The last piece of the insulation jigsaw went in today: 27 bags of Warmcel recycled newspaper-based insulation, blown into the floor of the new master bedroom. This room sits above the unheated stable and tack room, now our garage and plant room, so when we used this room as our living room, it was perennially freezing unless we had storage heater, radiator and the log burner on, full blast. With the heat pump now in the plant room, we also needed better sound insulation between the floors – the pump isn’t particularly noisy but the buzzing of the compressor would definitely not aid a good night’s sleep.
Pass the Anthracite…
Our renewable energy (lack of) saga drags on. Using our own records and technical audits from both BRE UK and a new supplier recommended by Danfoss, we’ve been able to demonstrate that our original renewable systems supplier, MMAXX Ltd, and their managing director, Neil McFarlane, had neither the competence to take on the work in the first place nor the integrity to admit it and either turn down the project or bring in people who did know what they were doing. That’s led to more than a year of non-functioning systems, damage to our property and a system that has so far provided neither the heat nor hot water specified and required. It’s also failing to deliver the promised savings or environmental benefits.
Stoves Online
Our woodburning stove in the kitchen, replacing a very old and burned out multifuel stove, is a Woodfire 12i, sourced from Stoves Online (www.stovesonline.co.uk). The first one they sent was damaged in transit – whether by their courier or by MMAXX Ltd we don’t know (MMAXX didn’t check it over on arrival at their depot, unpacked it then brought it up dumped in the back of a van, so I know where my money goes) – but Stoves Online were unfailingly helpful and courteous over arranging the replacement.
Winter Trolls
In anticipation of another winter like last, we’ve just had both cars switched to their winter booties, one at each of the two roughly equidistant local garages. The first mainly deals with Land Rovers and you do get the impression that you’re handing your car over to an amiable troll who firmly believes that there’s no problem that can’t be solved with a big enough hammer.
Plastered
Funny thing – before I moved back to Scotland, I’d never come across the habit of “Taping and Filling” – using Ames tape to seal the seams between adjacent sheets of plasterboard and then plastering and sanding the joint smooth. But it seemed to make perfect sense – after all, why should we pay for plasterboard and then pay some highly skilled bloke to spend days plastering it? Continue reading Plastered
Small Decisions, Large Consquences
In renovating Stronvar, we’ve created an insulated shell inside the original fabric of the building, bringing each wall in by about 120mm and increasing the effective thickness of the walls from around 800mm to nearly a metre – this is a not insubstantial building. Continue reading Small Decisions, Large Consquences
The Great British Workman?
What is it with the British? There’s been so much bitching over the last couple of years about conditions in the building and services industries, so it might seem reasonable to expect that companies would be focussing on delivering for their clients and just getting the job done.
Highland Rabbit
I drove home tonight in some truly foul conditions – seventy miles of standing water and lashing sleet. On a whim and to save myself from hypnosis from the rhythm of the wipers, I dug into the bourgemobile’s onboard library of a thousand or so albums and pulled up that great old hippy anthem, Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit.
Fuel Prices Meet Economic Illiteracy
With UK fuel prices now over the £1.30 mark for a litre (that’s around $8/US gallon) – locally, diesel is at £1.35/litre – we’re starting to see the usual round of, “let’s boycott the big oil companies until they do something” spam. I normally ignore these, but I’m seeing a fair few being forwarded by people who really ought to know better. There a fundamental economic illiteracy to these emails: even before we take our local circumstances into account, any such action just wouldn’t work. And that’s not because I’m an apologist for Big Oil – I detest Esso/Exxon and always have: as a bunch of rapacious idiots and climate-change saboteurs they have no equal. And, in BP’s case, it’s taken them years of determined stupidity to even begin to get close to Exxon’s duplicity.
Rage Against The Machine: The 2010 Bonspiel
Firstly, what’s it all about? In Scotland, The Bonspiel (“Grand Match“) is the great North-South Scottish Curling match, traditionally held on frozen lochs, with participation by thousands of players on hundreds of cleared rinks. The Bonspiel has been held 33 times in the last 150 years and only three times since World War II, the last being on the Lake of Menteith in 1979. Right now, the ice is in exactly the right conditions for the first running of this event in a generation, thousands of curlers are ready to descend and probably at least as many spectators (self included). So, of course they’ve cancelled it…
Continue reading Rage Against The Machine: The 2010 Bonspiel