TheMitchells

We tried that with a hose directed onto the roof but he couldnt see anything coming in.

Yes, I can see that now. I haven't been up the ladder but will ask OH to check then look to find a roofer. Thanks.

Recently we have noticed that after rain, in the top corner of our bathroom (nearest the back corner of the house) the plaster tape has been coming loose, with some damp behind. It is around the sil pipe which runs up, into the attic and out through the roof. After clearing some space in the attic, we removed the insulation from that corner and could see the plasterboard was soggy within the surround of the soil pipe. The wood next to it is wet but the rest around is damp only, not that wet. So we next moved outside and looked at that corner of the house. I can see that some of the mortar under the roof tiles is missing and that is the side that gets the most rain. But that doesnt seem to be the reason the corner of the attic is wet - its in the wrong place. while we do need to get it repaired, hubby thinks it could be coming in from the flashing around the soil pipe. I have added some pictures. Any ideas how we can try sealing around the flashing or does it need to be re-done? We'll have to get scaffolding up to do the mortar (and paint the soffits) so are looking to do it all in one go. Luckily there is good verntilation in the attic and we hope that now the insulation is pulled away, it will dry. Unless we get lots more rain.

All those plants look very pretty in the 3rd from last photo. Or are they the neighbours? 😁 It all looks great and I have enjoyed reading about your renovation - particularly as I shall proably be doing exactly the same to ours in a couple of years when parents no longer need it. We recently had a quote from a consultancy firm to help with planning an extension and a good quality renovation. And while their costs were more than i'd hoped, they seemed to think we'd need around £200k to renovate to a high standard. I'd budgeted half that! We would never get that back on saved energy costs so we likely shall be doing it ourselves, using the information on here. No doubt I will be picking your brains for some of it. Thanks for all the information and ideas that i hope to use. 🙂

Not sure if this helps, but a few years ago a friend commissioned a company to provide a canopy for her garden but when it arrived, she could not open the patio door with the canopy in place. The company said she was responsible for checking the measurements and it was her problem. We went to court and said that she signed the documents but trusted the company to get the measurements right. She was not responsible if they measured wrongly. it was found in her favour.

Martin Lewis said last week that energy prices were being forecasted to go lower than they had thought! maybe down 16%.

I have seen here posts about blown beads being pumped into cavity walls under pressure but am unable to find it again😒. A friend has been renovating an old stone cottage and seemed to think that he could not use cavity wall insulation as the walls were uneven and beads would not fill the space. But I am sure i saw something on here about them being blown in with 100psi which may work. Does anyone have any recommendations for companies that may be able to help? We are on Oxfordshire/Northants border. or point me to the post..... thanks, in advance.

Any update to this with photo's would be nice to hear. As I am planning my own referb of 70's bungalow. 🙂

Hope you dont mind me resurrecting this post. I am looking to insulate elderly parents bungalow. We had a discussion with Eco Consultant but their costs and cost of EWI was far more than we want to pay/would earn back over many years, so we are looking to do it ourselves, hopefully with advice from here. The front of the bungalow is likely to be twin brick cavity with no insulation. (bricks laid lengthways) with an overhang from the roof. I am thinking of adding cavity wall insulation to the wall but I am also concerned about the lack of insulation at the top f the wall, under the soffits and into the attic, where we cannot reach to improve the insulation. Any pointers where I may find the best way of insulating that area? I am thinking we will have to remove the lower line of tiles/felt as mentioned by Roger above but what should be do then?? Thanks. I will try to get some photographs of the front wall and soffit when there on Monday.

I find Kilrock descaler is very good. We use it with boiling hot water and you can see the limescale dissolving. https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/kilrock-multi-purpose-descaler400ml there are other suppliers!

Welcome to the Forum! Looking forward to hearing about your renovation.😀

Has anyone tried one of these or know anything about it? I have looked for some figures into how much power it uses but cant seem to find anything. It just says how good it is. Currently selling for £50ish, depending on how many you buy. I'm wondering if its any good. https://equiwarmpro.co/

I guess I thought all that too - I doubt it will sort the problem out but it may get them through the winter. Re sorting out the window - I doubt it will happen but I will try to help them find someone who could do that. Whether they want to spend the money on it is down to them. I doubt they have much to spend and they have lived all their lives being frugal (to the point of poverty) that getting them to spend is hard. (To be fair, they are both near 80 and unlikely to change now). 😊

A good friend of mine lives in a very old terraced house (one of the oldest in town) and has a big probelm with her kitchen windows. The kitchen extension was done many years ago. It does not have foundations, has single glazed metal frames (apparently it is a particular type) and the Conservation officers will only allow new suitable wooden double glazed windows which she cannot afford. To help get her through the winter, i am making thermal curtains but would like to add secondary glazing to the outside of the main window (155 x 127cm) to help stop the problem of condensation running down the insides everyday, which has rotted the frame, both inside and out. It is so bad that a slug recently crawled in through the frame from outside! What products could help? I hope to screw a wooden frame to the outside and glaze it, so it can be removed in warmer weather so she has ventilation. (Though she typically opens the back door). But when i tried to find a solid bit of wood to screw it to, it was all a bit squidgy. We are worried about removing the whole window as the concrete lintel above, looks like it only sits on a couple of inches of a brick pillar each side and we are worried if the window is removed, the lintel would collapse! It is a huge mess with some temporary fixes in the kitchen still there after about 30 years! 🫣 I was looking at Ronseal Wet Rot wood hardener first then Wood Filler. But are there any other products which could be better? Would they work? I shall try to get some photos, if I can.

received this today - a little too expensive for me but i can see it being very useful in busy environments - offices/libraries etc. https://lifi.co/lifi-product/lifimax-compact/ LiFiMAX Compact: Reshaping the Way You Connect Experience blazing-fast speeds and unmatched security while enjoying our special launch discount. Order now and step into the future of connectivity. Order with absolute confidence – it’s completely risk-free with our 100% money-back guarantee! $1650 $1399

Listened to the TED talk abouot Lifi - it sounds the future of data transmission. Here's the company details. They have working technology now. https://www.purelifi.com/about-lifi/

We arent in a rush. He used to be but has retired and no longer qualified. However, he is very 'handy' and can turn his hand to most things.

Currently on Octopus Green Fixed till December, thank goodness as their bills stayed at £120 all through the energy hikes! That was one of my better moves. Insulation is probably rubbish apart from the new shower room we added in 2019. It was built in 1970's, we think. Our plan is to 'move in' when they dont need it any more and do renovation to high standard (near EnerPhit?). So thinking long term. Also need the PV to be adaptable to any future heating system we use.

Thanks, just read your post re the vertical panels. I need to work out the angle on the bungalow roof - it is almost perfectly south with no shading. The garage could be fixed pretty much any angle. At least the Tesla cost sounds reasonable. Will do more reading and YouTube watching re DIY.

Is there an advantage to putting solar on a flat garage roof? Would it be cheaper? We are thinking of adding solar to the south facing roof of my parents bungalow, with a battery in the garage (about 30m away). They currently have night storage heaters and do use quite a lot of electric. I was given a quote from Egg Solar - The design we propose for your property is a 12 No. 390W Trina Solar all-black panels. This will make sure you maximise your output and give you access to an app to monitor everything. Our budget estimate for the supply and installation of the solar PV system is £8,900 and £9,250 for the supply and installation of the Tesla Powerwall. Should you wish to install a battery at an alternate time then VAT rate is 20%. This was a year ago and we did not go any further with it. But i am looking at it again and asking a couple of other firms for quotes. the bungalow has a largish flat roof on the garage and workshop at the bottom of the garden. It could be far easier to put them on there. Also, we could look at a DIY system as hubby is good with electrics though not qualified any more. We could find a helpful electrician nearby possibly. Any advice would be appreciated.

It is all very exciting! Good luck - I'll look forward to following the build.😃

Found this in a guide, "Sustainable Renovation. A guide to improving homes for energy, health and environment." ... airtightness is important is because it is usually the most cost effective way we have to reduce energy consumption. The difference between the construction costs of creating a leaky and an airtight one is perhaps no more than 1%, yet it could mean a 40% improvement in performance. For those looking for “quick wins” there simply isn’t a more cost-effective solution. Taken as an isolated item, the proportion of heat loss in a typical building due to draughts is very roughly 40%. This means that for every £100 spent on heating bills, £40 is due to air leakage. Also, as buildings are responsible for around half of all UK carbon emissions, and that draughts are responsible for nearly half of that amount, then draughts are responsible for nearly a quarter of all UK carbon emissions, comparable to all carbon emissions associated with transport, that is, all car, bus, and train journeys, every year. So while airtightness can feel like a rather mundane subject, it is also extremely important. While I am sure everyone on this site already knows this; to see it so clearly laid out how important it is, I thought it worth mentioning. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3.spanglefish.com/s/31974/documents/[digitalv3]-guide-to-domestic-retrofit-compressed.pdf 150 page of good stuff which I am slowly workingmy way through. What I particularly like about the report is the important of the health of occupiers and how that goes hand in hand with a reduction in energy use while considering the environment too.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/hempcrete-construction-us-building-code-sustainable/?utm_source=Reasons+to+be+Cheerful&utm_campaign=35cae6aa4a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_11_22_04_40_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89fb038efe-35cae6aa4a-389709485 Another cheerful article on how we can improve buildings while contribution to saving the planet. I still hope to build a house one day and my plan is definately to use hempcrete. Hope you enjoy the story.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/bamboo-building-construction-hong-kong/?utm_source=Reasons+to+be+Cheerful&utm_campaign=35cae6aa4a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_11_22_04_40_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89fb038efe-35cae6aa4a-389709485 Found this and thought some of you may like to read it.

Tried that and it was very hard work. After an hour of hard work, we had taken out 3 (1 metre) and there is another 15 m to go. I have better things to spend my time on - like a mini digger!