Temp

Just wanted to follow up on this old thread.. I ended up sanding off all our external oak (a massive job) and then repainting it with a coat of Dainish Oil for colour then 3 coats of OSMO UV Protection Oil. The OSMO is turning out to be way better than Dainish Oil. On freshly cut oak the result is a bit too white rather than honey colour hence the first coat of Dainish. I recently noticed some areas I did back then were looking a bit grey and I thought it might be time to recoat. On closer inspection the grey staining turned out to be dirt! I ended up using a small pressure washer to remove it and the OSMO underneath looks as good as ever.

Can I check if you mean.. a) A warm loft/room in roof Or. b) A warm roof construction that puts all the insulation above rather than between the rafters

That's actually about 25km on the Ukranian side of the front line suggesting there has been a Russian breakthrough.

What you need is a small directional radioactive source and stick it to the wall, then go outside and find it with a Gieger counter 🙂 Or perhaps not.

I did. See above.

Ours exit/enter through the soffit. Has a seperate small bore pipe for condensate but I have never seen anything come out of if.

Presumably the 3 year time limit was to minimise disruption for neighbours? In which case has work already started? If not then I see no reason why you couldn't get it changed to 3 years from start of development. Think I would try and get the vendor to ask the planners if such an ammendment would be possible and what you would need to do.

I think what I would build would be a "flat" roof design. I'd go for blockwork walls on UK standard trench foundations (if the ground conditions allow). If there are no windows on the side walls they could easily carry the load of a universal beam supporting 3.3m timber joists. The beam ends would rest on concrete pad stones set in the blockwork ito prevent a "cheese wire" effect. The design would be validated by an engineer. If there are windows in the walls under the beam ends then the engineer may need to uprate the lintel above the window. On top of the joists and beam would go "firings" (strips of wood of varying thickness to create a slight fall) then a sandwich of OSB/insulation/OSB creating what we call a "warm roof" structure. This effectively eliminates the possibility of interstitial condensation. Finally you add a proprietary waterproof layer, typically EPDM or fibreglass. If you want a pitched roof you need to find a waterproof layer that can tolerate the pitch. For example at low pitches wind will blow rain up the slope and under some types of tiles and slate causing water penetration. Otherwise the construction could be similar, just tell the engineer to size the beam and joists to carry your choice of waterproof layer.

Timber can be shot nailed or bolted to steel beams. We have done to the web of the beams in our house but not sure if it's allowed to drill holes in the flanges? How was he going to fix the door frame to the underside of the beam before you decided to lower it? Use same method.

I think the problem is too much choice. There are numerous ways to build it. Is the rest of the house timber or brick? Does the extension need to match? Are you wanting to build it yourself? Can you lay bricks? Here in the UK the most common construction methods are variations of a cavity wall.. From outside to inside.. a) Brickwork outer leaf, cavity, Insulation, block work inner leaf. b) Render, Blockwork outer leaf, cavity, Insulation, block work inner leaf. c) Brick or Rendered block outer leaf, cavity, Insulation between timber frame. d) Timber cladding, cavity, Insulation, blockwork leaf

Apparently an xbox uses all the bandwidth it can get when doing game updates, and much less during actual game play. So one option that might help would be to turn off game updates on the xbox. Tell him he can turn updates on when you are out? https://youtu.be/tRdEExYnEok

If it had been a wired connection it might have been possible to insert a 10MBit hub in the path. They still seem to exist surprisingly.

If you Google for Bandwidth limiting with BT you can find several posts saying it's not possible with BT Routers. Many replies recommend switching to a TP Link Router but point out you loose BT support (and possibly support for BT WiFi range extenders?).

Some WiFi access points can also do bandwidth limiting so how does the xbox connect? Probably wired connection?

Some Routers have the ability to limit the bandwidth each device gets. The way they do this probably varies. On some I believe you can just set a hard limit like 10MBit or 20MBit so no device uses more than half of the available 40Mbit bandwidth. However I don't know what current BT modem/Routers can do. I found one comment from 2019 that said they have a QoS (Quality of Service) setting which is meant to do something like this but it said it still allows some streaming services like Netflix to have too much priority over other devices.

You're probably going to have to actually work out the cost to bring it back into use and show that would be more than its worth when completed.

Those lights are illuminating the render at a very shallow angle. If the render is sound and you dont want to redo it perhaps just move the lights. I get same effect when I mow the lawn. Looks awful in the evening when the sun is low but fine next day.

Not sure why you can't use wood instead of foam. Perhaps a Wood/Rigid Foam/Wood sandwich to provide a thermal break? Might need mesh over the wood-lintel join on the outside to prevent cracks in render. Perhaps I misunderstood the problem?

I missed this a few days ago.. Dry weather in Norway may mean they aren't able to export as much hydroelectricity to the UK this winter. https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/08/08/will-the-cut-in-norwegian-interconnector-flows-bring-more-energy-misery-to-uk/

Most of the £150k cost will probably be digging up and reinstating the road. Who owns the road and is there an alternative route across fields to the main?

Try Gumtree. Search within say 30 or 50 miles. Ask what it's been used for. Wants to be something water soluable you can put down a drain.

This is our dining room ceiling. None of the oak is structural. It's got steel and concrete B&B floor above it. Ignore the cobwebs.

Have you considered a concrete structural lintel set above a decorative oak beam? If its only one or two short spans the cost would be modest. Possibly less than getting new calculations done? The conc lintel would probably need to be slightly longer as it rests on pad stones either end of the oak beam. Oak beam carries no weight so could be cheaper lower grade with knots for character etc. Possibly even Green oak if you don't mind filling shrinkage gaps in a year or two.

It doesnt take much of a leak. You probably won't see it, you have to physically feel around pipes with a dry hand. Check all valves in particular. Eg All motorised valves (turn off electric) and radiator valves. Perhaps also any expansion vessels.

That's less than £100 a meter which is what I was quoted back in 2007. I think it's a very good price for them doing the work.