j_s

I've already done the eaves with dritherm 32 insulation and eaves trays are in place now (allows for about 20/25mm gap) which will allow for 400mm I believe up to the tray. I was going to add some more dritherm 32 batts against the existing dritherm 32 in the eaves so there is no chance of the cellulose getting through as the dritherm is very dense. I also have a breatherable roof felt which surprisingly is of a decent quality and fitted properly which is a first for this poor attempt at construction. Not that this will hold anything, just a bit of extra info to show the roof make up.

I've asked about cellulose before, maybe on the old site. I had a quote to do my 100m squared loft with 400mm of cellulose and it was pretty damn high. I'm right in the middle of working to seal absolutely everything in my loft to make it airtight. I'm taping all the top of the stud walls, foamed all gaps and taped over the top, will be running all cables in conduit down into the stud walls and sealing around the conduit with sealant and tape and foaming any larger gaps etc. Will then use pro clima stoppas in the conduit. It's a much longer process than I ever thought it would be but it needs to be done. I can get pics if anyone wanted to see how thorough I'm being , or maybe someone might comment it's not thorough enough I could just save a few quid and go for 400mm (or higher if worth it) of rockwool. I was actually going to use the brand Rockwool unless someone else thought a different mineral wool was better? I'm doing it for sound and heat and I'll be doing it all meticulously. Any thoughts on which would be best to opt for. It's not a passive house but I am working on airtightness everywhere and improvements where possible Cheers James

Any ideas if the Pro Clima stoppas could be used in the timber itself? They are designed for conduit but if they can be pushed down in the timber I guess they would work ok.

As others have said, if they can't make a good job of the boarding then their skimming skills will likely be disappointing at best.

Could CT1 be used to seal around downlight hoods? I have found the pro clima stoppas which could be used in the holes in the top of the studwork. I know they are meant for conduit but there is no reason why they couldn't be pushed in to timber? Can lighting cables be buried in cellulose or should they be in conduit / some other way of protecting them? I'll have leds used almost every where but I don't want to cause issues for future owners Thanks James

Currently working on improving my house. Will be adding cellulose to the loft but first I'm sealing up all tops of stud walls. I'll be foaming and taping all joins for stud walls and taping any other obvious gaps but I'm not sure how to go about sealing around the lighting cables. I don't have any socket cables feeding down to all the bedrooms which makes it a little easier but still how should I go about sealing these holes around the cables? And for that matter to the lights themselves. I have large insulated covers for both of my single bathroom led downlights and the extraction is from a new mvhr unit so no need to worry about wiring to individual extractors anymore Many thanks James

I have a leaky house that I am working on to make air tight. All my external bedroom walls are having the plasterboard removed for me to find holes in the blockwork. Luckily on the one bedroom so far I've found minimal issues but they are there. Wall plate is a major issue with some gaps. Already sealed externally now as had all new soffits and fascias and guttering added at considerable expense. Whilst the scaffolding was up I did all the sealing I could and we sorted out the insulation so it wrapped around from cavity to loft. All tied in so it wouldn't move in the future with bent wall ties. I am working on the loft as well to seal from above and below. Mvhr is fitted to upstairs and we just switched it on today to make sure its running ok. New extension added as well and making serious improvements downstairs at the same time. Again plasterboard off on external walls and my time and effort in sealing all gaps, holes etc. Will also be using the paint on blowerproof liquid on floor to wall, wall to ceiling whilst the plasterboard is off as well as the wall corners. It's costing me a fortune for the extension and all new bits and pieces so I decided to put my own serious time in to improve everything else. The builder is great and understands what I'm trying to do. I really hope all my effort makes a difference.

That's a good point Jack, I'll give them a call and see what they think. Thanks all.

Thanks jsharris. What I might do if there is enough, is run another 2 runs of duct to the kitchen so I then have an option in the future.

Update to this. Got some tape and taped over the foam and still to do further in to the loft but the wall plate area was all done and insulation wraps round from cavity to over wall plate ready for cellulose. Vermiculite poured into flue blocks, dry therm insulation added at the top first few meters. Will be adding continuous internal insulation from lounge up to bedroom and plugging the gaps around the joists that we will no doubt uncover when the ceiling is removed in the lounge. I had the ir camera out last winter and saw a big blue area where the floor joists are located. Will get a pic or 2 when we so that.

Have made a start to mvhr. It's all in the loft, just need to tape and insulate all the pipework for the distribution boxes etc. All the upstairs room plenums (grey units that the extract/air intake adjustable covers fit to - bpc call them that so apologies if it's the wrong term) are in place. I am using the semi rigid ducting with 2 ducts going to bathrooms and kitchen and main rooms and 1 to WC etc. My other half cooks, bakes, makes jam, the lot really so will 1 extract point in the kitchen be enough? Have a powerful extractor over the hob that will be converted to recirculation only. Should I consider a second extract ? Kitchen is around 4.5m x 3.1m if that helps at all? Thanks James

I am going to use birch ply for my window boards ( the internal cills ) Painted or some sort of finish with the ply edges on show but doubled up on the side profile. I may even do some of my reveals completely in ply but not sure yet. I am doing all of this as I have poorly fitted windows so sorting out all the foaming, taping etc

I was discussing air tests with my builder. His 2 semi detached houses he recently built were 3.6 or 3.7 I think. He had to deliberately make them a bit worse otherwise mvhr would be needed which for some cheap semis in Hucknall would be an eyebrow raiser. I'm glad I picked him to do our work. Yes ideally they would be more airtight and mvhr used but the plans didn't have it included.

I needed some extra bungs for the distribution boxes for the mvhr, I rang BPC about my predicament, they arrived first thing next day and I'd only spoken to them late afternoon, impressive! No cost either

I didn't consider tape up there to be honest as wasn't sure what to use but still have time. Any advice as to what tape to use? Do you mean tape the inner edge of the wall plate over to the plasterboard and any where the top of the studwork is visible? Thanks

Frantic foaming and sealants (ct1 and sticks like ****) on the out side of the blockwork and on the wall plate and plasterboard etc done. 150mm dritherm 32 plugging the missing top of the cavity and up to the wall plate and slightly above all pinned tightly with wall tiles so they are not going anywhere and then I'll be adding the insulation batts to cover top of wall plate and back in. Will then add the missing eaves trays. Will be putting in cellulose later on too and mvhr is half in.

Thanks guys This is part of a wall from eaves to cavity tray at the bottom that needs filling Will take some photos when I'm back home on Tuesday. Currently insulating at the top of the wall where the outer brick stops and the inner aerated blocks continue to the wall plate. Not insulated up to 4 courses lower than the outer brick and I can touch the coving in the bedrooms all around the whole house. Massive air leaks and no insulation from wall plate back into loft. We are changing the fascias and soffits and it's turned into a massive job with what we have uncovered

No windows in the unfilled part , they are either side and have insulation batts around them albeit not well fitted but me and the builder will fix that. The pva mix, should it be poured alternately with the beads. Just trying to visualise the process Many thanks

Further to my post about flue blocks and lack of insulation in the cavity Ive spoken to a couple of companies about spraying in eps beads. Not having any luck with finding someone to do it one wanted £450 which is rediculous for 5m x 1m section. Any ideas of a DIY fix for this or a company in the east Midlands? Builder said about what pouring some loose eps beads and using an electricians pull rod to push the beads down. He would also drill holes in the mortar to see if they were filling properly. Any thoughts? Thanks James

Hi Peter, yes sorry gas flue blocks. The amount of missing mortar around them is just rediculous , will be ripping all the internal plasterboard off on the 2 rooms affected to see how bad it is. Cwi wise, who should I approach as it's only in the section in front of the gas flue block, not the entire cavity. My thought was to speak to an eps bead place to pump the small amount needed , just not sure on a mix of fibre glass batts and beads

The builder is half way through stripping off the soffits, fascias, 1st row of tiles etc to fix this poorly constructed 10 year old house. Wonky soffits and fascias, no insulation at the top of the cavity or missing further down, other stuff that just quite frankly left me speechless. The builder is spot on with his attention to detail. He's unearthed flue bricks that are staggered going all the way down the inner thermalite blockwork for a non existent fire place and we were wondering what to fill it with as it's a nice cold bridge. He suggested vermiculite in the flue bricks and then a pir backed plasterboard on that wall top to bottom. Also discovered no insulation in the cavity the whole way down around the flue blocks which is also narrowed due to the flue blocks being deeper than the thermal blocks Will attach pics of this joke / megabodge shortly. He's hesitant to take them all out and replace due to cost (my cost) and making sure it's structurally ok which leads back to cost Any other ideas? Thanks James

Cheers guys. Do you think they put fresh new EPS beads back in with the PVA adhesive? I remember Nick's comments at the end saying all completely insulated or words to that affect.

Hi guys Not sure if many of you watched the episode in Bristol where they had damp issues etc. I noticed they removed the cavity wall insulation and replaced it with something else. It looked like they removed the silver/grey EPS beads but not sure if that was going in to replace or being removed. I thought EPS beads would be less likely to cause damp problems. Any thoughts?

I'm going for a finish similar to the image Dudda posted. This is a renovation to a modern house, not a build. Obviously will be using higher quality ply.

I've just done work around soil pipes today with foam. Generally there are no obvious draughts from the internal block work. I'm sure there will be some like where a TV aerial cable was routed through from the conservatory back to the lounge so they went out through the external wall of the conservatory and in through the external wall of the lounge. No silicone or grommets just a nice hole for air to rush through. I wouldn't mind but the conservatory is attached to the lounge so they could have routed it internally!