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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

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  1.  
    Now that we’re facing the final airtest, I have two tricky areas I’d welcome your advice on.

    First is an area below the front door. The installers used plastic shims to adjust height then squirty foamed around the perimeter. A thermal image last winter revealed that the area around the shims is a few degrees colder than elsewhere and I think there could be a small gap letting air through (it was outside of the frame for the last blower door test).

    We have a recess in the floor for a matwell but it’s overly deep in retrospect. We don’t need 60mm depth and I was going to make up the height difference with a latex screed. Catching the cold spot has got me thinking it might be wiser to put something more insulating here though. Any ideas for a (liquid applied?) solution that would make up the levels and take the weight of being a main door threshold?

    2nd conundrum is the twinwall duct I cast in for comms cables. We’ve an ongoing dispute which means no cable is likely to be forthcoming any time soon. I don’t really fancy filling with insulating beads or similar if they would bung up the hole for later. Our builder helpfully sawed off the upstand and I’ve now discovered all proprietary end caps fit over the outside rather than inside of these ducts, so we’d have to grind down the slab locally with a holesaw for this to work. I’m looking for something to stop up this hole that is removable if we ever get a fibre connection agreed. In the meantime it just needs to stop airflow (and creatures) and would ideally be a bit insulating too.

    Thanks in advance.
      issues_lores.jpg
    • CommentAuthorgravelld
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019
     
    By shims do you mean the plastic tabs for leveling? Normally they are removed once installed. Use a crowbar to take the weight of the window and remove them. That's what I was taught anyway.

    For the duct - plastic bag of EPS beads.
    • CommentAuthorgyrogear
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019 edited
     
    Posted By: gravelldNormally they are removed once (the frame is) installed


    +1

    Posted By: gravelldFor the duct - plastic bag of EPS beads.


    or a balloon...

    gg
  2.  
    I cannot see the scale. What's the dia of the duct? How about (if it's 150mm or so) a 200mm flowerpot with the hole taped with, say, Tescon Vana. Seal around the perim with decorators' caulk.
    • CommentAuthorGreenPaddy
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019
     
    Just for added variety, and maybe use up bits and bobs, rather than buying...

    - ball-up wire mesh, tied to a string, and pushed down say 300mm, with string running out of the duct (vermin)

    - poly bag full of leftover bits of loft roll insulation stuffed down to the mesh

    - fill the top 10mm with silicone, and smooth off

    - trim the string when silicone is set.
    • CommentAuthorGreenPaddy
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019
     
    Matwell...

    - fill gaps immed under threshold with grout. When set remove packers and fill those gaps with grout.

    - sheet of XPS insulation, say 30mm, glued in to matwell

    - sheet of cement board, or plywood, 12mm, glued onto XPS

    - that's 18mm remaining for your matting.
  3.  
    Thanks all.

    Posted By: gravelldBy shims do you mean the plastic tabs for leveling? Normally they are removed once installed. Use a crowbar to take the weight of the window and remove them. That's what I was taught anyway.


    Hadn't considered removing the plastic shims. I guess my concern would be that a grout replacement (as suggested by GreenPaddy) would be less thermally efficient but that squirty foam wouldn't take the load.

    Posted By: Nick ParsonsI cannot see the scale. What's the dia of the duct? How about (if it's 150mm or so) a 200mm flowerpot with the hole taped with, say, Tescon Vana. Seal around the perim with decorators' caulk.


    Yes the duct was massively oversized for one cable. It's around 110mm I think, a last minute addition before the slab was cast.

    Hadn't considered silicone for the duct seal but I suppose this might be quite simple to remove as a single lump later, provided it has something to form against.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019
     
    Posted By: Doubting_ThomasHadn't considered silicone for the duct seal but I suppose this might be quite simple to remove as a single lump later, provided it has something to form against.

    If you don't care about appearance, then a load of bits of airtightness tape make a good covering over the top of the plastic bag stuffed full of loft roll or whatever. I used Rissan myself for the same job but anything would do.

    Hadn't considered removing the plastic shims. I guess my concern would be that a grout replacement (as suggested by GreenPaddy) would be less thermally efficient but that squirty foam wouldn't take the load.

    There isn't much load on the threshold; just people stepping on it. We just have bits of EPS underneath, then airtightness tape from the threshold to the slab. If the heights are set right, you can't see the tape because the mat covers it.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2019
     
    Where or what is the airtightness layer and how is it joined the next elements?
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