Temp

Heard today someone near us uses 11,000 units a year of electricity. With wholesale prices in December at £1 a unit that's an £11,000 electricity bill... and they don't even use it for heating.

Liz Truss has today ruled out more more direct help with bills. Considering 5% cut in VAT instead saying that would effectively put £1300 back in our pockets. But would it be passed on by supermarkets etc? Also helps me more than the v. poor. Also thought to be considering raising tax thresholds. But the poor don't pay tax so it also needs an increase in benefits and state pensions.

I think BAL Green Star and BAL Blue Star say they work on paint, but the problem isn't sticking to the paint, it's the paint not sticking well to the wall. Try sticking a block of wood to the paint then knock it off. If the paint comes off the wall rather easily you will probably need to remove it or at least really scratch it up good and remove any dust etc.

And water has the best specific heat capacity so most likely easier to insulate as the temperature woukd be lower. Only thing better might be some exotic wax filled store that uses the latent heat as well as the specific heat.

Electric fence 🙂

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/213548/new-gates-can-this-be-right

I suspect if they have been gone years they will say you need planing permission as over 1m high. If they have only been gone months you could argue they were being replaced.

See if they will send a sample?

Google can find very expensive white sand but most seems to be much further north, like Scotland. There is grey/silver on ebay from Cornwall.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fine-Building-SAND-in-a-Bulk-Dumpy-Bag-NATIONWIDE-delivery-from-Cornwall/264718480404?mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338624526&toolid=20006&customid=a73f1d7d0c7be307511759f94c6d873c&pageci=50c334c0-58c6-4b6e-b669-048735570dc9&redirect=mobile But I would try and find the quarry and buy direct rathe than through ebay.

Go Glass in Cherry Hinton near Cambridge.. https://goglass.co.uk/ Etched glass doors.. https://goglass.co.uk/product-category/glass-doors/

It probably calculates the required flow rate from the power of the appliances and energy density of the gas.

Nteresting that Investment trusts like Bluefield Solar (who own some UK solar farms) don't seem to have gone up enormously. They are currently worth about the same as they were just before Covid struck.. https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/b/bluefield-solar-income-fund-limited-ord-npv

I agree with others. Just looks like it needs repointing. If you look into the gaps (eg the one with the finger in) you will probably find mortar at the back indicating its not a gap that has opened up. If it was subsidence you would probably be able to push a pen all the way through to the cavity. As others have said, the bricks look too uniform for a gap that big to have opened up by movement. By all means get an SE to have a look but I would arrange to be there at the same time so he can put your mind at rest. You might find what he says means you don't need him to write a report and that woukd save a bit of money.

+1 just resubmit without a gate. Add gate later. Collect photos/evidence showing the height of previous gates as this might become an issue if your new ones are over 1m high.

Not my field but found this calculator.. https://www.gb-gas.co.uk/clc/pipesize/GAS PIPE SIZING 2016 WEB.htm

Dont draw a line to the bend. I would draw a line of the required length for a 40mph road (60m?) from your driveway to wherever it meets the road around the bend. Shade the area that would need to be kept clear of obstructions over 1m. In your case it won't be a triangle because of the bend in the road. I would add a note to the diagram that says something like... "The visibility splay requirements of ?? Meters for a 40mph can be met. All of the land within the required visibility splay is either public land/highway or owned by/under the control of the applicant". Ideally reference the council policy document on visibility splays.

Not quite. Electricity is traded on an open market. Essentially its all auctioned to the highest bidder. You want some electricity you've got to outbid everyone else. If you try to introduce a law that limits prices there would be an international outcry. Wind and solar farms are bought and sold internationally. We would effectively have to nationalise them all at vast cost and compensate owners around the world. If not they would never invest here again. Wind farm developers typically build a farm then sell it and use the money to build the next one.

I believe thats one of the proposals by the energy companies.

If you are considering drilling the joists then presumably its not been plasterboarded yet? Could you fit counter battens at 90 degrees to the joists to form a void below them to run the pipes in? The battens would need to be the same depth as the diameter of the insulated pipe. The ceiling would be the same amount lower.

My understanding is that to avoid an interstitial condensation risk the rule of thumb is that you need at least 2/3rds of the insulation above the structural members and no more than 1/3rd between or below. This ensures that the structural members are far enough towards the warm side that condensation does not occur on them. It's not the thickness that matters but the thermal resistance. So for example the layers above and between can be the same or similar thickness if the insulation above has twice the thermal resistance of the insulation between/below. So if you have structural rafters/joists between SIP panels you will need a fair amount of insulation on top to ensure they are far enough on the warm side. Putting a vapour barrier below the SIPs isn't usually considered sufficient to prevent a problem occurring. I'm not aware of any reason why you can't put a vapour barrier below the SIP if you also have enough insulation above them.

Also spraying onto the underside of non vapour permeable membranes.

Sorry if you already know this but.. Right now there is an issue with mortgage lenders refusing mortgages on houses with spray foam in the roof. Its not clear if they have a blanket ban or if they get their surveyor to check it has/hasnt been correctly installed. https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2021/12/21/rpsa-warns-250000-homes-could-be-unmortgageable-due-to-spray-foam-insulation/ I would think it worth getting an independent nterstitial condensation risk report done on the proposed design just in case its an issue in the future.

"UK imports no fuel from Russia for first time on record" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62659391 I think the problem is more countries like Germany and Poland(?) are dependent on Russian gas in winter and that's pushing up gas prices for everyone. They are trying to fill storage tanks as fast as possible in case Russia turns off the tap.

We have MVHR. Its main benefit is constant ventilation in the winter when we don't have doors and windows open. If money is tight I would look at improving insulation in walls and roof first, then possibly MVHR and perhaps external shutters or roller blinds on south and west facing windows?

The main problem is that Russia is only running the Nordstream pipeline at 20% of capacity and will shut it for three days next week for unplanned maintenance. Gazprom are saying "the pipeline's only remaining compressor requires maintenance". I guess we can expect that compressor to "fail" mid winter.