Onoff

I've gone with various bought/scrounged off sites grey floor paints tipped into an old 5gal brewing barrel then broomed over the well abraded & vacuumed floor. Have a number of old (again scrounged) HV mats. They're rubbed to be non slip. Swarf isn't too bad if dry but the sticky stuff if I've been tapping or using the Hilmor bender just gets smeared in the grooves.

Are there such places as tiling retreats?

I'll have you know it's an art to create problems that don't exist.....and then worry excessively about how to solve them!

Oh the horror! Cut it square, sand the edges, maybe paint then hoover it all before you cover it up. You never know who's going to look in there in 20 years time and think "What anal f***wit had too much time on their hands (or a wife he wanted to avoid)?"

Shows fine in Dooble & Midori too both running under Zorin OS. Oh, and Opera too.

This the seller Nick put me on to. Similar to these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thermostatic-TRV-Chrome-Corner-Valve-Set-for-Radiators-Towel-Rails-Pair-/231112780127?hash=item35cf65295f:g:X4AAAOSw3YNXbPTq

Doing similar in mine with @Nickfromwales input as per usual: I have short lengths of chrome I'll post you a couple of bits if you want? Nick put me onto the valves I have - looking for the eBay link

All I can say is TFI all the above are in shear! Spend a tenner FFS! Many years ago my mate was doing his extension. Back then we were as green as and it was all glass break resin capsules "mixed" with hex head, chisel pointed studs in a pistol drill. He ran out despite calculating the number and even though we could get them for free . Realising that they were just dropping straight down the cavity newspaper was duly rolled up and balled then shoved in the holes. Having to get the angles on, joists in and boarded ready for the plasterer it transpired that a big tub of Isopon car body filler worked just as well. BCO was happy as he hung on the RSA to check!

Slacker!

A moist hole is generally always better I find! Seriously, going way, way back I'm pretty sure there was something we got from Rawlplug about it. We were fixing anchors in the soffits of a building in Norwich and there were leaks around the windows. It's all blurry now but sure they said that moisture wouldn't effect it and possibly even enhanced the cure.

Now I'm feeling doubly guilty!

My fault entirely! It looked the same 'ish as my Rawl one. However...go buy yourself the Screwfix one. By way of apology I've just PayPal'd you the money.

Been there, tried both. If really stuck you can gaffer tape a resin nozzle onto the hoover end (remove the mixing screw). Some vacs have the option to attach the hose to suck or blow - alternate between the two. Puffer all day long for me! The "puffing" in/out action is gentler but dislodges more dust than either I reckon. I'm sure yours will be fine, it's pretty much all in shear & it's not like your hanging a man off it!

That £6 one will do.

Vacuuming the holes out is not the best tbh. I mean it's alright but try it then follow up with a puffer like this and see how much more crap comes out. Puffers a must! http://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-hole-cleaning-pump/6995f (My company fits safety harness eyebolts etc btw).

So in my case it'd be longer pipe runs to the oil boiler. Under the stairs is tbh pretty central to the house in my case. Its also where I've always envisioned any UFH manifold going. The downstairs bathroom would be adjacent and the cloak only a little further. The upstairs en suite would be nigh on directly above. It would mean any solar thermal runs would be quite long though.

For some reason I thought you wanted to just space heat the shed. So.....could you take the hot air stream thru a coil in the tank instead of the usual water in the coil? Would the temperature lessen as you reduced the pipe size? As you can guess I'm firing on random today!

I've just shown a lead flashing (as in if money were no object ). Figured a run of sealant between that and the "glass". Not sure where it would pool? Only playing with it tbh. EDIT: I'll get bored soon!

Another brain fart:

Something like this I guess for a shallow pitch with an "apex" take off pipe? Cans painted black under glass (blue), draw up from the bottom into the larger collecting tube at the top suitably insulated. Ply carcass (brown) with a lead cap (black). Lets be honest, if you were clever you'd build it into the shed roof design from the start and save on a bit of felt No reason why that bottom 18mm board couldn't be the OSB shed roof itself. You could then draw heat DOWN via a 110mm T: (Good luck getting magenta soil pipe though.......... )

You can lay it flat if you like but the flatter you go the less the principle of "hot air rises" applies and you'll maybe be losing heat back off of the panel. (You only have to consider how hot a black surface like tarmac gets). A lot of the Americans mount their space heating ones vertically on the SIDE of the house. I take the lead from the PV panels and aim at about 45degs generally only because it'll likely end up on a house roof. I'm mulling that if I did one on say a shallow pitch roof like a shed I'd take the cans into a length of 110mm soil pipe or similar steel ducting if I could get it (maybe even a run of Party 7s ). The duct would be parallel to the ridge of the shed. I'd cap one end and draw hot air from the other via a PV backed 12V fan.

On the subject of heat damaging components I'm still a bit concerned about this American obsession with using 'foil faced poly iso" i.e PIR to insulate their solar thermal panels. They reckon it's the best thing. I was under the impression it would melt/catch fire at the sort of temperatures achievable but maybe that's EPS? If not then 50mm of Wickes finest, on offer Celotex will be going on! It'd mean I could ditch the reflective aluminium sheet I've used before above the Rockwool / under the can stack. I'll probably insulate around the perimeter too this time.

Good shout. Though if I get to temperatures hot enough to soften / melt solder I'll be a happy chap as I reach for the compression joints!

Then one of these: http://www.toolstation.com/search?searchstr=69223 71603

This looks like a good idea. Wooden former, thin mesh to stop the muck falling thru, heavy mesh to hold it all together and support the pot. Tbh plenty of chimney repair vids on YouTube: