When will it end?

[Adsibob]

6 hours ago, DragsterDriver said:

Is there membrane between the pipes and insulation?

The insulation is foil faced. It is designed to have pipes laid on to it.

[TonyT]

What happens when the screed is poured if there is no sheet material/slip membrane?

collect under the joins?

[Adsibob]

Just now, TonyT said:

What happens when the screed is poured if there is no sheet material/slip membrane?

collect under the joins?

no idea. It was poured almost 6 months ago and we've not had any problems. I think they taped up the seams between the boards before the pour. Can't remember.

[Bonner]

11 minutes ago, TonyT said:

What happens when the screed is poured if there is no sheet material/slip membrane?

collect under the joins?

If the flow screed finds its way down the joints and gets under the insulation, the stuff will float to the top!

[DragsterDriver]

Should be a membrane above and below the pipes  

[Adsibob]

3 minutes ago, DragsterDriver said:

Should be a membrane above and below the pipes  

Mine  was sand and cement screed, though not sure what the membrane would be doing either way.

[Mr Punter]

With sand and cement the membrane is not an issue.  The liquid screeds can get through any small gap and mess up the job.

[Adsibob]

So we have a provisional move in date which is in early May. Let's see if it happens... already today I've spotted a glaringly obvious and stupid mistake. The tiler, who was clearly instructed by the architect in my presence (and in the presence of the foreman) as to how to tile a small area of tiles, spelling out the setting point for him, has somehow ignored those instructions and tiled, grouted (including with the necessary tile trim) incorrectly. So now I have to toss up whether to insist it is redone, which will waste half a day or so, or live with it. It's just so prominently wrong. So annoying.

[Shire2020]

Hi @adisbob How’s it going?

[Adsibob]

3 hours ago, Shire2020 said:

Hi @adisbob How’s it going?

Thanks for asking @Shire2020. We move in a couple of days time. I asked the builder to retile the 0.75.m2 or so he got wrong, and he accepted it was wrong and redid it. He still has a wall to re-paper and a room to repaint (long story… but luckily this time it’s not my fault and I’m not having to pay for it). Apart from that, and apart from the vast amounts of missing joinery (we got defrauded by a joiner and haven’t managed to replace the missing joinery items yet), the inside of the house is looking great and although I’m dreading the unpacking, once we manage to unpack, I’m looking forward to living in the place.

The outside of the house is looking pretty awful. A lot of external render still hasn’t been finished, the driveway hasn’t been laid yet, no rear patio, garden still looks like the builder’s dumping tip and we don’t have a front door. But I’m hoping once we move in, in a couple of days’ time the builder can focus on the outside and get it all done for when the front door arrives at the end of May. We will still be missing a fully functioning kitchen, various wardrobes and other joinery items (as well as a massive deposit the fraudster joiner has taken), but at least we won’t be paying two sets of bills and pissing rent down the toilet, and can start saving up for some joinery.

[Bonner]

Talking of slip membrane over insulation ... what thickness of polythene would be recommended for flow screed?

[Dan F]

@Adsibob Did you use topcret in the end?  How did it turn out? Rough price per m2?

Edited July 18, 2022 by Dan F

[Adsibob]

4 hours ago, Dan F said:

@Adsibob Did you use topcret in the end?  How did it turn out? Rough price per m2?

I did and I do not recommend them. Expensive and poor workmanship.

[Dan F]

21 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

I did and I do not recommend them. Expensive and poor workmanship.

They just called me. £133/m2!   Why anyone would use it at that price vs. concrete-effect porcelain or real polished conrete I don't know.   (apart from maybe in a wetroom). 

 

Be interesting to know how happy @SimonD is with his result and roughly what the Cemher system costs per m2.

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, Dan F said:

They just called me. £133/m2!   Why anyone would use it at that price vs. concrete-effect porcelain or real polished conrete I don't know.   (apart from maybe in a wetroom). 

 

Be interesting to know how happy @SimonD is with his result and roughly what the Cemher system costs per m2.

I paid considerably less than that after negotiating for quite a while, but I also got crappy service and which I had just laid something else.

[SimonD]

17 hours ago, Dan F said:

They just called me. £133/m2!   Why anyone would use it at that price vs. concrete-effect porcelain or real polished conrete I don't know.   (apart from maybe in a wetroom). 

 

Be interesting to know how happy @SimonD is with his result and roughly what the Cemher system costs per m2.

 

So far I'm happy, but do bear in mind that I did the installation entirely myself. I've now done one shower and the kitchen worktop/splashback. For the actual microcement I paid a couple of different prices as the system varies according to toughness and area of application. At current prices the system for shower/wetroom cost £29.50/m2 for 10m2 kit and the system for the kitchen worktop was £41/m2 again for a 10m2 kit (plus shipping which as it's heavy works out at about £65).

 

The shower has had regular use for about 6 months now and is as it was when installed - as you'd hope! 🙂 Kitchen worktop has seen regular use for nearly 3 months. Neither long term test yet.

 

The only slight annoyance I've got is that the worktop kit says it's completely resistent to stains from just about anything. It seems to do this but when cooking with turmeric, if it sits on the worktop for a period of time I have to scrub it off the surface rather than just wipe it off like with everything else. Once scrubbed, there's no sign of it so it doesn't actually stain. I do wonder whether I applied the final coats of sealant slightly too thin because there is a fine texture on the surface which I think the turmerice gets into. When I get the chance, I have enough left over to apply another thicker final coat of the sealer. Nothing else touches it so far.

 

Service I have to say was very good. When I started laying the microcement for the kitchen the base coat came out very blue, and so did the first of the top coats. I contact the supplier with some photos and within a day they'd shipped out a replacement topcoat kit with a corrected pigment. I've uploaded a photo of the worktop with integral splashback and window sill - still looks blue in the photo but it's actually a silver grey that takes on a slightly blue tone under certain light conditions and the bare wood in the house also makes it look more blue that it really it.

 

Apologies I can't help more with installers but I bought my stuff from Relentless Microcement and bought the professional kits rather than diy kits. If you want to tackle the job yourself they do provide comprehensive instructions and training videos. Otherwise perhaps get in touch with them to see if they have a network of known installers, possibly worth a try?

 

I think the cost of microcement installation is because it needs several layers with time in between each coat which means lots of curing time and return journeys for the installer. I've found that if you follow the proper curing times it ends up taking about 6 days in elapsed time with daily applications that take anything from only 1/2 hour to 3 hours only.

Edited July 19, 2022 by SimonD

[SimonD]

16 hours ago, Adsibob said:

I paid considerably less than that after negotiating for quite a while, but I also got crappy service and which I had just laid something else.

 

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that. As a product and material, I've come to really like it. Time will tell as to longevity.