Cpd

So after many years ignoring my dreadful windows my sister offered to buy me new ones as a belated 50th birthday present 😁 I am happy to fit them myself as the detailing inside will be tricky due to different wall / insulation thicknesses. There are only 4 windows all approximately 700x1200mm. I am in an extremely exposed location facing the sea. My house does not have mega insulation…. 70mm pir retrofitted to the inside but no floor yet….. the retrofitted insulation was detailed very well so no gaps and fully sealed. The old windows were split into upper and lower panes but new ones should be be single pane to let more light in. I would like to keep the frames as small as possible so there is as much glass area as possible. I am based on the west coast of Scotland I. Argyll. My questions are. 1. recommendations for window supply only 2. anything I should be aware of … pitfalls 3. type of window I should get 4. have I missed anything…. thanks for any advice. photo is two of the old windows, the other two are the same.

Can I buy a cooker hood without a fan ? Just the grease filters ? I want to install an inline fan away from the kitchen to keep the noise down or am I over thinking it… its going in a tiny house that’s going to be used as temporary accommodation by my parents while I complete works on a cottage I am renovating for them. As it’s such a small space I am concerned they won’t use a standard hood if it’s to noisy. Do I just buy a hood of the shelf and disconnect the existing motor and then wire in the new inline fan to a separate switch? Has anyone got experience with doing this ? I have plenty of space outside the tiny house for duct work and mounting a fan as there is a large covered over lean to. If this is not feasible then what sound rating should I be looking for on an all in one set up ? Any advice would be great. Thanks

I have recently built a 20 meter x 6.5 meter polly tunnel and it’s just survived one of the worse winters we have had for years, one wild storm after another…. The footings are all concreted in every 2 meters and there is a post driven in between each 2 meter section, I also have wires going from the bottom of each footing up to the top ridge and back down the other side….. x 3 ridges and loads of cross supports…. It’s in an extremely exposed spot in Argyll. It is possible to make them work if you have no other choice ( I already had the frames so was committed to this set up) but if money was not a problem I would go for a more ridged set up so that I could get more sleep in the winter storms - rather than constantly going out in the middle of the night to check !

I had a large open fireplace and used 150mm of kingspan around it and then 100mm of cement block on the face to protect the insulation, I then used high density rock wool above the closure plate ( my closure plate is actually 50mm concrete slab) it all works very well.

I had problems getting my Airbnb cabin insured but then went to my local NFU who I already have my house and car insurance with and they were very helpful, definitely more expensive than others but at least it’s done.

I expect it’s because it’s the coldest, most unventilated area you probably have and is damp through a mixture of interior condensation and moisture coming in from the outside, a quick option is to clean it with a bleach / anti mould solution and then paint with a bathroom anti mould paint. Then leave it open so that it’s well ventilated and warm. If this fails then I would consider levelling back the surface and fully bonding on some ridged insulation…. This may just move the problem to another section of the room but heat and ventilation will really help. I have lived in numerous houses with this problem…. Total interior insulation has always resolved the problem for me , But I don’t know your situation.

I have had my house insured by the NFU for the last 10 years but this year the policy renewal has gone up from £358 to £472 the policy is for replacement cost of £182 thousand I don’t have content insurance. just looking for any recommendations on other firms, I have never made any claims on any of my insurance policies such as car / business insurance. Always been happy with NFU but maybe it’s time to look around. Thanks

I am just about to buy a new set, as my old ones are pretty knackered, after a bit of research I am heading for the following. We will see….

I only have a very large septic tank but I feed it with “muck munchers” every month, it’s been installed a few years now and I took the lid of to check it recently , virtually no smell at all, just some dark water and no scum layer. No maintenance beyond feeding it monthly, and no electricity usage 😁 I understand it’s not possible for everyone but for me it works just great. KISS - Keep it simple stupid was what I based my design on, but I have plenty of land for a leach field which most plots don’t have.

Total cowboys 🙁…….

Not been keeping up with the forum as I have been so busy all summer…. One of my long standing projects is the construction of my polly tunnel, 8 years ago I planted the wind brake and last year I excavated the site and this year I got the frames up, hopefully get the rest of the structure up In feb and plastic on in April.

Same experience here, happy to pay if it keeps things smelling good and my worry at bay.

Great you’re back up and running mate !

I wanted to buy the same machine as you, live near oban with an Aldi …… no chance 😡

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I am right there….. self employed-NEVER EVER CLAIMED ANY BENEFITS and am 50 - live a simple life on minimal income and make a few grand each year to put away….. have absolutely no idea how I can ramp up my income to match projected outgoings, admittedly I have never watched the news in 10 years so have to take it as as comes but am assuming I will fall between the lines of any government help (as I got nothing during covid) but covid was easy as outgoings were pretty steady…. Now they are crazy…. And I feel like I am on if the lucky ones as I own my own property and have absolutely no depts. time will tell…..

I live a pretty basic lifestyle (by choice) and as a self employed person I only turn over about £20-22k a year my outgoings are fairly high as I support 2 kids 50% of the time as well as feeding and housing 2 other adults for 6 month of the year, I run an Airbnb so have all the overheads associated with this. Most years I can save about 4-5k which goes mostly on building materials and repairs and maintenance. I am working towards getting another building finished so that I can rent it out and boost my income by 10-15k but it’s still a year or two from being done. In the past it’s all gone well but this year my bank balance is pretty thread bare……. The general price rises have squeezed my margins to nothing and I am eating into what little savings I have, it’s pretty unsettling with the electric price increases that may come as between the various buildings I have and the Airbnb my current electric cost is £300 per month. I have upgraded the insulation in my house walls and ceiling which has made a significant difference to comfort but still need to replace the 4 windows which are totally shite…. No insulation in the floor and not easily done at this time. The immersion is virtually never put on. Not quite sure where I will make the financial cuts to cover the ever increasing cost of living but I am sure I will come up with something 😁

I made my own out of marine ply so that I could insulate them on the inside 😁

https://www.muck-munchers.co.uk/product/septic-tank-treatment/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7vnip9bT-QIV5ejtCh3tEA41EAAYASAAEgJdr_D_BwE i put in a replacement septic tank a few years ago ago a use this stuff monthly, works great. I put a carbon filter over the vent pipe but not sure it’s needed now. I am very careful not to put anything down the drains that will upset the system, no bleaches or nasty chemicals as I use septic tank friendly cleaning products including dishwashing tablets and cloths washing liquid.

I did not put a slope on this one but have on others, you just have a piece of wood cut to the desired angle that acts as a sledge, you screw your good wood to the sledge and send it through. Obviously making sure the screws are below the planner depth…… yes routed the outside edge to fancy ut up a bit 😁

I have the makita planer /thicknesser and as shown above for quite a few years and it’s a great bit of kit, the thing I like most about it is the ability to put old rough timber through it and get lovely smooth dimensional timber out the far side….. i put old pine from scrap furniture through and it comes out priceless, whiskey barrel lids are transformed and old sarking becomes usable for many jobs… run the finished wood through the router and you can make all sorts of lovely bits. I made this picture frame from off cuts of western red cedar cladding that I got out of a skip….. the picture was a jigsaw that my 6 year old did and wanted to keep. Many of my windows are framed in dressed wood that was nothing but scrap before it went through the planer 😁

thanks @TonyTworking now, I just did not understand the diagram but understood the principle……. Did not want to do it wrong

Ok so I want to wire in this sensor but I am struggling to understand the wiring diagram I have wired in lots of switches before and you just have a switched live. Can someone explain what ‘A’ is and how this interacts with the Neutral….. I thought the neutral should not be interrupted….. the lamp should be on a live line. Thanks…..

Great job, looks fabulous

Welcome to the forum, another ex hill runner from Argyll where I have three old stone cottages in various states of repair / renovation, my walls are natural sone with a rubble core. I went / am going with building timber frames on the inside, infilled with PIR and then PIR over the top of the frames and plasterboard as the final covering. Taking the detailing very seriously and aiming for very good air tightness.