saveasteading

I've only ever lived in draughty houses tho the steading is pretty well airtight but doesn't get stuffy. I'm of the opinion that the essential vents at fans and through opening of doors etc we get enough oxygen. But maybe when we relax and doze of watching Repair Shop it is lack of oxygen.

It shouldn't dry at all. It hardens chemically , but drying weakens it. A very light spray of water at most, then polythene over it, or hessian and then wet it. After a day it will be hard and can be soaked but the concrete should be kept damp for a week, (and isn't full strength til 30 days.) Then the small amount of free water can be allowed to evaporate.

Thanks. Warms the house rather than cools it but not a lot. We are simply leaving doors open after 6pm ish and the house cools ready to start again tomorrow.

Me too. It's remarkable how a very small leak will spread far and wide. If all your dampness was somehow collected, would it fill a bucket? No. A mug? Maybe. And that's been over a year or more. It could be just one pinprick of a hole in the mastic, if you could find it. @ProDave tarpaulin is such a good idea too. Simple and likely to be effective, and protects the mastic.

Please help me understand? A fan takes the internal (24°C) air out, through a heat exchanger. It partially cools the incoming air currently at 33°C. What temp is the incoming air likely to be? I'm not understanding how that helps. I have to admit to scepticism in general, from a decade ago when mvhr systems were mostly inefficient bodges which the reps couldn't, or wouldn't, explain apart from ticking a sustainability box. We've gone Spanish. A bit of work outdoors early. 12 til 5 indoors. Evening outside. Dinner later than usually. (Football agony at midnight.) Curtains and blinds closed according to sun movement.

Could I do it? Is a good test. I might be very slow, but if I could do it then so can they, faster and sometimes better... especially if watched.

Or reused. I don't usually look that far ahead. Some future creature will analyse it and call it the chip shop gas well, from the "Humans Age."

So it's you that is chucking all that heat into the atmosphere!

That's fundamental to me. Followed by the kiss principle because most (?) trades are not as skilled as they think they are, and can't handle anything out of the ordinary. I also like the principle of one trade at a time and gradually working to more accuracy as the building emerges....I mean look for total accuracy but expect less. Thus I prefer to avoid ufh pipes in a structural slab. Get the heavies to pour the slab, then insulate and screed much later.

Sitting in our old draughty house, thinking how controllable it is, using Mediterranean techniques and 2 hours of aircon unit in one room. And how mvhr would be making it worse.

I've never heard of this. Poker for deep pours yes. Tamper for thin. Is this an additive. Can you point me at a reference?

Cut the mesh and fix to the perforated profiles, then fix the profiles? I'd expect that to exist as a product already. Maybe in more insecty countries.

Some insects will get through any of these.

That's entirely personal taste. An ancient lead or zinc roof looks much the same.

If you can stop the liquid water coming in at metal laps, wndow joints etc then you are winning. The next stage is the dampness inside drying out. With windows open snd the summer temperatures it might be slow but will happen. That's unless any water is between 2 impermeable layers. Only then might some holes or stripping back be worthwhile. But it's mostly plasterboard or hardboard isn't it?