ProDave

The new blending valve arrived today. So this afternoon I went and fitted it, and normal operation has been restored. Time to dismantle the old one for a post mortem. This is what comes out when you undo it: Note that it took some persuading to get the bits to come out. I believe the central, rather black looking bit is supposed to slide up and down against that conical shaped spring. Well it was well and truly stuck. This is that central bit, after a bit of a clean up In the recessed bit is a "pin" This is what the adjusting spindle pushes on. I believe this is the thermostatic bit and the pin is supposed to push out and expand as the cartridge heats up? Well the pin just pushes in with almost no resistance all the way and heating up the cartridge makes no difference, so safe to say it's broken. This is the top of the cartridge polished up a bit: I can't see how to dismantle it any further, i.e how you separate the copper looking cartridge from the brass body? Anyway stamped into the copper cartridge bit is a number around it's circumference: 0793 3F 123 As the number is around the circumference and all equally spaced, I might not have picked the right starting point for that number. Anyone recognise it? Any chance of getting a new cartridge to restore this one as a spare for the future?

No, a condensing tumble dryer does not need one. The waste heat goes into the room rather than out of the wall, and the water removed from the washing ends up in a receptacle to be emptied, or they can be plumbed in to discharge down the drain and never need emptying.

Are you a sailor? Red, Port, to the left. Green, Starboard to the right. (I bet you have another pair that will be the wrong way round)

Surely both are way too high unless you are going to have the shower up on a platform?

A lot of us find in a well insulated air tight house, you don't actually need any heating upstairs. I am at least the third on here that I know fitted dedicated electric points in the bedrooms for wall mounted panel heaters just in case, and have never needed to fit any. Remember the noise of an ASHP is outside the house. Unless it is right under a window it won't bother you. In comparison, the noise of a GSHP is in the house, so you better tuck it away from the living rooms or it is far more likely to annoy you,

If all rental properties suddenly became owner occupied, there would still be the same number of houses, and there would still be the same number who don't have a house and can't afford one. Except there would be nowhere for them to rent......

Okay I will bite. Why the termination strip and patch leads? I would have just crimped an RJ45 onto the end of each cable and plugged them straight into the switch. That's all I have done with the few I have in use.

That changes the question. A new house should not be cold a draughty like the old one, so UFH should work well. The decidion should be ASHP or GSHP. you will find the costs of ground source a lot higher than air source for only a small decrease in running costs.

Moving the existing pole would be very expensive way to resolve it. There would be digging up the pavement and re routing / extending underground cables feeding the pole. A far cheaper solution is a new pole on the boundary between you and the school to divert it. But first see the answer to the question above. Or just do nothing yet and see just how close to your roof it ends up? My guess is talking to the "man on the ground" about a new connection to your house may yield a solution so worth doing that first. Most of us have found Open Reach very difficult to deal with through official channels but once you meet the local team they are very much easier to talk to. EDIT: looking again, an even simpler solution is re route it so it comes onto a different part of the school building, no new poles needed.

So it's insulation in the wall between the 2 bedrooms you need to concentrate on. Even perhaps making them independent studs for each wall? I can't see the ceilings are going to be a big contribution in sound travelling room to room?

Can I ask why soundproofing is your concern when from your description you are boarding the ceiling with a warm roof above.

The metal screw in ones are aluminium so no fear of rusting and staining. If you want to unscrew it later, there are two things to bear in mind. Firstly make sure the screws are not too tight self tapping into it. Often the case if they are not the supplied screws with the fixings. If they are too tight, hold the fixing in a vice and run the screw in and out several times until it becomes loose. If it is too tight then the fixing can unscrew out of the plasterboard. And to be sure a squirt of sticks like or your chosen adhesive as you screw it into the plasterboard helps prevent it unscrewing out of the plasterboard.

I use the metal versions of those a lot and like them. Unless you find yourself in a damp house and the plasterboard is rotten.

@MrMagic where ate you getting your electricity at 5p perkWh? Even off peak that is incredibly cheap.

Fix one of these so it is flush or slightly recessed in the wall and screw that pipe into it https://www.screwfix.com/p/endex-brass-end-feed-adapting-90-wall-plate-elbow-15mm-x/83561?_requestid=360473 That is just an example you can get them that take a compression fitting pipe, push fit or whatever your favourite plumbing method is. Some examples lower down on the right of that link above.

Pulley in the utility room. MVHR extract vent above it. Dry in a few hours. Never makes the room feel damp and no condensation issues. Some stuff goes in the tumble dryer to "make if fluffy" but we have learned it does not need to "dry" in the TD, just have some time being fluffed up. That too then comes out, still a bit damp, and goes on the pulley. It passes the "fluffy" test when dry. In the summer we use a washing line. Eventually when we build the car port, there will be a washing line under there to avoid the frustration of the washing being nearly dry then a shower comes along.

Are we talking about a shared pipe leading to mains drainage, or a shared septic tank or treatment plant? I still don't see why it won't stop you adding an en-suite. Having an extra toilet won't increase the amount of waste, it just means you have a choice of which one to use.

Rigid pipe, solvent welded to a TOP ACCESS trap. The base of the trap goes in first, then the shower tray, then the top part screws down to the base and seals. The actual "trap" then drops in, and can be removed from above for cleaning. What other bits do you have to go with that trap, I can't tell if it is top access or not.

I had a similar thing except my mezanie only covers one bedroom with it being open to the other. It had been designed like that taking support from the wall between the bedrooms and the floor. One thing I was aware of was bounce in the floor. the logical implication being if you jumped up and down on the mezanine that too might make the floor below that it was ultimately supported on bounce as well. What I did to "fix" this, was purely my own idea with no input from a SE. I cladded one side of that bedroom wall with OSB sheets well glued and screwed to the studwork frame. My theory was I was turning the whole wall into a dirty great engineered I beam and it could probably support the mezanine just by being fixed at each end to the timber frame without putting any significant load on the floor. It worked and you can jump up and down on the mezanine and you feel nothing on the floor below. These are under construction pictures before the wall it rests on got it's OSB skin.

If you are going to have a dryer, for god sake get a condensing dryer. At least all the heat it wastes uses stays in the house and you don't need a dirty great hole in the wall through which to expel all the wasted heat.

You don't remember the mass recall several years ago then?

Yes you could put that and the contactor in a box together. I merely suggested a boiler programmer as everyone knows how to use them.

Ah a 3 phase board. Not so convenient. You would be looking at something like this, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CONTACTOR-63-AMP-2-POLE-AC-12kW-NORMALLY-OPEN-HEATING-LIGHTING-DIN-RAIL-MOUNT/174122632964?epid=6007308395&hash=item288a848704:g:dYcAAOSwBY5d8RnJ It might be possible to put that inside the CU, but not in place of a pair of mcb's as you can often do with a single phase board. It all depends how much room there is inside and how much depth. Alternatively the contactor could be mounted above or alongside the CU in it's own enclosure. Use a normal single channel central heating programmer to set the on / off times. the output of the timer feeds the coil of the contactor. P.S. Have you really got two washing machines and 2 tumble dryers?

And the notion that you have to pay more for them NOT to carry out a machining operation and fit some parts to a window.

For us it was plot orientation and size. The other plot was narrow but deep, the one we bought was wide but not very deep. Then the orientation. The other plot was on the north side of the road, so the challenge was getting sun into the living rooms and having a sunny bit of garden without feeling like you are living in the front garden. the plot we bought is on the south side of the road so the back of the house faces south, so much better and easier.