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Well I guess that depends on how much it matters to you.

Yes the internal render on woodfibre insulation boards (render behind the boards as airtight layer, boards fixed with no gap, then rendered on top)

I had a similar conundrum for my renovation. In the end I went for EPS/concrete throughout and it has worked fine for me. Only slight downside has been a little bit of salts/discolouration on a couple of sections of render near the floor. My building wasn't particularly damp to start with if that is relevant. And it is combined with woodfibre/breathable wall insulation.

I’ll have a look as it sounds good. As an aside, what size breaker/cable would be sensible future proofing for an electric car charging point?

As the title suggest - would it be viewed as good practice to put the kitchen lights on a separate circuit to the rest of the downstairs lighting circuit? It is a small 2 bed only 40m2 downstairs so not a huge amount going on. Kitchen lights only equate to couple LED strips under cupboards and some downlights. All open plan downstairs. Is it just to allow some light to be turned off if something trips a circuit?

If you are using an ASHP you will definitely want to add anti freeze - if you have a power cut you could end up wrecking the ASHP if the pipes freeze.

Looking at a 6kw W60 R32 Ecodan ASHP as seen here with a pre plumbed cylinder: https://les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/products/heating/domestic/outdoor/ecodan-r32-ultra-quiet-puz-monobloc-air-source-heat-pump Anyone know if, as with some of the other ecodan units, it is possible to flip a switch (or something like that) to enable cooling? I tried asking Mitsubishi and they didn't want to say or were arguing that using an ASHP for cooling was inherently inefficient (which surprised me - is there any truth in that?). If such a mode does exist and can be enabled can someone say what difference to the plumbing layout is required to cater for potential cooling (I seem to remember reading something on buildhub about this - something to prevent cool water going to the UVC presumably). And is a plumbing schematic that allows for cooling going to fall foul of any RHI/replacement incentive regulations and signing off Cheers all

Thanks for that - I’m happy to give them away as they were free to start with. Not going To use them so away they go!

Actually I am looking to sell/give away around 100 of them that I have had for a while and am not going to use! Thought it would be useful to know the actual type of tile.

Anyone know what tile this is? it’s a Marley interlocking concrete tile but looking at most new stock they are 420 x 330 whereas these are 410 x 320 cheers

I don’t think a parge coat will make any difference to the air tightness of a decent joint.

Pretty sure that’s a no

I’m confused why you say this with no details about the build quality. A house of 400m2 seems very unlikely to work with a 5kw ashp unless it is a passive build maybe. Particularly if hot water use is high. agree with ashp over gshp though.

Make sure the builder uses the correct screws and glue. I didn’t use enough glue to my cost so as soon as the builders are doing it make sure they are.

I believe you won't be able to get the RHI unless the whole dwelling has had a completion certificate from building control and has an EPC. It's not just about getting the heating/dhw/ASHP commissioned. There should be a new system replacing the RHI (£5000 per install) which you may be eligible for but it is all uncertain at the moment and even the ASHP installers/suppliers don't know how it will pan out yet.

Then don't I’m not sure you are helping your cause Coops

My understanding is that you should never use soldered joints and should ONLY use compression for Lpg. I’m not a plumber so don’t take my word for it. My plumber didn’t know. correct me if I am wrong. if I’m right though it does beg the question of whether OPs plumber he is looking to sign off is competent. Is he Lpg registered?

As the title suggest I am looking to make my driveway less bumpy. It is a non tarmac driveway with holes ranging from small to large (5 metre diameter up to a depth of 150mm in the middle). What would anyone suggest I use? Type 1 ? Tarmac planings I am a little reluctant to use? Limestone of a certain size? I am planning on using a whacker not a roller. Cheers

I agree it is a complicated topic! Is there not a difference between airtightness and vapour permeability? They would seem to be closely correlated - EPS (open cell) would appear to let both some air and moisture through. But a lime render can be viewed as airtight but vapour permeable. (Not quite sure how that works though!)

Am I missing something but EPS isn’t airtight itself so why would you want to tape it? Or at least shouldn’t the airtight layer be somewhere else?

Now I haven't read her speech and of course it is easy to pick holes in the argument but lets look at one fact - since privatisation about half as much money has been dished out as share dividends by water companies (over £50 billion since 1991) as spent on improving pipes and treatment plants. This has been made possible by reaching an overall debt of around £50 billion. This debt has been used to pay for dividends and not capital infrastructure as the latter has come from customers' bills. So maybe there is a way for our water supply to upgrade the infrastructure without doubling the bills.

I'll throw a curveball out there! Have you considered woodfibre board? What is the state of the inner walls? Original render and reasonably flat? Or bare stone? I've done a few buildings with it and it has been very successful - render behind boards provides very good continuous airtight layer. Haven't gone beyond 80mm thickness of woodfibre board for worries of interstital condensation. You would need a plasterer happy to work with lime render though you can get easy to use bagged mixes for the finish coats if you want to spend more than using sand/lime. No need for a ventilation gap that is hard to achieve yet a breathable buildup.

If you are rendering over ideally get some scratch marks into the render you have done to give the final coat a key. Might have gone off too much by now though!

I’ll give it a go. Cheers nick and dave

How old is it? Brushed or brushless? About 7 years. Pretty sure it has brushes. I wasn’t seriously expecting help on getting it mended but you never know!