Leaderboard

Despite wanting to wait til the window ledges were painted we couldn't get on any longer without blinds in the bedroom and office. We decided on Luxaflex as we didn't like the perfect fit profile and Luxaflex has a very slim fit into the window. They weren't cheap and we didn't choose particularly expensive fabric. Three blackout bottom up, top down blinds for bedrooms W129*drop 93. Two non blackout blinds for office and lounge top down and bottom up (w86*drop 98, and w129 x drop 98). One fixed lounge window, top hung only (matching the other lounge window) around 2.3m in width. Six blinds in total were £1790 including fitting. We had a few different Luxaflex distributors quote, including looking at fitting them ourselves and Love Your Blinds were cheaper than going down the DIY route. Some pics below. The top up, bottom down is great for us, particularly being in a bungalow. Love the fact we can let light into some rooms at the top by having them lift up from the bottom giving us privacy - great in dressing room as it let's natural light in but you can block off the bottom (good if you need natural light for make up, hair etc) but aren't fully dressed!! Also work well in the office as you can block out particular sections of sun without having the blinds fully up or down. This is the lounge blind that is top hanging in a fixed window to match the one above that's a tilt and turn window. They are the same colour it's the sun! They are a sort of brown/grey.

"A semi-detached show-home on the outskirts of Gateshead may seem an unlikely location for a technology revolution. But when this outwardly unremarkable looking building opens its doors in the coming weeks, it will mark a key moment in the UK’s accelerating transition to a zero-carbon economy. When the programme began, it was as much about ruling out hydrogen as an option as anything else, but as the project team worked its way through key questions on everything from the feasibility of hydrogen appliances to public acceptance, the case for putting the gas at the heart of the UK’s energy transition grew stronger. “As the programme’s progressed we’ve discovered everything is feasible and found a way over various hurdles.” “Everyone’s beginning to realise this really could be a very real possibility.” One of the keys to this has been the input from some of the biggest names in domestic heating, including the UK’s market leading boiler manufacturer Worcester Bosch, which has developed a prototype hydrogen-ready boiler that’s about to be put through its paces in a series of major trials. Worcester Bosch CEO Carl Arntzen told The Engineer that when the company began seriously looking into hydrogen around five years ago, it set out to answer two key questions: can it be safely burned in a domestic boiler, and is it possible to make a hydrogen boiler that’s the same size as an existing system? Artntzen’s team began by looking at what the differences between hydrogen and natural gas might mean in terms of engineering fundamentals. An early win was the realisation that hydrogen and natural gas have a broadly similar Wobbe index. This is a measure of the amount of heat energy within a given volume of gas. Artnzen explained that whilst hydrogen has a lower calorific value than natural gas, its density is much greater, meaning the same volumes of hydrogen and natural gas will give roughly the same heat energy. This provided early confidence that not only could a hydrogen boiler be physically the same size (and therefore wouldn’t require future customers to reconfigure their homes) but that it would also be compatible with the existing gas network. “The size of the existing gas network is roughly OK and supplies the same amount of energy whether you supply 100 percent natural gas or 100 per cent hydrogen,” he said. Nevertheless, the properties of hydrogen did present a number of engineering challenges. For instance, it has a much faster flame speed when compared to natural gas which, said Arntzen, created some initial challenges around how to control the combustion process. The team also encountered some early problems with “flashback”, a result of both the flame speed and shorter flame height of hydrogen. “The ignition was lighting the fuel upstream of the burner so we were getting a backfire,” he explained. “It was perfectly safe but of course your boiler going bang every few minutes is not really desirable!” Both of these findings prompted a redesign of the burner face to more effectively manage the flow of the gas within the appliance. Another key challenge was around monitoring and controlling the flame. Whilst existing domestic boilers sense the presence of a flame by detecting the electric current generated by carbon molecules within the gas, the absence of carbon molecules in hydrogen meant they had to look at different solutions for flame detection. At this point, said Arntzen, it became clear that it wouldn’t be possible to simply convert existing gas boilers to run on hydrogen, and the concept of a hydrogen-ready boiler was born, a system that would initially run on natural gas but which could be switched over to hydrogen with a minimum of fuss. “It goes into your house and burns natural gas, then, four or five years after you have it installed when you get notified that your area is going to be converted to hydrogen we come back in, quickly change a few components, and that boiler’s ready to burn hydrogen.” The Full Article can be read here:- https://www.theengineer.co.uk/low-carbon-engineering-hydrogen-home/ (The posted readers comments after the 'Engineer magazine' article are not quite so positive....)

pull the ply off, put it back square and put the ply back

Well I have applied for a LDC...thanks for your help, fingers crossed.

I was told my south facing conservatory would badly overheat and the house with bifolds into it. I know down here in the south west it’s generally cooler than the south east etc but with all its doors and windows open for the short period it’s sunny here it’s not an issue. Temps can get a little high but hey we (used) to fly to hot countries fir those temps. I can shut the bifolds to keep the heat out of the house, open house windows at night to cool the house and closed during the day to keep the heat out. I did notice yesterday that around midday the 500mm roof overhang kept direct sunlight from the upstairs windows so the bedrooms are not overheating. I can re engineer the UFH to cool the floor if I wish but not found it necessary so far. The main thing I love about my conservatory is the rest of the year it’s a great place to be, heating the house in the shoulder months, nice place to sit even in pouring rain, crisp sunny days in mid winter etc. I would not be without it.

decent hinges aren’t expensive and when your joiner is jigging the doors then it will be 2-3 mins extra to run the router around the third cutout and clean it up than just do two. £4.40 ex for a pack of three ball bearing hinges. https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/twin-ball-bearing-fire-door-hinge-100x75x3mm-bs-en-grade-14-stainless-steel-pack-of-3-793130

Don’t press the quote button Instead, just click on and select the required text snippet from a members post. When you finish selecting you’ll see a small quote box appear, click that and the text will jump to your editor box ?.You can do that a number of times in the same reply so quoting multiple members ‘snippets’ in one post.

We have used two "protection" products. One was sold to us with our porcelain tiles. It was painted onto the tiles pre grouting, it was supposed to make the grout not stick to the tile and be easier to clean off. Not sure if that really made a difference or not. The other product is a sealant for our slate tiles that you apply every couple of years to seal the tiles and it helps to bring out the colour of the slate. I am not sure what the stuff you have is hoping to achieve.

Does not always need to be a bungalow. We bought a tired 1950's 3 bed detached on a large plot (1/2 acre). Replaced with a house that was larger (inc full basement) and to a passive standard. Advantage of demolishing and rebuilding are that all services are already in place - electricity and water can be particularly expensive to run to a green field plot - as is access and boundaries with existing properties. Unless you're in ANOB or conservation area, then you should have a pretty free hand with design. Also, barring asbestos etc, demolishing is normally £5-10k and some materials can be reused on site for hard standing etc.

Sand / cement screeds (which you have) are normally 60-80mm. Liquid screeds are 40-60mm. Either one is fine with UFH. 30mm is too thin. Are the UFH pipes embedded in the screed? How are the levels at doorways etc?

When I had my sliding door measurements taken the surveyor would only take a measurement allowing a 30mm clearance at the top, even with all my moaning he insisted that they would not supply a door unless this clearance was adhered to. I would suggest you allow a 20mm gap over the doors, this should not have any timber packers in it.

We’ve just purchased two plots with three acres attached So they are about But as above land and estate agents seem to be the only route

Yes it's the Luxaflex Tru-Fit Duette ones. Whereabouts are you - if you're in the Midlands/North West then Love Your Blinds may come out to you.

We're having that issue at the moment. I'm thinking about getting these for my son's east-facing bedroom. Even though we have external blinds, some light does get through the cracks, and he ends up waking up early than would otherwise be the case. I think something like this would block nearly all of that leaked light.

You do get some light at the top and bottom but it's massively improved my sleep and one reason we had to get them sorted sooner rather than later as I was waking up at 4am! I have just taken this pic at 10am so the sun is beaming. The blackout ones have a kind of foil in the middle of that makes sense.

You're getting there ? Looking very nice, unbelievable how expensive nice things are these days!!

Looking at the White Book C06 S06, it seems it can depend if you are trying to achieve BS EN1365-2 or BS 476: Part 21: 1987. No mention of skim. If I read it correctly, 600mm centres requires 1x15mm WallBoard or better. A skimmed 12.5mm sheet feels like it should be as good/thick as a 15mm sheet, but I don't see it sanctioned anywhere. Your BCO may accept it, I don't know.

How to keep your house cool in the heatwave Should you open your windows or close them? Can plants help, and should you get air conditioning? This is your guide to staying cool at home during a heatwave ENVIRONMENT 25 July 2019 By Sam Wong Most UK homes haven’t been designed with heatwaves in mind Rudi Gobbo/getty Scorching hot summers were once rare in the UK, but thanks to global warming, they are now more likely to occur. However, most buildings in the country haven’t been designed with sizzling heat in mind, and many people struggle to keep their homes and offices cool when temperatures get above the mid-20s. So what can you do to improve the situation? Some sources, including the National Health Service website, advise people to keep windows closed. That’s a big mistake, says Sue Roaf at Heriot-Watt University, UK. The main mechanism our bodies have for cooling down is sweating. This works much more effectively if air is moving over our skin. “You need ventilation to actually cool the body down,” says Roaf. That is why a hot room feels much more comfortable with a fan. The NHS website says: “Shut windows and pull down the shades when it’s hotter outside. You can open the windows for ventilation when it’s cooler.” The NHS said its advice is based on the Heatwave Plan for England. But the advice in that document is more nuanced. It says: “Keep windows that are exposed to the sun closed during the day, and open windows at night when the temperature has dropped.” Elsewhere, it says: “Windows and other ventilation openings should not be closed, but their openings reduced when the outdoor air becomes warmer than the air indoors – this should help keep rooms cool whilst allowing adequate ventilation.” In 1995, 739 people died in five days in a heatwave in Chicago. Many of them couldn’t afford air conditioning and didn’t open their windows because they were worried about crime. “This heat is very dangerous,” says Roaf. “If you’ve got an overheating flat or house, go somewhere else.” Go to an air-conditioned shopping centre or cinema, for example, or stay with a friend or relative with a cooler house if possible. If it stays very hot in your bedroom at night, move your mattress to the coolest room in the house. Blocking out light on sun-facing sides of the house can also make a big difference. “Keeping the sunlight out will prevent some 800 watts per square metre coming through the windows,” says Roland Ennos at the University of Hull, UK. The best way is to have shutters fitted on the outside of windows, blocking the light before it gets into the house. If that isn’t possible, closing curtains will help. Read more: Our buildings make this heatwave worse – here’s how to cool them down There are other things you can do to help cool your house in the long run. Growing plants outside your house can help to shade the walls from direct sunlight, once again blocking something like 800 watts per square metre, says Ennos. “Wisteria is great up the south side, as are climbing roses, and reasonably manageable, while ivy on the other sides can help keep the house cool in summer.” In a city like London, green roofs on buildings cool the surrounding area, lowering the peak temperature by around 4°C. Alternatively, you could paint your house white so that the walls reflect more heat, although it will need regular repainting. If a heatwave lasts for many days, even a well-shaded house with thick walls will heat up. At this point, you might be tempted to get air conditioning. From a societal perspective, that’s a terrible idea. Air conditioners shunt hot air outside, making the surrounding neighbourhood warmer by up to 2°C, according to one study. What’s more, they use huge amounts of energy, contributing to the burning of fossil fuels and causing more global warming.

Thanks mate! It's more going to be a garden room, I'll be putting a warm roof on top. I just couldn't figure out the corner over the window but you guys have really cleared it all up in my head. Thanks for all your help! I feel confident now I know what I'll be doing. Much appreciated.

BCO said he's wanting 30 minute fire rating so 15mm of fireline OK. He asked if it was going to be skimmed and I said it was, so that may be significant. If using 12.5 sheets I'd may have to double up.

Yes screw from the outside 3 each end. You can level this with packers. If you really want to you can use mortar later to fill any gap. I assumed that insulation etc did not matter as this is more like a shed / garage. Can you run them down the outside? Use stainless ones? Def need straps. If you want them inside you can use galv and fix a timber noggin to the rim board to make up the 50mm ish and fix to that.

Hello SillyBilly. Well done picking up on the arrangement and timber sizes. In pic two at the top of the thread you can see there is a gap between the outer ply and the two inner ones. Now it may be that the two inner timbers are enough to carry the load and the outer one is just a "filler". But when you design timber lintels you can "enhance" the strength and stiffness in recognition that the plys are acting compositly.. together. For example in the BS code you can increase the capacity of the timbers in bending say by ~10% and the stiffness of 3 plys by ~21%. The "strength" part is to do with making sure the timber does not "break" under load".. the stiffness property (Young's modulus.. E) is to do with how much the timber will bend. Members posted a while ago about this and deflections over the heads of bifolds / sliding doors a while ago in the thread " Issues with sliding doors" Some of that post be be of use to you. Link here The key here is to recognise that to get an extra bang for your buck the lintels need to be fixed together (no gaps) say with 4.5 x 100mm galvanised nails top middle and bottom at 300mm horizontal centres. If you are using say a C16 / 24 timber grade then the overall thickness will be ~ 135mm and as Russell says you can use a timber ripping on the inside to make the wall flush on the inside for the plasterboard. This is common practice. If your flat roof joists don't span onto the timber lintels then 3 ply 225 x 45 timbers effectively spanning say 2.8m ( 2.7 + 1/2 rest) supporting say typically a 1.0m wide strip of flat roof (only) has a good chance of working with an over all deflection of some 6mm. Some of that will take place under the self weight of the roof before you fit the doors, the rest due to roof access loadings, snow and a bit of creep in the timber.

If there’s a 10mm gap, go concrete solid and fit a 10mm blade of steel plate to create a Flitch beam and put your worries to bed. You could park a car on that.

The easiest way to spot if your DS18B20 is fake is by its ROM code as all genuine Maxim/Dallas devices have their 64-bit ROM code (consisting of 28<48 bit serial><8 bit CRC>) reporting as: 28 xxxxxxxx0000 xx Fakes don't have the 0000 in the most significant bits of the serial code. There's further information here along with ways of finding out what family of fakes you might have and known deviations from the spec for each.

Thanks for this - fake components are a damned nuiscence both at home and at work.

Yes, we're happy. There are those who doubt the performance claims for multi-foil products (ours is Actis), and we've not lived in properties with other insulation for comparison, but it does what we expected. Easy and (importantly for us) very clean to install.

Just thought I’d share my OSMO experience so far. Our stairs treads are made out of oak/engineered oak and to try and keep them lightish and greyish and stop them going orangeish I’ve used OSMO’s Polyx Oil - light grey. It’s a bit nerve wracking, the product in the tin is most definitely grey, it looks like a grey primer paint. I had numerous trial runs on off cuts of oak before I had the balls to go for it on the treads themselves but I’ve achieved the look I’m after. Time will tell if it keeps the orange at bay. In the picture below the horizontally aligned treads have had one coat and the vertical treads the maximum of two coats.

Censored, hopefully. Or the bastard child of Paul Raymond and Dame Edna Everage.

I’ve had that - doctor gave me some cream

No need for cooling in my bathroom this weather!

Ok mr. Cun# - using it on the floor so grey grout . The floor with ufh under it …

I hope you're not about to propose some sort of glazed solution....

Welcome ! and thank you

Reminds me of a bloke my dad worked with (doing groundwork and fencing), he claimed the threads on screws were only so you could get them out if needed

Good morning and welcome, The `support` for self build is a lot of hype and very little to none existent actual help. Im in yorkshire and i keep badgering local councils regarding self build plots just to be told to look at estate agents and property websites.

Two, that's it, done! Wait for them to cure and fit them. I'll have to rope a mate in to help lift them into position mind. Before then I do have to access inside the pillar tops and clean out any debris. Then do the final tightening of the M16 safety bolt (back up in case the weld on the L shape box section give up). I'll need some fancy plastic caps to go over the nut come to think of it. Think I can rustle up some white ones and spray them. I want a Gothic esque, thick washer there too...something to mull over... I also have to decide how and where to run conduit for my aerial coax and indeed where to mount the aerial for the gate controller. Probably atop the horizontal section of box with a CB style mount. I did half consider a fancy moulding at the apex of the pillar cap to put the aerial right at the top.....but decided not to. I've also to fill these (deliberate) gaps around where the box comes out of the pillar with foam strip then figure some cover plates or the birds will peck it all out. The box section needs painting black at some time too. Another couple of years then! ?

Been waiting 14 pages for this and the pipe has sunk like the Titanic. Jesus what a let-down! Let us just say that @pocster may be left wanting.

They have similar on Naked Attraction!

Ah well... Norfolk tends to lag behind a few decades...