm 1.0 glass. Frames get cold to the touch and will get condensation if you have too much water vapour in the house. The rest of the windows are Warmcore (made by synseal). Triple glazed 4-18-4-18-4, and a better thermal break. Cool to the touch still but less so than the express bifolds. I would say the Warmcore are a bit rough around the edges when you look at the profiles but a reasonable window. Still pricey though for what they are

Do you have a budget in mind? If money is not an issue have a look at RK Doors. We have one and really like it. Loads of designs but very pricey

Next couple of weeks are me filling all of those holes and back in the loft to do more insulating , large 100m squared loft to do I can't remember the exact issues but the fact they crack just be looking at them and issues with parge coat not sticking so well due to the celcon and thermalite sucking all the water out in no time at all. He's fine using a different block , just not the ultra lightweight ones.

We will dot and dab but full perimeter + breaking up the plasterboard into smaller zones as it were. Builder has had far too many issues with lightweight blocks and parge coats and wet plaster before. He is meticulous, his internal blockwork jointing is better than most brickies external brickwork. I can't doubt his experience. I've not gone full blowerproof as they have changed their advice with regards to plastering over it, it now requires a grit finish to be painted over apparently and I was worried about the plasterboard adhesive on it.

Sorry for the long title and wasn't sure which section to put this in. I've been doing a lot of work over the last year to improve this sieve of a house, taking rooms back to block work and filling any mortar gaps - some you could fit your hand through. I then paint blowerproof over all cracks and mortar joints and all repaired sections. So far it's been 3 rooms but those were in the summer. With the cold weather recently the house has rapidly cooled again to around 16-17 but you felt really cold with it. Fast forward to yesterday and we began work on the dining room and big spare bedroom. Big spare bedroom has 2 external walls and so does the dining room. Both have north east facing walls and the bedroom has another east facing one. Dining room is completely plasterboard free now including ceiling as we need to sort out the levels to straighten up the ceiling. The transformation last night and this morning is amazing, it's like a new house. No more chilly draughts now, house retaining its heat much better, hall way dropped by 0.5c rather than 1.5 to 2c. Out bedroom remained the same over night. This is without any heating on whatsoever. Now I know it's not that cold yet, but I can see the wind was blowing a little this morning and it was about 7c outside, normally this would result in it feeling much cooler. I am assuming the plasterboard was allowing the air to move in a different way and air pressure plays a part in how the air push/pulls? Check out examples of the holes we have uncovered: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UCXWTaJN8KRuxQ518 Yes if you zoom in you will see the cavity insulation, there are at least 20 odd visible gaps in the dining room alone that are not quite as bad but not great. Let alone thin cracks. Plasterboard does indeed hide a lot of sins, I am aware of the term plasterboard tent, I think I have something worse. There is an even bigger hole between floors that I picked up on my IR camera last year and can now see from the bedroom, I'd like to get a photo but as said between floors right now and won't be uncovered for a couple of weeks. House is 10 years old by the way, celcon and thermalite lightweight blocks with 7.5-8cm insulated cavity and brick outer. I thought I would show what I am dealing with. Edit: plasterboard was dot and dab with no perimeter adhesive on all sides of boards or adding it in such a way to reduce any possible air flow behind the boards

Will do, after the family have visited and I can properly work on it next week with the re-rethreading and larger screws.

Ok, m4 rethreading tool ordered and M4 screws. One other issue I had was the floating screwhole in the backbox (adjustable), the tabs that hold the piece in are open so it won't hold the adjustable bit. I've taped it for now with some airtight tape as that's the stickiest I have just to allow me to temporarily screw the face plate on as we have family staying in that room from tomorrow night and I'm away later today until tomorrow night. The adjustable side isn't threaded so it's holding tight, obviously the other side is nackered but it's better than the face plate completely away from the wall and bare wire visible/touchable

Cheers guys. I was going to give ptfe tape wrapped around the screw a go just as a hail mary before buying yet more stuff, think it's worth a go?

Well ****. Rethreaded it but it turns out there must have been a slightly larger screw there before. The screw just pushes right through. What can I do now? Freshly plastered so can't change the backbox now. I wish i changed them all when the plasterboard was off!

Ok thanks Peter

Hi guys Got a new light to replace a pendant that was iffy earth wise (previous post on here) Instructions on link below: https://www.mylights.co.uk/p/PENDANTLIGHTING/Nordlux-Chino-30-Pendant-Light-in-Wood-E27-300mm-Shade/84833014 Does anyone know what it means where it shows the cables in the ceiling , less than 50mm with a cross in it saying don't do this and then next to it is more then 50mm is right. I'm not quite sure what message it is trying to get across as it's not obvious to me. Any ideas? I'm not necessarily intending to fit it but I'm not sure an electrician will understand this either Thanks James

Thanks guys, I've tried a different new screw and it's the same so I'll head to Screwfix tonight and pick up a rethreading tool along with a pack of screws as we've got another 4 rooms to deal with yet so I think I may find more as I go

We've got new double socket face plates in a newly refurbished room. Unfortunately, one of the backbox screw holes is threaded and so screws just pop out when trying to tighten them up. I assume I can re-tap it, what I need to know is what with and what screw to get afterwards. Links to items would be awesome. Many thanks James

Yes onoff, it crushes the 3 core to hold it. I'll look at getting something else I think Anyone know of a better supplier of single pendants like this please?

Picture of ceiling bracket https://photos.app.goo.gl/Uc5uMSNGkFbEQsbx5

The bit with the flex on it is the light bulb holder, do you mean that part? There is a bracket that screws to the ceiling, 2 screws then point downwards from the bracket and go through the 2 holes in the rose and there are 2 nuts that then hold the rose in place. There is a nut that fits in the top of the rose that the flex goes through and a piece under the rose that the flex also goes through that fits through the hole that the nut attaches to. Crimped ring terminal to one of the 2 screws pointing down or below the central nut perhaps?

Picture of pendant parts below: https://photos.app.goo.gl/G4ph4tfSXKhBP8qf8

Will get a pic later and link below for the pendant instructions https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GLBNSRS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_TFBGBbGAJPHYX