We needed to add in an airtight membrane before the plasterboard went up. We decided on Constivap 2.3 Plus which is slightly cheaper than Intello membrane which is vapour permeable aswell as airtight. We only required airtight as the cold roof space had adequate ventilation for moisture to escape from the insulation. We also ordered 5 rolls of Tescon Vana tape, a tub of Aerosana viscon paint and 3 cartirdges of Orcon F to fill any holes. It wasn't easy putting up the membrane and took 4 of use to hold the corners and tape. We initially thought that the foil backed PIR rigid insulation covered in plasterboard and skimmed would be airtight but this is not the case. The membrane was an important addition. We also had to make sure the plasterers understood that if they screwed in the plasterboard incorrectly and moved the screws, any holes had to be filled with the Orcon F to satisfy airtightness levels. The plan was to cut away the render at the top of the gable walls and then the tap...

  The end rafters were rotten and needed replacing and cloak board added before mortaring the verge. Thanks to Todd for his help with this.

  This was a big job that we couldn't put off any longer. We needed to dig down around 600mm to remove the bad quality hardcore and add in clean MOT2 and concrete before insulating, putting in underfloor heating pipes and screeding. The front of the house was done last summer before we moved in as the subsidence in the floors was so bad that the mortgage company would not mortgage it as it was. But we had decided that we wanted to do the back rooms which were not as noticeable but needed insulation anyhow. It took many hours of hard draft to dig out on the first weekend. It took 2 grab lorries to take away the muck (thank you Harradines !). The following weekend we barrowed in the MOT2 (also purchased from Harradines) and lined the floor with damp proof membrane. It was so cold the hardcore froze solid and needed to be broken with a pick axe! The building inspector was called for a quick inspection before adding in the cement. The following week we ordered a cement mixer lorry (fro...

  The team from Clarity heating spent the week installing our new air source heat pump, hot water tank and buffer tank. The voucher from the government green grant had finally come through. I think we applied on 17th December and received a decision on 5 January which seemed fairly fast to me although I had heard that other customers were waiting a lot longer for a decision. The total price for the installation was £10k, minus the £5k grant. After some discussion over heating requirements for our floor area we agreed that we could rule out the upstairs area which we felt had adequate heating from the solar gain with the south facing window and the wood burning stove. Initially we were recommended a much large air source heat pump. We had to explain the insulation and air tightness measures we were taking in addition to an MVHR system. We were recommended a Panasonic Aquarea 5kW ASHP. We asked for it to be wall mounted so that we could still use our narrow driveway. There were no ot...