Spinny

Have tweaked up the mixer a little, but if using my heat gun on the pipes at the manifold is anything to go by I seem to have an input flow at around 25C and a return flow at around 24C. The actual surface temperature of the floor is around 23C (though did open the door for a bit earlier). So I guess not much appears to be happening because that is all close to the same temperature - very gentle heating if anything at all. Meanwhile there is no visible change at the surface. I have some marks/surface colour differences where I had mats down on top of the floor during the kitchen install. Lighter colour at the joins where presumably some moisture could escape between the mats. See photos... Should I actually be expecting the whole floor to turn to the same colour ? It has had pronounced colour variations by pour since it was levelled.

Hmm. I have been doing something similar to what you suggest @Nickfromwales I suspect that as the surface is around 22C, then it might well be that heating the slab to 22C (though it may not be getting to that) has no effect whatsoever on the levelling compound on top. Essentially the heating below is no different from the heating the levelling compound is receving from the environment above it. I shall gradually increase the flow temperature over the coming days.

Ah. No heat pump, gas boiler. There is a mixer valve on the manifold. I am not actually sure how accurate those things are but in the winter we had it set at 45C, albeit we still had no insulation around the bifolds. Boiler output is at 60C to rads. Floor temperature got up to 26C then. I guess Min on the valve is perhaps equivalent to off ? i.e. cold water feed temperature ? Tweaked it up a fraction, heat gun has pipes at 22C. The concrete slab itself is well dried out, been heated through two winters.

So my last lot of floor levelling compound was put down 27 days ago and has been left to go off and dry naturally in that time. All be it chunks of the floor have had floor mats and kitchen parts all over them for a couple of weeks of that. Kitchen now sitting on legs awaiting parts. Floor makeup - 120mm concrete slab with heating pipes around midpoint, approx 25mm to 5mm of levelling compound on top in 2 coats, top coat between 15mm and 3mm. Time to run some heat through the slab, but it is June. Unheated the surface of the levelling compound is around 24 today anyway - using my heat gun. (Presumably temp is lower deeper within the slab ?) I have turned down the flow temp to Min - probably about 25C ? ? - and just turned on the underfloor heating. Advice please on how long to run it and how to increment the water temperature over the days to come ? (LVT to be laid in 26 days time)

BC have shown no interest in my Cat6. I'm expecting to give them an electrical certification from my sparky when all is done- I can't see them second guessing that really. As far as I am aware there is no network certification required for domestic networks. Low voltage cables like Cat6, speaker cable, HDMI etc not supposed to share ducting with high voltage. There are some nice semi-autistic videos of tidy cabling into patch panels and racks on youtube.

Are you aware that you can look at resources like the British Gypsum 'white book' to see a variety of stud wall constructions and their expected sound performance, thickness etc... https://www.british-gypsum.com/specification/white-book-specification-selector/white-book-overview For our extension/refurb we have used Habito on some timber stud walls with 100mm acoustic rockwool infill - and don't forget to soundproof apertures like electrical sockets with acoustic putty pads. You might want to vary choice of construction somewhat depending on the requirements for the rooms in question and other factors. For example we have a wall with a pocket door where we wanted the wall to have decent sound resistance at the pocket and so have it double boarded with Habito then skimmed. Walls for a TV/music room potentially different requirement from other rooms etc. Consider dealing with noise sources at source - e.g. insulated soil pipe or acoustic wraps. For timber stud make sure to get good straight timber. Very best acoustic performance is normally from constructions where the two sides of the wall structure are isolated from each other - staggered stud construction, resilient bar etc. We wanted to also maximise room size on an existing footprint which took us away from staggered stud. We had a small area needing thermal insulation at minimal thickness and used an aerogel MgO board from Proctor - aerogel with a few mm MgO. It does tend to crack if you drill into it.

Are we all supposed to have emergency ladders stashed in every bedroom ? In theory a fit person in their twenties might be able to climb out at first floor level, hang down from the window ledge with their hands, and drop 6 feet onto concrete without killing themselves. However I don't fancy my chances of making such a move at an advancing age. It'll be shouting ''help'' out of the window until the elderly neighbour arrives with a step ladder and a barbeque knife.

I have sunsquare rooflights. For standard sizes on their website the cost for walkon seems to very roughly double. The weight also goes up. Whatever the cost impact, I would say think carefully when you are making decisions which will have a very long life and impact maintainability. An extra £8k on rooflights may seem an awful lot, but over 30 years, it is just £266 a year which could easily be exceeded by annual additional cleaning/maintenance costs if you cannot walk on those rooflights. As stated above you are going to need access to clean the outside of those windows (and the rooflights). That means standing on the glass rooflights - anti-slip considerations maybe too. Alternatively some thought to a design where you can temporarily install weight bearing boards over and across the rooflights for cleaning and maintenance.

Did neighbour not speak to you before calling in planning ? Seems a bit unfriendly. If there is a fence or hedge it is difficult to understand why it would need to be opaque, unless you are both 8ft tall surely you can't see into each other's houses. There must presumably be some reason the Planner thinks it should indeed be opaque - severely overlooking to their property in some way ? Raised up 4ft ? Funny L shaped plot ? We debated having a frosted side door, then decided on partly frosted but found it would cost a lot, then chose to splash out on a venetian blind inside the double glazed clear glass door. This works well because you can keep it down or up as suits for light or privacy. Our neighbour has now built a 4.2m high wall at the boundary anyway. Maybe if you talk to the neighbour you can understand his specific concerns, explain why you havn't frosted it. Neighbour relations can be tricky - did they object to your plans ? Don't forget you can get stick on frosting sheets to create frosting on any parts of a clear door. Then if the neighbour moves or dies in a strange incident involving poisoned vegetables, you can take it off again.

Thanks Conor, yes that's an idea too. We have laptop, tablet, and phones - always seem to have charging cables trailing about the sitting room. (Not to mention rechargeable tools and stuff - but those are probably a seperate question. Can't see SWMBO giving me tool space in the kitchen.) (Numerous USB powered Smart Hubs which I will put in the network cupboard when it exists) Possibly need a charging drawer or cupboard too TBH. Phones seem to be always out in case they go off.

Possibly. Although I believe they detect whether a phone is present or not and shut off when phone is fully charged. Google AI: "...it continues to consume a small amount of electricity (about 0.2W) to constantly "ping" the surface and detect when a device is placed on it." So pennies a year only on that. Yes perhaps somewhat less efficient while charging but still seems pretty good through 12-15mm quartz etc at 85-90%, and apparently the quartz won't get hot. I wouldn't want to find the quartz was effected long term - e.g. by causing it to fade/change colour leaving a surface shadow. Anyone tried it or done it with a worktop/desktop/furniture top ? Ikea type is cheap as chips but somewhat mixed reviews on their website. I am not very good at plugging my phone in every night I am afraid, and given phone addiction I frequently find myself on low charge. Was thinking maybe one under the island, one under a shelftop in the hallway. Apparently... Common everyday items you can charge wirelessly include: Wearables: Smartwatches and fitness trackers. Audio Devices: Wireless earbuds and their charging cases. Computer Accessories: Select wireless mice and mechanical keyboards. Electric Toothbrushes: This is actually one of the oldest and most common uses of wireless charging! Vehicles: Many modern electric vehicles (EVs) can be charged wirelessly when parked over a special induction pad, and the technology is actively being tested for in-motion highway charging.

Yes a consideration. Have one in the car which I find really useful and have used for 4 years now though. It is surprising how much difference it makes not having to mess around with trailing wires and sockets and connectors that always seem to become 'dodgy' within a couple of years of use. Worse case would seem to be that it goes obsolete a few years down the line, in which case I can just turn it off and ignore it I suppose.

Yes a recess would need to be rebated/bored out from the underside of the quartz. Our quartz is 30mm thick. We wouldn't be intending to mark the exact position on the topside as that would obviously ruin the worktop aesthetic. But we would know the measurements for the position from the edges of the quartz (our quartz is not veined, just mottled) and I don't think your phone needs to be positioned with mm accuracy. presumably you would be able to see via the phone whether it is charging.

Thinking to have a mobile phone charger recessed into the underside of the island worktop (quartz). Anyone done this ?

Could you have a hammer to smash your way out through the window ? Seems to be allowed for trains. How long is it going to take to knot the bed sheets together ?