canalsiderenovation

? Because of the ongoing saga with the heating and electric use I know exactly what our usage is but then when I saw the app I thought great, half our meter readings easier to monitor usage.... One particular day they had our total energy use for a 24 hour period as 82 units. Our HP use during the same 24 hour period was only 26 units so they are saying we used over 50 units of 'other' use during this time period. This is at a day when we had a really good solar use and charged everything up, did washing etc and we also have hot water heated with the ASHP when the 830pm Octopus cheap rates come on but this has been minimal as the solar has been doing particularly well in March.

Sorry I posted it in the wrong place the first time. Now I'm sure you're all sick of my saga with energy use but it now gets even more complicated. You will recall I was monitoring my energy use for part of January, all of February and part of March. Once I'd managed to get the heat pump settings a bit more consistent we were using between 20-40 units of heat pump use a day and no more than 8-10 units of other use. We moved to Octopus and I've been getting myself completely tied up with their app and our half hour smart use data because it's being recording some absolutely horrific figures - at it's lowest around 45 units of electricity a day and at its highest 123 units a day which I absolutely couldn't get my head around for a 24 hour period with major use between 2-5am when we ended up programming the heating off during those period and setting programmes for each room (thanks @Ultima357) I've been checking out heat pump meter reading and that was only between 17-39 units a day (even with the recent cold snap) and I've been monitoring our other use. Finally I've gone to taking good old fashioned meter readings from the box and checking every day. Luckily I had a photo of a meter reading the day we moved 12271 and a photo this morning gives 13811 so the past 41 days totals 1540 units which is pretty much in line with what I'd expect given we have had some cold days but also good sunny days when we have had minimal other electricity use as we have been using solar. The app for Octopus, adding up every days units gives a total of 3052 for 41 days - over double!!! I've just rung them to be told the smart meter readings are normally accurate (really)! Explained I'd got pictures of the electricity meter pretty much every day and as I'd been monitoring our electric use for 3 months I know the app can't be right. All went very quiet when I asked them to tell me what the meter reading was they have when they realised the app cannot be accurate at all given the opening meter reading and what they have now. They are looking into it..... I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad.

Now I'm sure you're all sick of my saga with energy use but it now gets even more complicated. You will recall I was monitoring my energy use for part of January, all of February and part of March. Once I'd managed to get the heat pump settings a bit more consistent we were using between 20-40 units of heat pump use a day and no more than 8-10 units of other use. We moved to Octopus and I've been getting myself completely tied up with their app and our half hour smart use data because it's being recording some absolutely horrific figures - at it's lowest around 45 units of electricity a day and at its highest 123 units a day which I absolutely couldn't get my head around for a 24 hour period with major use between 2-5am when we ended up programming the heating off during those period and setting programmes for each room (thanks @Ultima357) I've been checking out heat pump meter reading and that was only between 17-39 units a day (even with the recent cold snap) and I've been monitoring our other use. Finally I've gone to taking good old fashioned meter readings from the box and checking every day. Luckily I had a photo of a meter reading the day we moved 12271 and a photo this morning gives 13811 so the past 41 days totals 1540 units which is pretty much in line with what I'd expect given we have had some cold days but also good sunny days when we have had minimal other electricity use as we have been using solar. The app for Octopus, adding up every days units gives a total of 3052 for 41 days - over double!!! I've just rung them to be told the smart meter readings are normally accurate (really)! Explained I'd got pictures of the electricity meter pretty much every day and as I'd been monitoring our electric use for 3 months I know the app can't be right. All went very quiet when I asked them to tell me what the meter reading was they have when they realised the app cannot be accurate at all given the opening meter reading and what they have now. They are looking into it..... I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad.

I need to check our info and confirm exactly which spec of insulation it is. I now know it needs to be the grey/graphite version of EPS. We do have cavity wall insulation on the existing as when they took the old windows out it was inside like white fluffy stuff and we found some paperwork when we bought the house confirming cavity wall insulation. The window sills and eaves/overhand definitely won't be big enough for anything over 50mm unfortunately, we have checked. Very frustrating and an oversight really I should have picked up on. Our soffits etc have gone in but I'll ask the builder when I see him tomorrow. Below DPC is happening the same time. I thought the below DPC should be else than the main EWI so 30mm?

50mm EWI

Hi I'd posted a thread on the rendering forum but wondered if someone had any views on Jablite for EWI. Grateful for any comments on this thread and particularly around the issue of our DPC being higher in some parts and possible options such as plinth insulation allowing us to render over DPC (I think)!

We should hopefully getting our EWI and render in the next couple of weeks thank the bl00dy heating gods because we are hoping this will improve the bills! You'll know from the original layout of our bungalow that part of the bungalow is stepped inside (to the bedroom/dressing room) as it is higher. This means the DPC is at a different level. This is going to look really odd as we have our DPC at different levels. The builder was speaking to the different reps about the render and if there was any solution because it's going to look a bit messy with the render coming lower on some parts and higher on others. It's days like today when I wish we would have knocked the whole thing down...... Pic below is our bedroom and dressing room and the bungalow is higher here as we step up two steps to access this part of the bungalow. This pic below probably demonstrates it better and you can see how it steps up. The scaffolding is in front of the living room/snug and the wall window is the middle hall. Ignore the garden walls and any paving etc... And then this is close to our front door where we have the existing part on the left which is pretty much where it is stepped inside and then our extension. We had picked Krend pure white but I've just had an email from the builder with the spec for the EWl and render and it's something called Ecorend and Jablite. Is Ecorend similar to Krend? And Jablite - is this a suitable EWI? Feeling slightly overwhelmed again! EcoRend_Spec.pdf Jablite Spec.pdf

I've now had an uddated referral bonus from anyone who signs up to the (free for the first year) Gold Rewards Card 27000 reward points rather than the 20,000. This is an amazing bonus which you can use for a variety of purposes. If anyone wants a link do let me know. My hairdresser who opened a new business said he got some sort of incentive to take American Express. I'm not sure what fees are involved. I used to have a Platinum Card (not business) but the fees kept getting raked up to make it completely ridiculous. I think it's now over £500.

Hmm could be an option. Need to weigh up this and speak to the builder about costs and the quote.

Pole fit - not pole dancing like you would get in strip clubs! Pole fit is difficult and really hard work. I doubt it! I'm always cold..... When I used to do pole fit in a studio we all wanted the heaters on. Women and the cold.....? No solar on it - no budget for this unfortunately and EV charging is not needed. We already have power to the existing garage/outbuildings but need to make sure we forward plan for electric gates.

Good point, although unlikely I wouldn't rule out some gym equipment and a pole (before renovation I had a pole for pole fit in the living room as we weren't concerned with damage to ceilings etc but it's not an option now)!

I don't know! Do we? It looks a reasonable size double garage from the plans. The other half would probably put her car in there, especially when she upgrades to a nicer car. The rest of it is needed for lots of garden related items as we have a large plot and when we get a boat (long term future goal) lots of boat related items no doubt and if we do end up with a sink and toilet in there it will be useful if we are gardening etc. I'll have to catch the builder this week and go through things and see if there is any room to negotiate - he will probably expect it from me anyway!

Yep it's not entirely clear - will have to double check!

I actually wonder why they have quoted for a full filled cavity. It's only a garage and we don't need a full filled cavity.....

We are in the process of getting quotes for a double garage. This is the first one - thoughts? We asked them to exclude the double door, side door and window (one not two) as we will get these ourselves. Also to connect up to water/sewage for a toilet in future (but not connect toilet/sink as we can get these at a later date and do them ourselves after our experience with the plumber I'd rather do it ourselves)! I've no idea what sort of figures we should be looking at so any advice would be great.

Exactly that but the range Intu offer for tilt and turn windows are far less than for normal windows. Perfect Fit offered a huge selection but the white frame just doesn't appeal.

Thank you. I think the problem is as it's for tilt and turn windows the colour range is very limited for Intu. The normal range has pretty much every colour going! There was definitely no lime green!

Thanks that's good to know. I just wish they had blackout ones or their hive ones had different colours. I'm hoping to see the profile of Luxaflex or at least get some prices from comparison.

I just don't like them, they either look very commercial or just really odd looking!

I'm not a fan of the roller blinds but do like the pleated ones. I hate venetian blinds too. We have a Luxaflex dealer coming back with some prices too so will be interesting to see how they compare although I've not actually seen the Luxaflex product yet.

So far the quotes we have had are include fitting, local companies. I'll only give the glass sizes of the windows rather than the frames as the only seem to measure the glass. The glass sizes are as follows. Five windows in total - W129*drop 93, w129* drop 98 (two) w86*drop 98, and w129 x drop 98. Total price for Intu Micro Infusion (the one with the string not honeycomb) £1052. Perfect fit were a little more expensive by £20 but with three blackouts.

As much as I love the fact from our bedroom window anyone going past can see the mountains of nepal on the canvas we have strategically placed SWMBO is insistent we get blinds on the bedrooms and dressing room after an incident with an Amazon driver..... So, we have narrowed it down to three bedrooms, the office and the lounge. I thought this may be useful as a comparison to anyone looking at blinds for Tilt and Turn windows and if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. We have had a couple of companies round and the options seem to be Intu or Perfect Fit both which are screwless and don't damage your window frame rather are fitted into the seal with a clip. There was minimal price difference with Perfect Fit being cheaper. Perfect Fit In essence these are a frame in which the blinds sit which is then fixed onto your widow frame so you end up with a frame on a frame. I don't like the fact you could end up with dirt and bugs on the ledge inside their frame. On the plus it does come in far more colours and they do blackout. Intu These just clip in too but don't have the big frame like Perfect Fit and just the top bit which sits in the frame and the . They just pull down from the top so the only space they take up the window is the top. The picture shows the micro infusion which has the string bit in between the pleats which can let in light. They do a honeycomb kind version too called the micro hive but only in three colours - white, ivory or a dark grey where the infusion does come in a few different colours. Frustratingly they don't do blackout blinds in either the hive or infusion.

I just wanted to give some kudos to American Express. Not only after some Covid related flight issues last year and some difficulty with the airline did they refund over £1000 within 24 hours of me making a claim but they have just flagged something suspicious on my card which has saved me a significant sum of money. For many things house related I've used American Express and quite a few items came from local retailers. American Express frequently take part in Shop Small which is promotion of local retailers taking American Express and I had quite a few offers where it was spend £10 and get £5 credit. Currently there are a couple of good options where you can get some excellent value membership points for signing up which I wanted to mention, although it may be a bit of a faff for people I frequently repeat these between me and my other half regularly. If you are a business there is either the American Express Gold or Platinum charge card. The Gold is free in the first year (so don't keep it nah longer than a year) and if you spend £5000 in the first 3 months you get 50,000 reward points. Whilst the real value of these is in airmiles if you wanted to you could transfer the 50,000 points into Avios and then into 80,000 Nectar points which will mean you have £400 to spend at Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay which is great news. You also get free travel insurance. The Platinum does have a huge fee of £595 but you can get 100,000 points but you have to spend £10,000 in 3 months. The fee is refundable pro-rata so if you wanted to spend, pocket the points and leave you could and probably only pay a fraction of the fee. I'm currently on the basic gold card which gets some of the perks above like insurance, two airport lounge passes a year (pointless in the current climate) and if you sign up for this and spend £3000 in the first 3 months you get 20,000 reward points which can be converted to airmiles with a variety of airlines or Nectar or even Amazon (the rate for exchange for Amazon is pretty poor at £4.50 per 1000 points). If anyone would like to use my link to sign up it gains me some membership points too. If anyone has any questions on American Express I'd be happy to help. http://amex.co.uk/refer/rACHECowGT?CPID=100338425

Builder says he can get 75mm. Do you think that would be an improvement. Obviously it will need to go around our windows. Anything to reduce our heating bills in winter has to be a bonus!