markocosic

Dezincification?

Evacuation back into outdoor unit and nitrogen purge and vacuum out and refilling indoor unit required. A lot of faff to avoid an aerosol tin of propane leaking outdoors. And no filter drier to catch any ick if you do introduce this by brazing. I'd ignore it if you're trunking it anyway. Perhaps braze the next one end to end and clad over it though! Or say fuggit and flare indoors even though it's R290. (probably be legal by then - the EU is busy upping the allowance for how much R190 can be in splits etc at the moment)

The conveyancing involves sweet fanny adams if it's a registered freehold title. Worth not relying on the bank's own conveyancers; as they have, without fail, been woefully inept on every mortgage transaction I've ever been involved in. Do it yourself. If they won't deal with you then find somebody clueless but cheap who will do Simon says conveyancing. (doing it yourself and having them sign it afterwards) This may well be the bank's inept conveyancers - provided that they don't have room to screw up your plans by doing things wrong.

Ah, propane! In which case braze the lot bar the joint at the outdoor unit 🙂

IMO don't install that way rather than trying to make midpipe joints serviceable: - Route pipework for indoor unit such that the flares are indoors behind the unit. (there's space for this designed in) - Buy longer linesets when installing or have the installer braze them. - Use a leak detector when installing (heated diode units are about £50-75 and sensitive down to 3grams/year)

Neatest? Hide them behind the cladding. Easiest after the fact? Black air conditioning trunking. Comes in to halves. Clips together. Ends and bends etc all available.

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.