Carrerahill

Sorry, that is truly awful. Ansell are a commercial lighting importer who import low quality far eastern product, they have designed your house like a cheap block of student accommodation, I see spec's like this every week for care homes and student accommodation where the contractor has gone for the cheapest solution (but I bet they will multiply the price of these fittings by a factor of 4 for you) - most of those fittings can be bought for under £20 - I know the Eclipse MultiLED can be had for £16. These are surface mounted LED bulkheads I wouldn't even put in an outhouse frankly - you would cry if you saw your house with these installed. I throw Ansell product off spec's all the time and that is not even my money. If you want a lighting design, then employ a lighting designer, either an independent lighting design consultancy or the bigger consultancies have the specialist lighting design discipline. Electrical wholesalers are totally clueless, I bet you they would not light their house with commercial product. I am not being funny, but as said in my discussion re. lighting design above on this thread, manufacturers (unless aimed at high end domestic market), wholesalers, contractors, electricians and these lighting suppliers like Pagazzi are just totally lacking and wouldn't know how to light something well if their lives depended on it - I speak from experience of seeing their specs and designs and I am not just making a bold statement. Sure, you will find the odd designer within that camp who will have the skill and experience, but they are few and far between. As an example of the sort of people I would be talking to: https://www.slld.lighting/private-residence-edinburgh - https://www.johncullenlighting.com/projects/residential-lighting/ - https://ksld.com/interior - http://www.spatial-lighting.co.uk/11

No, but I quite like the idea.

So are we talking 6 pieces of MDF cut from a sheet(s)? Presumably plunge saw and guide rail type stuff? As an amateur working in my garage, I'd cut them with the Fes plunge-saw in about an hour I'd of thought including fully measuring & noting each window, then laying it out and cutting it and setting up the extension cable, dust vac and saw! If I could do it on my table saw - run them all to the same width then use the sliding mitre-saw to cut to length I reckon maybe 30minutes! I'd probably screw together 2 pre-made liners in 15-20 minutes. Are you paying them an hourly rate? I'd be keeping an eye on them and pulling them up, or simply throw them off the job if you can. If a job price then leave them to it. They might blitz things on the last day. Are they working for a firm?

Sounds like your "lighting designer" is a typical production line style designer who just churns out soulless lighting designs using their employers product, this is generally bad for the end client because it's tailored to their range, not a range that suits your build. As an electrical engineer one of my specialities was lighting design, I don't do much of it now, but for a period in my career I did more architectural lighting design than electrical design - I really enjoyed being creative with light with nice and clever products. I can say very confidently, that I am almost certain, that each and every one of you on this forum will have been in a building I have done a lighting design for (electrical too). There are lighting designers and there are lighting designers, @SteamyTea you make a comment about lighting designers bringing you "ideas" for quotation, possibly this is more geared at luminaire design than actual light, as in light incident on a surface design! But you are right, people will come up with "ideas" that are supposed to be the next great thing and their authority to come up with something such as this may be as simple as they run lighting calcs for a living and decided that they know how to better design a product, then of course there are those of us (I will say us as I was/am a lighting designer - most electrical engineers do lighting too, it's electrical!) who do actually have an authority to innovate lighting product. Some of my friends are Fellows lighting designers, this, like a chartered engineer, however, it is the highest engineering council status you can have bestowed upon you.. I know a couple of lighting designers who sit on the lighting council, they write the lighting regs, the regs that every commercial building of all types are designed too. I work with several lighting design consultancies who work on some of the most prestigious building in the world, lighting we will all be familiar with (I did a lot of the artificial lighting and natural daylighting for parts of the V&A in London and some of the V&A in Dundee) These guys are lighting designers, I also know of young guys, sitting in manufactures offices up and down the country who are basically trained to run lighting calcs - these people are often not lighting designers, they don't design, they simply run calcs and pick product and move it about until the parameters meet with the CIBSE guidelines! However, I also know of some very highly experienced and knowledgeable lighting designers who work for manufacturers so you need to be careful as you can find some gems; typically ask to see some of their work, if they show you offices, schools and student accommodation blocks, walk away. If they use lot of down-lights or are highly repetitive, walk away, if they use all products from one manufacturer question this and have them justify their choices and ask if they have only chosen this because that is what is within their range. If the design is free, then it is a manufacturer looking for a sale - the design could be excellent, it could be trash. If you want, please PM me a copy or a link to your design and I will view it from a professional perspective and tell you if it basically is even a good design, compliant with recommended lighting levels - yes there are even recommended levels for domestic properties, but no one needs to follow them because domestic lighting is not regulated.

Have any of you seen this? https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/home-heating-systems/radiant-heating I am tempted to try a section of it in a wall in my extension, if it fails I'll unplumb it!

Is the splay going to be on your land, if so and it's yours and your neighbours then you can probably just get on with it. Often you will note a kerbstone at a intersection of land which is sunk fully into the ground, seems weird, why is there this kerbstone that has been sunk flush with the running surfaces? Well, this is so that the local authority or land owner on one side can do what they want and not impact the running surface on the other side. So it may be you can simply have it done, clear anything in the way, take your access up to the current road surface and have them seal the joint with tar and or have a concrete section laid or get the council to do only this section. I would also not worry too much about it, my thinking is you will probably have utilities coming into your site, bung the guys a bit extra and when they are digging things up anyway have them incorporate the splay, clear any bits etc. Of course, everything above may be useless if you don't actually own the piece of land this is going onto!

I think the whole ground floor could be better designed to give larger feeling rooms. Do you desperately want the utility room, could an under stair utility cupboard work for washer/drier for example - or a cupboard off the hall using some of the space currently occupied by the utility? Or a cupboard upstairs for laundry. You could then push the kitchen cabinets further back into the utility space and make the study/bedroom bigger. Id's also be tempted to have kitchen/dining and then open up the family and lounge area into a big front to back lounge while maintaining a good space in the kitchen/dining. I also think you could possibly do a straight stair, possibly from the dining/kitchen - incorporate kitchen cabinets into the void beneath and use the space in the hall to have a smaller utility for example. You could re-plan this floor all day I suppose. I don't know what you want, you may love it. I'd also consider carefully your lounge door position and check it isn't going to open directly into an area you may want a couch etc.

Does anyone know the CO2 generation from making a sheet of PIR and transporting it? Or indeed generation of any other nasties? If I had heaps of solar power, or wind etc. and therefore didn't give a stuff about burning power I would just invest in generation capacity, I would not insulate much I don't think - so there will become a tipping point that clean generation returns us to just pumping lots of heat into our homes and not worrying too much about it. Every time I cut a PIR sheet it stinks and off-gasses, it really makes me wonder. I'd love to have the time to fully research this, I may get the chance next year to do a paper on it but it depends.

Well it depends how you heat your home - it costs me about £60 in gas a year and maybe 2 weekends, a couple of litres of petrol and a lot of sweat to process fire wood, so if I insulate my home it takes quite a long time to get a return from my investment. However, if I heated from gas 100% I reckon my gas bill would be about £1000 a year - then it would make more sense certainly, but also, I suppose future proofing and all that! So it is all interlinked, I am not good at U values and thermal calcs and what not, I hope people on here will help me when I do need this done, but I know that 20mm is not going to save you much relatively but if your buy cost is £600 then it is probably affordable enough (if funds are still OK of course) just to do it and have benefit of knowing it is there. I have just added 25mm sheets of PIR to the underside of my rafters (vaulted ceilings), it is not a lot 25mm, but knowing it is there, fully taped makes me feel better about it and it only cost another £400 or something. The "main" insulation was already in between the rafters - but this fully sealed layer seems good in my eyes! It will help a bit, but I am not expecting to see a saving on energy.

It depends how you will heat your home! Have a look at the specification for the product you are planning and you will see the difference in R value, it will probably be about 2.27m2K/W vs 3.18m2K/W.

Can you make them lower - without seeing the situation it is hard to know for sure, but pipes can be run under cabinets for sure - just depends on other aspects how difficult it would be. If waste goes through the wall then that is an issue, but if through the floor or at floor level that would work, or core new waste hole at floor level etc. Can you post some images of the location/pipes.

Sorry, I just read the WD40 bit...Hoover/Vacuum. Yes.

No, use electrical contact cleaner or even compressed air, WD40 may damage the epoxy/lacquer causing it to break down and then short out the motor and it will also leave a film of WD40 on it which will then cause everything to stick to it afterwards exasperating the issue. Is it corded or cordless? The overheating is probably not related to the dust on the motor but rather the volume of air past the motor head reduced by blocked up filters. You say commutator? Is it not a digital brushless motor? My parents have a shark and frankly I think it is useless - slightest build up of dust and it starts to flash a green LED button and overheat - I go and find their Numatic Hetty if I have cause to vacuum at their house! Best vacuums ever!

No, it will not, you will have rusty staining on everything it touches. Once the layer or protective rust has set up it certainly stops, but by that time it is too late for the materials it has stained. Google New York Corten Steel road staining - I remember it was used on a job years ago, and there were a lot of concerns about the staining, and someone produced a photo of a whole road in New York that was rusty coloured from a new building. It was there for years! Nice in the right situation, but needs managed.

Right, I started on them tonight - well, finalised a plan, clearance after the insulation is 40mm - bought 47mm Appleby boxes, they have small holes all the way around them, I am going to rip or buy some 40mm battens, box will be secured to the stud on one side and a batten will be fixed to the other side which projects up/down to noggins etc. The boxes will be sat to sit proud of the stud @ProDave to force them being neatly cut. Good thing is I will be there and the guy doing it will take instruction - I am actually labouring with him as it's over the weekend. I suppose I will be on electrical cutout duty! I have pinged the laser around and marked my mounting heights at 400mm, 175mm above counter in the kitchen - this worked well with some noggins -1200m for switches. I agree with you, @Onoff the issue is the install in the first place and I would be using my DeWalt Oscillating tool with the big half circle blade which makes really nice net cuts in PB. @CC45 hit the nail on the head, I think this is a 'my house' situation - my plan would not be viable for most electricians who would just get annoyed if I made them do this. Thank you all for your input. I'll post some photos once I get onto this - need to go and solve something with the building control officer who tonight emailed about lateral retaining straps...

To be fair I have used Abbleby, among other brands - I just don't like them. The install is fine, not an issue, nice clean job and they do the do, it's down the line when you remove something and the box loosens and you pull cables through them and they move and twist and bend and damage the plasterboard. I just like the solid install that the metal boxes provide and although the plastic ones are self extinguishing and flame retardant plastics, they are still plastic and they still burn and melt - I like knowing that the bit you don't see, is encased in metal. I'll have a think. I am going to Screwfix about 19:00 tonight so I may just go plastic but it will irritate me!

First fix electrical is being finalised over the next 2 days - cables are all in - it's just prepping everything before plasterboard goes up and running any last minute cables (CAT5/RF/Speaker) before the opportunity is gone! The extension is TF - I know how this is done, I know what is done commercially and what most electricians would fit, but I don't like plastic pattress boxes. I want to use metal back boxes but the mounting situation does always become a little more complicated - I have come up with solutions to fit the odd one or add a couple of sockets before now but not a whole extension. I have 2x6 studs with 4" of rigid insulation between them so I have about 45mm service void then obviously the 12.5mm for the sheet plus a little for skim - so my plan was to go and pickup 35/40mm metal boxes and install them. I have just been onto the site with a 25mm box (all I could find) trying to think of the fastest way to securely mount them and a lot of them! I first picked up a piece of CLS and sort of considered 2 battens to trap the box then screw up and down through the box into the timber - nice solid option - skew-nail the CLS to the studs - OK fine. Due to the locations of the sockets and light switches and things and their proximity to door frames (so twin studs for cripples and kings, trimmers and jacks and what not) there is a myriad of spacings - not always 600mm centres so this becomes a big joinery exercise to make up all the pieces and nail them all in. I know this is all solved and arguably the first fix electrics are then complete as they are if I simply use plastic but I hate them with a passion - don't make me do it! So what have you guys done - images please. I have seen people use 1x4 1x6 rough and jam that in, set in piece of ply/OSB so I have some options, but just wanted to seek ideas from the general forum on this one. No pressure, but I start this evening! Ideas and photos please! Thank you all.

Is this the external concrete/stone/metal ones or internal timber?

Thank you all. Aico it is then!

Thanks. https://www.safelincs.co.uk/aico-ei140-series-with-alkaline-back-up-battery/ ?

Can anyone recommend any decent smoke/heat alarms. I want to get a "system" from a manufacturer and while I am at it I will kit out the existing house and extension. I just want a simple scaleable solution. What have you guys gone for? Thanks.

Does your grease gun have an air bleeder? Air pockets in the packed grease will basically stop it from working.

I second this!

Yeah, the North American stuff is usually blue or purple isn't it? I also note they almost always use a proper product to clean and prime the pipes - looks like it may just be a solvent or indeed acetone.

Another thing, use fresh solvent and don't be tempted to use stuff that is old - every time you open it the solvent flashes off some more.