Home DIY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/10424950/Can-you-really-save-300-a-year-with-a-wood-burning-stove.html

topical telegraph

My bath plug leaks slowly: you hop in a full bath and ten minutes later there are new islands of flesh in the bubbly sea. It's one where you twist a control on the top and it raises and lowers. How do I fix it?

remove bath side panel

adjust linkage

replace seal ring (if it has one)

Sit on the plug.

remove bath side panel

adjust linkage

replace seal ring (if it has one)

Thank you. Will try this.

Sit on the plug.

I have actually been taking baths with one heel constantly pushing it down. Relaxing it is not.

remove and replace with tradition low tech plug

couldn't you have an 'exposed' flue that would act like a giant radiator?
Yes you could have a single skin which would radiate heat into the room. This could be an issue if you don't want people burning themselves on it but you could create/buy some sort of guard that would stop anyone from getting too close.

One potential problem would be that the gases inside the flue cool too much, resulting in nasty tar-like condensation inside the flue. I suppose you could have a double skinned lower part and a single skin higher up so you get some heat radiation whilst keeping the gases hotter. This could also make it safer for kids/babies as the hot part would be out of reach.

Lazy-man option: give the plug a few wraps of plumbers (self-amalgamating) tape, this will increase the diameter to the point where it will seal until you get round to fixing it properly.

Our friends just built a new house. Bang in the center of the open plan ground floor. They have this tiled cylinder that goes from floor to ceiling, and is literally 2 meters, if not more, in diameter. Its a wood burner, with a complex piping system inside, and special ceramic tiles. So once up to temp, it uses several times more of the heat from firewood than our stove. Plus being so big. The tiled surface doesnt need to be dangerously hot.

It cost a fortune, and you'd need to build your house around it. But it is the coolest feature ever.

Together with a air/air heat exchanger. they hardly need any wall mounted heaters.

A friend of a friend had something that sounds very similar (but rectangular) in their flat in Berlin. It was pretty amazing. I got the impression that they were a common feature of those kinds of flats/apartments.

Re: plug

Take some of the candles you have lit in preparation for your bath, drip some of the wax around the plug to create a better seal. Alternatively, just pour an even bigger glass of rose or crank up the Kenny G and you'll soon forget about the leaky plug.

Or take showers.

Right, I feel like a decisive blow has been struck in the war on mold today.
bought four of these:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/21538/Moisture%20Trap/all-reviews

Which if the reviews are anything to go by are pretty good.

Lol. First review on that site:

“DOES NOT WORK” BY DAVID

I had some of them.

Yes they trap water but by no way enough to make them worthwhile.

A friend of a friend had something that sounds very similar (but rectangular) in their flat in Berlin. It was pretty amazing. I got the impression that they were a common feature of those kinds of flats/apartments.

Sounds like a bigger version of this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Kakelugn_fr%C3%A5n_R%C3%B6rstrand_ca_1900.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_heater

We have one in our house in sweden. Takes a while to heat up, but once warm, you only need to make one fire in the morning and one in the evening to keep the temp steady. It's filled with sand that holds heat really well, all heated up by the chimney that's looped around internally so the heat passes up and down the whole thing a few times before leaving

Lol. First review on that site:

Ha. Well, we'll see. Every little helps.

Those retrofit ventillation locks from Wickes OTOH are a total waste of time. They don't lock! At best they could be described as a ventillation "prop" as in, they prop open the window. You could acheive the same effect with a brick/book/pencil/cat/ANYTHING wedged in the window frame. With them fitted you can just reach in, flip the bolt across and open the window. Useless. Am now looking for quites for new windows because I refuse to live in a damp mouldy house.

In other exciting damp related news: following an extensive survey last night (including crawling into a service tunnel and literally getting covered in cobwebs) I have discovered that the bathroom extractor fan is fine, just piss weak and will be replaced.

Also discovered that the source of much of the damp smell is in the storage cupboard off the windowless bathroom. General bathroom steam and dampness has been exacerbated by rivers of water condensing on the cold water pipes and dripping onto the floor. The floorboards are completely rotten and smelly. That's all going to have to come up. Going to lag all the pipes this week too.

Anyone have any experience of using concrete screws/anchors? I have need of some industrial strength attachments to suspend a heavy weight from the underside of a concrete balcony.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/multi-monti-t-star-countersunk-bolts-6-x-50mm-pack-of-50/91817

Re: plug

Take some of the candles you have lit in preparation for your bath, drip some of the wax around the plug to create a better seal. Alternatively, just pour an even bigger glass of rose or crank up the Kenny G and you'll soon forget about the leaky plug.

Or take showers.

I don't want candles in the house after a thing I heard at work once.

Also, I do take showers normally, but when you're back from an hour-long ride home from work in the pissing rain and you can't feel your feet, there's no substitute to a bath with a cup of tea and something on iPlayer on the iPad, is there?

Bath thread >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I don't want candles in the house after a thing I heard at work once.

?? elaborate pls

http://www.screwfix.com/p/multi-monti-t-star-countersunk-bolts-6-x-50mm-pack-of-50/91817

Was actually looking at something a little beefier. Also, if you're drilling into reinforced concrete and you run into mesh, what happens?

A woman was using tea lights at home, they set the place alight - they're quite dangerous - and she was forced to jump from the window, breaking her back. I interviewed her in a hospital bed for a feature because she wanted to warn people of the dangers.

Google tea lights online and have a read. I don't want them in my flat. My girlfriend always has them at hers and I hate it.

edit - bad timing made flippant joke (even more) unfunny

A woman was using tea lights at home, they set the place alight - they're quite dangerous - and she was forced to jump from the window, breaking her back. I interviewed her in a hospital bed for a feature because she wanted to warn people of the dangers.

Google tea lights online and have a read. I don't want them in my flat. My girlfriend always has them at hers and I hate it.

How about using a tealight insite an appropriate enclosure? http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/decoration/20491/

Was actually looking at something a little beefier. Also, if you're drilling into reinforced concrete and you run into mesh, what happens?

You can get bigger ones, I've used concrete screws extensively and they are extremely effective.

If you run into the rebar then your drill stops, very abruptly - and you then drill a new hole to one side (after you've changed your drill bit to a non-fucked one).

If you go for new windows avoid aluminium frames and go pvc. Might not be as pretty but said rental with terrible condensation had them with double glazing and the amount of water that would bead and then run down them would make a rapha hardshell proud

edit - I liked that joke dooks, just a shame about the timing..

How about using a tealight insite an appropriate enclosure? http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/decoration/20491/

I really don't see that the benefit outweighs the risk of serious burns or a broken back. Your mileage may vary.