AdamD

Got 10 rads in the house, just looking for a way of doing it without spending my life going round the house turning a load off to just heat one room and then turning all back on again to heat the others. Basically we epically failed when doing a loft conversion by only having one rad in the new room upstairs so just looking for the best methods to heat it better without ripping the arse out of it to put another rad in!

Interesting but it seems like it optimises for occupancy etc, but how does that work with a bedroom for example when you’re only there at night but could be the biggest and room in most need of heat?!

I’ll be honest I don’t really know how it works but looking for advice. Have a combo boiler, standard installation. Am interested in being able to use hive or nest to be able to isolate which rooms are heated, ie. heat one in particular at a certain point of the day. - I doubt it’s even possible but a friend mentioned hive and nest and suggested it is, but I can’t see how without getting the entire system changed to a smart system. Any advice appreciated

I get that but we can close off as many avenues as possible. I’ve got these to put over the air bricks, as an extra measure. https://amzn.eu/d/9sSNoRI We’re soon to rip the kitchen out for a new one so hopefully can address any other obvious access points under the plinths and behind units etc

We don’t really know what it is, it’s just past the main drain from the kitchen so must be an old connection maybe for the kitchen which was in a different orientation (our old water main came in near where it is so quite possible that there was something there) or an outside toilet maybe that used to be there - no idea on that. Next door has an outdoor toilet in the equivalent place so it’s not out of the question. We can’t cap it off without excavating as it’s below a load of concrete! spoke to a builder yesterday who thinks they’re not getting in that way and if in sewer would likely have seen them from toilet bowls, which is fair but without any proper investigation I don’t think he can be certain of that.

So the consensus is that capping off that broken pipe and relining the drain pipe isn’t worth it?

The problem is we don’t know they are getting in that way, but we also don’t know they’re not. No other clear entry points and where the evidence was is commensurate with this bit of broken pipe. Crap like this is a shot in the dark in a way, feels like dead money but ultimately it’s a 90 year old house so dodgy clay pipe work feels sensible so it’s one of those do we risk them coming back by saving this cost or bite the bullet and say well that’s another avenue closed any ball park cost estimates?

Not sure at this stage. No idea how to find out how deep it is. It’s like 18m from the manhole where we started with the cctv camera and uphill.

Concrete and likely earth below that. Not sure how far, maybe 0.5-1m. It’s a clay pipe. Not sure but could be from the sewer, through the broken pipe and burrowing in. Hard to tell.

Had issues with rodents recently, cctv drain survey suggests a hole in the pipe, was quite clear from the camera. The area where it is is a redundant drain pipe and we need to excavate and cap it off. What sort of cost should I have in mind for my quotes? Ball park obviously.

Ha yeah so true. Hardwood chipping at 50mm depth is what they’re getting. Probably overkill but is what it is.

Yeah I’m just going with 50-60mm depth. 300mm is insane. its a double swing set with small slide, hardly bungee jumping without a cord!

Crikey I didn’t think I’d need that much! 370 bags for 100mm depth. That depth feel a bit ott?

Created a play area for the kids at the back of the garden, swing set with slide etc. and just need to bark it to finish it off. Any suggestions as to the best type (softer the better presumably) and how to calculate the required amount? Recommended depth? The area to be covered is 44m²

Best options to cover the pipes?

Got this very annoying gap to finish off with coving (used to be a hatch there for the loft) and not sure how to best do it. As you can see rather than a miter cut on the front facing wall it’s straight so not as easy to meet with a bit at the wall right angle. Could do another straight bit and fill but then the whole corner would look unfinished. Also the bit to the right is not perfectly straight which doesn’t help a new piece line up very well. any ideas?

Got a couple Of MK04’s which we need blackout blinds for and the velux prices are horrible! Can anyone recommend an alternative which is basically the same other than the price?!

All good, got the bwt one and installed in a few hours the other day. Can tell the difference in the water softness! Fingers crossed it saves out matte black bathroom bits and helps the appliances!

Does it impact the water pressure? I see they have a high flow one, does that mean better pressure within the house? Appreciate that may be a stupid question and not remotely linked!!

Is this something like what you’ve got? https://www.screwfix.com/p/bwt-water-softener-14ltr/62242

Thanks both, really useful. the bwt one I was looking at, screwfix right? Is it mains powered or does it not need electrical input? is the installation particularly difficult? any concerns such as the attached I’ve read online?

We live in a hard water area and have recently got a new en suite which we’re going put in Matte black shower, taps etc and have been advised a water softener is a good idea due to the levels of limescale. Makes sense really as we get an awful lot on our chrome shower. any thoughts and suggestions as to which to get, for a family of 4, 4 bed semi detached average sized house.

Freshly plastered wall - what first coat emulsion:water ratio should be used?

They were in an awful state, so was definitely needed! Apparently they were early days composite as well. Super thin and I saw them as they were coming off, very glad they’ve been replaced!

Need to buy a number of sockets for new loft room And want to get some usb type sockets for some of them. Don’t want to go cheap but not really sure what considerations I should make, ie. I understand that the usb outlets are ‘never off’ ie not like the 3 pin which is switched on and off at the socket. Is that right? If so, are there ones where the usb a or c element can be switched? Thinking of a plate with 2 usb a and 1 usb c - is it dangerous to have too many?