PeterW

Mild bleach solution in a spray bottle. How long has the plaster been up for ..?

Industrial dehumidifier will sort it - need to get the humidity down asap as the mould spores in the plaster will cause issues. A dehumidifer should have its own small heat source in it - we use sheets of 25mm insulation over doorways to stop the heat loss into other areas and run them a room at a time.

You can work out an approximation based on max output (9kw) and power figure (33-100%) as an ASHP is fairly accurate across the power curve if you have a static outside temperature. Mitsubishi provide the curves and these units have a static curve with no ability to change so I assume they haven’t been changed. I will give the tank test a go that’s linked in the report as it’s less than an hour according to them however I need to check the volumes.

It was a shower head wasn’t it ..?? Or did it have lights which probably made it a chandelier too...

Sorry, meant that if you joined two 50mm joists together to make 100mm, BCO would want them through bolted to each other which would mean the plate coming off.

Ok been doing some more digging into these IVT beasts and found a very surprising thing with them ... They have a very high outlet temperature..!! On 100% with a wilo head of 2.5m giving the middle range of flow to the unit I was seeing 71c today off a 7c air temperature and a circa 11A current. That is a CoP of around 3.27 (voltage is 250v +/- 1v) On 88%, with a reasonable flow I was seeing 61c and 9A giving CoP of 3.52 which I don’t think is bad at all. So digging a bit further it appears as though these units are designed to go to a lot higher temperatures than “normal” units and have different compressors. I did find an old BSI report that gives some pretty good numbers but interestingly never takes the units below step 4 - they either use 65% or 100% for the testing. I plan to hike up the flow rate slightly to see if the flow temperature drops. @testom if you want to see the flow temperature, set DIP 2 to ON on SW2

Thicker wall plate may work but I expect BCO would want it bolted not screwed so the whole lot would have to come off and start again. If the supplier has measured and they have it wrong then however much it seems harsh, it’s their issue to resolve. (Sorry @recoveringacademic missed your call earlier ..!)

Whats the span and what goes on top ..? Just a flat roof ..??

We use ones from Home Bargains ... 2 packs for £1..!!

How big is this extension ..?? Less than 30sqm and you don’t need regs for it. Have you got plans ..?

@zoe61 who’s posi joists are you using ..?? You need to get their site guide as all of this should be included. In terms of stairs, the designer of the posi joists should have taken this into consideration as you may need trimmers specially designed or installed for the staircase.

Consider having a log or pellet boiler and creating your own district heating system. I know someone who has done this and gets commercial RHI for the boiler, supplies heat to the house via a heat metered underground pipe system and essentially the whole lot pays for itself. And the horses get a free shower !

10-11k for both at top chat but I wouldn’t want to be about when the chain lets go ... which given there is no chain oiler on it either, would be sooner rather than later ..!!

Doesn’t seem to have a chain brake - would be a deal breaker for me.

Building regs may not be required if it’s below a certain size and if the building has been completed, it’s an extension behind the building line and you have the builders permission I would be surprised if there is anything for the council to be interested in.

With a conversion you’re even less likely to design out the unknown unknowns unless you have a very extensive survey done which would probably be just as well spent as contingency. Any builder taking this on as a firm or fixed price will just load up the pricing to cover the risk anyway. If you want decent airtightness for example, go with a contract that has a maximum value you will expect on a blower test and give that to the builder - he doesn’t get paid a certain amount until that’s delivered and it covers everyone.

That was my suggestion but nowhere for the receiver to go .... would need to go in the wall next to the switch for the lights as you can’t get a 3 gang single box grid so there would need to be a receiver in the wall (or behind each uplighter)

As per title - anyone got any experience of these ..? Good or bad..? Probably looking at at a wireless system as it’s an add in to an existing property.

The first plans must have had a scale on them somewhere or would have been rejected. Find the scale and measure the plans - you may be in luck however I would be going after the builder who built it so wrong unless you told him to.....

Taps are the lowest use of any water device in a property - dwarfed by the use of WCs. If you look at what is available, short of moving to composting toilets then you would save probably £30-40 a year with the latest low flush pans and cisterns.

Most of the water regs maximum limits were pushed through with the changes to the Water Act - it’s essentially a supply / demand thing and there was a belief that legislation would force behavioural change. The biggest issue is that it’s not new housing stock that is the problem - most new builds will have WCs (largest use of water in a house) that now have 6/4 or 4/2 cisterns, whereas older stock is stuck with 8/10 and sometimes larger cisterns. It was also recognised that it’s reasonably pointless to try and “force” a decision on water as when you look at most properties, the regulation allowances are so high (125l/person/day) then using pretty much standard off the shelf components easily met this requirement - a 3 bed house would need to be using 185 cubic metres per annum to exceed this as an example. Water as a resource is “too cheap” and shows no signs of the dramatic price increases you see with other utilities as it’s in reasonably plentiful supply and, with the coming deregulation of the domestic market, will only get cheaper.

IFTTT - if this then that..! Basically they are simple WiFi switches that can work with either the app or by some other means. Temperature switch is one, they can turn something on or off etc but also make another unit do something else too ..

I was thinking that using Sonoff units would work as they can create a lab IFTTT mesh that would trigger others in the group ..?

Start with the local plan from the council - they have to publish that and it has to comply with the planning framework.

@JSHarris have you seen the MK grid quinetic switches ..? Would mean your uplighters went on a standard switch - or two way - but the quinetic grid switch would do the other sockets and the remote. That would need you to find the end of the live to the 2A feeds though.