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

lostinrates

JonnyBravo wrote: »

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

and then, I want to do the same thing with pourable rubber.........

JonnyBravo

lostinrates wrote: »

and then, I want to do the same thing with pourable rubber.........

:rotfl:
No idea sorry. Never used it. Never even seen it AFAIK. How viscous is it? How quickly does it set? Those are they key qualities that decide how difficult a job that is.

sss555s

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.

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.

JonnyBravo wrote: »

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

I'm with Lydia on this one. If you're heating your walls then they are taking the "energy" that should be heating your room/ air.
It may make less an impact on a terrace house against a detached though.

Loving the debate about the value of AC when one is living in near 40° and another in 16°

Personally i think AC is needed every bit as much as heating in the appropriate temps :beer:

lostinrates

sss555s wrote: »

Loving the debate about the value of AC when one is living in near 40° and another in 16°

Personally i think AC is needed every bit as much as heating in the appropriate temps :beer:

And house types count too. The east facing side of my house never gets hot in summer, the sitting room is always deliciously cold and wouldn't need ac in the harshest british summer, but a south facing house of less iglooish design might well do!

JonnyBravo

sss555s wrote: »

I'm with Lydia on this one. If you're heating your walls then they are taking the "energy" that should be heating your room/ air.
It may make less an impact on a terrace house against a detached though.

Yes I agree entirely with your assessment that it is heating the walls but meant for the air.
However your walls then go on to lose that heat. If the wall is in the centre of the house then a larger proportion of the heat lost will be back to the rooms in the house, than say on an outside wall where some will be lost to outside.
In effect the wall becomes a much larger and lower temperature radiator.
If it is also downstairs it stands that the heated air from this "radiator" could also benefit upstairs as the air moves but heating the air upstairs is unlikely to lead to much of a raise in temperature downstairs.

lostinrates

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Yes I agree entirely with your assessment that it is heating the walls but meant for the air.
However your walls then go on to lose that heat. If the wall is in the centre of the house then a larger proportion of the heat lost will be back to the rooms in the house, than say on an outside wall where some will be lost to outside.
In effect the wall becomes a much larger and lower temperature radiator.
If it is also downstairs it stands that the heated air from this "radiator" could also benefit upstairs as the air moves but heating the air upstairs is unlikely to lead to much of a raise in temperature downstairs.

this makes sense to me, but might it depend on what the walls , including internal, are made of and the layout.....e.g. it makes sense to me that a solid down stairs wall with no wall above might act exactly as you describe, but a hollow wall with a hollow wall above might simply have heat gathering at the top or testing out the roof insulation?

JonnyBravo

lostinrates wrote: »

this makes sense to me, but might it depend on what the walls , including internal, are made of and the layout.....e.g. it makes sense to me that a solid down stairs wall with no wall above might act exactly as you describe, but a hollow wall with a hollow wall above might simply have heat gathering at the top or testing out the roof insulation?

Yes of course. A stud partition wall is not going to make any meaningful kind of thermal mass and so the heat is going to pass through to the room next door, or up the void as you have stated.
As has also been stated an "external wall" that is part of a terrace also makes a difference as the temperature differential to "outside" is likely to be smaller, but conversely the wall is likely to be less insulated.
All things which will make a difference, but I stand by my original claim.
Better to have the foil behind the radiators on the outside walls and upstairs as less real heat is lost from radiators downstairs on internal walls, (although granted you do get a longer payback from the burnt fuel due to brick etc having a far higher specific heat capacity than metal)

Wish I'd never mentioned it :rotfl:

tomterm8

lostinrates wrote: »

and then, I want to do the same thing with pourable rubber.........

I've seen people work with pourable rubber on roofs, where it is like painting but with a really thick paint.

However, what I understand on stable floors is you put a form (a mould) made of cheep wood, and the liquid rubber comes in three parts... first is the liquid rubber, then a chemical to harden it, and then some aggigate / rubber particles.

The substance comes out quite near the consistency of concrete.

You trowl it on, and smooth it with the trowl, working on small segments at a time, but you have to be quick. Then tamp it down with your trowl and smooth it out a bit.

This is third hand knowledge, though - I haven't done it myself - so I'd recommend going to a diy forum and asking.

Having said that, you are getting close to the "get a professional in"... laying the floor doesn't look too difficult, BUT, you have to be rapid about it, and get it right the first time. Because, if you don't, you'll never be able to fix it.

sss555s

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Wish I'd never mentioned it :rotfl:

Just caught up and that made me laugh

However! :cool:

They do seem to be a good idea and Amazon have a few different sets with reviews...

Really an amazing difference!

Prior to fitting the foil to the radiators on external walls it was hard to make the house feel warm. Since fitting I have had to turn down the boiler stat and rad stats as some rooms began feeling too hot!!

Big difference for low cost and very little effort

http://www.amazon.co.uk

:A

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Generali wrote: »

I suspect we'll spend quite a few nights this summer camping in the sitting room, the only room with aircon.

The portable ones work quite well. Buy one for the bedroom and take it with you when you move.

http://www.harveynorman.com.au/product/1256973634368/oapc

Just remember to empty the water tray every morning if you don't have a way to plumb it to the outside, otherwise things get soggy rather quickly.:o