Green Building Council report and a quick request for help!

[Jeremy Harris]

There's a new report out by the GBC today (here: http://www.ukgbc.org/sites/default/files/08488 Places for Everyone WEB.pdf ) and the local BBC radio people are interviewing me about it in around an hour's time (I've had to speed-read the thing first thing this morning - not good!).  The points I want to make are mainly to do with it being relatively easy to build better homes, if we change the way we look at construction and the methods we use, and tighten up on enforcing building regs, as having spoken to one of the production team this morning there was interest in the poor standard of new home construction. 

 

If anyone has any snippets (need to be factual) about recent new builds that are fairly poor in terms of energy efficiency, then it would be a help.  I think some of them have already been mentioned in threads here and on Ebuild, and I have rough notes about them, plus some stuff I'd down doing thermal imaging of new builds locally, but any more info would be useful.

[Temp]

Was in the news recently..

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/20/bovis-to-pay-7m-to-compensate-customers-angry-at-poorly-built-homes

 

If there are lots of visible faults, how many hidden ones are there like badly installed insulation?

Edited February 28, 2017 by Temp

[Jeremy Harris]

Thanks Colin, luckily I have the key points about the Bovis fiasco, although I can't mention names - it's the BBC......................

[Declan52]

Are you allowed to say about how many people have set up social media accounts to try and shame the big builders into rectifying the faults. Luke mahon with Taylor wimpey would be a good example as his house is one of the worst I have seen.

[Jeremy Harris]

3 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Are you allowed to say about how many people have set up social media accounts to try and shame the big builders into rectifying the faults. Luke mahon with Taylor wimpey would be a good example as his house is one of the worst I have seen.

 

 

Thanks Declan, I knew someone had done it but didn't have the name, so I'll have a look at what he's been doing and see if I can bring it into the conversation without naming names.

[Declan52]

His Twitter account is @myhousesucks.

Some of the pics are unreal considering the builders have had a few goes at fixing the problems.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Declan52

[Jeremy Harris]

6 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

His Twitter account is @myhousesucks.

Some of the pics are unreal considering the builders have had a few goes at fixing the problems.

 

 

Thanks again Declan.  I suspect what we see reported in the media is really just the tip of an iceberg.  Paul Buckingham (who's day job is as an energy assessor) of the AECB wrote an interesting report (  http://www.aecb.net/publications/publication-author/paul-buckingham/) back in 2013.

Edited February 28, 2017 by JSHarris

[Declan52]

If you go through his timeline he has become a kind of figure head as other people in the same development and other Taylor wimpey customers have posted pics of their houses with again some of them being unbelievable.

[Declan52]

50 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Thanks again Declan.  I suspect what we see reported in the media is really just the tip of an iceberg.  Paul Buckingham (who's day job is as an energy assessor) of the AECB wrote an interesting report (  http://www.aecb.net/publications/publication-author/paul-buckingham/) back in 2013.

Very good read. He really doesn't like dry lining!!!

[Jeremy Harris]

Well, just got "off air", and managed to get across some points, but not really enough in the time.  However, they now want to do a piece on thermal monitoring, so have asked if I will go around with them, doing some ad hoc thermal imaging surveys whilst they do an interview explaining what's going on.  I'm going to try and take the opportunity to visit a big development near me that I know has loads of missing insulation!

[Declan52]

Call round the night before and tell the homeowners to set their heating to come on when you are due to arrive.

[Jeremy Harris]

6 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Call round the night before and tell the homeowners to set their heating to come on when you are due to arrive.

 

Given the big hot spots on their walls I reckon they have to keep the heating on 24/7!  These houses were only completed last summer, by one of the big-name builders.

 

I've told the BBC lady that it will need a cold night, so we can get a good contrast on the camera, but I think I may just take some images when I know it's going to be cold, so that there's something useful to use (they want to put this stuff up on social media, apparently), just in case they can only do the interview bit on a relatively mild day.

[daiking]

9 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

Given the big hot spots on their walls I reckon they have to keep the heating on 24/7!  These houses were only completed last summer, by one of the big-name builders.

 

I've told the BBC lady that it will need a cold night, so we can get a good contrast on the camera, but I think I may just take some images when I know it's going to be cold, so that there's something useful to use (they want to put this stuff up on social media, apparently), just in case they can only do the interview bit on a relatively mild day.

 

You'll need to get the BBC to hire a proper thermal camera for the report to make viewers think this is a professional assessment.

 

Then show them that the same indicative results can be obtained with a smartphone and a camera dongle.

 

Its all in the story telling.

 

Otherwise you'll just look like some peeping tom.

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, daiking said:

 

You'll need to get the BBC to hire a proper thermal camera for the report to make viewers think this is a professional assessment.

 

Then show them that the same indicative results can be obtained with a smartphone and a camera dongle.

 

Its all in the story telling.

 

Otherwise you'll just look like some peeping tom.

 

 

 

 

Good idea.  I can borrow a Flir camera easily enough, so could start with that and then just switch to the Seek Thermal.

[Declan52]

Could you knock on their doors and explain what you are attempting to do and enquire what their heating bill is. Do a rough check as to what their epc says it should be and see how far apart they are. Epc says it should cost £1000 to heat but it's costing £1500 mainly due to the heat leaking out through the uninsulated parts. Extrapolate that through the development and you should get a pretty impressive number. 

[Jeremy Harris]

6 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Could you knock on their doors and explain what you are attempting to do and enquire what their heating bill is. Do a rough check as to what their epc says it should be and see how far apart they are. Epc says it should cost £1000 to heat but it's costing £1500 mainly due to the heat leaking out through the uninsulated parts. Extrapolate that through the development and you should get a pretty impressive number. 

 

That would make for an interesting article! 

 

I wonder how willing people would be to help?  If it was a BBC interviewer knocking on their door, asking them to do a bit on radio they might well respond more positively.

[Ferdinand]

"I will be doing some work next week with the BBC xyz programme / station. You can contact this BBC person to confirm my identity. Do you mind if ...?"

 

(Love the avatar but you need *cats*).

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

How about this cat taking a ride inside the wing of a Sky Ranger: 

 

[SteamyTea]

There is a nut and bolt just infront of the cat that don't seem to be fully tightened, is that normal?

[Jeremy Harris]

13 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

There is a nut and bolt just infront of the cat that don't seem to be fully tightened, is that normal?

 

Not 100% familiar with the Sky Ranger, but It uses pre-sewn Dacron covering and the wing covers are tensioned fore and aft, and the strut behind those studs may well be a fabric tensioning strut, that I think has a nut on the rear of the attachment between the innermost wing ribs.  I suspect the nuts on the end are just there to protect the end of the threads.  I could ask the UK importer, Paul, for the definitive answer if you like, I've known him for years and have his number around somewhere.

Edited March 1, 2017 by JSHarris
typo, "buts" when I meant "nuts"

[jack]

16 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

There is a nut and bolt just infront of the cat that don't seem to be fully tightened, is that normal?

 

The one behind it, and possibly the one directly opposite (not quite in frame), are exactly the same.

[Steptoe]

On 2/28/2017 at 10:29, daiking said:

 

You'll need to get the BBC to hire a proper thermal camera for the report to make viewers think this is a professional assessment.

 

Then show them that the same indicative results can be obtained with a smartphone and a camera dongle.

 

Its all in the story telling.

 

Otherwise you'll just look like some peeping tom.

 

 

A phone dongle will not give you anywhere near accurate results,

We've tried them at work, even a cheap £400 thermal camera is far far more accurate than any smart phone dongle we have tried, I even bought a  couple of those phones with built in FLIR, a UK market one, and a far eastern clone,(that was the best actually) the dongles were all very gimmicky, but may be OK for something like this where it's just a generalisation of heat loss.

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

 

On 28/02/2017 at 10:29, daiking said:

 

You'll need to get the BBC to hire a proper thermal camera for the report to make viewers think this is a professional assessment.

 

Then show them that the same indicative results can be obtained with a smartphone and a camera dongle.

 

Its all in the story telling.

 

Otherwise you'll just look like some peeping tom.

 

 

 

 

Well, as an update I borrowed a Flir camera on Friday, to try and see how it compares to the Seek Thermal camera I already have.  There's no doubt that the Flir is easier to use, but the resolution is a fair bit poorer, and something that's disguised by the way the thermal image is overlaid onto a visual image.  The latter is a useful thing to have, as it makes it a bit easier to see what the camera is looking at, but overall I'm not that impressed, particularly as the Flir apparently cost around £800.  The main downside with the Seek Thermal is that the user interface isn't as slick as the Flir, but that's not really a significant issue for something that's only used occasionally.  Overall, the sub-£200 Seek Thermal seems a better bet for non-professional use, particularly as I bought mine for around £150 from Canada, before they were released here by Seek Thermal (it annoys me that official UK prices are always so much higher than North American prices). 

 

The BBC haven't got back to me, and I suspect it's not really worth doing this until next winter now, as ideally we'd need to do it on a cold night, when people have their heating on.