Beau

We installed an induction hob in our barn conversion probably 15 years ago. As others have said it's lovely to cook on but touch controls can be a pain especially when you want to turn something down in a rush as it about to boil over. Recently moved into the old farmhouse and the first thing we did was rip out the LPG AGA which as to be the most inefficient and just all round dreadful cooker ever invented. Over 2K a year in bulk tank LPG to heat one room, the hot water and cook. Picked up a SH, faulty Falcon range cooker with induction hob. Not a cheap fix but ended up a third the price of a new one. Knobs for controls and no turning itself off when you boil something over so now it's our favourite cooker ever

14.5K here after the grant for Vaillant aroTherm plus 7kW, hot tank, 11 rads and all plumbing. I'm sure they made a hansom profit but unless you are ballsy enough to design and do it yourself they have you by the short and curly's.

So shrinking treads is quite possible the cause. As above I would see if it will press back or use a sacrificial piece of spare wood held over the nosing and give it a good thump with a hammer and hopefully it will push it back. I would test fist to see if it will move and if yes then run some glue in and tap/clamp back into position. Another way might be to screw and plug from the front of the nosing to pull it together as clamping maybe tricky. If it wont move wait until everything is fully dry and fill the crack either with epoxy if you think it needs reinforcing or just a coloured filler if not needing to be structural.

The Burley small stove works well IME. Not sure if they have a closed combustion option though

Are the stairs new and have the treads been glued into the stringer? First thought is if they have and the tread then shrinks with this dry weather some cracks will occur

Thanks John. They were opposed to Velux at the time due to the thicker visible frames but I see them being used on other builds locally now so will now take a closer look at them and the sizes. Hoping to avoid too much roof restructuring work

We did our barn conversion nearly 20 years ago. The planners (Dartmoor National Park) were strict about types of conservation roof-lights so we went with the ones they liked (The Rooflight Company). They are steel and get terrible condensation and are now rusting quite badly. Do all rooflights suffer in this way or can I get conservation rooflights that last longer? Alternatively I can do my best to remove all the rust and give them a good dose of Hammerite paint to buy us a few more years. Thanks

We had an anhydrite liquid screed and tiled straight on to it. I did have to grind the top and prime it but no decoupling membrane which sounds weird as surly you need the tiles bonded to the floor anyway

This is how I've narrowed down the disposable masks to use. I make charcoal as well and charcoal dust creeping inside a mask is very easy to spot

I either use the 3M Aura with valve or the Mouldex ones which are more pricey but hold their shape better. What matters most is that whatever you buy fits you. We all have different shaped faces so no point having the best filter system only to have all the air get in around the side. Been taking down lath and plaster ceilings recently and both these masks were up to job for me

Thanks. I will try and dig out the details

Not at all. I was very familiar with our old GSHP but haven't really got my head around this ASHP and its controls There are two controllers. One is now built into a cupboard as I was told I wouldn't need to touch it once up and running and the other does have an installer level section but I cant see anything about flow rates on it.

It's built into the heat pump. According to the specs flow rates go from 540-1205 l/h. My gut feeling listening to it is it operates at one or the other and doesn't modulate between the two.

I suspect your right but not sure what to do about it. This morning I came down and it was just audible like say a gas boiler in a neighbouring room. Now it's just stepped up more like I am in the room with a boiler even though is not cold outside and flow temps are low. Sometimes when its cold you get a two noises one is just rushing water in pipes but there is a second like a distant car is coming up our quiet country road but never gets here. I think the second noise is the heat pump running getting carried through the pipes. It's interesting that others say their systems are near silent as I had just put it down to the ASHPs needing high flow rates but maybe this is not the case. I did mention it early on to the installer but they just shrugged as though it was normal. On the water noise in the pipes I dont think I saw them deburr inside any of the pipes it was just pipe cutter then clamp. Could the burrs be causing turbulence and in turn the noise of rushing water?

We live on Dartmoor. It's around 11C outside and been gusting 55 kmh. The house is only part renovated and we get poor solar gain due to having just two south facing windows and are very shaded from the east.