Hi does anyone know whether there are any building regulations regarding staircases-height of risers, depth of goings & distances from opening doors? We need to put in an internal staircase & the space where it needs to go is very tight so
I have been reading the 'solar hot water again' posts & am interested in any views on the following heating/ hot water system & whether it would work. We have a stone farm house approx 130sqm on 2 floors, in reasonable condition but with
Hi Rosietat haven't looked at this for a while, amazing, the subject goes on & on! We have pretty much decided to go with our existing water heater for the bathroom even though it is old & replace it when needed. We have a small water heater downstairs which we will pipe into the kitchen where we will install a new woodburner with a back boiler facility but not connect it to anything at the moment & continue to use the old existing woodburner to heat the first floor- leaving the bedroom doors open to heat them. Having just put in a new staircase so that we can access the whole house internally that is going to have to be the extent of the works this year! It will be interesting to see how this works out as we have found that keeping the woodburner going in really cold weather warms the house very well although we have yet to spend a whole winter there. This coming one could be the first. Thanks for the advice Valerie  Â
Hi just had a look at your plans.I can't read the dimensions on your plans but have you thought about moving the (to be) rebuilt wall between the master & bed 2 across slightly so bed 2 is about the same size as bed 3 & putting a new wall behind the door to the master bed so that you can use the space between the two rooms as a small ensuite to the master bed ( a loo & basin at least) so that when you have guests you don't all have to share. If you aren't able to put in any additional windows you could install a sun pipe or rooflight to give light into this room. Don't know if it's of any help but it seems the most obvious place providing you can get the drainage to work. Good luck with the renovations!
Hi everyone I'm sure all of you who are familiar with the heatbank/woodburning heating, hot water systems will think this is a silly question but I would be grateful for an answer all the same! If you have a woodburner with a back boiler connected to a heat bank which will provide hot water for radiators & washing etc., I assume this will be on a timer the same as with a gas fired system. If the woodburner goes out, for how long does the heatbank keep the water & radiators hot? Having read through all the posts both old & new I am sure that woodburner/heatbank/solar is the way to go, just trying to understand as much as I can before finally deciding on a system. thanks for all the information so far
I love this, it just goes on & on. We are trying to sort out heating & hot water for our house as well & keep wavering between doing the least-2 woodburners & a new hot water heater & going all out with 2 woodburners, one with a back boiler to heat the water & radiators, solar power for hot water in summer or even enough photovoltaics to by pass ENEL altogether. It's so complicated! add to that the mess & expense of getting it all installed & we keep doing nothing, just not using the house at all during the coldest months. I have looked at all the links-I don't think anyones advertising & they have all been interesting. We love the Edilkamin Klima, it's soo expensive but seems to be the only vaguely modern looking woodburner with a boiler facility-any other suggestions gratefully received. Please keep up with the posts it's the most interesting one (to me anyway) by far! thanks
Hi Allan H thanks for the links, we are hoping to have solid steps with tiled tops so will have to shutter the top flight. I'm not sure this will be a DIY job!! regards Valerie
We're off to conversation class no2 tonight! Will follow your advice & hopefully be able to contribute a little more this week. Am determined to be able to speak & be understood by the end of the course so here goes! Â
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Hi Rosietat haven't looked at this for a while, amazing, the subject goes on & on! We have pretty much decided to go with our existing water heater for the bathroom even though it is old & replace it when needed. We have a small water heater downstairs which we will pipe into the kitchen where we will install a new woodburner with a back boiler facility but not connect it to anything at the moment & continue to use the old existing woodburner to heat the first floor- leaving the bedroom doors open to heat them. Having just put in a new staircase so that we can access the whole house internally that is going to have to be the extent of the works this year! It will be interesting to see how this works out as we have found that keeping the woodburner going in really cold weather warms the house very well although we have yet to spend a whole winter there. This coming one could be the first. Thanks for the advice Valerie  Â
why not, pm me the plans if you want to!!
Hi just had a look at your plans.I can't read the dimensions on your plans but have you thought about moving the (to be) rebuilt wall between the master & bed 2 across slightly so bed 2 is about the same size as bed 3 & putting a new wall behind the door to the master bed so that you can use the space between the two rooms as a small ensuite to the master bed ( a loo & basin at least) so that when you have guests you don't all have to share. If you aren't able to put in any additional windows you could install a sun pipe or rooflight to give light into this room. Don't know if it's of any help but it seems the most obvious place providing you can get the drainage to work. Good luck with the renovations!
Hi everyone I'm sure all of you who are familiar with the heatbank/woodburning heating, hot water systems will think this is a silly question but I would be grateful for an answer all the same! If you have a woodburner with a back boiler connected to a heat bank which will provide hot water for radiators & washing etc., I assume this will be on a timer the same as with a gas fired system. If the woodburner goes out, for how long does the heatbank keep the water & radiators hot? Having read through all the posts both old & new I am sure that woodburner/heatbank/solar is the way to go, just trying to understand as much as I can before finally deciding on a system. thanks for all the information so far
I love this, it just goes on & on. We are trying to sort out heating & hot water for our house as well & keep wavering between doing the least-2 woodburners & a new hot water heater & going all out with 2 woodburners, one with a back boiler to heat the water & radiators, solar power for hot water in summer or even enough photovoltaics to by pass ENEL altogether. It's so complicated! add to that the mess & expense of getting it all installed & we keep doing nothing, just not using the house at all during the coldest months. I have looked at all the links-I don't think anyones advertising & they have all been interesting. We love the Edilkamin Klima, it's soo expensive but seems to be the only vaguely modern looking woodburner with a boiler facility-any other suggestions gratefully received. Please keep up with the posts it's the most interesting one (to me anyway) by far! thanks
Hi Allan H thanks for the links, we are hoping to have solid steps with tiled tops so will have to shutter the top flight. I'm not sure this will be a DIY job!! regards Valerie
Thanks Fillide there are no structural implications to what we want to do so it should be ok
We're off to conversation class no2 tonight! Will follow your advice & hopefully be able to contribute a little more this week. Am determined to be able to speak & be understood by the end of the course so here goes! Â