ProDave

Late to this thread, been out today. Knauf Earthwool Frametherm 35 on a roll. It's much stiffer then "ordinary" roll insulation. I am using two layers of 90mm thick, but it also comes in a 150mm thick roll that should do you. They also do it as bats if you really want that, but I can't see anything wrong with the roll stuff/ I got a very good price for it from SIG in Inverness.

Facro do a 2G "vent free" roof window for £250 with a U value of 1.2 I believe their 3G and the eye wateringly expensive 4G one are available without vents The vent issue does not concern me as much, based on present experience with a basic 2G velux roof window in the present house, when it's shut, it's pretty well sealed. I will report back in due course about how well sealed the "closed" vent is on the Eco+ this one is going in the "plant room (/ workshop) and won't be ventilated by the mvhr so arguably it should have a trickle vent anyway? My target was a U value of 1 or less and tripple glazed. It's only a small window, and if you work out the heat loss of a window with a U value of 1.0 and compare it to a slightly better one, you realise that paying a lot more for only a slightly better window is not worth it.

Re your "making the frame wider" Our frame was deliberately made 50mm to wide and too tall. The idea being the window opening was lined with 25mm kingspan and then the window fitted. Could a detail like that work for you allowing a greater width outside the window for the cladding detail? Our windows are set half way in the frame, and half way proud in front of the frame, but then the walls are clad with 100mm thick wood fibre board and then rendered, so arguably the whole window is within insulation.

I have collected prices and U values for a lot of different roof windows now, so thought it was worth tabulating the information. This is all for size 780 by 980 roof windows, centre pivot, wood finish internally. No special options like anti noise etc. Dakeu 2G U=1.4 £110 Rooflight 2G U=1.5 £133 Fakro 2G U=1.2 £186 Velux 2G U=1.3 £201 Eco+ 3G U=1.0 £221 Roto 2G U=1.2 £222 Facro 3G U=0.97 £301 Velux 3G U=1.0 £321 Facro 4G U=0.58 £1044 All prices ex VAT and delivery I still think the Eco+ 3G at £221 looks a good bet so I am likely to buy one and see. If it does turn out to be good, I have another two to buy later on. The last one, the Facro 4G at over a grand, shows to me a rather high cost for a small benefit that would have a stupidly long payback time.

I can't help directly, but try suggesting your engineer looks at using kerto beams, which are laminated timber beams (think giant plywood) I know from my own build that for a given size they have more strength than say a glue laminated beam and seem good for long spans.

It's all very subjective and down to the interpretation of your planning department In our case the planning was for "construction of new house, create new entrance from the highway, installation of sewage treatment plant" and I got it in writing from the planners that creating the new entrance from the highway constituted "starting" the development. (it was a condition of the planning that this had to be done before any building work started) I guess the question is what are you able to do by the deadline? If you could dig the footings and pour the concrete for the extension there would be no doubt you have started. But equally if you plan to start some of the internal alterations covered by the pp, just ask your planning department if they are happy to accept this as "starting" the development.

Do you have to get "supply and fit" what about buying the windows and getting a local joiner to fit them? Have you tried Rationel? Certainly up here they are doing some good pricing. They were the cheapest of my window quotes, and almost the best (only slightly beaten my intermorm who were twice the price) Very good windows with an "expected" life of 80 years for the ali clad version.

Looking at Sterling build, they have (in the size I want, 3G) Fakro £301.50 Velux £321.60 Roto £446 ECO+ £221.73 Anyone know anything about the ECO+ roof windows, it seems very cheap. This one https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/product/ECO-centre-pivot-pine-triple-glazed/eco-centre-pivot-pine-triple-glazed-roof-windows-78x98cm They offer that with free delivery and specifically mention the Scottish Highlands are included in that free delivery.

As the title says, I am looking to buy a roof window for my plant room, size 780mm wide 980mm high. Ideally I want triple glazed and no trickle ventilator. I haven't found any of the on line suppliers listing 3G roof windows, so thought before wasting more time I would ask the forum for anyone who has bought one and knows a good supplier. It will probably be Fakro or Velux and if similar price I would choose Fakro to get the handle at the bottom. But also worth discussing is how much premium is it worth paying in the real world to get triple glazing and no trickle ventilator? The standard 2G Fakro is being advertised by the loft shop as a U value of 1.3 and it's on offer for £169 there at the moment. and do I really need one without a trickle ventilator? the Velux roof windows in our present house, when the ventilator is shut it does seem to be a pretty air tight seal, so is that an expensive option not really worth bothering with?

I assume you mean the boat?

If you want to go sailing, buy a fibreglass boat. If you love sanding and painting and fettling, and don't particularly want to get out on the water, buy a wooden boat. Don't get an open dinghy unless you really are planning on keeping it ashore and launching to sail then retrieving. A much better prospect is something like I have, a small 1980's cruiser. It's only 18ft 6 and when new in 1983 was described as a "spacious family cruising yacht" a description we would laugh about now. But having the cabin to store all your gear and having a self righting boat that's unlikely to capsize anyway just seems a much better way to sail to me than an open dinghy. You will buy a boat like mine, a small 70's or 80's pocket cruiser for the same money you would spend on a good dinghy. Don't buy a "project" boat. History has shown anyone who does either gives up, sells it at a loss, or never gets it finished. And on the rare occasion they do, it has cost twice as much as it would to get one ready to sail.

Yesterday "summer" arrived and we all had another day on the boat. Lovely weather and great relaxing sailing but no dolphins this time. 3AM this morning the thunder storms started, and went on for the best part of 12 hours, the longest thunderstorm I can remember. This morning my internet connection was lousy, only some sites would load, and then only very slowly and intermittently, in spite of re booting the router 3 times. I guess something somewhere got damaged. All back to normal now. Weather back to normal, summer over. And this evening I find I'm getting grumpy at the lack of work done on the house, and the fact I have to work on Friday so still can't get to work on the house. Grrrrrrrrr......

Yes but I'm taling of flat 3 core and earth. I bet you don't see many industrial motors connected with that?

I am planning something like 75mm screws, to screw the boards, batten, osb and into the actual joist, to pull the whole sandwich together to avoid squeaks.

Don't get me started on the colour of 3c&e cables. WHY can we only buy 3c&e with three phase colours? Can someone please show me an installation where it has actually been used as 3 phases (3 phase supply with no neutral)? I don't think it ever has. It's usually used as live, switched live and neutral, but there is no neutral coloured cable, so we have to invent one and sleeve it appropriately. Now for some reason, it was okay with the old red, yellow blue cable, to use the blue core as neutral, even though at the time, blue was a phase colour. But now it is frowned upon for us to use the black as neutral, even though most electricians who have been in the business more than 10 years would find that logical. Why can't we buy 3 core & e cable as say brown, blue and grey? For domestinc work that would make a LOT more sense.

That is what I am planning to do in my new house as squeaking floors like we have at present will not be allowed.

What's your "final floor"? I am planning my "final floor", some kind of hardwod, to go direct on the battens, just like in the present house.

The issue here is you have PP to build a house that looks like the one in the PP. Whether it's an eco house, passive house or barely complies with building regs house is irellevant. That's a seperate matter. So I can't see anything stopping you making the "human" part of the house super insulated and air tight and leaving the loft cold and draughty for the flying rats. I wouldn't bang on about it being a passive house. Just agree with your ecologist to provide the cold draughty loft space he demands, and build the rest of the house well insulated and sealed and just don't make a big thing of that when talking to the ecologist. All he needs to know is it will have the cold draughty loft space he demands.

Sue the post office for criminal damage.....

I am just ordering another Rationel window, and it's the same price as it was 10 months ago so no price increase there (yet?)

Put a £50 sign on it. It will be gone next day.

Decent lengths of red and black t&e sell for more on ebay than new cable. I have sold anything from 5 metre lengths upwards. Othwerwise weigh it in as pvc covered cable. If you work out the hours it takes you to manually strip it to weigh it in as clean copper, it will be a VERY low hourly rate indeed. I soon realised I can do better things with my time.

My Sister is here for the week. Part of me says "bugger, I can't get on with the house" but it least I will be doing something different, including hopefully a day on the boat. Dolphins from a week ago (seen from the boat)

That's interesting. So nothing under the floor, no membrane, just bare earth?

I presume the "task" is just to round off the front corner to stop bruises? Why not just cut the corner off at 45 degrees with a panel saw, and then round the edges with a rasp / surform / belt sander?