Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

Doozergirl

michaels wrote: »

Given the amount of ventilation recomended (and probably more is better health wise) we looked in MRV (mechanical heat recovery - basically stale air pumpeed out of bathrooms gives it heat up to fresh air pumped in to bedrooms before it is vented outside) but the level of efficiency basically means it will never pay for itself as the heat exchanger is power by electric which costs 4x as much per kwh as the gas used to heat the house in the first place.

We don't actually have much of the original walls left but will get the cavity walls filled and then with the rest of the house cavity and loft insulated to the latest standards and DG throughout plus super-dooper new boiler with weather compensation control hopefully we will be fairly green.

Excessive thermal gain with all the new windows may be more of a problem in summer as we have not installed AC which we may regret later.

Now AC I see as a waste when we barely have any warm days in a year...

MHRV comes into it's own when it's in conjunction with a genuinely airtight, superinsulated house with minimal thermal bridging. You reduce the need for heating down so far that you've binned off a regular boiler altogether and running the MHRV to simply maintain the heat generated by you, your appliances, the dog and the sun. Then that is your main heating cost. If you cannot lose the heat then the cost of heating a house becomes negligible. And if you've got some of Lydia's panels then you're not doing too badly at all!

MHRV is pretty pointless when you can't physical hold on to the heat that leaks constantly from a 'regular' house. I'm glad you didn't go for it.

Doozergirl

silvercar wrote: »

Then you have to consider the loss of heat caused by someone opening the front door to check the mail box and then coming back into the house a great deal colder than when they went out. Repeat that 10 times unless you are confident of the paperboy and the postman arriving at the same time each day.

Our dog tells us, very loudly, the exact moment the postman even considers approaching our house! No need to guess in our house.

You need to add a dog to your shopping list of a new front door and wall mounted box though. The costs are beginning to mount!

chewmylegoff

Doozergirl wrote: »

Now AC I see as a waste when we barely have any warm days in a year...

Our AC is a godsend, use it almost every night in the summer - we live right on a 24 hour bus route and under the final approach route to heathrow - if the triple glazing isn't shut, you're not going to get any sleep, but with no AC you can't sleep either as it gets far too hot.

But yeah, waste of time otherwise, and it really plays havoc with the bills. Our fuel bills are higher in the summer.

JonnyBravo

sss555s wrote: »

Tip #241: Put reflective material behind your radiators. :santa2:

I think it's a case of a lot of small things each make make a small difference.

Hmmmm.... largely depends on where the radiator is. Matters much less on internal and downstairs walls than say an upstairs room on an external wall.

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

Now AC I see as a waste when we barely have any warm days in a year...

It isn't in Aus! It was 35C in the shade yesterday and our bedroom faces North-West which means it gets the sun all afternoon and evening. It was roasting in there last night. The outside temperature dropped to 19C but the wall was so hot it was like sleeping with a huge radiator on.

It costs a bloody fortune of course but it is most definitely worth it. I suspect we'll spend quite a few nights this summer camping in the sitting room, the only room with aircon.

lostinrates

doozergirl.....can you ...or your oh, answer a question we pondered in your absense...about how its possible to set concrete (or, ahem, pourable rubber) on a slant for drainage....we know its possible, because michaels garage was done like that and so is my yard, but we don't know how......and dh and I are considering having ago at our concrete slab for stabling, our selves!

LydiaJ

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Hmmmm.... largely depends on where the radiator is. Matters much less on internal and downstairs walls than say an upstairs room on an external wall.

Why would the upstairs/downstairs thing make much difference? I know hot air and hot water rise, of course, but unless your upstairs radiators are much hotter than your downstairs ones (which they wouldn't be if you have thermostatic valves on them), reflective foil behind them should have a pretty similar effect upstairs or downstairs, I would have thought.

JonnyBravo

LydiaJ wrote: »

Why would the upstairs/downstairs thing make much difference? I know hot air and hot water rise, of course, but unless your upstairs radiators are much hotter than your downstairs ones (which they wouldn't be if you have thermostatic valves on them), reflective foil behind them should have a pretty similar effect upstairs or downstairs, I would have thought.

Yes I suspect it plays a tiny tiny part but clearly we're talking about creating a thermal mass if the walls are being heated. It's going to be better for that thermal mass to be downstairs in the centre of the house rather than upstairs.

edit for clarity: so I'm not saying the foil acts any differently, just that the benefit derived varies

tomterm8

lostinrates wrote: »

doozergirl.....can you ...or your oh, answer a question we pondered in your absense...about how its possible to set concrete (or, ahem, pourable rubber) on a slant for drainage....we know its possible, because michaels garage was done like that and so is my yard, but we don't know how......and dh and I are considering having ago at our concrete slab for stabling, our selves!

I'm guessing concrete wouldn't be hard, because it is a very dry mixture compared to morter, from the basic work I've done with it my experience is it doesn't self level, it goes into any shape you tamp it to, within reason...

Would cost a fortune, though.

JonnyBravo

tomterm8 wrote: »

I'm guessing concrete wouldn't be hard, because it is a very dry mixture compared to morter, from the basic work I've done with it my experience is it doesn't self level, it goes into any shape you tamp it to, within reason...

Would cost a fortune, though.

Absolutely. You're only talking a few degrees here I presume.
Get some boards set at the required angle round the side (and one down the centre if needed) and some beams to stretch across to level the stuff and bob's your uncle, fanny's your aunt