Breakthrough batteries

[adam2]

I went to a lecture by someone involved with electricity networks a few years ago, and they commented that if everybody started using electric cars and heat pumps, and they were all on at around the same time, some serious upgrading of local electricity networks would be needed, or we'd have substations failing...

Yes, many substations and related cable networks are already marginal and barely adequate for the existing load.
Fortunatly, neither heat pumps nor electric vehicles are likely to be adopted overnight, it should be a gradual process that gives time for electrical network upgrades.
Heat pumps are of greater concern as they add to the peak demand and will be used every day in the heating season.

[Pepperman]

I went to a lecture by someone involved with electricity networks a few years ago, and they commented that if everybody started using electric cars and heat pumps, and they were all on at around the same time, some serious upgrading of local electricity networks would be needed, or we'd have substations failing...

Yep they're currently modelling the impacts of these different technologies at both grid and local levels (I'm involved in some of this work).

It's worth bearing in mind that there are also technologies which are contributing to reduced demand (efficient appliances, lighting, smart meters, insulation etc) as well as to increased demand (heat pumps, EVs etc) and the technologies that reduce demand will be taken up on a much larger scale and more rapidly (in most cases) than heat pumps or EVs.

If 10 in 10 houses replace their lighting with LEDs and 1 in 10 houses get a heat pump then the net impact on the grid should be more manageable overall. The issues arise because you might get concentrations of heat pumps on a relatively small number of substations.

Personally I'm doubtful that heat pumps will gain much traction (other than in already electrically heated properties where they make sense), in spite of the government's attempts to go down that path. We really need to be looking at other solutions to our gas heated properties before we waste too much time.

[kenneal - lagger]

......We really need to be looking at other solutions to our gas heated properties before we waste too much time.

Try this to knock 30% to 40% off the nations gas usage

[PS_RalphW]

Too early to tell if my cheap self-installed secondary glazing will save me much oil this year. It's been far too warm!

I didn't get around to replacing our antiquated oil boiler this summer, that should save a few pennies when I do. Still not sure how to insulate our listed lathe and plaster walls or solid concrete floors - we have very little headroom already!

The wood burner has been in action a few times, but not the central heating yet.

[kenneal - lagger]

Too early to tell if my cheap self-installed secondary glazing will save me much oil this year. It's been far too warm!

I didn't get around to replacing our antiquated oil boiler this summer, that should save a few pennies when I do. Still not sure how to insulate our listed lathe and plaster walls or solid concrete floors - we have very little headroom already!

The wood burner has been in action a few times, but not the central heating yet.

Is the lathe and plaster on the inside or out or both, Ralph?

If you can insulate externally you can take the insulation down below ground level, if your water table isn't too high, which will insulate the floor. If the water table is high and mobile the water will carry the heat away.

[PS_RalphW]

It's inside and out, but inside has exposed oak beams and a (new) brick base of 3 courses. The roof is thatch with a reasonable overhang, the plaster starts about an inch above the level of the deep gravel filled drain around the house. Outside it's lime plaster on 3 walls and cement pebbledash on the (largest) north wall.

Being listed, getting permission for external insulation is not going to be easy. Conventional external insulation is a no-no, it would extend too far out below the thatch, and destroy the entire character of the building.

I am considering using a layer of aerogel matting topped with more lime plaster, that would retain the overall look and feel of the place, and with only 3 windows and 1 door the detailing should not be too expensive. However, there is no precedent for using aerogel on this kind of property, it has only been used a couple of times in Germany, and unless my mum hurries up and delivers my inheritance, it is going to be far too expensive.

Even then , I can imagine that losing the detailing of exposed beam ends under the lip of the thatch would cause problems with the listing status.

A new oil boiler and oil tank and thatched roof are higher up the priority list.

Oh and the water table in winter is very high. In the next street they are forever pumping out the drains. I often cycle through water bubbling up through the drain covers.

[kenneal - lagger]

Ralph, the last new build oak framed building that I did the Building Regs for had the oak frame entirely enclosed externally in insulation at the behest of the oak frame suppliers. They said that the frame should be enclosed in the insulation envelope in the interests of stability and longevity. Whether or not that would cut any ice with the conservation people I do not know. Ironic isn't it that the "conservation" people might not be interested in the conservation of the fabric of the property, only its looks!

Insulating externally would have the benefit of stabilising the oak frame, making the whole house warmer and eliminating draughts. The house, by the sound of it, probably hasn't got any foundations so insulating down to the bottom of them won't go very far! A concrete floor in that type of construction it generally frowned upon as it concentrates moisture around the walls and contributes to damp in them. A breathing construction of some sort is preferable: brick paviors on a rubble base for instance but with added insulation in your case (Lecafil or Perlite in place of rubble)

It might be possible to fix external insulation when the thatch needs redoing as it should be easy enough to extend the thatch by the 200/250 mm necessary for the wall insulation. That would also be when you insulate the roof as well using lots of wood fibre board insulation for breathability.

There are thousands of houses like that which should be done eventually but it will take decades for "conservation" people to recognise that these houses are going to be abandoned if they can't be insulated. If I were you I would sell it sharpish before the people with more money than sense either gain some sense or lose their money. Then buy something that can be insulated because you are very unlikely to find something that has been properly insulated already or build something new that can be well insulated.

(Edited to annotate the floor insulation - Ken)

[biffvernon]

Is the lathe and plaster on the inside or out or both, Ralph?

The lathe had better be kept inside out of the rain.

[kenneal - lagger]

Is the lathe and plaster on the inside or out or both, Ralph?

The lathe had better be kept inside out of the rain.

I presume you forgot the Smiley because it's a bit difficult to put the plaster up before the lathe!!

[biffvernon]

https://www.google.com/search?q=lathe&o ... 0&ie=UTF-8

[kenneal - lagger]

Apologies, Biff. The Lath and Plaster is what I meant.

As we're obviously getting down to the nuts and blots of the thing, the external render would be more likely to be wattle and daub rather than LATH and plaster, the wattle being made from split hazel rods woven through a grid of unsplit hazel rods and the daub being a courser plaster mix than the inside lath and plaster. The inside laths would more likely be split oak or chestnut.

[biffvernon]

Apologies, Biff. The Lath and Plaster is what I meant.

Right, so that's sorted. In my side of Lincolnshire, rather than lath and plaster or wattle and daub, we have mud and stud. It's a subtle difference but the important part is that the oak frame was always covered in the mud so was not seen. This picture: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3655493
shows a friend of mine, James Ley, adding the mud to the stud, and there are lots of other showing the finished results here: here

[PS_RalphW]

Part of the plasterf has come looise round the front door (daughter slammed it too many times). It is laths on the outside, I suspect it was replastered about 20 years ago.

[kenneal - lagger]

Thanks for that, Biff. I wonder what influences are in play to make the use of mud and stud prevalent over wattle and daub? Perhaps it's greater wind speed in Linconshire demanding a thicker better insulated and wind proof construction than wattle and daub provides.

In the cutaway of the M&S house they show the posts going down to only a couple of courses above ground level. I would have thought that starting off a plate on top of the brick would have given a more long lived structure by keeping the timber away from rising moisture, in the same way that cob and the M&S is given protection.

Ralph, you should use sand/lime to re-render your house so that it can breath. If it was redone twenty years ago they probably used a cement render. It should be easy to tell from the bits that have fallen off. Cement will be very hard and brittle while the lime will probably be courser and more inclined to flake and rub away. It will also probably have hair in it.

If the rendering needs redoing that may be your chance to get some insulation in the wall by taking off the external render and supporting structure, infilling with wood fibre board and applying a lime render onto that. You would want to air seal the structure at the same time by taping the boards to the timber frame.

[PS_RalphW]

As I said, the walls are lime rendered, it was done when the older cement render had caused damp and damaged some of the oak beams that were replaced , along with the sole plate. The north wall is still cement. I tried patching the damage, including horse hair, but it failed to survive further door slamming
I will try again next year, by when the daughter I hope will have calmed down a bit