Mr Blobby

... thanks, this matches the builders preference to spray then touch up. 👍

This is probably a stupid question, but that doesn't normally stop me so here goes... Plastering is done and it seems pretty good I think, but there are the dings and cracks in the usual places. We will be getting the place spray painted as soon as SWMBO can decide a colour. Would it be sensible to fill in some cracks now before painting, or (as builder suggests) do this after the place is sprayed. Is the raw plaster too absorbant to repair before painting? Most of the cracks are only hairline, this one about 1 mm is the widest. A few dings where trades (and myself) have bashed into the walls. I read somewhere that cracks should be dremmeled wider and then flexible filler used, is that a good idea to treat the few bigger cracks?

Our K Rend is applied on on our block walls up to the window frame. Which is fine. What is best practice for the (in most places hairline) crack at the join between frame and render? Leave it or run a bead of silicone over it?

This sentimental love of coal power is rather amusing. Having woked at several power stations over the years here's some differences to consider. In a coal power station there is a coal plant, that is run by a team of staff constantly unloading coal froom trains or ships and moving it around a pile and then loading it onto conveyors into the main plant buiildings. The coal then runs along a conveyor, through a pulveriser and blown into the furnace. This heats up a boiler to create steam to drive the turbine. There is then the various de-sulphuristaion and nox plants to run, and a team of chemists to constantly monitor the emissions. Then there is the ash that comes out of the other end and needs to be disposed of. Some of this is sold to the cement industry but most of it ends up in landfill on which the station pays landfill tax. And there is a lot of ash. To start up a coal plant from cold takes about a day to heat up the boiler and synchronise. Ramp times are slow. This is not very useful in an energy system where generators need to be flexible and responsive. Units that can synchronise and ramp up quickly, run for 20 minutes and then desynchroise are king. Generators that stay on and run at constant load are of little benefit. They displace wind power (that is effectively free) when its windy and can't ramp up when it isn't. (hint:nuclear) Running a coal power station requires lots of moving parts, a lot of land, and lots of people. It is contunuously labour and capital intensive. And dirty. It is simply not economically viable to run a coal power station compared to gas. A gas power station has one guy in a control room. He presses a button to start and stop the turbine. No emissions, no ash, no coal plant. And it goes from off (windy) to full load (not so windy) within minutes.

The protective film on our aluclad frames has been on for about two years. I went to remove it today. Oh dear. North facing wiondows are ok but on the (many) South facing windows are a nightmare. The film has dried out, is brittle and does not want to come off the frame. Is there any easy way to remove the film, or do I have to spend the next week scraping it off with my thumbnails millimetre by millimetre ? 😫

Not all panels are the same. Two differences I think, colour and size. Some are all-black, and some have the wires showing. The latter are cheaper. AFAICS the panels you are looking at have the visible wires. Then, in the all-black category, some, such as JA solar are emarketed as all black but up close you can see the wires. The other, like the N type, from AIKO are all black with no visible wires. Which I think look awesome, if that's relevant to you, and also not too expensive. In terms of size, 1750 is traditional size. 500W panels tend to be bigger at 1950, but the power per area is not really any better. Yes, I never understood how having cells on the underside of the panels to ostensibly acheive a higher power rating was anything but a scam.

400 litre tank if we can squeeze it in. I think the new Telford 400l HP tank is less than the old 750 diameter so it may just fit but the pipes behind will be inacessible (note to self: Get a square plant room next time, not a long thin one 🤦‍♀️) Yes lots of PV but SWMBO has asbestos skin and showers only on boil setting. If the water is ever cold then my ass is grass so will get the 7kW for extra cooling and a quiet life, even if that means a bit of extra cycling. Interestingly enough I think the 5kW and 7 kW panasonic monobloc look to have the same internals but a different flow rate to get more heat out.

Just to jump in here as our heat pump will be ordered before month end... Our PHPP model gives a heating load (PH) of 2.8 kW. Heat pump will be also used for DHW and cooling. Planing to have open circuit, no buffer, no zones. We have two choices, 5kW or 7kW. Which one's best?

On the ground floor we have a few inches of airtight paint beneath the wet plaster covering the join between wall and floor. On the first floor we have membrane (aka Tony tray) around hollowcore slabs and plastered into the wall above and below. So far so good for airtightness. 🤞 But soon the fixing skirting boards will be fixed. With nails. This will of course make lots of nail holes through the (airtight) plaster into the blockwork. Is this going to have a significant impact on airtightess? And if so, is there a better way to fix the skirting?

Less than 20 years for rust streaks I should think, and yes I was insistent that the screws must be stainless for this very reason. I did check the screws on site rather than just take their word for it. The screws will be powder coated, but they will not be ready until the end of next week. Which is not going to go down well with the builder as he has scheduled the joiners on site Monday to finish fitting the guttering. Oh well.

I would quite like these screws to be the same colour as the brackets to be less obvious... Ok, so, the root cause is we should have got 150 guttering instead of 125, to have only one downpipe on the front, but that's another story and a lesson I have learned at my own cost. 🤦‍♀️ Powder coated screws or just paint over the existing ones? Or am I just being OCD to want to colour match the screws?

Done. I've been assured it will be fully repaired. I wonder if my definition of fully repaired is the same as the renderer's 🤔

Just been told that this is the actual product... fqml1.5m10m6mm---ybs---product-guide-1671023508.pdf Apart from the acousitcs I remain unconvinced of any benefit. (except maybe for stopping the screed from falling down any perimeter gaps) Am I crazy to think no insulation is actually better anyway?

Good point, thank you.

Yes, if by grouted you mean filling the gaps between slabs with dry-mix concrete. That was done a long time ago, and before blocks were laid above FF. Sorry, I should have been more specific, the gaps of concern are around the perimiter, where the slabs run in the same direction as the walls. There is maybe a cm or two gap in places. To my lovely plastered walls below. Not having done this before, I imagined the sreed to be liquid enough to run through the gaps, maybe it doesnt?