Murphy wept, a big cold bridge?

[CalvinHobbes]

Hello, sheesh thought I would come on and ask advice yet again. 

Building control was out and said we appear to have a massive cold bridge at door. So the metal beam goes over the door and connects to another that meets a post going up (was that a wind post) so forming a sideways L shape shape. The cavity is behind it. Bit scunnered tbh. There was a change of builders and the second ones are having to fix things . Bah. Feel free to tell me something good.

Edited May 25 by CalvinHobbes

[Kelvin]

You can insulate them using expanding foam or PIR. Bit harder to do on the opposite side. How big is the gap on that side?  
 

On the second picture, what’s the beam that runs perpendicular to the door sitting on? 

Edited May 26 by Kelvin

[nod]

At this stage it would be a massive job to prop and take it out and redo it as per Architects drawing If the drawing is Vague or lacks detail Like most architectural drawings Ask the SE to do a drawing Anything else will annoy the hell out of you 

[Andehh]

We had to have one protrude out to support an overhang, and I just wrapped it tight in insulation, expanding foam, etc etc outside. Inside we then just insulated it as best we could behind the plasterboard. With enough expanding foam you can fix anything! 😁

 

Do the best you can, accept a compromise, and move on! Double up on something else you can access to soften the tiny tiny tiny bit of loss in thermal performance.

 

Worse things have happened, and 90% of home owners wouldn't know what a cold bridge is... Let alone give a shit.

Edited May 26 by Andehh

[nod]

6 minutes ago, Andehh said:

We had to have one protrude out to support an overhang, and I just wrapped it tight in insulation, expanding foam, etc etc outside. Inside we then just insulated it as best we could behind the plasterboard.

 

Do the best you can, accept a compromise, and move on!

 

Worse things have happened, and 90% of home owners wouldn't know what a cold bridge is... Let alone give a shit.

and don’t worry about airtightness 

As 90% of people wouldn’t know or give a shit about airtightness 😂

[saveasteading]

I'm not really sure what the detail is. Is this beam outside, forming a porch sort of space? 

I'd avoid expanding foam except for any small inaccessible spaces.

Instead, fill the I section with rockwool. The rigid type used in cavity walls which is also waterproof.  Or pir. Cut to shape and pressed into the spaces in the beam. Fix some more to the underside. Then box around the beam in cement board.

Obv the hole in the wall need to be filled and insulated too.

27 minutes ago, nod said:

don’t worry about airtightness 

Do deal with it. It matters even if some people don't understand it 

[Iceverge]

Ok the beam is annoying but not a huge issue. 

 

I think you are aiming for Eps Blown beads anyway. Box out the beam EXTERNALLY leaving at least  50mm at all sides of it to at least 1m long outside the door, longer is better. Blow it full of EPS beads. 

 

Something else of concern is the door placement. It looks to be entirely within the external leaf, am I seeing this correctly? It really should be sitting in the cavity for best thermal performance. 

[Kelvin]

I did what @saveasteading describes. Filled the I with PIR in my case. I used expanding foam to reach the bits I couldn’t get into. Then faced with thin insulated cement board then the airtight membrane taped and sealed. I had a similar problem to you in that mine was fitted then closed. Fortunately I was able to open it back up again easily enough giving me access to most of it. 

[jack]

Discovered/realised far too late the same thing with balcony steels for my "cold bridge free" MBC build.

 

When I raised it, MBC foamed in PIR insulation then wrapped it in aerogel blanket. I'd probably have gone even further than that if I'd had time to consider it.

 

Someone said to expect mould on the plasterboard where the steel comes into the house, but we've never had a moment's problem in over 8 years.

[Iceverge]

It's amazing how forgiving houses with a mechanical ventilation system are at controlling mould and damp really. 

 

I suspect your situation never even came close to being a problem.

[Kelvin]

6 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

It's amazing how forgiving houses with a mechanical ventilation system are at controlling mould and damp really. 

 

I suspect your situation never even came close to being a problem.

This is the most noticeable thing. Our house was up a year before we installed the MVHR last month. Even though I’d been managing the humidity using dehumidifiers and opening windows etc and the house was pretty dry generally the MVHR unit completely changed the feeling of the atmosphere in the house. Most standard houses are full of cold bridges with no mechanical ventilation and average insulation and they generally don’t show any/much mould. 

[CalvinHobbes]

The Building control officer also pointed out we were not using approved plans which was 'not great'.  Like yikes!The ones we have from the architect were blessed by a structural engineer so I hoped would suffice and as the bc said, they are allowed (didn't sound ecstatic). Anyway I found some older pics and here is the part of the plan too. TBF I do appreciate the bc flagging up things, the builder assured me he had a plan to deal with it anyway and was sorry he missed the BC officer. 

[Iceverge]

That beam is relatively simple to deal with.

 

Any more info on the placement of the door? 

[CalvinHobbes]

Iceverge what are you thinking, should the door move? How hard would that be to do? I know the frame is hardwood. So bring it in a bit? I am looking at that plan and am unsure.

Edited May 27 by CalvinHobbes

[dpmiller]

looks like the door is sitting across a cavity closer to me?

[Iceverge]

 

Is this lintil and the blocks above it on the outer or inner leaf of the cavity?

[CalvinHobbes]

That's an internal photo and the other side of that lintel is external onto the porch. The builder is saying he will effectively make another wall outside.