Why should the employer/tax payer incur additional costs because the OP has decided to drive say 30 miles to a meeting, rather than his usual ride 10 miles and then take the pool car for the remaining distance.

The OP’s time is actually saved as i’m assuming that driving to the meeting directly from home is quicker than riding to the office to collect the pool car and continuing the journey from there.

The employer is also paying for his additional expenses, but are not covering his expenses for deciding to take his car directly from home to save a ride to work.

If the pool car is not available, or (because it’s electric) not capable of taking him to the meeting, then that’s a different story entirely.

BUT if the pool car is available, then he is being treated identically to everyone else, as they too would only be covered for their additional expenses (mileage from office to meeting)

But the OP has decided to drive to the meeting, rather than ride to work to collect the pool car to go to the meeting, so surely it’s his decision to take a mode of transport that is costing him money.

I know I sound like i’m being a bit of a tool, but this isn’t discrimination due to riding to work.

If he really feels like it is discrimination, then take it up with his line manager/HR

I’m not quite sure I see how they are discriminating against you being a cyclist?

Surely anyone that drives to work would similarly have to knock off the home-work mileage if they were to attend an early meeting? Or they would have to drive to the office to collect the pool car (the same as you would have to ride to collect the pool car).

It’s your decision to ride (at effectively no cost) to work. If you’re really that concerned that if you have an early meeting it is costing you money, then ride to work and pick up the pool car, then it won’t cost you.

I too was under the impression that you have to knock off the mileage for tax purposes, otherwise it could be seen as a benefit in kind?

I don’t sell any. I buy. Used to work for a company owned by Saint Gobain, and still bought Guardian glass as the rates were/are better (for commercial projects)for an equivalent product.

Guardian u-value of 1.3 is with an air filled cavity. 1.0 with argon filled. Argon filled is standard in commercial glazing.

1.0 is as low as currently available with an argon filled double glazed unit (as far as i’m aware).

A 6T-16-6T SGG Coolite SKN174II will set you back in the region of £70/sqm plus energy surcharge.

Like for like, Guardian products are cheaper than Saint Gobain and Pilks. Glaverbel/AGC slightly cheaper again.

Hi Don,

A couple of links below to the major glass/coating manufacturers (just as examples)

Saint Gobain: Coolite SKN 174

Guardian: Sunguard

Pilks Suncool already discussed up the page

All the major glass manufacturers offer various solar control coatings that also perform the same function as the low E coatings these days, but as with anything, they cost more than a bog standard low E coating. Probably overkill for most domestic house though.

Solar heat gain can be combated with a solar control coating, so overall savings can be had.

With most modern solar control coatings they are ‘dual function’ and also provide/replace the low E coating (as this will reduce the heating effect in the summer, and reduce heat loss in the winter).

With a 16mm argon filled cavity, a typical u-value (through the centre of the glass unit) will be 1.1 (sometimes 1.0 depending on coating). Compare this the old Pilkinton K coatings that give 1.5.

Another thing to consider is the spacer bar material, as this will effect overall performance of the glazing unit/window.

As has been said, you can get a double glazed unit down to a 0.8/0.9 u-value with krypton filled cavities, but a triple glazed unit will get 0.8 with argon fill (walls and roofs are typically insulated to 0.15-0.28 u-value for comparisson)

Overall performance also depends on ratio of frame to glazing, as (in my area at least) the frame has a worse u-value than the centre of the glass, so the average u-value of the opening is worse than just the glass alone.

To summarise, if you want the best possible performing glass/window, a high performance soft coat solar control coating, krypton filled cavity, warm edge spacer unit that is triple glazed is the best.

BUT unless the rest of your home is to ‘Passivhaus’ standards, you’ll not really notice the difference.

In a few years time, triple glazing will become the new standard. It already is the standard in Germany, and the next edition of the building regs is likely to impose average u-values that will be best/easiest achieved with triple glazing.

My god, is it bad that I even bore myself sometimes?! 🙂

Sorry, just saw what you were listening to originally:

Deluded +1 Fat of the land is epic

Chill

Turn up stereo

And relax again

Maybe if I get him Laphroig and he doesn’t like it, he might pass it back my way 🙂

Alpkit Gourdons are pretty light, pretty cheap and waterproof to boot. I like mine, although have got other packs that are more comfortable on the back (but heavier like my Deuter Alpine 30).

I thought they were giving away free magic potatoes?!

Pretty cool huh?

Screwfix is your friend. Not all decking screws, but about half of them are (i’ve used Spax floorboard screws with good results, so imagine their decking screws are good too)

Timber screws at more than 100mm

Timber screws at more than 100mm

Timber screws at more than 100mm

Timber screws at more than 100mm long

Timber screws at more than 100mm long

Find local coal supplier in yellow pages, phone and ask if they do restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal in a blue bag. If they say yes, go and buy some, cos it’s good stuff and cheaper than the ‘decent stuff’ from the likes of B&Q.

(you actually get pieces of tree turned in to charcoal in the bags, rather than black dust).

Starter chimneys are great bits of kit and save a lot of faffing around with sticks/fire lighters etc.

I believe that you can add a gpx file on to Google Earth. You can then save the route on Google maps of the t’internet and from there, open Google maps on your phone and select layers, and then apply the route as a layer.

Either that of get Viewranger (there is a free version on Google Play) which I also believe deals with gpx files, which is a lot less faff a getting a gpx file on to it, but doesn’t seem as intuitive to use.

Ermmmm, have you ever been to Blackpool…..I did once in November…..ermmmm………nuff said

Try Westward Ho on a winters day (Devon)……not a lot going on (unless you like 2p penny machines)

Lol, you obviously haven’t been to most of the Cornish tourist ‘traps’.

Try living in Fowey in the winter as a teenager. Establishments that are open are the newsagents and the pub……hang on a minute, a pub with no emmitts (or grockles if you’re from Devon)….maybe that ain’t so bad!

double post

Halford Pro stuff is on offer at the moment:

Good Value

If you want some seriously decent cable cutters, then Felco are the way to go (although they’ll be around £40).

Well I specifically asked Spec UK about this when I got my new Pitch, as the seatpost didn’t extend below the top tube, but only went to the base of the seat tube support (Spec supplied seat post in Spec frame). Their response was that as long as the bottom of the post was at the bottom of the seat tube support, then no worries as the seat tube support was acting as the top tube.

Why wouldn’t this be any different?

Grass will be cut in 2 weekends time (next weekend is a bivi trip:) ).

Flux: Not power washing……hose pipe ban don’t you know!

I did it following this for Christmas and it was awesome!

Anthony,

Drop me an email. I’ve got something at home that might just be the ticket. If I can dig out all the bits, yours for the cost of postage and some karma points.

Think it’s a Japanese concept.

Something like, sort, shine etc etc

We tried it at work for a while. You tidy away items based on how often they are used. The things you use all the time should be within arms reach. The stuff used once a day on the shelves at the end of the desk, things once a week in the cupboard by the door, and stuff used twice a year in a storage container.

It’s basically about improving efficiency by reducing the amount of kit, everything in it’s place and a place for everything (shadow boards etc).

You can go a very long way with it, but to be honest it kind of petered out at our place once we’d done the sort stage!

Wiki explaination

Before they had to sell lots of records on a big label:

Not rediscovering, just still loving anything Glassjaw or Glassjaw inspired:

All a personal issue i’m afraid:

I’ve got Tabac, P160 etc etc,, but my personal (personal opinion):

Hot shower
Proraso Shaving soap
Post shave cream (use like mosturiser)
Burns after the above, but a nice burn that stops shaving rash

Something like your pic will be fine. It really just needs something to protect the edge/corner of the glass, otherwise what can seem like a small knock can break the glass.

You can throw a brick at the centre of a 10mm toughened sheet and it’ll bounce off. Nick the edge with the same brick and it’ll blow!

If the glass is in a swimming pool/spa area then i’d always use laminated. If the glass does break, you aren’t having to don your pyjamas and swim to the bottom of the pool hunting small pieces of glass!

Toughened is approx 5 times stronger than laminate glass (in the centre of the pane). However is surprisingly easy to break during installation. All it takes is one tap on the edge/corner and it blows rather than just chipping/shelling like a laminate would.

In either case, if it was for a gate, i’d have it framed, as you’re likely to catch the edge of the glass with something at some point in time (so causing a toughened piece to blow, or a laminate to shell). (Small pointed objects are your enemy with toughened such as small stones etc)

As someone above has mentioned, a laminate will often delaminate over time if water can sit on top of the glass.

To cut a long story short – toughened, with a small frame/something to protect the edge. I believe the balustrade code calls for 10mm toughened as a minimum if using toughened (although get the supplier to confirm this)

wwaswas – you’ll need to try harder or think of something more obscure, as a spoon would obviously be used to tool the large mastic joint under the cill!

Some larger B&Q’s sell Sikaflex (look in the outside builders yard area as it’s often with the other Sika products like cement additives etc)

Dow Corning is equally as good if not a touch better than Sikaflex and is often a bit cheaper

Seahouse:

the glass will be brittle from UV damage

Are you sure uv light damages and brittles glass? If so, isn’t glass possibly the wrong material of choice to be used to let light into a building?

Yeah, the AV71 is just the RXV371 bundled with the NSP20 speakers. A decent amount of inputs (4hdmi in and 1 out) with some basic but decent speakers thrown in to the mix. Will be better than an all in one system (although it won’t have anything like a blu ray player, smart hub lik the samsung stuff or dlna streaming if that’s your bag).

I think Richer sound also do a decent Onkyo package in your range.

Seekdroid

Boom, thread answered

Can even plug in a mike and it will set the levels based on your room and speaker layout!

A rocket powered sled?

How much are you looking to us it for? You can trial AutoCAD free for 30 days (think you can download from the Autodesk website)

Short but good
Bangin!

Sloe Whisky is nice!

I find that pushing the cork slightly up and across and working my way round the cork, before a tug on the end of it always lets me get at the beer!

Failing that have you got a missus to help?

….nice but…. La/Mc Chouffe is nicer!

Why has no-one suggested the French for cat…..Chat cat [shat, noun]

Tips:

1 brick and 1 jar of peanut butter and 1 air rifle and 1 pack of camo face paint = bye bye rats