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I know it's been a while but I have decided to go back to working on the stairs. Annoyingly I just couldn't get enough usable timber out of the elm tree to do everything but I managed to get enough for the stairs. ? I'll probably just use ash for the landing handrails.

Sorry I was back to the constructive pessimism thread??????

If you fill a wine bottle with water and turn it upside down with the neck under water in the bird bath the water doesn't run out of the bottle until the birds drink and the water and the level falls low enough to allow air into the bottle. Many variations on this theme are possible with larger bottles.

100% agree you should have a softener with any SA unit if there is even a sniff of hard water. Why folk wouldn’t put one in anyway to protect the rest of the plumbing is something I find a bit unfathomable.

Bascaly I don't see it working out well, in fact I see only bad things coming from it. I am, however, optimistic that my dire predictions are right.

better not show SWMBO this she,ll want it

My build up is similar as in wall battens on DPM. I dug up the existing concrete floor, laid compacted type 2, then sand blinded. I then made in effect an EPS "well": Over that I laid a DPM: 150mm of pir on top of the DPM: Where it goes up the wall a bit isn't stuck: I then put 1m high DPM on the two external walls: The 1m high DPM comes down and tucks under the battened wall bottom member: The floor DPM comes up over: There's a min gap behind all the battens of 5mm foam filled. Once I'd pir'd in between all the battens I put a vcl over the whole lot: Looking back it seems awfully complicated! Who cares!

Experience is what you get, when you don’t get what you want... Told to me by my very first programme director and it’s stuck with me for decades ..!! And it’s true....

Brilliant just brilliant. Enough left over for a stair gate?

I've opted for a Toshiba Mirai RAS-10BKVG-E, 2.5 kW, 9,000Btu unit in the end. Bit of a palaver ordering all the right bits, but the total for everything, including 4m pre-made up pipes, trunking, cable and both a vacuum pump and set of manifold gauges, has come to about £750. That's £500 less than the price I was quoted for a no-name Chinese unit installed. The warranty is a problem, as by opting for a DIY install I'll lose the Toshiba warranty, but, on balance, I think that's worth taking a risk on. If it all goes tits-up I can always get an F gas chap out to re-gas and leak test it for less than £300, so it's still a saving on having it professionally installed. The reasons for opting for the Toshiba, rather than the Mitsubishi were mainly to do with the best deal I could get, plus the much lighter weight of the Toshiba outside unit (23kg). As I will be wall mounting the outside unit, quite high on the wall, weight was a significant consideration. Another consideration was the illumination from the inside unit display. Several systems I looked at had bright displays on the indoor unit, which may have been a nuisance in a bedroom. Assuming all goes well, then when I've finished I'll have a vacuum pump and gauge set available for others to use. It seems better to use a vacuum pump, both for leak testing and, more importantly, to get any residual water out of the pipework, I think, rather than rely on using a bit of (flammable) R32 to flush the pipes out. The bits should be here by the end of next week, with luck, and I'll update this thread with a progress report.

We had very modern vertical sash in the last house i think they tick a lot of boxes all these Euro windows seem to think is ok inwards opening, er why?? Gets in the way, why do I want a window that takes up floor space outwards opening, er why?? Again why do I want to walk past a window on my nice patio with this thing projecting out into the space. With the vertical sash you can have the top down 50-100mm for a bit of fresh air, or lift up the bottom for a big breeze to blow in, they provided very easy fire escape as the bottom lifts up to half the frame height. Easy to fit blinds i cannot see a reason not to like them, unless they won’t close tight enough for the high standard we need over here.

Very true. Once you've got your heating bill down to the level ours is, then there's no way a thermal store is ever going to recover it's installation cost before it dies from old age.

And according to the internet can clean your bog, patio, coins, cure and give you cancer, cause or reduce obesity, help you concentrate and get a pretty, singing, girlfriend. Ok, I made some of that up. It does go well with a curry though.

is that not a NZ version of a French Loo, designed to stop drunken Ozzie’s missing (without the need for a Golden Shot Up a bit! Left a Bit! FIRE ! Facility) ? And it looks darned uncomfortable for a bath.

Yep, you need to handle dihydrogen monoxide with great care; it has the highest pH of any acid.

I would follow that up with confirmation in writing because that’s quite a big turnaround from their previous stance on this albeit that seemed to be a new stance. There have been cases that have gone to tribunal where the appellant claimed that they got specific info from HMRC’s helpline where HMRC didn’t agree when it came to the claim and said that they didn’t have a record of the phone call. I actually phoned several months ago and asked if the occupancy date was used to determine when the claim had to be sent or could it still be the completion certificate and I was told that the occupancy date wasn’t relevant, and this was at the same time as they were refusing claims due to how long the dwelling had been occupied. So pinch of salt!

Alain de Botton describes himself as a cheerful pessimist. Similar, and comparably refreshing.

Worth reading this MSDS: MSDS Dihydrogen Monoxide.pdf

TBH, I doubt this would have any effect on a Sunamp PV, as the water heater circuit is a closed loop inside the unit. The pump only circulates water around the internal heating loop, and there's no strainer in that AFAIK.

Sounds like you need to stand out side with a high viz jacket and a fake camera, whilst the survey takes place make up some fake 20mph signs please make sure you disregard anything I say as I don’t want to be responsible for you going to prison.

We had to have a speed survey done for the two plots we have outline planning for, it had to be done BEFORE they would grant permission, it’s a 60mph rural road, they put these tubes down across the road at two locations for a fortnight although it was meant to be a week, we were given the results although they meant very little to us and the architect even admitted he knew very little about them however they did seem to go in our favour as it was deemed that none of the traffic was actually going at the maximum speed probably because of a hill and two bends, we got the pp as they relaxed the splay.it cost us £500

I found it was not a case of water run off, as that is fine, what it is is the dirt it leaves behind, the lip has a continuous build up of a residual muck left behind i get on the roof once every six months and give it a good scrub. My roof is very flat probably 5degrees.

I saw one done and they put signs up saying “speed survey in progress” and everyone slowed down..!! Depends on what they want though - if it’s a fixed system for a period then it could cost a bit.

I made a gadget to blow powder into a wasp nest entry hole, whilst standing a safe distance away. Works really well:

Last year I tried a natural oil teak woodstain (am I allowed to mention the brand on the forum?) on some south-facing window frames, for which treatments of both water-based and oil-based stains had failed previously. To date this is still holding well (far better than water-based, which is perhaps not a surprise) - it penetrates rather than forms a film. They do a clear (not so good UV protection) and slightly tinted (better UV protection), containing sunflower oil, soya oil, thistle oil and linseed oil. Overall I am happy with how it's performing but difficult to comment further as only one year on. I did not however enjoy cleaning the brush afterwards - too used to WB these days...

think thats the sort of stuff my dad used about 70years ago --pity hes dead now or i could ask him I remember him saying best lasting colour for outside woodwork was green

#progress. I hope they all turn out like that

Does that mean the life of the unit is not that long?