Ian Stirling wrote:
Staffbull wrote:

Owain wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
I've only got six lightbulbs in the whole flat!
I made up a string of 30 20W of the CFL's from morrisons, for use in the
garage.
It is a rather large garage - 10m*5m,

That is bigger than my whole flat!

and has no effective windows.

Yes, my lounge has a similar problem :-(

one of the downfalls of the last house, 300 yr old cottage, tiny
windows and lights on even on a summers day !!

/me passes Staffbull a 12" petrol disk cutter.

Woefully inadequate, walls were over 3ft thick !! and the stone was the
hardest granite i've ever come across

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 19:32:44 -0000, Mary Fisher wrote:

I'd like to chuck it all out and start a fresh with 100mm between the
current ceiling joists, fit more 100mm joists cross ways fill that
void and board.

What's stopping you?

Lack of cash

:-)

and too much honesty, on the other hand... Anyway the companies employed
for this work aren't interested in doing any but the bare minimum. I
guess they might be presuaded to just leave the insulation and I'll fit
it to my spec.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On 18 Nov 2006 11:46:37 -0800, Staffbull wrote:

Youd get a grant towards that, phone your local council,

Ta I will, what perecentage do you get or is it a fixed cash amount?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:33:51 +0000, Owain wrote:

I've only got six lightbulbs in the whole flat!

Lucky you. 6 strip lights, 16 CFls and 27 tungstens at a quick mental
tour round the place. Most of the lights that are regulary used are CFL.
As the other parts are refurbished and come into use the tungstens will
be replaced by CFLs.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Staffbull wrote:

Ian Stirling wrote:
Staffbull wrote:

Owain wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
I've only got six lightbulbs in the whole flat!
I made up a string of 30 20W of the CFL's from morrisons, for use in the
garage.
It is a rather large garage - 10m*5m,

That is bigger than my whole flat!

and has no effective windows.

Yes, my lounge has a similar problem :-(

one of the downfalls of the last house, 300 yr old cottage, tiny
windows and lights on even on a summers day !!

/me passes Staffbull a 12" petrol disk cutter.

Woefully inadequate, walls were over 3ft thick !! and the stone was the
hardest granite i've ever come across

Fortunately granite seems moderately rare in this house.
There are occasional lumps of it, it varies between quite hard
sandstone, quite soft sandstone, 'I can't believe it's not sand', with a
little granite, and quite a lot of brick.

And of course the occasional timber window lintel, bricked up...

The walls are about 50cm thick in most of it - though I was surprised to
find significant areas only double skinned brick.

It's interesting what you find when you rip out the plasterboard.

I think it was reconstructed from a largely ruined stone double cottage,
with little more than the gable ends standing, around 1950, largely in
brick/cement, with the bricks plastered. Then maybe 1960, some very
poorly fixed plasterboard was put in.

In 1980 or so, it was refurbished, ripped back to the bare walls, and
larger windows with concrete lintels put in, as well as being knocked
through into one cottage, and plasterboard with a suspended floor put
in.

Now I'm in the process of ripping out all the old plasterboard and
actually insulating the walls.

Ian Stirling wrote:
Staffbull wrote:

Ian Stirling wrote:
Staffbull wrote:

Owain wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
I've only got six lightbulbs in the whole flat!
I made up a string of 30 20W of the CFL's from morrisons, for use in the
garage.
It is a rather large garage - 10m*5m,

That is bigger than my whole flat!

and has no effective windows.

Yes, my lounge has a similar problem :-(

one of the downfalls of the last house, 300 yr old cottage, tiny
windows and lights on even on a summers day !!

/me passes Staffbull a 12" petrol disk cutter.

Woefully inadequate, walls were over 3ft thick !! and the stone was the
hardest granite i've ever come across

Fortunately granite seems moderately rare in this house.
There are occasional lumps of it, it varies between quite hard
sandstone, quite soft sandstone, 'I can't believe it's not sand', with a
little granite, and quite a lot of brick.

And of course the occasional timber window lintel, bricked up...

The walls are about 50cm thick in most of it - though I was surprised to
find significant areas only double skinned brick.

It's interesting what you find when you rip out the plasterboard.

I think it was reconstructed from a largely ruined stone double cottage,
with little more than the gable ends standing, around 1950, largely in
brick/cement, with the bricks plastered. Then maybe 1960, some very
poorly fixed plasterboard was put in.

In 1980 or so, it was refurbished, ripped back to the bare walls, and
larger windows with concrete lintels put in, as well as being knocked
through into one cottage, and plasterboard with a suspended floor put
in.

Now I'm in the process of ripping out all the old plasterboard and
actually insulating the walls.

We decided to sell the old place as the only parking was on the road
outside and the rear garden was only 25ft X 25ft. I've got space out
front for four cars now and a 100ft X 70ft garden after building the
extension. Drove past the old place not long ago and they've put double
yellows outside as it's on a junction, I'm glad we sold !!

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 18 Nov 2006 11:46:37 -0800, Staffbull wrote:

Youd get a grant towards that, phone your local council,

Ta I will, what perecentage do you get or is it a fixed cash amount?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

I think it's around three quaters of the cost, the local council will
put you in touch with some organisation that dishes em out, it's a
different one here in Wales.

Off the top of me head cavity wall insulation needed you to stump up
about £140, wich aint bad really, loft insulation was less. I'm
getting the lot done for nowt at the mo as I'm unemployed at the mo

On 18 Nov 2006 11:56:23 -0800, "Staffbull"
wrote:


Mary Fisher wrote:
"Staffbull" wrote in message
oups.com...

nice
little earner for Pilkington though

Do you mind that?

Mary

Mind what? that a company has a product they engineered themselfes,
patented it and are making an absolute fortune out of it.

And then let themselves be bought by the Japs. Yet another British
success story sold off to the highest bidder.


--

Mary Fisher wrote:

where Spouse is tatting.

Is that legal?

On 18 Nov 2006 11:30:47 GMT, Huge wrote:

I'd like to replace the bulb in our lobby with a CFL, but it's a
glass globe fitting, with no ventilation - filament bulbs last
noticeably less time in that fitting than others.

The bathroom light, traditional white glass globe, fully sealed as it's a
bathroom is the only CFL lamp that I have had to replace, twice, due to
failure. This is over about 4 or 5 years, last replacement was about 2
years ago. The bathroom light tends to get left on from 1800 to midnight.

So yes a sealed fitting will shorten the life but you'll still have the
energy saving. Replace a 60W tungsten with a 11W CFL costing 80p more and
the power saving will have made up the extra capital cost after 200hrs
(ish) or a month at 6hrs/day.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Staffbull wrote:
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 10:57:45 -0000, Mary Fisher wrote:

I got a couple free from British Gas recently.
I got 5 free (Philips branded) after doing an home energy survey thing. I
was hoping to get some (more) loft insulation. What we have is in poor
condition and covered in debris from the roof replacement. I'd like to
chuck it all out and start a fresh with 100mm between the current ceiling
joists, fit more 100mm joists cross ways fill that void and board.


Youd get a grant towards that, phone your local council, My grant form
has gone in for topping up existing roof insulation in the "old" part

When I once looked into getting grants, I found that you could only get
money towards the cost of employing a council/government approved
contractor to fit the insulation. Even with the grant, the net cost to
me would have been a hell of a lot more than diy'ing, which is what I
ended up doing.

David

"Staffbull" wrote in message
oups.com...

Ian Stirling wrote:
Staffbull wrote:

Owain wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
I've only got six lightbulbs in the whole flat!
I made up a string of 30 20W of the CFL's from morrisons, for use
in the
garage.
It is a rather large garage - 10m*5m,

That is bigger than my whole flat!

and has no effective windows.

Yes, my lounge has a similar problem :-(

one of the downfalls of the last house, 300 yr old cottage, tiny
windows and lights on even on a summers day !!

/me passes Staffbull a 12" petrol disk cutter.

Woefully inadequate, walls were over 3ft thick !! and the stone was the
hardest granite i've ever come across

Sounds like Cornwall!

Mary

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:

where Spouse is tatting.

Is that legal?

I don't think They can have heard of it :-)

Don't tell Them or They'll slap a notice on it.

Mary

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 19:32:44 -0000, Mary Fisher wrote:

I'd like to chuck it all out and start a fresh with 100mm between the
current ceiling joists, fit more 100mm joists cross ways fill that
void and board.

What's stopping you?

Lack of cash

:-)

and too much honesty,

That's the best reason I've ever heard! Good for you.

Mary

"Staffbull" wrote in message
oups.com...

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Staffbull" wrote in message
oups.com...

nice
little earner for Pilkington though

Do you mind that?

Mary

Mind what? that a company has a product they engineered themselfes,
patented it and are making an absolute fortune out of it. No not at
all, let's hear it for Bill Gates while were at it
:-)

If you invented something and sold it and made a lot of money I don't
suppose you'd mind.

It's only when someone else does it that people complain.

Mary

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 10:11:25 GMT, Lobster wrote:

When I once looked into getting grants, I found that you could only get
money towards the cost of employing a council/government approved
contractor to fit the insulation.

This is the normal problem, OK if you don't want anything different but a
right PITA if you do or even simply want the job doing to a decent
standard.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On 18 Nov 2006 15:26:07 -0800, Staffbull wrote:

Off the top of me head cavity wall insulation needed you to stump up
about £140, wich aint bad really, loft insulation was less.

No cavity walls, well there are but I'd not want to stuff insulation in
there otherwise the damp from the solid stone outer walls would get
across.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 10:11:25 GMT, Lobster wrote:

When I once looked into getting grants, I found that you could only get
money towards the cost of employing a council/government approved
contractor to fit the insulation.

This is the normal problem, OK if you don't want anything different but a
right PITA if you do or even simply want the job doing to a decent
standard.

Or if you want a non-standard job doing.

Though admittedly what I'm doing is orders of magnitude more work than a
guy with a foam gun turning up and doing the cavity, it would have been
nice to have been able to claim some of the ~grand back.
It might even have resulted in a better insulated place, as I'd have to
compromise less.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 10:57:45 -0000, Mary Fisher wrote:

I got a couple free from British Gas recently.

I got 5 free (Philips branded) after doing an home energy survey thing. I
was hoping to get some (more) loft insulation. What we have is in poor
condition and covered in debris from the roof replacement. I'd like to
chuck it all out and start a fresh with 100mm between the current ceiling
joists, fit more 100mm joists cross ways fill that void and board.

Those CLFs tend to have a horrible colour to the lighting.

On 19 Nov 2006 14:52:21 GMT, Ian Stirling wrote:

This is the normal problem, OK if you don't want anything different
but a right PITA if you do or even simply want the job doing to a
decent standard.

Or if you want a non-standard job doing.

Though admittedly what I'm doing is orders of magnitude more work than
a guy with a foam gun turning up and doing the cavity, it would have
been nice to have been able to claim some of the ~grand back.

Quite, I almost detect positive discrimination. You can get all manner of
grants and things done for free or minimal cost if you are in reciept of
certain state benefits but if you are a normal hardworking person, paying
loads of taxes, you get beggar all.

It might even have resulted in a better insulated place, as I'd have to
compromise less.

And in these days of green awareness "they" should be ensuring that all
the housing stock has suffcient insulation, (wall and loft), provide a
few CFLs, HW tank jacket, double glazing or at the very least draft
proofing. *Not* just the housing stock that just happens to be occupied
by people on benefits.

I can see that handing out cash could be very easily be abused so using a
limited "approved contractors" list is an easy way to reduce that. But I
feel that an "approved contractors" list is too restrictive. There ought
to be an options to use a contractor of your choice and products of your
choice, provided that that contractor has the relevant industry standard
qualifications or to DIY and have an inspection to show the work has been
done properly using suitable materials.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On 19 Nov 2006 14:52:21 GMT, Ian Stirling wrote:

This is the normal problem, OK if you don't want anything different
but a right PITA if you do or even simply want the job doing to a
decent standard.

Or if you want a non-standard job doing.

Though admittedly what I'm doing is orders of magnitude more work than
a guy with a foam gun turning up and doing the cavity, it would have
been nice to have been able to claim some of the ~grand back.

Quite, I almost detect positive discrimination. You can get all manner of
grants and things done for free or minimal cost if you are in reciept of
certain state benefits but if you are a normal hardworking person, paying
loads of taxes, you get beggar all.

Your prejudices are showing :-)

It might even have resulted in a better insulated place, as I'd have to
compromise less.

And in these days of green awareness "they" should be ensuring that all
the housing stock has suffcient insulation, (wall and loft), provide a
few CFLs, HW tank jacket, double glazing or at the very least draft
proofing. *Not* just the housing stock that just happens to be occupied
by people on benefits.

They are doing.

The only reason we haven't taken advantage is that we already have
everything the LA will provide, have had it for years.

Mary

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 10:11:25 GMT, Lobster
wrote:


When I once looked into getting grants, I found that you could only get
money towards the cost of employing a council/government approved
contractor to fit the insulation. Even with the grant, the net cost to
me would have been a hell of a lot more than diy'ing, which is what I
ended up doing.

That's the situation now but wind back 20 years or so and the council
only paid out against a VAT receipt for the materials.


--

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 19 Nov 2006 14:52:21 GMT, Ian Stirling wrote:

This is the normal problem, OK if you don't want anything different
but a right PITA if you do or even simply want the job doing to a
decent standard.
snip
And in these days of green awareness "they" should be ensuring that all
the housing stock has suffcient insulation, (wall and loft), provide a
few CFLs, HW tank jacket, double glazing or at the very least draft
proofing. *Not* just the housing stock that just happens to be occupied
by people on benefits.

And in some ways, 'they' are in a unique position.
Considering UK PLC - spending local tax money in the economy in order to
directly reduce imports of foreign energy may make lots of sense.

Even if this is _completely_ free to the people whos houses it's put
into, and is not means tested.