Siochair

I’ve just found this post where they say the cost will be between £12,500 and £19,500. I like the theory of it but maybe not the practice. https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/rooftop-solar-system-delivers-60-more-electricity

Just came across this set-up and thought it looked interesting. It’s not available in the UK yet but I imagine it will be available in due course. https://smartflower.com/

What about a sliding tray or shelf that you could pull out far enough to expose the upward firing speakers and just slide it back in when you are not watching tv? you could even fix it to a drawer front so that when you fold down the drawer front it automatically pulls the soundbar forward and then the reverse when you close it. This will be a bit more work and only of interest if you think the neater look would be worth the effort

That’s a cracking photo. The longest chimneys look to be pigs to sweep.

Yes, it does look to be more relevant to warmer climes; especially so if they provide shading by turning “radiator brown” ?

I came across this and thought it was a really interesting idea: https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/water-filled-glass-windows/

No wonder you are pleased with your decision, it looks fantastic.

I found this site that gives some explanation. https://solarimpulse.com/efficient-solutions/hydraloop There doesn’t seem to be any clearer description.

I’ve just found a “starting price” of over £3000. A nice idea but boy that’s eye watering!

https://www.hydraloop.com/ I came across the above during a wander around the internet and thought it may be of interest to some on here. It’s a water saving system that takes waste water, purifies it and it’s then used for toilet flushing, washing machines etc. I must admit that I have only skimmed the details but it’s probably of most interest to those with a few folk in the household and on a water meter.

I’m sure I read somewhere that there was a type of flu that allowed for a fresh air supply through it. The air intake was just below the top of the chimney. I think the idea was to pre-heat the incoming air to make the combustion that bit more efficient and help keep the stove room sealed.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/read-this/scientists-have-developed-solar-panels-work-gloomy-british-weather-1848675 20% more efficient, suitable for overcast conditions and possibly cheaper than current panels. Sounds good to me.

Found the following article on 6 pane glazing. I know that windows are a weak link with regards to U values but I just wonder if/when these will be a valid choice for domestic use. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778818331554

Puntloos; I find having control of different groups in the same room handy as I prefer to have different lighting for watching tv, reading or listen to music. I have groups set to light each situation. It’s also handy to still retain control of individual lights too. I have a couple of bulbs in different groups or scenes. It’s certainly flexible enough for my needs. I also have a couple of plugs linked to Alexa so I can control lamps that are not connected via the Philips hub.

I am hopeful that this Black Friday sale will have decent bargains of Philips Hue products. I bought my hue hub and bulbs 3 years ago at substantially reduced prices. I’m now looking to kit out another room with them and have a few as spares.

I use Philips Hue bulbs and hub. They are a tad expensive but I’m don’t have too many of them and the convenience of being easy to source and rather idiot proof was an attraction. I use Alexa to control the lights. I can operate either groups or individual bulbs in any room from any room. I particularly like being able to tell Alexa commands like “goodnight” and it switches everything off. The only downside is the Philips hub is connected to my Virgin Media hub and if it goes down then so does your voice control of the lights. Whilst I have had a few problems with Virgin’s reliability previously I am hopeful that the recent remedial work has been successful and they are behind me now and everything is fixed and running properly. Bottom line is my set up is not the cheapest but it is nice and idiot proof.

If it’s only temporary how about a shower curtain and duct tape?

I knew a chap who developed MS. He started out using suction fit grab rails primarily to determine the perfect position but also that he only needed something to help his confidence in keeping his balance rather than putting any great weight on. Once he knew exactly where he wanted the rails he had some made up to best match the match the wall colour that they were fastened to (his wife’s idea). If memory serves he had them made from a resin like material that came in any colour you wanted but was also quite grippy.

Lizzie if you don’t mind the manually operated aspect would external shutters be of any use?

Your house is stunning. Thank you for sharing.

Don’t know if this will help in your situation but when I helped out a mate who had become disabled I fitted a vertical handrail at the end of the shower screen. I left plenty of room between them both to avoid his hand being jammed. I used a wooden pole (beach if memory serves) and fixed it floor and ceiling with a couple of bolsters fitted about a third from the floor and ceiling between the pole and the screen. I also fitted matching horizontal handrails on the shower wall. This worked really well for him.

What about using something like clear acrylic to bridge the gap?

Many years ago a chap I used to work with moved to Australia. His house was fairly remote so was off-grid. He built a ground mounted solar array that tracked the sun. From what I remember he said it was quite rudimentary so cheap to build but did make a huge improvement to yield. Unfortunately he died a few years ago so I can’t get any details of his solution but it might be worthwhile to look into to see if it is either DIY-able or if there is off the shelf solutions now.

I am sure the specs will be ok but, as you say Jeremy, there is a question of trust and security. Whilst I like the idea of having a relatively intelligent automated interconnected home I can't imagine it taking long before there are hacks for it. Nor am I confident that I am willing to balance any gain against the price of giving away privacy. Google may be a relatively benign behemoth today but what is to say they will continue to be so tomorrow. Google's track record speaks for itself.

What about using light pipes to give you the distance between the light source and the stove? If that is impractical,then the oven lights mentioned above would probably be a good bet.