MikeGrahamT21

I'm going to keep an eye on how this turns out, very interesting. I currently also have a bow window, but would like to replace it with a normal flat window, which is hung further out of the brickwork, partly to keep it a little more in line with external wall insulation, and partly to keep the deeper cill. I'm curious though, would this type of thing have to go through planning permission? I know for a proper bay window conversion you have to have planning, but I wonder if this would be covered under PD?

I did the utility with 20mm plastic conduit, and then got an electrician in who used singles, he said it would have been a lot easier to use 25mm conduit, and thats what he would have installed. Even so, the conduit houses sockets cabling 2.5mm and a lighting circuit 1.5mm, but it took them a while to thread so i'm guessing it was tight. I'm not sure if this helps, more of an observation, i put another run of conduit in for ethernet cables, and managed to just fit 4 of those down, so you don't have a lot of room to play with

Yeah good idea, I’ve got smart TRVs in each room to do the same job

Yeah I think I’ve one Blu-ray which has got it, a Harry Potter if I remember right, there is a lot of simulation stuff as well though like DTS Virtual X which is meant to be really good. I think for £99 it’s a sound investment. Glad to hear it works well in a real life situation too so thanks for that

So the IC600's were a bit bigger than anticipated!! Think I shall be returning them for some IC400's tomorrow.

What rate do they pay the export tariff at for new installs these days? I just got £27 export for the last 3 months on my 4kwp system

I can't comment on the underfloor heating product, as I don't have it, but I did recently change the Wall Hung Radiator pipework at my house to a manifold system, and MLCP pipe, and its so much better, easier to control, balance and portion of radiators if I need to remove them for whatever reason. We fed the pipes complete with insulation tie wrapped onto them throughout the entire house, with only a small 20cm2 hole in each room, and one access panel to give additional control, was a few hours work, and a lot of sweat and toil, but I'm really pleased with how it performs. In answer to your question, you can use any manifold, they're all the same, this was an underfloor heating manifold, with MLCP 16mm cones

I can't justify buying 4 ceiling speakers, I've gone for 2, Yamaha IC600's. Whilst I await an Atmos receiver (pending on when the TV gives up, so I can get a relevant one in terms of 4k/8k whatever is around at the time), I plan to connect these extra two up to an existing output on my Denon. Both sets of speakers are 8ohm, and receiver can handle up to 16ohms, so should be able to connect either parallel or series, depending on what is easiest. Power is my only concern, each channel is 75W, minimum power for the Yamaha's is 40W, so may be best (and more practical from an install perspective) going for parallel and sticking to 8ohms.

So you'd go for a 5.1.4 setup, rather than my proposed 5.1.2? Yeah the current AVR has self adjustment, but doesn't support Atmos.

One problem, i'm not at the point of being able to use them yet, as my current AVR isn't atmos capable, this is just a bit of future proofing as I know that it will form part of the next iteration of my home cinema. I'll just have to stick to the measurements dolby provide, i'm sure they'll be accurate.

I also think ceiling mounted would perform better, as the idea of Atmos is to give down firing sound, so makes sense having the speaker located above you, my only concern is if I get the positioning wrong, obviously with floor ones you could just move them. Looking at the Dolby docs theres a lot of emphasis on precise measurements and angles. I'm no expert though, and it may not matter that much if its not 100% precise.

I've got to the point whilst insulating the loft now where if I want to use in-ceiling speakers for Dolby Atmos, now is the time to install them, but are they the best solution? So i've looked at the Dolby Atmos guide for speaker placement, and know I have choice of either in-ceiling or the floor atmos certified speakers. Does anyone have either of these, or any experience of which may be best? The floor ones are about twice the price of the in-ceiling Yamaha speakers I've chosen if I go down that route. If I were to use in-ceiling, i'd make an OSB box to house them in for airtightness purposes, which is taped on all joints and then taped to the plasterboard. or

Have you tried a pipe bending spring (as long as the bend isn't meters into the pipe)? Also try warming the pipe slightly with a bit of friction and this may help it be less likely to kink

Brilliant drills, i've had one of the older version for about 8years now, it gets through some serious work, and has never faltered. Also agree with the bosch multi construction drill bits, they are fantastic! If you want a slightly tougher version, Toolstation have the professional version of this with 3x 2Ah batteries on offer at the moment.

Yeah I know what you mean about staying busy, its hard to stop DIYing when you've started! I'm currently midway through ripping loft insulation out of a 1960's bungalow, installing loft legs and brand new insulation, horrible dusty job though! I only 'may' do one window next year, if I rip the floor up in that room, i'd do it while the mess was about, but I've not decided whether or not to do that yet, depends how much i overbought on the insulation i'm using for the loft!

Cool that would be good if he does, or a pic of yours when you've done them? I'm not doing it this year, too late on to be taking windows out!

CompacFoam seems to have a lot of praise for this job, looks odd seeing the words easy to fix into, and high pull out next to the word foam. Wonder if I can get a sample from somewhere. I still think the angle iron is the best option so far. Thinking fire resistance too, last thing you want in a fire is the windows falling out!

Do you have any pictures of these in situ?

Thanks i'll have a read

Any input greatly received ?

No comment on Irish lol From reading passive house plus over the years, I don't think the Irish building trade have got a good name for doing things right, but this guy does seem to be going over and above to get it right. Instead of welding onto the top of the angle, I suppose I could just buy thicker steel in the first place to give extra strength?

OK, sounds like he goes belt and braces, which is likely no bad idea, since some of the windows when done will likely weigh nearly 200kg. Does he weld the plate onto the angle, or can you buy them like that?

Ok, thats really useful thank you. Angle iron makes perfect sense. What would the builder suggest where there is no head to fix to, only sides?

Why do you need a wireless key fob? Would controlling it on your phone not suffice? Toolstation have got some new BG sockets in which are compatible, and IFTTT too.

Fixing windows with straps is an option, but at the front and rear of the property where the windows meet the fascia boards, there is no head to fix to, at present the top of the window frame is visible if you take the first row of tiles off. The windows will have a 180mm sill, rather than the standard 150mm, i just prefer the look of these to be honest, and it gives a bit more room to play with. I'd probably be looking at moving the frame to the edge of the timber frame (should i go down this route), as i remember when i did the insulated reveal EWI on the above photo, it was a bit fiddly, and would have been much easier to just run straight over the window with the board which was fixed to the wall. I think a nice deep sill inside would be nice too, and give a feeling of a very thick wall. Timber cladding section of the gable, is actually into the unheated loft space, but I was planning on using some kind of timber fixed to the wall at 600mm intervals, or perhaps an i-joist to cut down on thermal bridging, and then use rockwall batts between the joists, UV stable membrane, battens and then the final finish cladding. Sure will, i should start a blog really on here for it, as progress is going to be extremely slow!