markocosic

I set fire to a dark towel over the back of a chair placed over a metre from the fire when using it for the first time. Sub 200C double walled convection stove it might be. Doesn't prevent numpty from lighting it up, arranging their wedding shoes and towel a comfortable distance from it at startup temperatures, then coming back 15 minutes later to a secondary fire from the radiant heat!

Agree that it's upfront easy. It's just efficiency ugly is all.

You build traditional balkan houses. Ground floor? Where you overnight then pigs/cows/sheep in winter. First floor? Where you overnight then humans for most of the winter. The solution need not be sophisticated. You have more choices in the UK though. There isn't a real winter. There are plenty of economic opportunities should you choose to follow these rather than following passions.

Not buying it as the 'ultimate' option. Spark ignition CHP running on methane from the cow shed / naerobic digestion plant plus syngas from wood gasification. LPG as your easily stored "pilot light" fuel for starting it up. PV for offsetting demand for fuel entirely. Screw *buying* in diesel. Cheating; more reliant on others outside your borders; easier to pinch in bulk than slurry/wood/LPG?

But oh so easy and inefficient! 😉

Convert a Prius to LPG. Locate engine etc in the garage for waste heat capture from block. Plate heater exchanger into an LTHW buffer vessel for high grade heat to house/hot water. Electricity to keep the lights on/fridge on/internets happy. And run a heat pump if you need more heat than electricity. Offset your LPG using bucket loads of PV with an island capable inverter and battery combo. Gasify wood and blend that with the vapourised LPG for extra style points. Interlink the Prius battery/PV inverter battery for extra style points. How can we make this more complicated?

Stretchy flue rated silicone seals is what you're after. For roof membrane: https://dumtakis.lt/manzetai-membranos-dumtraukio-prasiskverbimui/947-dumtraukio-manzetas-rgd180.html#/394-stogo_kampas_laipsniais-diapazonas_0_45_ For inner airtightness membrane: https://dumtakis.lt/sandarinimo-detales/356-dumtraukio-prasiskverbimo-manzetas.html Cut your standard membrane back leaving e.g. 10 cm gap to flue. Slide the silicone job over. Tape the silicone job to your standard membrane. My 'membrane' is OSB. A section of this was replaced with cement board that stops 10 mm short of the flue. This 10 mm gap was flexible sealant-ed (1500C rated) in place. Purpose: no thank you to mice indoors. They apparently do like a cosy flue in winter. The silicone seal is then inboard of this and taped to the OSB at its edges. A belt and braces ring of 1500C sealant 'glues' the silicone to the flue so it's not just relying on stretching to seal. Cut the flammable cladding back 8 cm around the flue (or whatever the rating is) Theres then a split metal trim ring to bridge the hap/hide the mess. Windows leak more than the flue. (all the corner welds of the uPVC)

Screws for OSB IMO. Nails want 1/3rd and 2/3rd to stand a chance of pulling anything tight..1/3rd through the thing being fixed. 2/3rds into the thing that you're fixing to. You don't have that putting battens onto OSB. They won't be pulled tight to the OSB. They won't offer much uplift resistance. Screws on the other hand don't "waste" energy going through the thing you're attaching (they have a plain "neck" that slides loosely through the hole) and do all their fixing on the threads. Say 5*50 mm with 30 mm of thread and 20 mm of shank (neck) for a 38*19 batten to OSB. Perhaps 5*60 mm if the "drilling" tip is particularly long. Else tack the batten on with nails for speed, then screw through counter battens AND battens AND the OSB with something like 5*80mm screws. C3 rated for corrosion is ok. Stainless screws are not as strong as coated steel screws.

Common in Lithuania for what it's worth. Not butyl tape, but a thin later of sticky back foam on the battens holding down membranes. Easier than aiming for a blob of sealant with the screw/nail. Airtightness testing of all new builds is a thing for building regs signoff though. It also helps mitigate roof rain noise when using (common here) metal roofing.

I'd do both. Avoids air going through SIP joints if there a compromise in the VCL. It isn't that much tape in the grand scheme of things.

They're saying that the entire inside of the house will be covered in foil faced insulation, and the joints of this will be taped, and that this forms your airtightness layer. (a vapour control layer is not so critical; but it also forms this) Airtightness is bloody difficult. Throw in windows, doors, internal partitions that need to hang off walls, cable and pipework penetrations, battening to hang stuff off walls etc and there's loads of detail to get right. I think they're not doing this; they're just offering to pop up the insulation and tape the seams. (the easy part of the job) Airtightness is essential with SIPs, as any air that does leave he building carries moisture with it that will then condense on the external OSB layer; turning it into wet Weetabix. Most common at the ridge of the roof.

There should be a large pin through the centre of the beam plus an extra diagonal to stop the bench parallelogram-ing. Those fixings have taken all the strength from it for sure.

Absolutely.

Boards will for sure move across the grain. Putting two screws in too far apart can result in the board splitting as the screws stay still and the wood moves. Keep them reasonably close together. What is the profile/layout being used? Most have provision for expansion.

This is the "paint poo on blanket" method for corners fwiw. This I'd repeat. Fugly but easy. You can also see those corner seams on the UPVC that love to leak in in this pic. Their premium profiles are better in this area.

Thanks! It's a proper bloody relief...

Stick built on site. 22 mm T&G OSB on floor with bubble glue joints and sticky tape to the walls. 11 mm OSB on inside as airtightness layer on roof and walls with sticky tape joints (Gerband 586). Fleece coated window sticky tape to UPVC windows (Peonsil "full glue internal") with tanking compound (Penosil 660) for the corners because to heck with sticky tape there. (sticks like poop to the fleece and makes a stretchy layer that infills the corner) Soudal flexfoam for sticking in the windows and bulk fill penetrations through floor. (4x 110 mm soil pipes; on for poo; one for water pipe and pump cable and a 50 mm drain ; one for ground source heat pump loop and it's outdoor sensor and AC refrigerant lines and it's cable; one for the incomer and all the other cables) Foam the "Topped off" with MS Polymer floor glue. Shoving loads through a single hole.was a PITA in retrospect. 2x 50 mm waste through floor (10 mm.gap; MS polymer to OSB; dead easy if you leave a big enough hole) 2x MVHR again MS polymer in 10 mm gap. Twinwall flue got a silicone rubber sheet with a hole in. Nothing through walls. Main leaks I think are through roof posts (post and beam; posts made of multiple 145*45s; air leaks between them), corner welds of every window (Rehau Euro 70 cheapo UPVC - would not repeat), and mezzanine floor where the framers put it up before the sticky tape went on the OSB and it's a losing battle to try seal around the entirety of the 195*45 screwed through the OSB to the wall joists. Next time I'd consider a US "zip system" style setup where it's all taped on the outside rather than the inside. Easier to do/supervise. Better for winning against pine martens before the cladding is complete...

Let's build a summerhouse/cabin. Try to make it reasonably airtight and insulated but don't plan to register it as a house. Wife changes mind and fancies registering it as a house. (insurable) It's basically finished (just trim at this point). It's not been tested beyond looking for cold bits. Building regs are 0.6 ACH at 50 Pa to get your EPC. Eeeeeee. Cue much furious last ditch window cleaning and adjustment. At least it was cold enough for the rain to be solid. It's one thing being told that bicycles can be ridden online. It's quite another when you know one is about to arrive and you're expected to just ride it. I don't think I've been this uncertain and uncomfortable for years! "Mmmmm" says the man reassuringly. "Well I guess we can try." Thanks... 0.5 ACH on the first go. Smoke pencils did not exit the toolbox. Hell yes. Praise be the OSB and fancy sticky tape. It does seem to work. So relieved that I've gone and bought some panel pins to finish the window trims as a reward. Might even change the busted window cleaner me spring...

Cold air will enter the vent and hot air will rise out of the roof with the stack effect. The back draught flaps are for howling takes only; not to prevent all airflow. Fix with recirculation and carbon filters and/or better airtightness in the rest of the house.

Fires are rubbish. Poor comfort (heat the ceiling, freeze your feet), immediately dangerous (get them good and hot and radiant heat can burn stuff from a surprising distance), and long term dangerous (pollution; much of which can sti around even your own home if conditions are still) You'll also need to open a window as soon as you light the damn thing on any new build with vaguely decent insulation. The air feed / flue /cold stove are also monster thermal bridges when not using it. That said - my wife also demanded one be retrofitted in a timber frame - it isn't particularly difficult to retrofit one especially if you do (as you should, to avoid expansion headaches and the worst of the thermal bridges and mess sweeping the flue indoors etc) put the flue horizontal out of a wall then up the side of the house externally. Fill between studs with mineral wool not burny foam stuff. Mark hole between two studs. Cut 20 cm hole through wall/insulation. Cut 30 cm hole through cladding / airtightness layer. Put double wall through hole. Add silicone airtightness membrane. Tape and clamp to your airtightness membrane. Add trim rings internally and externally. Done. You do need to centre the flue ina 600 mm stuf bay to get the clearances you need to burnables though. We purchased from: https://www.sauresta.com/en English manual: https://www.sauresta.com/static/instr/Dumtraukiu-naudojimo-instrukcija_EN_Rasu_g.pdf Foregin manual has timber frame details. Not the cutback to insulation if deeper than 30 cm. https://www.sauresta.com/static/files/3/60/360/Dumtraukiu_instrukcija_LT_Rasu_Nr_7_26-10-2018.pdf This type of silicone seal: https://zidiniumeistrai.lt/parduotuve/kaminai_ir_ju_dalys/Tvirtinimo_sandarinimo_detales/1387.html

Some of the traps state flowrate: https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/shower-traps-accessories/50mm-water-seal-shower-trap/ ...with 120 mm head...so standing in a 120 mm deep puddle? In hindsight I think this would have made a better combo: https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/bath-traps/wasteflow-with-19-23mm-pipe-connection/ https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/bath-traps/19mm-seal-bath-trap/ Fed into a 50 mm outlet. - 19-23mm inlet teed into the overflow for the AC condensate (rather than my 32mm tee faffery) - Not "cleanable from the top" but in practice if you slice through the hair trapped around the plug the rest can easily be pushed through the 40 mm section and out into the 50 mm part? Or perhaps one of these two: https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/bath-traps/75mm-seal-bath-trap/ https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/bath-traps/75mm-seal-anti-syphon-bath-trap/ Or perhaps fuggit and put a 110 mm outlet gulley in the floor that the sink / shower / bath can run into directly in 50 mm without any traps? (just the single 110 mm gulley accessible in the corner of the floor)

Is a flush mounted 48 way Hager legal in the UK? https://www.eltido.lt/lt/katalogas/skydai/ileidziami-skydeliai/skydelis-48-mod-ip30-vu48-volta-hager.htm Plenty of space for subsequent faffery that you've not thought of yet. Sub board for kitchen or utility/plant room not a daft shout if the cable routes don't need RCD protection and you're not worried about tripping all the sockets/lights etc simulatenously?

I'd like to have under an entrance mat. Dry the mat from the rain / snow. Dry the shoes potentially. Has anybody used this kind of thing before? https://infrarot-fussboden.de/24V-Heating-Film-Perforated-90cm-wide-55W-m-15m-705W I'm considering "pasting it" into a layer of waterproofing / tanking / hydoisolation membrane on top of an OSB floor; then popping a regular jute doormat on top; and controlling it purely using pulse width modulation (setting %age of the time off vs on) rather than explicit temperature control; as there's no "screed" as such within which to bury a temperature probe. Also considering a socket in the kitchen plinth and a socket under the bathroom sink cabinet for some of their heated mat options... https://infrarot-fussboden.de/Heated-Carpet

Alloy tape avoids gluing the cooker to the worktop (instructions say no) for ease of future servicing. Expansion of borosilicate glass is minimal. 0.8 m length at +100C delta (across the whole thing) gives 0.3 mm expansion. The 0.5 mm thick seal can tolerate 0.15 mm in each direction.

I mostly chickened out. But I did partially recess it. These sit on the steel frame bonded to the glass. There's then a seal between the glass and the worktop (plus an additional silicone strip if flushed in) Knock a 1.5 mm rebate in the worktop and you're left with 0.5 mm of silicone and 4 mm of glass; vs 6 mm of glass/steel plus whatever texture the worktop has. Marginal; but you'd be surprised at the difference between 4.5 mm and 6 mm visually. Recessing officially/ properly in laminate means routing out the back of the worktop, casting a rung of resin up to the back of the laminate top in place of the wood, then cutting I to that to mount the hob in a ring of resin. I wasn't that brave/bothered. 4 kg.of epoxy about €80 gets you a 3*4 cm ring fwiw.