zoothorn

Rads- thats easy.. none! pipes go in me 'ole > across small loft > down for my kitchen & bathroom H+C water. rockwool- that's an interesting suggestion. I was under impression the whole shebang needs pulling out, 3x2 fix to walls / 3" pir / new pB. I only have a small area of old wall like ^ these crumbles.

Yup looks so. Fine if just an inch / pick out/ repoint.. but most of face is like so, & alot going in a good 2" inches. makes me nervous its all gonna cave in! (95% of the upstairs walls, onto which the pb/ 3x2 + wedge things all attatch, is thankfully -not- old castle like this, but brick albeit 2 cr*p courses: Ive old walls, on the upper floor, only on the 2 ends of the house 'shell' going up like triangles: chimney stack end, & this opposite end where this old window was. Then brick joins onto these, & around the sides forming the 1st floor walls

And this is the house's main issue. 4+" gap/ voids between plasterboards > & walls (huge draught in here/ cold loft air down > cocoons upstairs rooms/ landing, & right down to the main room ceiling so in places one skin of pB separates this cold air 'blanket' to main room.. above fire too). The way its done: pB attatched to 3x2 frames, which stand-off from inner walls by 1+" wedges. Not a jot of insulation. The pic shows the castle wall again, side.. with the 1+" gap (with one stand-off in/ wedge), the pB towards LHS onto the 3x2 (forget the pine timber far LHS, its me 'ole door monstrosity sides). THIS is main reason why I'm so cold in the main part of house.

I think its a step far for me to consider Onoff. i could come back to it, in a few years, in theory. Ive opened a can of worms 1st tho. The castle walls L&R (& above prolly but I'm not daring to poke here) have alot of soft rotten mortar, going in quite a few inches in places too. I was poking about with intent to re-point (prior to doing the frame > pir inserts) as the outer white was just flaking/ coming away.. & its now a really substantial lot of rotten soft/ damp mortar, enough Im worried to poke further. What to do? The sill of the castle window is a decent concrete cap, & a lintel with some useful old 3x2 on facing it, so I intend to continue this down L&R & across the concrete to form my frame. Pipes & wires do interrupt tho.

This is what I thought myself. pir'ing it instead is a job too far logistically, even if it would be better. Ok so back to me 'ole. A 3x2 frame, wedged +foamed in 12". Then whack 10x my 1" pir's in, leaving gaps at edges to foam.. stuck together one by one with soudal foam. Face the front with pB? & a pB layer in the frame for pir to push onto maybe too? I guess it doesn't need to look pretty, just solely functional.. cheers- zoot

Aha I get it.. yup got a great chopsaw, never used in other way than 90* across but I guess you just shift it L a bit to 30* or something.. & whip off some 3x2 end for wedges? Sorry are you suggesting leave my brown fluff & not redo with pir, or put in pir then put brown fluff back over top? What about Mickey & The Expanding Foam? won't the lil fkwit just eat a hole through an edge area tho?

Haha! oh no Im not laughing cos its died.. So you mentioned 160mm pir (instead of my new brown thick wadding, yes?) is that because joists are a bit longer as a std building rule? 160mm is just over 6", which is what I thought joists are, no? or maybe joists are also 160mm & just termed "6 inch" ? As you see I'm weighing up if I could, conceivably do this before blocking me' ole with pir/ 3x2 frame/ foam etc. One thing to add there- Mickey seems very much to like munching expandi foam tho. the little prick. Is pir on his menu too?

Cold rant over/ back on the job! patched wall area near fridge, & base painted whole wall- seems ok none of that horrorshow old paint underneath showing thru! so prep's paid off (hardest work yet- major graft). @PeterW I'm just going over your suggestion for blocking me 'ole, without actual blocks then- great. Must do this job next. Now the old 'castle walls' are very uneven, & not nice ~ limestone to drill into.. but alot harder/ denser, slate chunks (+ crap mortar prolly). How the heck can I drill into this to fix my frame in- is it even possible? Onoff I'm not quite following your 'walk' idea (with my 1" pir-?).. can you expand on this? cheers chaps- zoot

I could conceivably do so.. but logistics, one tiny 1/2 size hatch I can barely get thru, removing all brown wadding & old orange stuff (having only just paid to have it done too!) = I think I'll have to make do with it as it is. I'm sure the ceiling isn't where majority of cold is getting -in- too.. rather it would mostly serve only to contain any heat I can get in here (a struggle as floor/ walls, & big windows too basically introduce SO much cold, as to make heating this kitchen nigh on impossible even if I have a heater on flat-out, as I have to have most of the time- very costly). I Its an absolute nightmare Im sure alot of folks would just pull the whole thing down & build a completely new dwelling instead. Last ev for eg: the warmest room; the main room (as its got the 10kW stove in).. stove cruising @ 350*C , for 3hrs, you go to sit in couch close by & its cold. Your back's cold/ your legs cold. So you have to keep getting up to stand next to stove for 5mins. Etc. And that's the cosiest it gets! just about ok with thermal leggings on, hat on.. but end 1/2 room is barely warm, then go upstairs to bed (immediately above stove) & you see your breath as you go up the stairs! heaven knows how a 60+ yr old woman, her daughter & her baby coped. I feel very sorry for the baby. And that was even colder, no stove but a cr*p gas thing instead I ripped out pronto. Its like going back to how they lived in 50's/ 60's living here in winter. And last night wasn't even that cold. Right now, fan heater right next to me on high & on/off all day.. my nose is freezing, ends of fingers cold/ all cuttlery/ tools/ everything is terribly, oppressively cold. And go outside- & it actually feels warmer! Its honestly, like living in a fridge.

Hi PeterW, Onoff.. before any idea of trying anything in the house vs the cold, was to get a Co in for new loft insulation (or modern version of the cr*p orange thin 80's stuff up there they just whacked it ontop of). Both lofts done. But, no difference to either beds or kitchen interms of 'feel'/ any cosier. Zilch. Asking the Q why not > lead me to conclude it had to be walls &/ or floor as chief 'cold cause' culprit then. So, as not possible to redo floors (& a huage job to renovate upstairs walls, which I'll have to do, next year, as the house is near-unliveable in re. cold esp upstairs) = only these 2 kitchen walls feasably I could attack (& jury's still out if any difference having been done). "Oh you'll be much cosier once this is all in" they said.. not an iota of change/ but still had to be done tho. The brown oomschka thru bed2 'window', isn't in fact an enormous rice pud eminating from kitchen below.. but new Co's insulation. I asked them to lay some over this window 'void' (only a token jesture vs the cold getting in here to bed2, as I knew).

Actually last night the main room was pretty cosy, 2 doors with excluders/ big curtain across stairs, door to kitchen kept shut.. albeit after the stove taking 2 hours using 1/2 a basket of logs as usual, a fairly big room mind.. but go upstairs into bed2 & you see your breath! its bizarre. I must block up this bloomin great 'ole tho pronto Onoff. I'm thinking 2 courses of those lighter weight 'thermo' blocks, going across/ parrallel to the ply square, with 2x 2" of celotex (or 4x or even 6x my 1" offcuts.. I got lots to use up) between. Is that the right sort of idea-?

Thanks Peter- bloomin hard to get a good pic of colour: uncannily my green-cicled 'Z' over here (<).. is an almost spot on colour match. [JSHarris glad someone's awake at the back!] Good link again Onoff.. looks ideal. you're a dictionary on just whats needed- most helpful! (I think I'll do a separate thread for blocking up my bed2 hole).

Onoff whilst your there, a slight detour Q.. As I mentioned, Ive a pressing job as winter's near: the 2nd/ spare bedroom's ply-covering-an-old-window-void. Through void, thbrown wadding is (a token gesture!) is the loft above kitchen/ cold air: a huge reason surely for freezing upstairs rooms.. alas not the main reason, but a job that desperately needs doing 1st of -many- upstairs. The pic shows the thickness of old 1830 wall, the narrowing of walls' sides outwards.. & the added prob of plumbing pipes + leccy wires (both out into loft > down into extenstion area incorporating kitchen, bathroom). This is typical of the dog's dinner job I'm up against sorting.

Well I'm not bad in fact (the sloped reveal edges you suggested came out great- you totally forget there's even a slope, I'm really stoked with this). But what i'm thinking, as its thick plaster (crap job): mortar a 2mm layer.. skim over 2mm with my cheapo plaster. Its ~sort of hidden by fridge etc & not a prominent area so can compromise. gonna have to, I can't warrant the time on a VG plaster job + £20 of materials just for this twattybit.

Nuts.. I'll have to do it the zoot short way then.

Ive got this huge blown area of plaster to sort too- what do I do here-? the plaster's a good 4mm thick.

I started using the p80 today.. but same results, very little paint coming off/ you need ages one a tiny bit, drives you mad & unfeasable timewise 7 effort (Im covered in sweat & dust just doing 1 sq foot) means you just can't continue. No mammals up me pipe, today. 1300w Vax, all checked nothing stopping suction.. but design of handy (so far as this one is telling me) isn't making suction happen on the face, or very very little as to be 95% useless. i don't get it.. the dedicated vacs cant be like 3x mine @ 3900w or something absurd. tried my other 1200w vac/ same. connection albeit gaffered, are solid, vent thing closed on handybendygandy & my vac hose. im back to scraping every inch as it means at least no dust.

Chaps, if you would please: I need more ideas on how the heck to remove this paint residue. Pic below. Ive tried the mirkin & I can't make use of it: everything in kitchen ~& me covered in awful fine dust. it won't pick up this square of thin card here, or any of the dust fallen off the wall here, if I rest the handy thing directly onto it- so s'thing ain't right.. it seems it may only work if you buy the vac for it.. which isn't how its marketed, IMO). Ive tried: scraper, too stuck firm & so ages to remove 1sq inch/ unviable. Sanding: even with p80 its still too stuck firm, & dust a major issue. Its jsut prominenty enough to be seen if I leave it on, annoyingly or I'd just paint over. Any decorators out there? or anyone you know who is I could PM directly? Thanks zoot

My cam falls short in the colour dept, & a sunny room so tricky to pic.. but its a light, warm green sort of 70's colour (vg for listening to my new fav band the Lemon Twigs in). Well now Mickey the little assh*le, now he cant get in me pipe hole, went round/ in my front door, up stairs, & now munching the foam gaps around/ above main room edges causing much horrible & continuous scratching. what an assh*le. I'm very happy with my kitchen thus far- its now a pleasure to be in. seriously chaps, thanks a heap y'all! I think one last mid-term joyous musical interlude- then its onto major prep wall 3 & 4 this wknd.

Actually it looks like Ive gone back to bare pB again! cr*p pics/ light.. so I'll redo with flash. Really glad that 2/3rds over with. But Ive still alot to start on the other side now, not just below top stuff. 2 walls need huge prep/ hard work, then 2 new high cupboards, with an extractor between (poss thinking 3 new units), a new hob to fit in new top, prior to this all cabinets & oven to strip out, clean & reconfigure as the oven needs to sit down 4" to have room to fit any new hob above. Then all cupboard doors to paint, a corner cupboard to fit (above gaggia), cupboard below strips to add, skirting, heater back on.. then lino to replace. And yes a step for the fridge to sit on too. I'm probably only 1/2 way through, at best 2/3rds. But its a huge imprrovement that I never thought I'd be able to do all this. The proof of the primary job, the wall insulation additions, will be in the coming cold snap. I'm hoping to see a fraction of improvement in the 'feel' to this ice-cold kitchen, & my previous conclusion was premature that there seemed to be no difference.. major fingers x'd.

I take that as a major compliment! then check this out.. you'll hate it even more (seriously when music like this comes out the blue pretty much everything stops. 17 & 19 yrs old brothers. nothing as fresh since deerhoof.. you'll love that too btw!)