SteamyTea

So why did they not up the quote to £29,700. That way they would have made almost an extra £700. Most of our business is by card, that just gets priced in. It is the cheapest way to handle transactions now. Cash is by far the most expensive. If a company will not take a Credit Card payment, which has inherited credit worthiness checks built in (not AmEx payments), then ask why.

So you don't think that the recent rise in food prices has anything to do with climate change. Or the imminent collapse of North Atlantic white fish. How about reservoir water levels? Or road depredation due to thermal cycling. If you think that the UK has no global influence, you must have forgotten about our global insurance industry, that pays out £bn. And our investment banks that finance energy projects globally. Then there is our Met Office, Exeter University, the Hadley Centre that disseminated climate information to governments, globally. Is that enough about the UKs global influence? Or are you still stuck in the 1850s with the Brunels building railways across the globe with British steel and determination (back by British fire power). The British just about invented globalisation, so no point saying this island is irrelevant, the environmental harm caused will have to be paid for, and if that means, as one of the wealthiest nations the earth has ever known, we have to pay 7% of our median income rather than 5%, to keep houses over heater, so be it. It is better that the alternative Facts, not perception, is reality.

About 800 RPM then. Which I think is about 4.5 m.s-1. Which is quite slow. If it was granite, you could go 5 to 6 times quicker.

Start one about overturning forces, in a moment.

Piano hinges maybe. Or sturdy gate ones. You could fit some pins and adjoining holes to keep the two halves level when loaded. You can get them as anti burglary fittings for doors.

Think you mean the gabions behind his house, the one his neighbour wanted to have a fence on. Was not cast, or rendered when I first went there, may be now, did not look last visit. Looked at his new Sunamp.

The gabion one, or the one along the road?

Make a driller killer movie, and post it up.

We got seriously told off by the fire brigade when they found out we had 200 lt of acetone in the factory, and no spirit licence. (Factory next door was alight and serviced had to wake everyone up in a 200m diameter zone)

It is possibly innate to many mammals, education, which is generally age related 'model' learning most likely stops us thinking about it. I hated lecturing first year students as it took half a year to teach them to unlearn the very basic models of the world they had learnt at school. It is called baggage.

Years not drinking at university helps. And a good tape measure.

Not read all of the replies. You say your cottage is small and draughty. Can you improve the draught situation easily (windows are only as good as what they are fitted to). Usually in old buildings it is the floor and the loft that are the problems (my old place in Weymouth had a solid floor, so no problem there, but a bad loft conversion which was a problem). Curing uncontrolled air leakage will massively reduce the heating bills, then you can look at controlled ventilation. Controlled ventilation can be anything from trickle vents to full mechanical ventilation and heat recovery to each room. Chances are you will only need something basic for kitchen and bathroom (extraction) the something in bedrooms (fresh air input). Do you have a fireplace? If you post up a basic sketch with some dimensions, I am sure a solution can be found. Positive input ventilation, in an old building, can force warm, high humidity, air into the cold fabric of the building, this can cause problems with out of sight condensation. Reducing the air leakiness helps. New windows will not, in themselves, help. So step back for a while, decide if it is just the looks of the windows that you hate at this point of time, or if you want a better house overall. You can fit the windows next spring, it is only 6 months away.

The pest control man came around last week for his usual checks (we sub the work out as insurance prefers it that way). He asked if we had a new floor fitted. No, I just spent a week on my hands and knees scrubbing it. No rats or mice though. Do have a magpie that will hop into the building. Bastard stole half my sandwich once. The only time I have stopped to eat a sandwich.

Can't help you decide then, sorry.

If you are serious about getting an ASHP, first thing you need to know is an accurate figure for your heat losses and domestic hot water. That will set the minimum size for your ASHP. Once you know that, you can then start looking at what the physical size, performance and price of the units are. Some may be too large to be fitted without planning permission (this may be changing). Chances are you will need to change all your heating system, but you probably would if you went for a low temperature combustion boiler anyway. HeatGeek have the marketing advantage, but doing the calculations is only basic arithmetic. Finding out what your building thermal properties really are is the hard part.

I am not sure, but the refrigerant return temperature, back to the compressor, may be different, this may be cause the compressor to work less hard. Is this a freezer or a fridge, and does the amount of 'stuff' in it vary i.e. you defrost it when it is empty. I often defrost the fridges and freezers at work, but have only just started to monitor the temperatures properly, but I notice the two large chest freezers are a couple of K lover after a defrost (assuming the morons at work make sure the probe is placed correctly, don't leave the lid open and don't put hot food in them, but what do I know compared to a chef that thinks thermodynamics has nothing to do with cooking).

Been passing this house for the last few weeks and noticed that it is being re-rendered. As it is the same finish (almost) as my house, and my render has filled in a couple of places, I have taken an interest in it. Does anyone know what the red coating that has been applied is, it seems to be slightly rubbery. What does it do and is it best practice? Can it be used on OSB?

Watts (W) are not British Thermal Units (BTU). 1 W = 3.412141633 BTU.h-1 The h = hour (3600 s). It is a very important distinction. A BTU is an energy unit, as is a watt-hour (Wh). BTU.h-1 and watt are power units. If you hear an electrician, plumber or energy 'specialist' say killa wot per our, start to run away.

Welcome. Those are the easy and cheap parts, and can always be changed later. The hard bit is the foundation as that is, at this stage, an unknown. There are also a number of different systems that can be used. On Buildhub, we encourage people to think about the energy usage if a home. In isolation the individual components can seem to be additional expenses, but by designing them in from the very start, savings can be made. KISS is the main thing, don't get carried away.

Generally acrylic polymers are more UV stable (it is the only plastic that is, why it is used for specticals, as us polycarbonate, but that has chemical and robustness problems). So acrylic will be more colour stable, but silicone is pretty good. I think @ProDave had a render fail, but can't remember what sort.

If you get a lawyer, accountant or an IT person to design it, very complicated. They are usually 2 fans in MVHR. Which has given me a great idea about their design.

I posted up a YouTube video about it. Is fascinating.

Studying for a Doctorate is not that hard, just very focused, making it easy to loose ones way, especially if the supervisor has other ideas. In some ways it is very similar to any project. One difference, in the sciences anyway, is the evidence based needed. There is no room for opinion or unverifiable 'truths'.

Lime plaster is almost chemically identical to ordinary plaster, just a minor change on the curing processes. Clays are basically oxides of aluminium and silicon, neither of which are 'healthy' when in a dry state.

I have heard the term 'built under notice', which seems to be trusting the builder to do the right things. Is this for just relatively minor things like small extensions and fitting porches, or can it cover a complete build?