scottishjohn

any body done the costs calc on using thermalite type blocks against std blocks for a load bearing internal wall contemplating easiest way to rebuild this granite monster maybe leave outside wall and just build another house inside walls are 700mm+ thick -- so rooms would need up small if i dont, remove the interior rubble wall and replace with something thinner and which will give the insulation yes i know pull it down and rebuild it all -- just seems a shame to disturb perfect solid wall so cost of doing a thin joint mortar block wall using thermalite type blocks verus std 100mm block + of course tieing the 2 together

my suggestion is when you lay your concrete base -put bog pipe in there just under surface _and any other service pentrations (service ducts )- block up-and cover with thin concrete --then easy to open up later, even if you don,t connect to drains at this time --easy to dig soil later work out your drops now

that will be the trigger its then no longer a garden shed

you can see them -so just brush them off

its manchester for nairobi , no wood boring bettles in uk and wood worm don,t like osb just dust them off -it will be fine bear in mind OSB is not thick enough to make shelves that will have weight on them,unless you going to have brackets every 12" needs to be 1"thick plank or blockboard

ssshhh --we are quite happy that most tourists coming to scotalnd just keep on going up the motorway past glasgow ,before they even think they are in scotland a very much forgotten and beautiful area --it si changing --but not as quick as i thought it would when i came here 40 years ago now its beginning to move and plots /house prices are moving up ,even in this terrible climate . yes there have been english folk that moved up 20 years ago -- panicked and sold to move back across the border with INDREF ,expecting prices to slump and less are running away now has brexit came along .,as many new ones coming in

might be if there were 2000 people in the street or it was mile away to find FREE parking , we don,t even have traffic wardens --so feel free to park on yellow lines chillax man -- life is good better watch it - I,m sounding like a tree hugger

the lack of traffic and the scenery were the main reasons to move here close to 40 years ago ,getting out of manchester and to be honest the traffic whilst a little more now is nothing like any city i just couldn,t be bothered with city traffic - would never move back too many people from too many places I have no interest in living in the multi cultural world that cities are is not for me If i wanted that i would have emmigrated to some far off country no one says hello or smiles at you in the cities now ,they just glare here everybody says hello even if they never met you before when passing on the street

sounds like an old worktop as a former then . and some sort of vibrating device I have made balustrade posts using plastic ornamental plant pots , 2 to a finished post--as a mould -- needed vibrating to get perfect no air bubble finish

no problem will eave it as is

of course that depends how may panels or tubes - but my 40 tube system on a sunny day would take my 300 litre tank form 30c at first light up to 70-80c by lunch time -- so i would not underestimate the size of tank you need and why not let it heat your UFH , dhw or sunamp if it has the output any way ?

yes no problem --but you could just buy one

I am a great lover of solar thermal and spent many many hours and days trying to devise a system to provide all the heat for a modern house I ran 40 panels for 20 years the problem is getting big enough storage at a reasonable price- the cost to build such a tank makes it not an economic choice so i see what you are wanting to do --just make sure you have a large enough buffer tank there are very few days ALL YEAR ROUND when you cannot get 30c-40c+ if pump speed is controlled correctly for panel area Tank must be big enough to take the high temps you will get on a good summers day If you want to limit summer output --hang them vertically on a wall --maybe with a shade device-- to limit summer output in middle of the day and so you only get best when sun is at low angle in winter when the shade device will do nothing I had a sensor pack up and the result was the foam insulation melted off the copper transfer pipes --thats over 170c!!! i have studied this for a long time and its just not viable to provide all heat for year without mega size mega insulated tank -- so not cost effective maybe if you could find an old milk tanker and drive it into deep a hole in the garden and surround with insulation --it might work out economic -- LOl building concrete or grp etc under the house like a basement --just too expensive --10k+

my 1979 kit house was built that way studs then vapour barrier then 12mm osb then 15mm plasterboard -- walls feel good - -but if you used insulated plaster board ,say 38mm /50mm-- you would get very solid feel and some more insulation i did this on north side of house to improve the insulation ,as the builders were not particular on filling void with mineral wool in those days . it also made the room much quieter --not that it seemed noisy before --but a marked difference

at least thats one problem i will not have as its all granite -- but i think it will work out worse in the long run --could be a lot of "pecker " work for drains etc we will see --

even stone worktops need to sealed and resealed periodically --so no different than concrete really

I will admit to having big misgivings on modern cladding unless you going to go for very expensive think thats why so many are done in the one up one down format --so they over lap and big shrinkage or growth with damp will not look bad which with T+G it can do when its starts moving about . If i go cladding in my build it will be man made boards -for that reason its everyones own choice . and the appearance you wanting my experience has not been good with modern cladding on other jobs and I do not like yearly retreating -- but thats just me

also look how the grain runs in both bits --second one looks like fast grown pine-- crap

digging deep in to my memories --granolithic comes to mind as the system they used for the final layer maybe do a search on that ?

If you going to render why blockwork on outside of your TF house to then cover ? like exterior insulation then mesh and render onto that --plenty of other systems all the load for the house is going through the TF --not exterior skin

If you fitted an UFH system on top of exsisting floors -you could do it in under 80mm --then reboard exterior walls with foam back board --then you will be doing the right thing just chucking loads of heat in an old building is not the right thing to do at this stage sure somoen elas will come along and give you more advice but this is the time to improve the insulation of the flat Ifi ts as old as you say then re instate the window shttuers it would have had -to improve window insulation --or big thick expensive curtains

I do not know if it applicable to this use , but but when our workshop was laid we specified one that was good enough for tracked diggers to move on - after it was laid and still softthere was a couple of men on the concrete "flymo,s " driving about for half a day and chucking in,what looked like of tree resin granules+polishing them in that was done 30=years ago it is bullet proof --does not absorb oil split from normal garage use etc -is not affected by battery acid or brake fluid there was never any sign of dust from it just a very nice semi glossy finish can,t remember what the stuff was called --but an addition of that to mix ,if possible will give a very closed surface to the concrete over the years we have dug up bits for various reasons and when repaired the new concrete is terrible in comparsion --the original looks more like stone than concrete

thats estate agents for you but if iwas going from here to glasgow iwould not go back to dumfries but via girvan or new galloway +dalmellington to ayr then u p the a77 to m77 every road you use round here its a mile a minute --we don,t have traffic-just open roads and nice scenery-to glasgow airport form here is under 2hrs and thats 90miles anyway

welcome to the club --your advantage is you are still a young man this is my lunacy and i am an OAP Kirmabreck House old (1).pdf XL_Creetown_GLAMC (1).pdf

what heating system is in there now? what age of building and how good is the insulation ? sqm of floor area -? seems strange a flat over 3 floors -- an old building with high ceilings? remeber with AHP you cannot haver wtaer going to rads at same as a gas boiler --it is low temp heating where it gets its effiiency from so rads need to be bigger with ashp at 40c or less than a gas bioler at 60c -- need half as big again