Temp

I think bnq call it creosote "substitute".

I used light brown Creosote from bnq instead but it's not as good looking.

When I suggested to my builder that he needed a new site van he whispered to me that it wasn't a good idea because trades would just sit in it all day drinking tea.

The amount of energy needed to heat a room depends entirely on the room. How big, how hot, how well insulated, how well ventilated, how long at what temperature etc. If you keep all that constant then it doesn't really matter what type of electric heater you use as they are all 100% efficient. I go for something with a thermostat or timer. Possibly a fan heater if I wanted quick warm up time. Or a convection type with optional fan to reduce noise. Typically people will say that oil filled heaters cost less than fan heaters but that's normally because they have a lower output so they aren't heating the room to the same standard. A lot of companies make claims for fancy/expensive "Ceramic core" heaters. Many are frankly dubious, for example some claim the ceramic core continues to give out heat even when they are switched off. That's true but only because the core absorbed energy when it was switched on. Its not free energy. The only way to do significantly better is to use a heat pump which effectively have an efficiency (COP) of 300%.

Any sign of leaks or overflowing gutters when it's pouring down? Hose may not be enough flow rate.

The mortar looks too good for these to be retrofitted. It looks like they were fitted before the wall was pointed and the pointing filled them. The brickwork looks very uniform. Are you sure it's wet? Normally when wet it's more patchy and you get the white salt efflorescence around the edges where its dry/evaporating.

The insulation is not likely to be an issue for lighting cables. For power cables there might need to be some derating if this hasn't been taken into account. Typically if you know its going in/undervinsulation you can specify a thicker cable or smaller RCD/MCB but again not always necessary. Remember most power circuits are rings so there are two wires in parallel. Discuss with your electrician. https://professional-electrician.com/technical/impact-thermal-insulation-current-carrying-capacity-flat-twin-earth-cables/ In Fig 2, the current-carrying capacity of a 2.5 mm2 flat twin and earth cable is shown in brackets for each of these Installation Methods.

Change you stats/timer. We have Heatmiser programmable stats that allow you to set different temperatures for four time periods a day. So if you want a room "off" at night you could set it to 10C or lower and it wouldn't come on. In practice we set it to 16C at night and it's only on very cold nights does it come on. I'm sure there are lots of other stats that can do more. We love our UFH but we are retired so there is someone home most days, otherwise the warm up time might be annoying.

+1 As far as I know oil boilers don't modulate at all. The burner is either full on or off.

@TerryE Interesting post. It suggests convection isn't enough to extract more than about 0.5kw from the rad. Adding some fans might help.

UFH has a much slower response time than rads. Personally I would stick with rads unless one of you is home most days so the heating is on in the daytime. If you have the heating set up on a twice a day program because you bot work the I'd stick with rads.

+1 We filled in both sides of a UB then used joist hangers with long tails that went over the top and down the other side. Nailed in both sides.

PIR sensor connected to a sprinkler?

Footprints sometimes raise the surrounding material. That's harder to deal with than the hollow. If not too late wack or scrape any raised area back down.

You mentioned you have an amplifier. That can make the signal strength reading on the TV misleading. The signal from the aerial could be a lot weaker but it's being boosted by the amplifier. Unfortunately amplifiers boost noise as well as the signal. It would be worth trying a temporary direct connection to the aerial with no branches off to other outlets just to see what the baseline signal is like. Maximise reception like that first. If the signal from the aerial is good then use a distribution amplifier with low/modest modest gain to provide the other outputs. High gain amplifier shouldn't really ever be needed. It's better to fit a bigger aerial or if it's already massive fit a mast head amplifier. Unfortunately there are loads of possible reasons for reception problems but always best to start with the best aerial set up you can't get.

Personally I like deep back boxes. Let's you squeeze in home automation devices later. Ask for a Neutral at all switches if you can.

I mean both really. We have a public footpath through our garden and was told the standard width was 3m when we had it diverted along the boundary. Ive always assumed that was the width they wanted for footpath alongside a road but haven't seen any documentary evidence/law that supports this.

+1 3m is the standard width of a public footpath.

Presumably you mean sound insulation because it wouldn't make sense to thermally insulate the outside unit.

I'd be setting up CCTV cameras to catch them if they go spraying weedkiller.

Think I'd just do this. Since you have steels both sides.. What's the loading like? Would they need to be something other than the lightest of lightweight blocks?

We hang our washing on a rack in the bathroom. Despite being used for three showers a day clothes dry in 12-18 hours thanks to the mvhr. It doesn't take much air flow to dry clothes this time of year wen the air is dry.

Sorry for the delay in replying. On 24/7 ours consumes around 2.5-3kWh a day or 105-125W. That's about 1000 kWh a year or £350 pa at the capped rate.

Just thought I would go to the horses mouth so to speak.. eg Approved Doc J. I know that's not actually the Building Regs but... So sure a raised surface is only "a way" of achieving the requirements but the intent seems clear. The idea is to discourage people putting carpet/rugs too close.

Available December!