Withington Co-operative Eco-house - windows

New sash windows

Robert — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 20:52:09 +0000

We're two days in to the window fitting now (Monday, of course, being a bank holiday).

The manufacture of the windows is first class - all detailing as expected, dual colour painting carried out as specified (white inside, brown outside), and subtly incorporating the deeper than average DG units. My only gripe is that the plant room window was a little too short, and had to be packed out with timber and expanding foam - but that was duly dealt with.

Unfortunately the same can't be said of the fitting process. I'd originally requested supply-only from the window company, but they insisted on doing the fitting; the compromise was that the main contractors would rip out the old windows and prepare the openings (which includes fitting cavity closers), with the window fitters then installing the new windows. I had envisaged that the teams would work together, getting a "rhythm" going where one lot are fitting a window whilst the others are preparing the next one. But this didn't happen: the window fitters weren't very accommodating when the fitting of the cavity closers turned out to be a more complex task than envisaged. They walked off-site at 2:30pm today (that's even earlier than their already early stated finish time of 3pm) without letting me or anyone else know, leaving me to phone the company's office to establish what was going on - hardly good customer service!

It's a shame, because the difficulty of the working relationship with them throughout this project tarnishes an otherwise excellent product that they offer; here's an example:

Getting ready for window fitting

Robert — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 17:53:56 +0000

United Utilities have confirmed that they're (another) two weeks behind schedule. The window company still want to go ahead with next week though: they'll be bringing the windows two or three per day, in a small van, and we'll be carrying them down the pavement into the house.

The builders are almost done with the plasterboarding and insulating; after they've done that I've told them to get ready for the window fitters next week.

I've chased up the Cavalok cavity closer, hopefully this should be arriving on Friday (the builders are ripping out the old windows and fitting the cavity closers, then the window company put the new one in).

Also, the building society surveyor came today to do a re-valuation. He seemed to be OK with what we'd done so far (despite the fact that we hadn't stuck to the original schedule).

About road blocks, and burning gas

Robert — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:12:49 +0000

It's rather ironic given today's events in Balcombe that, as far as the Withington Co-operative Eco-house is concerned, roadblocks are bad news, and burning gas is good (well, less bad, at least).

Unitied Utilities have enlarged their fenced off area and moved about half their equipment into the new part; it remains to be seen whether they'll hit their latest self-imposed deadline of clearing the part in front of the house by the end of this week. I intend to get a clearer picture of this by the end of tomorrow. Back To Earth, the EWI supplier, are concerned about being able to gain access at the pre-agreed time, so to be on the safe side I have pushed back the EWI to September. As things stand though, the window delivery and fitting is still timetabled in for next week (and given the difficulties I've had with the window company, I really don't want to change this).

I've been to-ing and fro-ing with my contact at Baxi, regarding our proposed Ecogen installation. It seems that it is do-able, so I now need to get the company that will be doing the Ecogen install to agree to the specification from myself and Baxi - but my contact there is on holiday until next week.

It might seem paradoxical that burning gas is the most appropriate choice for an eco-house. I'll be writing a full article on this once the details are finalised, but in the meantime suffice to say that we did look into the issue, and gas-fired plant is very much the lesser of evils for a house of this type and location. What's actually more important than the choice of fuel is to minimise the amount of fuel burnt - hence the superinsulation. And according to our calculations, the size of boiler we need to heat our 6-person eco-house is smaller than what is typically installed into a one bed flat.

Speaking of which, the roof insulation is almost complete now, with Andrew on-site today and returning tomorrow to work with the builders to address a few detailing issues with the air-tightness tapes and sealing.

Joist sockets (and sprinkler heads)

Robert — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:37:44 +0000

One of the issues with internal wall insulation is that joist ends which are set into sockets in the brickwork are at increased risk of decay due to condensation developing on the cut end of the timber (see article for more information).

Fortunately, as our house is mid-terraced and the joists span between the party walls, we only have to deal with this issue in one area - the bay window. Today the builders removed the floorboard and joists within the ground-floor bay:

The next time the brickies are back on-site we will make up the socket holes, and then fit 45-degree joist hangers, which will hold the joist ends clear of the wall, within the insulation:

Meanwhile, the sprinkler first-fix is progressing. This photo shows one of the heads in position, with pipe run within the suspended ceiling void (the red cap is temporary, for the duration of construction works):

The old light-fitting to the left gives a sense of scale.

The sprinkler guys finished at lunchtime (as they always do on Fridays!) and left the floorboards up in the room which I'm using as the site office, which I thought was a little inconsiderate!

The window company haven't got back to me, and I forgot to chase them; first on the list for Monday.

Window meeting

Robert — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:02:37 +0000

Today was the long-awaited meeting with the window company. Two of them came, spent a good couple of hours on-site discussing the project and taking notes and measurements. They seem genuinely knowledgeable and passionate about their field - sash windows. But when I discussed timeframes with them, they weren't able to give anything concrete, instead saying they would firm this up by the end of tomorrow.

The inter-relationship between the windows, insulation, and the cills is particularly complex on the rear elevation. Speaking of which, I need to finalise and order the replacement cills soon.

The joist nearest the front wall in the first floor bathroom was rotten, due to historic water leakage from the bath (note, this is a particular danger in highly-insulated houses!). As this wall is to be internally insulated, I asked the joiner to remove the joist; the floor will be cut back to the depth of the insulation. I think he's done a really great job of this awkward task:

Also note the original WC pan connection in the photo, which is made of lead and goes through the wall at a 45-degree angle to the left; this will have to be replaced, again to minimise the risk of water leakage. The soil pipe outside is still the original cast iron, so this will be a particular challenge for me.

Windows and cracks

Robert — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 16:29:58 +0000

Got an email from the window company saying tomorrow's meeting is to be postponed by a week, to next Tuesday. Apparently the guy fell off a ladder!

It's been drizzling for the past few days so the builders have been working inside instead. Having knocked the plaster off in some areas, we've discovered two cracks in the walls:

The one on the right could be a case of lintel failure. But that wouldn't explain why it goes all the way up to the ceiling... or the one on the left, which is on the side wall of the same room.

Roof finial

Robert — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Sprinkler guy came back to the house with a revised drawing, everything has now been agreed and they will be doing first fix a week tomorrow (Fri 5 July). He also brought sample ceiling- and wall-mount sprinkler heads, not just for me to see but also to be left on-site for other tradespeople to be able to look at. I have to say the communications and customer service from the sprinkler company has been excellent throughout.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about the window company. At the last meeting we agreed their joiner would make an appointment with me to come back on-site to measure up etc. I'd had no contact for 2 weeks, so phoned them on Tuesday - person I spoke to didn't know anything, person I had been dealing with was unavailable until today. Phoned again today asking for that person, he was unavailable to speak to me and neither was the joiner who has been assigned to my job. Later in the day I got a brief email giving next Tuesday as the appointment day (no time specified). I wrote back asking what time and also expressed my concern at the lack of communications, and why this is unsatisfactory for this project.

Meanwhile on the roof, all the Velux openings have been trimmed out now, but we're waiting for the windows to arrive. The builders asked me a question about how to fix the insulation (given its larger than average thickness), which indicated to me that they might need some technical support when we come to doing the insulation. So earlier this evening, I phoned Pete, the guy who designed the thermal envelope specification, to see if he could come to the house for a day to work through this with the builders.

At the front of the gable there was originally a ridge finial - still to be seen on neighbouring properties. Some Googling lead me to this website, where believe it or not this guy specialises in making reproduction finials - amazing what you can find online! This one is a close match to the one our house would have originally had:

People think I'm a little bit crazy putting so much emphasis on details like this, but what's the point of working on a Victorian/Edwardian house if you're going to ignore its architecture? You might as well do a new-build Passivhaus, and save yourself an awful lot of hassle.

Sash windows

Robert — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:52:58 +0000

Today I had a meeting with the window company. They specialise in manufacturing and refurbishing sliding sash windows. Their main market, unsurprisingly, is conservation-focused projects - so like most people working on the eco-house, our project will be new territory for them. The broader issues about the windows in this house will be saved for a separate article, so here I will write specifically about today's meeting.

Based in a back-street industrial unit in Stockport, their workshop is a hive of activity, with the odd juxtaposition of traditional woodworking methods and guys on computers calculating U-values. All the people I met - at least three different people got involved during the course of my visit - seemed to have both a good knowledge of and a passion for sash windows.

We went through a number of details during the meeting: who will fit the windows (now the window company, not the main contractors); how to tackle the voussoir arches on the rear elevation; incorporating trickle vents into the windows (this being something these guys don't normally need to do, as they don't normally work on buildings that are to current Building Regulations); discussion about locks, and paint.

Overall I felt the meeting went very well, I now need to arrange to make the first payment to them and they will be arranging a measure-up visit to the house, following which pricing and install dates can be finalised.

Meanwhile, I'm told the scaffolding will be going up tomorrow.

Withington Co-operative Eco-house - windows

New sash windows

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Getting ready for window fitting

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About road blocks, and burning gas

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Joist sockets (and sprinkler heads)

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Window meeting

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Windows and cracks

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Roof finial

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Sash windows

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