Garald

A quick Google search shows that these all count as "plinthes": though so does something that looks more like a plinth, or like a baseboard: If the first of these is a plinthe, though, what isn't a plinthe?

I think you can make a plinthe out of plenty of things, including the tiles you've used to tile the wall (the option we'll follow, since GF hates the concept of a "plinthe"). I think the point is that it sticks out, and hides some mystery behind it - otherwise there would be not much point in calling it a plinthe, would it be. Or perhaps a plinthe can be invisible. But then what was the fuzz all about?

Nothing; it's the grey wall panel that has been covered with tile otherwise. The floor tiles do seem to go down to the very edge of the room. The idea seems to be that a plinth is better than just plain old grout. Or maybe it hides a lot of unsightly super-grout. Pros and cons of the bizarre possibility of not having a plinth, in French: https://www.quotatis.fr/conseils-travaux/faq/cuisine/le-carrelage-sans-plinthes-pour-ou-contre/?fbclid=IwAR3zQn9m14tQXLqtI-g_A5LtfV0vcbRMwjqykH00t0Bsj32EgOHXYM3akDY#:~:text=La plinthe est un élément,en bois ou en PVC

Another chapter in the saga! I just had to play again the exhausting role of diplomat between my (French) architect and my (American) girlfriend. In brief: - I am letting GF set up one bathroom exactly as she wishes, so that she gets a bit off my back elsewhere. - She was initially quite happy to see how it was turning out: (The thing in the middle is for a freestanding bathtub.) Later, looking at the picture, she noticed the empty grey strip on the bottom. I asked the architect, and she asked what sort of plinthe ( = plinth, baseboard) we would like. GF was horrified. I told the architect (very diplomatically) that GF wanted no plinth, and it was the architect's turn to be horrified: a plinth is indispensable in a wet room, I take no responsibility for the disaster that is going to happen, etc. "Look around you! There are plinthes in every bathroom." (I was actually sitting on the toilet in my rented flat when I got that text; no, no plinth in the bathroom there.) And then the architect told me she would install a plinthe made out of tile. I didn't know that was a thing - then all that drama was unnecessary, no? At any rate, GF is somewhat mollified, but not entirely, and would like me to give her a good explanation for why a plinthe (even one made out of tile) is necessary, or at least a good idea. (Even if it is made of tile, it disturbs her sense of aesthetics. Also, it is true that the top will gather dust...) So: explanation? Or is it a French thing only?

Ah. Well, we haven't used PIR elsewhere, but it's not as if we were adamantly opposed to it (though we made a consistent choice not to use rockwool, other than in the roof, which will get raised at some point in the undefined future). I'll talk to the contractor - this seems to be the sort of thing he knows well.

You mean, on the inside of the door, or outside? The latter option may not be super for the pyroparanoid. Hm, that's right. Otoh the curtain would hang flat against the door, and there would be no cord to get tangled in.

The architect confirms: they feel cold. She also doubts they are industrial-grade, in spite of their industrial appearance.

Is it enough for a curtain to be listed as a "blackout curtain", or should I get only items specifically listed as "thermal curtains"?

It's cheaper than in the continent (a statement that is logically equivalent to "it's more expensive than in the continent", which is what has really happened), not cheaper than before!

You mean you got thermal curtains for that price? Link?

Well, British curtains are much less in the UK because Brexit!

Will check when I am back. I could ask the contractor. Right, that's what the architect said. So, should I go with one of the high-grade options, like https://www.moondreamwebstore.fr/rideau-thermique-82 (which are optimized for a windows or window-doors, anyhow)? Or would something like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285026787569?hash=item425ceba0f1:g:qOsAAOSwh6tjZVF8 also be good?

I just got back, but here is a picture we took some time ago. The door is presumably from a recognised *French* supplier.

Well, there are curtains that claim to be made out of reflective material: https://www.moondreamwebstore.fr/rideau-thermique-82 (let's call this option A) It seems to hard to get any precise information about them, though (R-value?). Or is any thick curtain likely to be about as good? Then I might as well get something with William-Morris patterns, so as to horrify my girlfriend. (I think that would go very well with the staircase, actually.) Option B: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/madewithlovebyjulie Option 😄 https://society6.com/product/strawberry-thief-by-william-morris4674878_blackout-curtain?sku=s6-19490847p103a251v846a252v849 Is there any real reason to expect different performance from A, B and C? Which ones are more likely to make a real difference, and by how much? No, that's not my door - that's an example photo the architect sent me. The doors I am talking about are pretty standard grey metallic safety doors. They may have some insulation inside - I can't really tell. This is a place I bought recently; I got a bunch of receipts from the previous owners for the various improvements they did, but none of them mention doors, so I assume the doors were installed by the owners before them, and there's no realistic way of getting information from those.

Kant would make stronger claims (and Plato much stronger ones).

:(. Too little physical intuition? The physics I took in Uni mostly taught me that I should learn more about Fourier analysis and Hilbert spaces - an invaluable life lesson, but not strictly speaking one in physics. I'd say it's not a science in English (neither are the social sciences), because of the strong Baconian associations of the word. It's Wissenschaft, however, though so are many other things. In French, Spanish,... - it's an issue of definition. I'm happy to let maths be their own thing.

Hah! I'm a mathematician, not a physicist...

Follow-up question: The idea does seem to make sense - after all, why not treat a metal door as a bad window you don't mind not seeing through? But - does it make sense to have the back of the drape made of reflective material? Sure, it does, but: of the same kind of reflective material as an ordinary heat-insulating curtain? The heat radiated by the (dark grey) door won't be mainly in the visible-light spectrum. Should I focus mainly on having thick drapes?

The existing radiators were used by previous owners (at high temperature) to heat the room back when it was not insulated. If the contractor's tables give us the right figures for their power, then our on-the-spot calculations of their power in low temperature (see below) show that they are brutally overdimensioned (by a factor of more than 3 when it's -2C outside). So, I shouldn't really be concerned, should I? TL;DR: benches on radiators muffle their power, but do not waste energy.

I should be getting permission from the coop to place the external unit on the courtyard later this month. The harder part is to find a heat pump installer who doesn't ghost us! We may have found our man - we shall see.

"Inefficient" here meaning "they heat by the same amount eventually, but they take their time to get going"? It's difficult for me to see where "lost wattage" would be going if not heat.

Yet another heat pump installer visited today - he seemed serious, or at least both receptive and opinionated. (He seems to be an overt fan of overdimensioning things. I suppose that, since the heat pump we are considering has an inverter (meaning it works well even when it's working well beneath its full capabilities), this isn't terrible.) One thing he said is that he was not fond of (our architect's plan) to put wooden benches on top of some long, low radiators. Nice and comfortable, but he said it was not efficient. Now, technically, I don't even know how to start thinking about the efficiency of a radiator, as usually efficiency is defined in terms of energy that is converted into heat, and that's precisely what we want here. Is what is meant that the air in the room won't heat as quickly as it should? Not my place:

Another chapter in the insulation saga! My ground-floor doors are metal security doors. Now, metal is of course a heat conductor, and I don't know what is inside the doors. So - what to do about this? My architect suggests adding fabric on the inside: https://www.futura-sciences.com/maison/comparatifs/meilleur-rideau-isolant-thermique-comparatif/ Does that really make a difference? Is it best?

https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/castle-blog/spiral-stairs