The working from home thread: tips and advice

Could you paint the house white and repost so we can see how much difference it makes

then black with white stripes and after that white with black stripes.

I think your plants won't like this if you have any

What level of tint / blocking % would be OK for plants?

On the air con chat, we put ours on last night to try and get the child's room down from 30 degrees before bedtime.

First time it's been used in that room so we didn't have the window kit so just had to stick the hose out of an open window. Got it down by 4 degrees in about 40 minutes. Cost about 35p an hour according to my smart meter which is cheaper than I thought.

Same. Took a room at 30 and got it down to 24 in an hour or two.

Which size did you get?
Our toddler’s room is on the top floor of a modern 3 bed terrace and though we have blackout windows, has the sun on that side of the house all evening.

We’re getting the windows filmed with heat reflection film on Tuesday, but would be good to get an air conditioner for the really hot days

We’re getting SUN70 from the Johnson films range on our extension windows so we won’t notice much difference to the view and Solar Silver SS20 on the 3 metre skylight to block as much heat as possible from the ceiling.

Presumably these solar films reduce the heat gain in the winter too so bigger fuel bills?

Yes they do reflect heat gain in winter, but I believe they also work better at keeping heat in the house, so less heat loss.

Is the concern over reflection or absorbsion of UV? If so, don't worry. I think chlorophyll peak absorbsion is 400-450nm, well into visible spectrum. 🤓

Can verify this with the changing colour of seaweed at different depths.

I believe they also work better at keeping heat in the house

not sure how that is supposed to work to be honest

I guess for starters, it adds more layers to your glass, so slightly more insulation.
And if more reflective than glass, would reflect radiation back into the house?

I think it's 14,000 BTU. The house has high ceilings so that adds to the volume of air it needs to cool which is why I went for something reasonably powerful

Is the concern...

You're asking the wrong person :)

My concern is that I want some shit that'll stop my dining room (and WFH space) baking over the summer, and someone infered that it'll fuck up my plants.

So I take it, that this is something I don't need to worry about 👍

What I actually need is a brise soleil, or the wall less version of that gazibo thing soul has. But the later ideally requires the patio being done first, and I cba to even embark on how to make a brise soleil that we'd like and will work on a 1950s semi.

I've put the film thing on the window, the one to reduce the amount of external heat getting in.

It's made a big difference, definitely cooler than on Thursday ;)

Ha. Money well spent.

brise soleil ... 1950s semi

Sounds like a good combo. I'd also like one on the South-facing window but it's nowhere near the top of a very long list.

Our predessessors had an ugly gazibo thing outside the patio doors, and once we were WFH in the summer I totally undstood why.

Going to measure up the windows and get some of that film. I'm probably not going to be WFH that much for a while, but eventually I'll be doing 2-3 days so it seems like the most cost sensible solution.

Triple monitor stand, double and a single arm or three separate arms?

How are you finding the portable screen?

Reconsidering one depending on if/how much WFH equipment budget I get as my work laptop is tiny. I've got a spare monitor but as we've now got our dinning room back since setting up a corner in our bedroom for my OH I'm not too keen on having a big old monitor knocking around the room.

Equally if anyone else is using one, I'd be keen to hear their thoughts.

The low height has always been my concern.

Double + single.

Unless they're really heavy. Then all singles.

@hugo7 that was my thought too, I'll look on ebay and see If i can get a nice Ergotron double and single arm from an office clearance place.

Equally if anyone else is using one, I'd be keen to hear their thoughts.

My GF has been using one for a year, has been fantastic for her, so useful when we go to work from our respective parents houses. I will be upgrading her to a 'proper' dual screen setup soon but she'll still use it with travel.

Mine is ok.

It's a bit dim compared to a laptop/monitor and eats the laptop battery but it does its job.

You can get a whole variety of tablet stands for under £20 so you can have it in whatever position you want. Trouble is if you're using your laptop keyboard then that screen is already low down so you end up with them both low down.

I'd say that is the major issue, if you're using that to save space/setup then you're probably not using a separate keyboard/mouse and you're limited by that.