MaryM

Thanks everyone. The device proposed is a Stuart Turner catalytic conditioner. The theory is that changing the crystal form of calcium carbonate causes it to be held in suspension instead of sticking to things. Changing form is well-documented science (polymorphic transition), what I'm unsure about is the conditions which bring about such a change, and how the catalyst induces/assists/accelerates the change. Decided to risk the cost and see, as it relies on a physical change and not a chemical one. If it fails I'll look further into Combi-mate, as their base is very local to me and I could ask to see someone in person to discuss.

I can hear the 'oh no, not again' resounding ... I've read the threads a few years old about water conditioners and don't want to revisit the arguments, but can I ask if there's been any progress? The plumbing design in my house makes a conventional salt-based system difficult to install, I've had these in my previous 2 houses and loved them, but can't face the amount of domestic upheaval (rising main one side of the garage, waste on the other and kitchen as far away as it can be on the other side of the house) needed to accommodate my insistence on untreated outside tap and drinking supply. I have a cartridge under-sink filter for drinking water (conveniently situated in the garage but better than drinking untreated tap water) and it works very well. I am in the Thames Water area, pretty hard stuff. This week I paid quite a lot for a plumber to replace the flush valve in my bathroom loo, second time in the 9 years I've lived here. It took 8 months to find someone who would actually do it, so I'm not in a position to argue about price. I keep the manufacturers of limescale removers in business with the industrial quantities of their products it takes to keep my bathroom/kitchen/utility surfaces looking remotely clean. I'm aware that none of the several types of conditioners/scale inhibitors will not give me soft water, but if their claims to reduce limescale deposits/residues do have any substance, I'd be interested in that single benefit alone. The plumber who fixed the loo suggested a 'conditioner', he's quoted £440 parts/labour, I've asked which make/model he is proposing and had no reply. I'm particularly interested in a comment by @Jeremy Harris in an older thread along the lines that 'some' products 'seem to' have an effect on scale deposits, may I ask which class of product? The only clue I have is that a couple of years back I bought a shower-head with some sort of mineral beads in it that did improve the water quality in my shower, however it cut the flow to a miserable drizzle compared with the Aqualisa shower head so I ditched it. No idea how it worked. I do also have a 'scientific background' backed up by a Physics degree, so arguments concerning pH, electromagnetism and so on do not faze me, however I can't see how some of them can possibly apply to the claim that a product changes the crystalline structure from one which does adhere to shiny surfaces, to one which does not. I can believe that creating a colloid would do that but uncertain how this is achieved. If @Jeremy Harris or anyone else can help me understand, I'd be willing to punt a few hundred quid on a device to save me paying the plumber for a third flush valve in a few years' time ... Thanks to anyone with newer info.

II've worked out what VCL stands for, could someone please explain to a non-builder what OSB and PIR mean? thank you! ?

@Ferdinand now you've got me worried I don't use hydroponics but I do use an awful lot of horse muck gives a whole new meaning to what my friends say my cooking tastes like ... ?

@Ferdinandbecause you clever people actually BUILD things, even if you cut off bits of yourself and get attacked by venomous reptiles in doing so I just get hijacked by builders who charge me megabucks to trash my garage (although I did once sew through my finger with a sewing machine ...) stick to gardening, then you can shove a fork through your foot, cut off your fingers with secateurs, poke your eye out with a garden cane, electrocute yourself cutting the mower cable ... ?

@AnonymousBosch I reckon you can be very clear minded about having a death wish! I don't read most of the threads because I don't understand what they are about, this one looked fairly understandable - GAAAAHHHHH!

OMG why did I look at this? why don't I stick to garage disasters & green walls of herbs? YOU ARE ALL COMPLETELY NUTS!!!!

@Ferdinand yes I have thought about it, I want to be able to move things around until I get an idea of where the sun hits & when, the brick wall will act as a radiator so I need to find out if things bake in hot weather my fencing chap is very ingenious and if I want a permanent planter he will come back and do that up till now I've been fighting ivy, brambles & ground elder (as well as slugs & snails) crowding through the fence every year so I haven't used the space much before

@Ferdinand only if slugs don't eat them - I've got about an inch of soil over builders rubble so I put some raised beds in with decent soil, the slugs round here must use stepladders, they get everything even when I put copper rings round bean seedlings but I do very well with this sun-loving crop! this is what happens when the conservatory gets too hot

my garden faces almost due south, very hot in summer I'm not much of a garden-sitter but one of those who plonks down with a cuppa and 5 mins later sees something that needs doing, and there wasn't anywhere to do that out of full sun, that part starts to get shade by early afternoon so the seat my idea, but design down to my clever fence builder however, much more important @Ferdinand peas don't like hot & dry so a couple of deep troughs either side and more temperate - we'll see!

@Ferdinand looks a useful orientation, I guess you get some afternoon sun when it's higher in the sky, and not directly on to the wall you're planting, that's good if you wanted to try some veg, I'd stick with the wall idea for things that don't need too much root space and can be replaced fairly often, then get a small veg trug to sit under it https://www.primrose.co.uk/vegtrug-wall-hugger-small-103cm-46cm-h80cm-p-97637.html?cPath=734_737_12407 I can't grow anything except tomatoes in mine in the summer, but I'm kicking myself into action now by sowing an indoor window box with rocket this afternoon! thanks for the idea and it's lovely to be able to post something on this site in return for all the useful info everyone has given me in connection with my garage disaster focussing on the positive, my attached neighbour is building a massive extension that puts a brick wall immediately outside my conservatory, as I am not like you clever lot on here and can't do it myself, I got my fencing chap to build a sort of 'pergola' last week so I can grow a 'green wall' of my own (great minds thinking alike) the idea is to put planters on the gravel base and grow climbing things, starting with peas, up canes, and to hang baskets from the top trailing down, there are some super cherry tomatoes you can grow in baskets, roll on summer!

@Ferdinand I wouldn't try any of the Mediterranean herbs: basil, oregano/marjoram, thyme & so on, they like heat & sun and the shrubby sort like rosemary (good you don't like it much) will need more root space than the small pods, so will any of the tap root types like parsley/dill I'd go for microherbs/greens, you can buy packs of mixed seed and see what does best: https://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/micro-leaves-seeds-cid614.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NTxBRDxARIsAHyp6gAmVBM8yT6ldbGo8eLq7hfCcO3zx1GN0xm5QDMxoHrgCXsyr-trRGAaAn9zEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds my first choice would be rocket, you can cut the leaves when they are really small and still get a lovely peppery kick to a salad, and peas for the shoots, you can keep re-sowing them what a great initiative to use a bit of spare space! I've written about my mouldy conservatory in another thread and I'd never be without one, mine is south facing and hot as hell in summer, but I had tomatoes (in a pot) right up to Christmas, it's down to finding the right plants for the conditions best of luck!

most herbs like lots of light, if you can put a light source in there you will get better results I know lots more about gardening than building ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/ROOT-Spectrum-Growing-Kitchens-Propagation/dp/B078WJMLL1/ref=asc_df_B078WJMLL1/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=230204386967&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1704992636428449924&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007247&hvtargid=pla-421648809808&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

@Big Jimbo it's pretty ancient, I bought the house in 2014, sellers said conservatory was built before they bought it in 2003, but structurally sound apart from the roof when I bought it I had the roof replaced, it was polycarbonate with holes in so I had a new glass roof, would be prob 2015 the mould in there doesn't worry me as I can wash it off (but I will start wearing a mask when I do that), but seeing that photo at the start of this thread and reading the dementia stuff does, because I couldn't clean up a plasterboard wall same way on the outside, more worrying if it's underneath and you don't know it's there @andyscotland gave me lots of advice about this on my original thread, damp/condensation/timber rot, but I hadn't considered the black mould risk

thanks @ProDave I've been in touch with Knauf Technical and they said the same, I just didn't understand what 'lining the boxes' meant the trouble is a lot of the plasterboarding has been done and my builder isn't willing to take it down to put in a vapour barrier I have an unheated conservatory that gets filthy with black mould every winter, it's easy to clean off, I've just done some of it and ended up with a bucket of filthy black water but if it was plasterboarded over I wouldn't be able to do that could I expect to get this from cold brickwork under plasterboard?