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For the lol's or alternatively why I DIY rather than pay people to do things I had the drive brick-weaved about many years ago - but in the last few years the manhole cover seems to be rising out of the drive Of course that's pretty unusual and I suspected that it was actually the area around it was getting lower but wondered how that was happening So I removed a load of blocks and then the manhole cover and found my issue - the frame was sitting on what remained of the original mortar a very uneven mess - bedded down on 4 blobs of silicone!!! FFS So there was my smoking gun - the sand was being washed into the manhole when we had a downpour and there wasn't a car on top of it. So I got the concrete grinder out and leveled the top off Bedded it down on some mortar and threw the sand back in - a few sting lines to get the level and the pile of blocks can go back in All done

They're OK. I actually bought directly rather than through eBay which saved some money. They need the panel to be a minimum of 35mm thick but mine are 30mm so I put some plastic spacers between the mounting pole and the back of the frame which worked well. The clamps on the end tend to sit at a bit of an angle [as they seem to be a bit better with a panel on either side] which isn't the best but the mid-clamps work well.

In real life, copper pipes under the floor might spring a leak (pinholes in bad copper that had been down for 20+ years and eventually corroded through) and you might need to dig stuff up to find the leak and effect a repair...

I've got to tile a utility and kitchen floor - actual m2 is 14.5 - I'll order 16.5 - In the past I've found 10% just too tight - running before the job is finished and then having to get more is a PITA

In the same way houses lose heat - "Hot always moves to cold" - like cold rooms steal heat from warm rooms, the outside steals heat from a heated house - it might not be as effective as say AC but the rule is just the same - warm room - cool floor the hot is going to go to cold.

For radiation you need to ignore the air (as that can actually hinder radiative heating and cooling). It's the radiation of heat between different bodies. For UFH the warm floor radiates heat to our bodies and the surrounding walls/floors which then radiate the heat back into the space. A similar thing happens with cooling. When the floor temperature is reduced, the walls and ceilings, and our bodies radiate heat toward the colder surface. Hence we feel cooler (even if the air isn't necessarily any cooler). It's the same reason intermittent heat isn't very good for comfort because it heats the air not solid bodies so when the heating is turned off, it feels cold very quickly because the surfaces draw heat away from the body through radiation. Passive cooling using radiation can be very effective but it has to be carefully designed for cooling. If you happen to have the infrastructure, like UFH and your heat pump has the necessary controls/sensors for relative humidity and dew point calculation, then of course you can use it. I've had conversations with the tech people at a couple of large and well known heat pump manufacturers who, whilst they confirm the heat pumps do cooling, it's not like aircon, it will temper the room temperature. In many circumstances this is okay. And the other side is finding the design resources to do the cooling side properly - if heating using heat pumps is difficult, just imagine trying to find the knowledge and skill for cooling. And I'd argue that if there is any risk of condensation forming on pipes, then detailing the system is even more painstaking than insulating for heating.

Hi All Opinions please. I need to get UFH in newly build kitchen extension. Area coverage is abpout 20 square metres. Thinking of ready made dry screed laid to about 75mm thickness. I've never laid screed previously. Will be getting some help but essentially thinking of going the DIY route. Off course wnat to get evenly level floor. Can you share any tips. Has anyone done DIY dry screed floor? How will it take to complete the job in terms of hours? Thanks

Like I said: If you're going to run fan coils with a flow of 6C then be prepared not only for condensate drainage throughout, but also to very carefully lag all pipework through the house etc. So it's a lot of work to make sure the system is properly installed.

it's certainly something atmospheric.Are the ends on the flexis plated brass? Looks like copper corrosion there.

I'm going to replace rads with fan coils upstairs. My downstairs doesn't get too hot, so a few degrees reduction via the UFH is good enough. If I get more then bonus 😄

They are still in the attic of the house when I sold it 😉 Worth asking if they would keep some for you. I have tiled 2 houses and could never get the same ones that’s why I don’t mind having spares just in case.

Good idea. Might try that

Buy the cheapest, similar, flexie, and dunk it in some Toilet Duck. Leave for a few days and see what happens.

As far as I can determine that's the only factor that deems them unsuitable; the render adhesion. We did some tests and using thin coats of the render along with scuffing the surface of the foil we got a really good adhesion that held over the winter. If that's the only factor the BCO has said it's acceptable, but I need a definitive statement from someone, ideally Recticel that confirms that's the issue. Fingers crossed I guess.

The floor becomes the cold area, so the room and more importantly you radiate heat to the floor. The water picks up the heat gain from the floor.

In real life though, are they still in store in case of damage? I can't recall ever having to use one. It would be relevant if changing fittings I suppose. We strive to get another 5% off the supply price then happily put 10% of the cost in the garden shed for ever. Would any suppliers set a box aside just in case? Of course they don't want to, but just might fof a very short period.

I seem to have usually 5% left over. If I've done it myself there will be actual waste due to mistakes, but the thinking out will have allowed offcuts to be used. If it's a professional then I don't expect many errors, and a polite discussion should avoid lots of big bits left over. Big tiles in small rooms won't be happening. Also I have prevailed in there not being bold patterns.... I hate seeing repeats in something pretending to be natural.

10% as above, I think it’s better to have a couple of boxes stashed for future as they end up obsolete so fast, in case of damage etc.

Is it an MCB or an RCBO? A picture would help.

But cold isn't a thing, it's a lack of heat, so can't radiate. Heat is a thing. In your explanation is heat radiating from the air into the floor? What temperature are the floor and the liquid circulating?

You can have it working exactly the same A2A with fan coils. Just flow at 6 degs and can be as cold as you want.

Not really correct. UFH works on radiation (around 80-90% and 10-20% by convection) not convection alone. Our 6m high ceiling is almost the same temperature as the wall thermostat reads. No cosy feet really either, the floor is actually cooler than your body, typically only a little warmer than the room. Cooling works in just the same manner, by radiation, instead of heating it basically sucks the heat from you. So although room temps may drop by a couple of degrees the house feels way cooler and more comfortable.

I usually go for 10% as you are going to really annoy the tiler for a small saving. If they charged you a couple of extra hours to come back it would more than offset any saving. BUT I always measure it myself and allow for baths, doors etc. I have seen bathroom fitters just measure the room and ask me to order tiles to cover er the whole room, even though a door takes up almost 2 square metres. So I would tend to measure the actual area being tiled and add 10%. I also try and make allowances for the size of the tiles and likelihood of cuts being required. If I think it is a flat area and a small number of cuts will be required I might go nearer to 7-8%, if it is complicated and needs lots of cuts I might go 10% or even a bit more. Another thing to consider is how easy will it be to get an extra box. If you can nip down to Topps for another box fair enough, if you have to wait two weeks for them that is another matter.

Add more the bigger your tiles are. a room 1810 wide being tiled with 1200 long tiles will eat tiles and cause lots of waste as the off cut can’t be used in the next row.

I just started to go and check the other bathrooms. The first picture, the cistern is on an outside wall and the second one on an inside wall. I thought my theory that the outside wall spaces are cooler and water is more likely to condense on the pipes was proved. The third picture is a bathroom right next to the second one. Both on inside walls, both basically the same room and the mirror image of each other. The difference is dramatic and frankly hard to understand. The third one will be getting replaced tomorrow. Even though this seems crazy, the cleaner likes to use Toilet Duck, it only goes in the bowl, nowhere near the cistern. But the rooms with issues are the ones that are used more so get cleaned more often. Could it be that Toilet Duck left in the cistern is producing fumes that are damaging the pipework, or travelling a little bit back up the flush pipe. A pattern might be clearer once I have checked them all.