Thanks for the replies.

Im going to focus first on sorting out a ceiling, but I’m now concerned over the weight I’ll be adding to the roof as well as adding fasteners into the trusses/joists

I’ve spent some time googling and my first issue is understanding if there’s actually a difference between a joist and the lower member of a truss… if there is, how do I know which I have?

I found a ceiling joist calculator and according to that, my joists (if that’s what they are!) are already under spec for the free span of the garage (145x35mm timbers spanning 4.4 m at 600mm centres) which makes me nervous about adding and extra load to them or adding screws…

I’m in the south west so nope, not really cold.

I’ve been lifting in there for a couple of years with the only concession being a hoody at the start of the session on occasion.

However… part of the reason for wanting to make it nicer is to convince my partner it’s a viable alternative to a gym membership for her too and she’s far less inclined to head out there on a cold day!

Panic over

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kjZOrLO_L/?igsh=ZHJxNGp2dWVhemls

edit: beaten to it

Not what the ref said.  Earlier advantage.   2 in that passage

kind of my point. The ref clearly said he was playing advantage for holding which he wasn’t. The TMO had the chance to correct him and also got it wrong.

Have you watched it back?h

Anyway, I need to focus on making excuses for when England are awful again. That takes a lot of focus 😀

Can’t blame the ref for the error (no way I could remember all that stuff) but surely it’s the job of the TMO to help??

it wasn’t. You can rewind and see. 1st infringement after the line out was the holding which was after the knock on

How did the ref/TMO not notice that the holding penalty came after the missed knock on??

Thanks for this, exactly the kind of order of magnitude comparison I’d not managed to make yet!

After the feedback above I’ve already started ringing around to see if I can find someone willing/able to quote for a replacement, modern oil boiler, no luck yet, but there’s still time to beat the ban if it looks like the best option, particularly if future conversion to HVO looks straightforward…

Thanks for all the replies.

To answer a couple of queries:

No microbore pipes in the house (one of the things I checked before buying), so the larger rads are all that would be needed upstairs and are already included in the quote I’ve had.

Air source over ground source is indeed a cost thing, I’ve had a quote I consider reasonable for the solar plus air source and all required upgraded rads/hot water tank.

im not too worried about the installation cost, but I’m very interested in how much it’ll end up costing to run… I can swallow the up front costs, but not if it’ll double my heating bills going forward!

House was built in 1996 and is quite well insulated in theory (cavity wall insulation, triple glazing, >200mm loft insulation) but I spent last winter (our first in the house) chasing drafts where things weren’t quite right (gaps around some exposed timbers, flush spotlights fitted in a pitched roof), so while it’s not a period property with leaky sash windows, it’s not perfect!

Putting aside the variability of the solar, is it possible to convert the quantity of oil used last winter to an equivalent energy input and figure out how much the same amount of energy input from a heat pump would cost for a given electricity price? Or does the varying efficiency as external temps drop make that too complex a set of equations for a meaningful comparison?

Merlin are currently selling D4s for £160…

The lack of good fixings was the final sticking point! The existing hole is halfway between timbers and it’s in a pitched roof section with no access to the back side (without removing roof tiles…)

So for now I think the answer is to replace with a new spot (with replaceable bulbs this time!) until I have a plasterer in for another job at which point I can remove enough plasterboard to put a beam in to span the timbers and get them to make good afterwards.

Thanks to all those who offered advice!

But of a thread resurrection, but I finally got this light out!

The way it was assembled makes me angry as it was effectively a one way assembly of the three components… an inner ring (which you can’t see) with two clips which screw in to bite on the plasterboard, then a larger blanking plate held in by the light, then the light was pushed in and clipped into place. But there is no way to either unscrew the inner plate, or unclip the light once installed!

Anyway, it’s out and I’m definitely not replacing like for like!
Next question is can I replace a single LED spot with a multi bulb pendant?
(I suspect the answer is “yes if…” so what do I need to check?? Gauge of wires? Size of the fuse on the consumer unit? Type of LED driver used?)

Or am I very obviously out of my depth and in need of an electrician? 🤣

When I was there a couple of weeks ago he mentioned an ongoing court case between the council (who own the land below the sleeper drop off the fire road) and someone who suffered life changing injuries as a result of a lack of maintenance… I suspect this has as much to do with that as a lack of financial viability

Sounds like the integral garage is worth looking at (and based on how cold the floor feels in the room above, I’d hope for a significant improvement by doing so!)

In terms of use, it’s for bike storage/fettling as well as general storage (unlikely ever to have cars in there!) but not as a gym as there’s a separate detached garage for that (likely to be the subject of a future thread…)

It’s constructed of block walls (supposedly an insulated cavity behind) concrete floor and plastered ceiling.

For the walls, it should be straightforward to attach insulated plasterboard. Is this likely to be cheaper/better than battens, traditional insulation and normal plasterboard?

For the ceiling I suppose I’d attach the boards using wall plugs in the existing plaster (very much a DIY novice so forgive the basic question! Maybe I’d need to drill a hole and figure out the plaster thickness/what’s behind before I chose the fixings??).

For the floor, would cheap foam tiles (e.g. https://www.costco.co.uk/Tyres-Automotive/Garage/Garage-Flooring/Best-Step-Microban-Interlocking-Comfort-Flooring-61-x-61-x-12-cm-8-Pack/p/290124)
Offer anything other than a nicer surface underfoot?

For the doors, would putting up something like this be worth doing? https://www.toolstation.com/thermawrap-self-adhesive-garage-door-insulation/p31452

Thanks all

🤣

Edit: that was in response to your first post, not suggesting you were being less than helpful!

Thanks all, it’s a 3k bike so with decent insurance none of the options look cheap and it sounds like each have their pitfalls (not to mention not seeing the bike first!)

On a completely unrelated note, anyone need a lift from Bristol to Glasgow or back tomorrow?! 😂

Water and (as yet unused) heating here too

10 points to each of you who suggested they are integrated units, I’ve just had a message from the person I bought the place from, confirming that to be the case!

So now the question becomes how to I get the integrated unit out of the ceiling in order to see what it looks like and try and source a replacement?

Am I aiming to prise the middle white ring and the lamp (as one piece) out of the outer white ring? Or should I try and remove the whole lot in one go? I can’t quite get my head around what is attached to what, and don’t want to go from simply having 1 out of 4 spot lights not working to having 3 working spot lights and a gaping hole in the ceiling!

Thanks for the responses so far, but I don’t think it’s a straightforward GU10 as that’s what I have elsewhere in the non pitched bits of the roof which I’ve managed to figure out

I’ve uploaded a couple more pictures to see if anyone has any bright ideas… I’m really hoping they’re not integrated as it was built in 1996 so I can’t imagine the same model will exist…

So far I’ve tried pushing the bulb in, turning the bulb, turning the central white ring and prying out the central white ring, but no luck!

Another fail as I can’t even post a picture successfully!

I stored the pic here https://ibb.co/t20Q5kp

I’ve recently enjoyed the beers from siwcbrewery.com.

They specialise in low and no alcohol, but their regular strength beers are decent too

Can you imagine the reaction if Farrell was yellowed for a blatant trip, followed a couple of weeks later by a red for a blatant leading forearm? Double standards??

Anything to be read into this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CG-GJtWrX-w/?igshid=1vvorrft0t17a

View this post on Instagram

New hard tail courtesy of @northern_metal_bicycles Can’t wait till my shoulder allows me to give it a rip… hopefully in the alps next month! #steelisreal #hardcorehardtail #madeinuk #bristolbikelife

A post shared by @ pjacko_mtb on Jul 21, 2019 at 11:20am PDT

Thread bump to say thanks for the advice! The little fella stayed awake for the entire Bristol-Dover leg, but this meant he was wrecked when we got to France and slept pretty much all the way to Troyes. An hours break for a walk and paddle in the lakes all round and then we had a cool, wet dog and happy baby to make the second stretch in France bearable, arriving at the chalet around 5pm!

Thanks for the tips all, those lakes in particular look ideal!

I meant to add, still planning to do it in a day, got a 5am tunnel, and plan to get as far as possible while the dog and little man sleep, before taking breaks after that…

Thanks for all the responses.It definitely feels like I’m out of my depth here… However hope DH rims are in the CRC Black Friday sale and have an ERD of just 2mm different to my 823. Since this should equate to 1mm per spoke, I’m going to give it a go with the existing spokes and pay attention to exposed threads/how close to protruding through the nipples the spokes get.

Just spotted that Owlaps don’t have any videos from chatel…

Here’s some photos to give a feel for it:

The wooden drop posted up at the top in chatel is long gone, but the dirt features from the old slopestyle course remain and are still rideable, including the big scott drop which is a fair bit bigger than that ladder too.

As stated above, chatel is where it’s at for big jumps/drops, but is less about the long DH than some of the other spots like Champery or Morzine.

Being based in either morzine or chatel is the best bet, even more so if you have a car to limit the chances of getting stuck in the wrong valley when the weather closes in. Chatel is much quieter and feels more French, but the actual bike park is a way out of town. Morzine is livelier, has lifts right in the town, but feels very English (could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your POV…)

Check out owlaps on youtube for helmet cams of loads of the tracks out there (and elsewhere in the alps) as everyone’s definition of big jumps/long DH is different!

I’ve had one for years, some of the novelty wears off (i.e. I no longer take it on every ride) but for the annual trip to the mountains, it’s nice to pull together an edit while being depressed about not still being in the mountains.

If you’re not riding solo, its easy enough to get some static footage to break up the headcam stuff which (I think) makes it more watchable:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10105974500619693&id=3222221

(Excuse the Facebook link!)

Not a one off unfortunately. The best I’ve come up with is 3 sets of index match within a nested ‘ if’. Not elegant, but since there are only 3 rows it’s simple enough!

Hopefully I’m not mixing my terminology…

To be clear, cells b4 to ad6 contain element IDs, cells b8 to ad10 contain thicknesses, b13 to ad15 materials.

Therefore if I want to return the thickness for a given element, I need to find its position within b4:ad6, then look for the thickness in the equivalent cell within b8:ad10..

Is this possible without macros? (I hate macros!)

Separate tables are what I have inherited! Better for visualising the position of the elements compared to the structure they represent, but not helpful for generating the list I need!

I’m in Bristol, so no excuse not to have checked out gawton and wind hill!

Thanks for the tips all. This year will be the first year in a while that I’m not heading to the Alps so it’ll be good to find somewhere more local to scratch the itch! Havok and gawton are definitely on the list now, although neither will quite hit the spot the same as this did last summer…

Still I can’t stay young and irresponsible forever!

Like this from Gawton?

Exactly what I’m talking about- I clearly need to plan a trip to Gawton then 🙂

Thanks for the replies all. My trail bike is a five so no real excuses not to do some pedalling, I’m just lazy!

Good to hear the prices with finale freeride – I couldn’t find them anywhere on their website