jayc89

Judging by the rust I think it's been dripping for a while, certainly looks to be coming from behind the lever itself as the top nut connecting to the copper pipe is bone dry.

I should have included a copy of the existing floor plan too...

We've had approval through to extend our house. Given the current climate, we've decided to focus on the renovation of the existing property rather than extend right now, with a view to extending in a couple of years (getting the foundations in just before the planning expires). With that in mind, we want to crack on with the renovation but are keen to ensure whatever we do now isn't wasted when we do eventually extend. This is the approved planning application, I have drawn the red lines on to show where the existing external walls are. What is labeled as Kitchen/Dining is our existing Kitchen/Dining area, the kitchen is solid wall, the dining has a small cavity. The full lot is a concrete slab, which we don't believe is insulated, so the plan is to replace that and lay UFH at the same time. The purple dotted lines are structural supports, so we're considering putting the beam in across the kitchen/diner now as to not have to disturb this area of ceiling again later, if possible Where the Boot Room/WC is proposed, is what we currently use as a dining room, there is hot and cold water supplies over head, so they are simple to tee into, but there is no foul waste on the south elevation. (The existing kitchen waste is on the south elevation, which we believe goes into an old septic tank) Upstairs, there's currently no ensuite for bed 1, that space is part of bed 3. The dressing area in bed 3 and ensuite area in bed 4 are both currently the dressing room/ensuite for bed 3. In terms of reshuffling the rooms, its all relatively straightforward, I'm thinking we can make it look pretty much as the plans, apart from the ensuite which would be part of bed 4, that would need flipping around (sink/toilet/shower on external wall) whilst it's still accessible by bed 3. My biggest unknown is drainage. We need a new run of foul drain to Bed 1 Ensuite, Bed 3 Ensuite, what would be bed 4 ensuite and the downstairs W/C + kitchen. Joists run front to back, so I can run a length under the floor in bed 3 and cap it off ready for use later, but given what would be bed 4's ensuite will eventually become an internal wall, I'm loathed to run the downpipe externally (I'd prefer everything was hidden internally and vented to the cold loft space anyway). What would be the best option? The mains manhole is to the North-West of the property (near enough where the bottom-most "Lawn" text is) and not particularly deep (CL 3.44m and IL 2.76m), so I'd need to lay a fairly long run for anything coming out of the house on the South elevation, hoping I can achieve the required fall without a pump.

1/4 turn valve. No idea why the photo's so bad, I can take a new one later today if needed. Ignore the red gate valve next to it, that was for the pipes going to the UFH pump which have since been moved.

I have a full bore lever that's used as our mains stop tap. 28mm. Fitted by our plumber about 18 months ago when he connected the new supply coming into the house. A couple of weeks after it was fitted, it developed a leak, the plumber came and I thought sorted it out. I've been working near the water mains again recently and noticed it's dripping, looks to be from the nut that goes through the lever itself. Don't fancy my chances of getting the plumber back out given it's been 18 months. Does I need to replace it?

Screwfix have given a refund for the couple of cans I've already used, no questions asked (or even an apology)... Perhaps there is something going on with recent batches?

I haven't spoke with Screwfix yet, more in case it was user error. I only had a rant at them last week about a deliver I had received from them. It was a couple of boxes of concrete screws, the deliver guy hands me this box ripped open and half the screws missing!

Did you have to dampen down first? This was to fill between 2x PIR sheets adhered to a brick wall, so all surfaces were dry, but I've never seen this with other brands I've used before... I used Megastik to adhere the boards to the wall, it was pretty good, but I do hear Illbruck is a game changer.

I've had some where you shake them and nothing moves inside, they get chucked before I even try and spray any out. These all sounded ok though. I think I have 3 left, fingers crossed they're actually useful.

Hmm I picked them up from Screwfix, so they could have been cold there, but they were sitting in the house for a couple of hours before I used the first one. The PU adhesive expanded more than these buggers! I'll rake some out on Saturday and try again with a splash of water.

I bought some of Screwfix's no-nonsense expanding foam (gun grade) to fill gaps between PIR boards, approx 10mm gap. Previously I've used EverBuild Fix & Foam which expands wildly out of control, however the Screwfix stuff doesn't look to have expanded at all... The instructions say to mist the surfaces with water first, which I didn't do in some areas, would that really stop the foam expanding, between 2x PIR boards, at all?

Does anyone have any pictures of the Smart Alitherm fitted to their house? I'm struggling to find decent images of them on residential buildings online.

AFAIK, the mortgage concerns were around encasing your roof trusses as the closed-cell nature of the stuff traps moisture. Apparently there's now an open-cell alternative which is "better", but I'm not sure... For wall insulation, I can certainly see the attraction, I considered it for my IWI, for the exact same reasons, but decided to DIY it instead.

I've used PU adhesive to stick PIR to the wall, 25mm battens on top as both mechanical fixings and a service void for sockets etc. PB on top of that.

I'll soon face a similar problem. Plan to glue the sole plate down and hope the mechanical fixings into the joists above and the solid walls to either side of the new stud will do the trick. One of the new walls won't have anything but the joists above and another stud wall to be secured to, so that will be fun.

Totally different from someone gluing themselves to the tarmac, no?

We popped an old pillow into a bin bag and shoved that up one of ours. Seems to have done the trick so far until I get around to sorting it out properly.

Nothing wrong with a good protest, we need more of them, IMO. Plebs blocking public highways is what grinds my gears.

We currently have a bit of a eclectic mix of smart devices in the house; Alexa - lights, morning alarms, bedtime routines for the kids (TVs/lights off) Hive - stat currently only managing DWH Heatmiser - managing downstairs UFH, NeoStat currently used for upstairs radiators too Ring - Alarm V2, Doorbell and Outdoor Cams. Don't currently have either the Hive nor Heatmiser Hub and would prefer to only buy one, if possible. Going forward there are other things we want to do; - Automated blinds, routine for mornings/evenings (dusk/dawn kind of thing) - Similarly on Velux windows on vaulted ceilings - Piped audio into certain rooms (dressing room, ensuite, kitchen) - Possibly smart TRVs on the upstairs radiators (depending how successful the insulation and airtightness work goes!) It would be nice to condense all this down into a single system, if possible. I see Loxone being mentioned a lot on here, would anyone recommend it for my use case, any others I should consider?

Perhaps I'm missing something obvious. We hear time and time again from the energy companies that the imposed windfall tax is affecting investment in renewables. Surely if these companies pumped money into renewables, this would be pre-tax money, meaning their profits wouldn't look so large, as its been reinvested in their business, and therefore there would be less for any windfall tax to deduct from. Am I missing something?

Other than keeping velocity below 2.5 m/s per duct, are there any other golden rules that dictate when runs should be doubled/tripled up? Length/pressure? Good spot, updated, thanks.

A couple of years ago we got 20mm limestone at £30.25/t. That was dropped loose. Part loads came in at approx £39/t

Does this look more sensible? Some are nearing the magic 1.5 m/s number, should I look at doubling any of those up?

Good job I have this forum, think I'd end up with a Wendy house otherwise!

Thanks for taking the time. Interestingly, I've just ran the numbers through a couple of other online calculators and it returned the same 0.42 m/s result. https://www.engineering.com/calculators/air-flow-conversion-calculator/ http://www.calculatoredge.com/optical engg/air flow.htm It's entirely possible I could be doing something wrong though!