Owning your own home

I'd ask them to stick a matt under the tv stand and see if that helps to decouple things a bit. I've notice with my vitsoe shelving on plasterboard that it is very 'noisy' - tapping one shelf transmits the noise through the whole thing and in to the next room.

Yes it can, much more likely a problem with cement based render and gypsum plaster than traditional lime render and plaster.

Or is it about how and what rendering is done?

This. Get a product suitable for your brick and mortar types and make sure the damp proof course isn't bridged.

We immediately insulated the floor as soon as we move in and live in the small bedroom for now, as there’s no point doing anything until the major stuff done, if you’re thinking of doing it, get it sorted sooner than later as it will make a big difference and it’s one box that’s been ticked.

@frankohara some before picture; it’s hung like this, ideally to ensure airflow under the insulation to prevent/reduce damp.

We do use a local guys however he’s fully booked until February! But it’s something a decent handyperson can do.

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I've worked on a property that has heated ceilings........ Its a fucking nightmare.

Even though as @hoefla says its a low temp radiant heatsource the temperature still rises enough to cause the ceiling structure to expand which leads to inevitable shrinkage and cracking of plaster. My client had to replace the plasterboard and plaster in the ceiling twice before disabling it and putting 'normal' heating in.

I was never there when it was on so could not comment on how efficient it was.

EDIT - the building was a 1980s build so it is possible that the kinks have been sorted out since then but the fact that it has not become more widely adopted makes me sceptical about that.

i'd lay the blame more at feckless contractors who will sell you the product they have/can get cheaply rather than what's suitable for your property rather than at IB's feet

it shouldn't be up to a protest group to make sure that alleged professionals are doing things properly

Ah, that is a valid point. Plaster tends to be a tiny bit more prone to cracking than lino or wood.

So our house has a weird frontage setup where the lounge extends forward of the general plane of the house.

I'm pretty sure no-one has ever even wafted insulation in it's general direction so figure I'll have to break into it somehow. Probably through the porch roof.

Does anyone know of external loft hatches that I could try to fit or should I be looking at going in, doing the job and sealing it up?

I thought any loft had to be accessible by law?

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Did they just put the floorboards back on top or was there another thin layer?

Can you remove a light fitting to put a camera up and have a look?

Floorboards just go back on once the insulation has been fitted in between the joists. If its gaps your concerned about and you want to keep the bare floorboards then either replace boards or get slivers to fill the gaps

My solicitor's secretary makes me feel like I'm inconveniencing my solicitor when I occasionally ring up...

Still open enquiries - management company secretary duties was run by someone who sold their flat in march and it's been neglected since then.

The freehold is owned by someone random (not connected to current house which is now 5 flats), and the head lease and my lease are both good title, which apparently can be upgraded to absolute given there's been no issues for >12 years.

Is it easy / worth it to extend lease from 865 to 999 in that sitch and is anything concerning anyone in the above? Stressful!

Main two open enquiries are they can't seem to send accounts since march and can't/haven't supply management company consent (they are a director of the management company) to change the floorplan. That concerns me incase I can't sell it on. Current floorplan doesn't match the lease

Okay that makes sense. No I was more thinking around whether you'd need to add another layer to prevent condensation etc ...

Also, some people seem to use rock wool and some PIR boards, is there a better option?

Anyone know if you can change the actuator head only on one of these? The manual override lever works but the spring return isn’t switching the valve when the heating goes off.

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This might help - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwKJ7tmMbiQ

Very useful youtube channel for random house stuff.

Yeah I've watched that series and he does add a vapour barrier on top of the rockwool layer before reinstalling the floorboards

All wall mounted unfortunately.

@NickCJ most valves of this type are two part andshould just clip off l. I think these are integrated and it's a plumbing job to remove the whole thing

Floorboards just go back on once the insulation has been fitted in between the joists.

This.

Also replaced some damaged wood, they also managed to put less gap in the floorboard by adding one more to it so there's no unseemly gap.

Also, some people seem to use rock wool and some PIR boards, is there a better option?

Yes, Kingspan, but we decided that Rockwool suffice as the house is a terraced type and can't afford to spunk that much more.

Yeah I've watched that series and he does add a vapour barrier

That been done to our too, between the rockwool and floorboard.

You should figure out target value for your insulation (there are calculators based on amount of unheated walls you have for a given room). Then start looking at the depth of your joists, clearance under the joists, access, cost, remembering that kingspan and celotex are both utter bastards and involved in Grenfell towers/cladding scandal and so on. That should help make the decision.

Yeah so won't be kingspan and more likely rockwool. Will see if I end up doing it or not

I sold my flat in mid August, but I am still getting correspondence from the managing agent of the block, my buyers useless Solicitor it seems never sent the notice of transfer for the lease to the freeholder.

I raised this with my buyers at the beginning of September, we are now in November and it hasn't been done, I shared the details of their Solicitor with the managing agent for them to chase yesterday, but I have just noticed they have changed the company name presumbibly to avoid the terrible reviews they have on Trustpilot etc, they were previously EHL Conveyancing and are now Arrow Conveyancing.

I'm not sure what to do next, in the eyes of the management company I am still the leaseholder though they know I have sold the property, however it means that the new owners are not therefore receiving any correspondence.

I did a while back, rather than paying a fortune for a Honeywell valve. IIRC I had to buy / return a few motors until I got one that worked.

Might be worth replacing the whole head unit, rather than fannying about with swapping the motor.

(£15 vs £25 for the motor vs unit for Honeywell)

Is this over email? Tell them once that you will no longer be reading any more emails from them, then create a rule to Reject any emails, preferably with an auto-reply saying "leave me the fuck alone".