Green Building Forum - All Discussions

Sash window repair

hippychippy — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:58:49 +0100

would anyone be able to advise me on the procedure for replacing the rotten bottom of the box

Worried! Timber shortage!

richy — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:37:46 +0100

Timber has risen 20% in price this year here in Yorkshire and prices are set to continue to rise.

Personally I hate those Larch Lap fencing panels, but some of my customers want them, but there is a national shortage of them! I thought it might be due to the storms earlier this year but I am told it is because China is buying up much of the Worlds timber due to the rapid development of that country, and this is forcing the prices up. One big fencing panel manufacturer near me has had to lay off most of his men due to not being able to secure timber supplies!

This is a worrying development, I hope some serious thought will be given to producing more and better home grown timber! It might be already too late for the next generation of Carpenters.

Ventilation and breathability - healthy buildings

Peter Clark — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:47:29 +0100

Hi,
I just came across this very striking article 'Breathability: The Key to Building Performance' on this webpage

http://www.naturalinsulation.co.uk/downloads.aspx?lc=English&pt=h

It seems very interesting to me although I do not know anything about the author, Neil May, is or his relationship to the natural insulation company.

Amongst other things he is recommending moisture control by hydroscopic buffering and he is looking again at active ventilation, AND passive ventilation.

Modern timber frame and roof construction may be a 'nightmare'!

At the end he has 4 principles of design.

Very interesting reading for me, although I know many people here will be very aware of all this.

Does anyone have an opinion? (ducks)

Peter

12 volt cabling - some practicalities

cactustiger — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:50:52 +0100

I hope that someone may be able to help with this - any advice would be greatly appreciated! I installed a pv system in a remote cabin on the kent coast last year with short 12 volt circuits for lighting and a water pump - the location is off-grid. It's smallish compared to what alot of you have running but surprisingly efficient and I'd like to use the extra power its producing to run 12 volt appliances like a laptop, tv etc from a few sockets.

I wonder if anyone could give me some practical pointers on how to connect up my existing system to a small 12 volt ring circuit. I've calculated the voltage drop for the distances involved and got some suitably thick armoured cable to run underneath the building second-hand. My problem is how to connect this up to the system - obviously the existing domestic consumer unit cannot handle the gauge of the cable and I haven't been able to locate any junction boxes with connection blocks large enough to step the cable down. I know these must exist but could anyone give me any tips on makes and suppliers or suggestions of "work arounds"?

I tried the inverter route (although its lower efficiency would have an impact during the winter I think) but the wretched thing did nothing but cut out - it may just have been a rogue one but I wouldn't necessarily want to chuck any more money away on another, unless someone could recommend a model that is reliable and wires into a circuit rather than just having 240volt plug sockets - which seems a bit heath robinson for a permanent system!

Thanks again for your advice.

Chris

Rolled Glass

Jill of All Trades — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:19:40 +0100

I have been hired to reglaze the windows of a historic Duncan Collonial house. The first window I started with is concave, if your inside. The glass is rolled and valuable and I already broke to panes!!! I need some ideas, advice from experience. The previous glazing is not excellent work. The surface under the glass is pretty rough. I started using a heat gun as I was not having any luck removing the old glazing without. 750 degrees F is the lowest mine goes. I need to buy some replacement glass if I can and do better on the rest of the panes. Help. Thank you.

Aarrow Ecoburn 7

Nick Parsons — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:10:51 +0100

Does anyone have experience of using one of these stoves?

Straw bale volunteer in Kelso, Scotland 8th September

naturalhomes — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 23:09:53 +0100

Hello everyone,

I've just been asked to post a request for volunteers for a 600 bale infill job in Scotland near Kelso. Here are the details from http://naturalhomes.org

Read about The First Little Pig on Damon's blog and join Damon for the weekend beginning the 8th of September for two days (or more) of infill with 600 straw bales. A great opportunity to get some hands-on experience. Contact Damon on +44 (0)1573 440761 or +44 (0)7771 524474 or by email to damon.rodwell@gmail.com.

You can see the box beam structure that is to be infilled on the natural homes map here http://naturalhomes.org/homesmap.htm. Select "Scotland, Roxburghshire, Kelso" from the drop down list at the bottom of the map.

Regards, Oliver

Weather compensated heating control

royer — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:30:15 +0100

Have read various earlier comments re weather compensated heating control for which Honeywell Aquatrol 2000 was considered ideal, but apparently discontinued. Honeywell just said its new 'Smile' controller is Aquatrol replacement: responds to outside temperatures and boasts pre-loaded basic programs to reduce planning and start-up effort, see www.smile-control.com
PS. Up to five Smile controllers can be wired together via a two-wire bus to form a control system

Best way to insulate between purlins?

borked — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:43:19 +0100

Hi folks,

I'm going round in circles here trying to find the best way to insulate my loft which I'm converting to the kids bedrooms.
The house is an old mediterranean house, the roof has no vapour barrier or anything like that, just 'mechanical' tiles. I've fitted 12 air tiles (3 top and bottom of both faces of the roof to allow air to circulate.

The way the roof is constructed is a bit different from UK roofs:

24x12cm purlines running horizontal, spaced 1m apart
7x5cm rafters sat on the purlins running vertically (perpendicular to the purlins), spcaed 40cm apart
2.5x2.5cm battens on the rafters running horizontally, spaced ~35 cm (length of the tile)

I want to insulate between the purlins, leaving as much of the beam showing as possible (aesthetics but also head room).

I was going to put triso super10, but now I'm having big doubts about its efficiency.

The roof is in full Mediterranean sun all day and without the insulation, the loft easily reads 40-50oC in the height of summer.

What's the best way to do this? Cost not a pb, but the space (headroom) is so really don't want to use the whole 24cm depth of the purlins.

I was thinking 100mm PUR, 3cm space, some reflective thin thing, 2 cm space, foil-backed plasterboard.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks

Gas cookers and airtight houses

1not24get — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:00:48 +0100

Just wondering are there any experts who might be able to shed some light on this topicâ€¦..I will be building an airtight house (airtight to passive house spec <0.6 ach/hour at test pressure) but the Mrs loves cooking using a gas hob. Iâ€™ve done some reading on the internet and the main concern with using gas in any house is the accumulation of combustion gases (nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide). Studies done to date indicate that in many â€˜housesâ€™, levels of these gases exceed WHO safety levels. I suspect these studies were carried out on â€˜traditional buildâ€™ homes and not airtight ones. My question is if I were to use a gas hob in an airtight house with MHRV would this be dangerous? It seems as soon as â€˜airtightâ€™ is mentioned people freak out at the thought of using gas when it seems before nobody ever paid much heed to combustion gases when building a traditional house. Would the MHRV make the house safer than a â€˜traditional build houseâ€™ because with MHVR the air exchange is continual and not irregular or variable as with traditional build houses??

Kingspan at BRE really zero carbon?

Peter A — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:37:01 +0100

With a big publicity fanfare a zero carbon home was unveiled at the BRE. I wonder how much publicity will be given to it's re-assessment and that it might only be somewhere between levels 4 and 5 of the code? No mean achievement but not level 6!

Water Efficient Loo

Neil K — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:13:16 +0100

This is not a post to read when you are about to eat. You have been warned!

I am looking to source 3 toilets for a new build and obviously they will need to be dual flush and preferably with low overall water requirements, but this leaves a problem... or more accurately I don't want them to. i.e I want a low flush loo that clears the toilet bowl properly.

I am in a rented house at the moment and it would probably win an award (if someone was sad enough to invent one) for the worst flushing toilet in the world. I am keen to avoid buying the latest version of this turd stirrer, hence this post. The problem with it being that I don't want to have a toilet that uses less water per flush, but has to be flushed twice to clear!

I have been to my local builders merchant and they seem less than keen on letting me try the stock out (which I can understand!), but I am not sure if there is a standard for this sort of thing that I can seek to use in a spec. Clearly the industry standard isn't good enough because if it was good enough I wouldn't keep seeing turds left behind!

Any ideas?
:confused:

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Danb1203 — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:49:08 +0100

Hi everyone,

I'm currently conducting research about the Building regulations Part B..... I was looking along the lines of finding faults within the regulation for my dissertation.

I was wondering if anybody on here came across some problems associatted with this part of the regulation? and would you consider that by better education around this part of the regulations would make any difference?

Thanks for looking

100% offset car insurance

fostertom — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:32:02 +0100

"Our car insurance automatically includes 100% offset of your carâ€™s emissions for as long as you remain a customer"
www.greeninsurancecompany.co.uk
That's OK then - carte blanche to use the car. Is this credible?

"Our initial project is a new forest being planted at Helmburn farm in Ettrickbridge, Scottish Borders. Over 6,500 new trees will be planted there. Our money has enabled the project to go ahead and gives us exclusive rights to use the forest for offsetting CO2 emissions. Although a voluntary project the scheme will be subject to rigid audit to ensure that it delivers on its contractual commitments and that the new forest is being properly managed. We have teamed up with Forest Carbon www.forest-carbon.co.uk to oversee this. The forest will have full access rights and anyone is free to visit it. You may even hug the trees if you so wish."

Smaller houses

alex_dooris — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:49:12 +0100

Is it meaningful in order to reduce the footprint, to build smaller houses in general. If you build a house with less space, the walls and roof space needed would decrease four times as much. I think its more efficient than building in solar power and this sort of stuff.
What do you think?

Any recommendations for builders/designers in cornwall

sye — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:30:02 +0100

We're in the process of apply for planing to extend an old cob cottage and wondering if anyone on here can recommend a good designer/builder in cornwall? One issue we have is connecting the new to the old structure so any thoughts re timberframe versus masonry, stone faced build welcome.

ta

Airtight cat flap

Neil K — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:46:33 +0100

I never thought I'd need to put up a post about this, but since my wife came supplied complete with an attached cat I am having to get used to the joys of having one about. (A cat that is)

We are planning our airtight house, so I am trying to source a cat flap that will be as airtight as the rest of the house. There are the usual flaps marketed as airtight, but as far as I can see they rely on a brush seal. My experience of these is that if the cat comes in on a windy day the flap does not lock shut, so the brushes don't have any effect. Heavier flaps seem to result in the cat struggling to open it against the weight (but it did look fitter for a while!)

Has anybody found a solution?

I have been thinking about some form of air lock with dual doors, long piped runs or even a fully electronically actuated solution..... I am resisting the cat/brick/sack/canal solution. :wink:

Glad of some input here.

Neil

Merton rule

biffvernon — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:44:18 +0100

"The Department for Communities and Local Government is to in effect abolish the so-called "Merton rule", under pressure from housebuilders who do not want to bear the cost of adding things like solar panels to the buildings they construct or the effort of marketing them as "green"."

The rest: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/20/energy?gusrc=rss&feed=19

Bright Green Job: Programme Director, Sustainability organisation

Bright Green — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:54:40 +0100

Bright Green Jobs for a Bright Green Future!

Bright Green places outstanding people in inspiring jobs in the environmental & CSR sectors. For more information, have a glance at www.brightgreentalent.com. We work with the best in the sector, supporting and mentoring our Bright Greenies into great new jobs!
Have a look at our latest Hot Green job;

Executive Director Role for Environmental/ Construction Organisation

Weâ€™re looking for a leader to power into the role of Executive Director for an exciting construction related programme. This is an entrepreneurial, independent environmental organization who develops award winning, commercially viable products and services. Their aim is to help us live within our fair share of the Earthâ€™s resources.
This is a great opportunity for growth for a high-flier at the earlier stages of their career (approx 5-10 years in) to take on a challenging and career-enhancing role. This is a project with huge opportunities to grow, and a chance to make your name in the industry if youâ€™re successful.
The position is based in South London in a hard-working pragmatic charitable organisation with a real passion for making a tangible change in the world; this is an organisation that really lives its values.

Requirements
- Experience, or demonstrable interest in sustainability issues
- Experience, or demonstrable interest in construction
- Leadership & management experience
- The ability to deal with a range of stakeholder groups
- 5-10 years industry experience

Salary up to 35k, depending on the quality of candidateâ€™s skills and experiences.

To start as soon as possible!

If youâ€™re interested in more information, please send your CV & 1 page cover letter to hello@brightgreentalent.com, with the subject: Executive Director Position

I have an architect....WOW

Katymac — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:57:09 +0100

You know how hard it has been to find one - but finally

It's quite a big commitment to actually sign the agreement

I'm scared:sad: - but hopeful?

Eco-village wins planning battle

biffvernon — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 23:24:08 +0100

The Landmatters co-op has won the right to stay on land in south Devon for another three years. more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6962759.stm

Can gas flue bricks be used as a flue for a clean wood burner?

frostystart — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:43:18 +0100

HI I am moving to a semi detached house that has a gas fire on the party wall so i assume it uses flue bricks, does anyone know if the new generation of cleaner wood burning stoves can vent into gas flue bricks??

Thanks Colin

Yorkshire and Humber Local AECB Group

sallyh — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:03:25 +0100

Yorkshire and Humber Local AECB Group (non members welcome), join us for the 2nd regional event. An evening of presentations from leading researchers in the field of sustainable development. Wed 19th Sept 6-8pm, Room NT118, Civic Quarter, Leeds Metropolitan University Info from Claire Walker c.walker@leedsmet.ac.uk

Canadian Permanent Wood Foundations

fostertom — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:52:40 +0100

How about this? www.permanentwoodfoundation.com

Rubble trench wedded to Frost protected shallow foundation?

anerdoo — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:49:46 +0100

As the budget for our new home seems to be growing exponentially, I would like to consider rubble trench foundation as an option. Can this design be hybridized as a frost protected shallow foundation (I live in eastern Canada) if the rubble trench is insulated on the exterior and with horizontally slanted 'wings'? The house plan is 24x32.

Concrete actually seems to require less of that money stuff when compared to the cost of delivered 2-4" stone, enough to fill a 20" wide wall. To build straw bale. In either case the assistance of our friendly neighbourhood heavy equipment operator will be required.

Bay Window Insulation

IanC — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:44:05 +0100

Hi.
I need to redo some of the tiling on the bay window of our 1930s semi, and while I was at thought I'd try and improve the thermal efficiency. The bay itself is brick rather than timber, so no possibility of fillig with insulation. I was thinking of once the tiles and battens were off, putting some thin insulation such as Tri Iso against the wall before battening and tiling. Do I need a gap between the insulation and the wall (I was hoping to minimise the amount by which the tiles pushed away from the wall)? Should I have membrane anywhere as on a roof? Any thoughts or alternatives much appreciated.

Thanks
Ian

Warm edge spacers - rip off prices?

Marc Palmer — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:05:30 +0100

Hi,

Our joiners have spoken to their glass supplier to get relative prices for SGG low-e glass vs SGG's warm edge spacer units and they have said there is approximately a four-fold increase in price.

How can this possibly be? Are they shafting the high-spec green market?

Also I read on a page about SuperSpacer that "once the outside temperature dips to -17.8C outdoors condensation will form on double-glazed glass even at only 15% humidity internally". If this is the "big sell" for warm edge, why am I even bothering? I don't see us having -17C in Gloucestershire for the next 10+yrs ... The Day After Tomorrow it isn't quite.

Can anyone explain this ludicrous pricing, explain whether I -really- would benefit from warm edge (timber frames with multiple small panes so a lot of edge). If they improve the efficiency significantly fine, but if they're only to stop theoretical condensation and silly low temperatures, surely there's no point especially given the apparently huge increase in cost.

Hot Air Curtains in shops

Neil K — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:15:21 +0100

I am looking for some evidence of a definitive study into the effect of these damn things.

After remonstrating with a number of shops along the lines of 'Why have you got your heating/air conditioning on AND your doors open?' I got fed up with the usual range of reasons (see below) and took it up through the political route. This produced some rather worrying replies.

Remarkably the (un)informed view was that these are more efficient at keeping buildings warm than a door. Apparently it is believed they 'pressurise the building with warm air and stop it leaking out'.... and several other pages of complete nonsense along these lines. :cry:

Even the Energy Saving Trust stated that 'warm air curtains .. are an effective way of reducing heat loss' and that they are 'very effective at preventing the warm air inside the building escaping.' I was therefore wondering if anybody had any proof one way or the other?

Whilst I can accept that an air curtain can reduce convection of hot air through a doorway and can have an effect on preventing stratification of air flow in the doorway (i.e hot air leaking out over a stream of cold air flowing in) I doubt that the air curtain is as effective as an insulated door which was the point I was making.

I do find it difficult to believe that at least part of the heat being thrown down by the curtain is not going directly out the door. Has anybody done an independent study into this by checking temperatures around the outside of these doors?

If they are right we could stop putting up insulated houses and simply live under a canopy, put some fan heaters on poles and live in the balmy interior so created.... or maybe someone has the wrong end of the stick.

Glad of any pointers on work done so far.

Reasons for doors being open and heating/cooling systems attempting to heat/cool the rest of the planet:
> It is company policy to have the doors open
> It is so our customers know we are open. (Other than it being opening hours, the lights being on and there being people wandering about inside one assumes)
> Our customers like it
> So that disabled people can get in
> People find the doors hard to open
> The cold air from the shop helps with global warming (Give me strength!)

.... is it just me?

CORGI

Wojtex09 — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:11:28 +0100

Hello,

I am looking for Plumber with CORGI certificate.

Regards

Izabela
www.wojtex.co.uk

Suggest SIP, cassette, volumetric suppliers?

fostertom — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:25:22 +0100

Anyone suggest favourite suppliers of alternative ways to prefabricate the little one-room Office, pictured? The cols and beams supporting the unit form a garage space, to be board-clad on site. Upper wall finish is feather-edge cedar boarding; roof is slate - unfortunately can't use shingles as it's built right on the boundary.

a) SIPs
b) framed cassettes, i) stud framed, b) I-joist frames
c) volumetric i.e. completely pre-finished in a factory and craned in, in one piece

The last would allow us to do without scaffolding, but would have to be slated in the factory. Width incl. slate eave overhang is within the magic 4.2m max for volumetrics.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c301/fostertom/sk002.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c301/fostertom/sk.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c301/fostertom/sk001.jpg

vapour barriers and eps backed plasterboard

Aaron Priestman — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:18:46 +0100

Hi

I am planning on insulating my loft with eps backed plasterboard over the rafters. Does anyone know where the vapour barrier goes in this case as it clearly can't go on the warm side of the insulation?

Thanks in advance for advice!!

Refurbishing old windows - stuck with language & heat loss calculations

Novy Mlyn — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:39:52 +0100

Help please!

I have a lot of windows to restore. I am restoring them, rather than ripping them out and replacing them, as everyone seems to think I should, but I have a couple of questions.

Firstly - what is the style of window called? - typical central European, not double glazing or secondary glazing as each unit is an inner and an outer window with a gap of 30 cm between them. the bottom part opens inwards, hinges on the left & right sides, with a separate top section which only opens a slight amount. I think they might be called 'vienna' style but can't find enough info to be sure.

Secondly - I am stripping and painting the frames - but are different names for the wooden parts which are set into the wall and the wooden parts which encase the glass?

Thirdly - I am working on a heat loss calculation - I believe that air is a good thing to have trapped to stop heat escaping? How does this type of window compare with the modern new fangled double glazing we see everywhere these days?

Thanks in advance!

Flagship visit

tony — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:44:55 +0100

I recently visited the headquarters of one of our flagship building organisations.

I was horrified as it was summer and the heating was blasting away and all the doors were open! ----- wasteful or what?

The toilet facilities all had buckets under them to catch the drips.

There was a disconnected gas pipe with no cap on it in full view and a tap near by to turn it on.

No recycling bins just throw it all away.

No evidence at all of anything green, ecologically friendly or and not that much evidence of good building practice.

Is this place a Flagship or ship about to sink? If that is the flagship what hope for the rest of what gets built?

Suitable sealant materials.

Rimu Homes — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:33:29 +0100

Hi,

In another thread the issue of sealants came up but was not fully discussed. In our homes we use Sikaflex 552, http://www.sikaindustry.com/tds-ipd-sf552-us.pdf.

We try to use sustainable products where possible ,but I hadn't given much thougtht to the properties of the sealants. Is this stuff good/bad or are there other products I should be looking at in relation to green cred.
Hope the are some chemists ot there?

Painting new plaster

Chris Wardle — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:16:18 +0100

I have the plasterers in next week (sand & cement render then gypsum plaster skim) and I need to be decorating about a week after they finish. Can anyone recommend a suitable paint for the walls that will breath so that the walls can continue to dry out properly after application?

DPS

Nigel Silkstone — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:52:08 +0100

My neighbourâ€™s extension is being built with a damp course two brick level above our existing buildings level. Is this correct or should it be he same level?
Would any one know of references to any regulations covering D.P.C.â€™s or web sites I could use to find answers to this question?
Thank you for any help and advice you can give in this matter.

How do you make a municipal waste incinerator look good?

Joinerbird — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:45:12 +0100

How do you make a municipal waste incinerator look good?
Morning folks. I was wondering about this all night....Our incinerator in Nottingham is tho most polluting and uggliest incinerator in the country and its going to get bigger if its opperators WRG can win their appeal against Nottm City Councils decision to turn down a planning application to expand it.
They have resubmitted the application and have made an attempt to tart the thing up so it fits in with our city's up and coming image.

So how do you polish a turd??:shocked::surfing:

sheep fleeces

howdytom — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:48:42 +0100

Hi, I'm new to this site, has anyone disscussed the use of untreated sheep fleeces as insulation, as i have been offered a small truck load and thought that they might work as insulation under the ramed earth floor i was planning in a barn convertion. Their use as wall or ceiling insulation may cause a bit of a smell problem ?

Welsh slate vs artificial slate

Bluemoon — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:57:29 +0100

Still working on a spec for loghouse project. Which is greener of the two?
A picture of my present 20year-old roof, do the latest cement-fibre slates discolour and get mossy like these?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/Pontrhydfendigaid/slateroof.jpg

Damp... can anyone help

Daniel B — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:37:48 +0100

I recently took on a renovation project and there are some damp patches on the internal walls. Discolouring is visible in several places and I think it may be rising damp? I'm nervous about getting quotes to repar the problem as I'm told they tend to dramatically over do it! Can anyone suggest a cheap, reliable DIY option?

Replacement windows - warm edge spacers or not?

Marc Palmer — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:04:08 +0100

We're getting a local joiner to make replacement oak framed windows for our entire house.

The house itself is old and is never going to be super energy-efficient.

So I'm trying to work out how far it is worth going with the double glazed units in terms of cost to benefit.

The joiners are quoting for SGG Planitherm low-e glazing. Does that sound like it will be adequate, or would we benefit - even if the rest of our house has uninsulated walls - from another product like SGG Planitherm Futur N or SGG Swissspacer for warm-edge spacers? Its a minefield of poor manufacturer websites and potential over-specification.

Not to mention tints... I don't want any tints affecting the views from our house!

Any input welcome.

Argon filled window units

CarolAnne — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:03:55 +0100

I requested that my conservatory be built with argon filled Pilkington K glass. I can see that the window panes are Pilkington K but cannot see that they are argon filled. Is there any way I can tell that they are filled with argon gas? My neighbour says that I should be able to see a plug in each window pane where the gas has been inserted. Is this correct?

electric underfloor heating versus storage radiators + wind turbines

peppercat — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:20:20 +0100

Hi, I am about to undertake a minor extension and rather more major internal reorganisation of my house to enable me to work from home more effectively. The existing kitchen (in an 1990/91 extension and renovation of 1800s granite cottage) has a solid concrete floor which is none too flat or even and I am having this stripped out and converted to my practice room (I am a medical herbalist) and am considering how to heat it. The house is out in the country in Aberdeenshire, quite exposed and all electric as there is no mains gas available. I am with Scottish Hydro electric on their green tarriff "Power2", which I'm fairly stuck with as our heating is storage heaters on their Total Control system - like offpeak/white meter but we get a boost during the afternoon so evenings are not too cold in winter and none of the other green electric companies wanted to know when they heard that!
My first question is whether electric underfloor heating would be more or less efficient than the current storage heater for this room (about 9 sq m floor area). For me UFH would have two main advantages in this room (a) no loss of wall area to storage heater and (b) safety aspect of no very hot surface for patients to burn themselves on.

I also have planning permission for a roof mounted wind turbine (I did make enquiries about a larger free standing device but was told this would be turned down as we are in sight line of Aberdeen airport radar - which made me very cross!) and had been planning to install a Swift system as it seemed much more robust and versatile than the one available through B&Q. The DTi wind stats for here are pretty good and I can vouch for how windy it is as we are on an exposed site with no other buildings nearer than 400m and they are all down hill from us. However since Scottish and Southern energy took over marketing of the Swift system it seems to have stalled and my communications to them result in "holding" replies about doing more testing and monitoring of current installations before rolling out - this has been going on for nearly a year now so my second question is does anyone knew of any other roof mounted systems that might be suitable or any insider knowledge of what is actually happening with the Swift and whether it is likely to become available anytime soon?

Other options would obviously be to move to a different style of heating entirely e.g. multifuel stove and "wet" heating system but with mainly sold concrete floors I cannot face the disruption of this right now, never mind the expense.

My third and last question regards floor coverings - I am planning to use ceramic tiles in the utility room extension and probably in the new practice room too although I have also been considering marmoleum although I am having trouble finding out whether it can be laid direct on concrete or what sort of underlay it requires. The old study/practice room which is becoming my new kitchen/dining room actually has a raised floor - made of some kind of chipboard type stuff and I definitely don't want wool carpet in the kitchen but would like something warmer to the touch than ceramic tiles not sure what the green options are. Floor covering seem to be little covered either in green building forums or in eco decorating forums which seem to concentrate on paint and wall covering.

Review of current roof insulation is underway and we have already switched to low energy light bulbs throughout.

Looking for an eco friendly clear woodstain thats uv resistant

simonzz — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:03:29 +0100

I've just put my money where my mouth is and splashed out considerable moolah on a solid cedar garage door. I was intent on treating it from the outset on an eco friendly natural woodstain. Unfortunately I have only come across natural woodstains with UV protection when they have some pigmentation added. It appear that clear woodstains do not offer this protection. I don't really want to add colour to the door since the cedar looks suprb as it is.
Does anyone know of a natural treatment that does offer UV protection? Otherwise I'll have to go down the Sadolin route.

Does Code Level 3 require us to employ MMCs?

Neil Adam Hall — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:40:34 +0100

I work for a Housing Association; as such we are trying to prepare for any problems that meeting the Code for Sustainable Homes may incur for us.
I have been informed recently that to meet Code Level 3 we will required to employ Modern Methods of Construction. Could anyone substantiate this claim for me?

Ecological house extensions

Daniel — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:30:47 +0100

Dear people,

I'm an architectural student currently doing a research project on ecological building extensions. There is not too much information around on this topic but only basic principles. What I'm trying to do is really understand the issues and detailing for how to go about doing this. I'm looking at conservatries, rear and garage extensions, porches etc. The kind of work one would normally do but using ecological materials and construction techniques. For example:
How would I join a rammed earth wall to an exisitng masonary wall?
How would I join a timber frame structure to the rear of my house?

Are there any people out there who have done projects themselves? If so I'd really like to hear from you.

kind regards

Daniel

terminal flue position

jeanette — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:58:05 +0100

Can anybody tell me how far the terminal flue position of a condenser boiler should be from the boundary of the property. The plan is to put the boiller high up on the kitchen wall which is on the side of the house. This will mean the flue will point directly into the neighbouring property.

Thanks

insulating a corrugated iron roof

patrick — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:33:14 +0100

Hi
I need to insulate a corrugated iron roof to make a habitable space.
My first thought was to rip it down and start again but that seams a waste as it is in good condition.

It is built on a strong steel frame, sloping at about 12 deg. and the stone walls are 500mm+ thick.

The current plan is build a ceiling of 80mm Celotex (or similar) inside with a small ventilated space. Later I want to put a 50mm layer of a mixture of gravel and soil on top for a green/brown roof.

I have never done this before and would welcome any suggestions or better ideas.

The site is in Spain where there is NO economic construction timber.

Public Consultation on Domestic Microgeneration

Nanuls — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:05:23 +0100

Lifting the Planning Barriers to Domestic Energy Micro-generation: Proposed Changes to Permitted Development Rights

Thought you'd all might like to know that the Welsh Assembly Government are holding a consultation on the the future of domestic microgereneration with an aim to get the publics views on proposals to help residents take up individual sources of renewable energy in Wales by lifting any planning barriers to domestic energy micro-generation. Seems like a good thing to get involved in even if you don't live in Wales.

The document is 1.46mb and can be downloaded here:
http://new.wales.gov.uk/consultations/currentconsultation/plancurrcons/1616782/?lang=en

Part L and external doors

Johan — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:21:01 +0100

I'm a bit confused about the thermal performance for external doors.

If I've read the part L regulation correctly you need to use doors with better a u-value then 2.2W/m2K IF they have more then 50% glazing. Other doors it stats u-value <3.0W/m2K. Is this correct?? :shocked:

Sounds a bit mad to me! A door without a window should easily achieve less the 1.0W/m2K with a PUR core...

You also don't need building regs/FENSA cert. to fit a <50% glazed door as I understand it. Is this correct?

Anyone who can help clear up my confusion? Many thanks.