Internal insulation is the only way, plus serious attention to insulating the underside of suspended+ventilated timber floors. The latter must be deadly for heatloss in somewhere like Aberdeenshire, (or should that be Abrdnshre ? (1) ). The windows are only a tiny part of the problem.
(1) The investment company Aberdeen (who have just hoovered up Interactive Investor, incl. ex-Alliance Trust accounts for 3x what II paid barely 2 years ago) have decided that they really must spend megabucks to change their name by deleting their vowels.
Clueless f****it! They are invariably much worse in the north here.
A storm that wouldn't even merit a mention on the News if it hit Aberdeen would be treated as a national emergency if it hit London.
They have also moved the Yellow weather warning forward to Tuesday.
formatting link
The Pennines down the centre of the country can focus the wind in quite destructive ways if it is blowing from the right/wrong direction. That means some unlucky Dales valleys get an exceptionally rough ride depending on where the wind is coming from.
How much damage gets done depends critically on how strong the gusts of wind are *locally* and how feeble the remaining infrastructure that didn't quite fall down in the first storm is now.
I hope it doesn't end in another protracted power cut but at least this time I will be prepared with plenty of fresh batteries and meths.
They failed to cope with mains supply being suddenly and unexpectedly removed and then required an engineering reset before they could move again. That is a truly brilliant piece of modern power "engineering".
It wasn't the shape of the waveform that caused them trouble but the sudden absence of electrical power and no graceful recovery procedure for a train driver to reboot the traction control system from cold.
It is hard to understand how the makers thought that was acceptable.
<grin> An element of truth there. Some may recall that I am the ex local postmaster, and having retired, the local FB page has, to a certain extent, taken over the PO counter gossip. Behind the counter was great, we always knew what was going on, BDMs, events, scandals, new arrivals in the village etc. We also had an attached mail office, and posties are huge old wifeys at heart, full of the latest news.
Post retirement, we were suddenly cut off from all of that, so FB fills a gap.
No, from what I remember, the train software noticed that the
*frequency* was 'impossible' and executed a Blue-screen-of-death.
Siemens went to great lengths to make the bogies cope with Britains wonky rails to the extent that they actually built a section of test track in Germany, with all the faults found on a typical section of London commuter lines !. That must have made the German engineers doing the construction wince.
In message <soimu1$jv2$ snipped-for-privacy@gioia.aioe.org>, Andrew snipped-for-privacy@mybtinternet.com writes
Internal insulation is a major problem because so much of the original decoration remains, and adding to the thickness of the walls internally would ruin that. I want to say coving, but know that is the wrong word.
Are they not all that is left of Standard Life? Prudent Scottish investors must be turning in their graves.
In message <soebn1$abd$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Mark <mark@127.0.0.1> writes
I remember that time well. I did continue to pay the basic utilities, but can remember the cat and myself surviving on mashed potatoes to which I added a little Oxo cube for a more meaty flavour :-)
The story of my childhood. No CH, just Aladdin paraffin heaters and a two bar electric fire that was carted from room to room as required.
In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, S Viemeister snipped-for-privacy@lastname.oc.ku> writes
We only have one lantern but agree they are useful for moving around. We also have a 'Wee Willie Winkie' type candle holder, complete with handle, but not terribly good for moving around.
Better for light is a pair of tall brass candle sticks, which are great for raising the source of light.
I'm just glad that we don't have children at home, so candles were relatively safe if we were careful.
I don't know. I can't think of anything I've got like that. Suggest an appliance. It ran my 1700W chainsaw before the latter seized up and I bought a petrol one.
In message <sofr3r$1t3m$ snipped-for-privacy@gioia.aioe.org>, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> writes
That, really, is the bottom line. Just how prepared can you be for something that may not happen again for years?
Yes, I am glad we had an old fashioned transistor radio. LED torches, even a head torch would certainly be a good idea here.
I very highly recommend a Camping Gaz lamp, which uses the same gas cylinders as the Gaz stove. We found the light good enough for reading, and each cylinder lasted around eight hours.
In an emergency I could have scooped snow from the garden and boiled it for drinking :-)
Good list. With an open fire, I would add coal/logs, spills, fire lighters and a lighter. We found a 'utility' lighter (ordinary lighter with extension) useful.
Tinned soup and a camping stove for heating Plenty of gas cylinders, and Ronson type refill for lighters. Proper (non electric) kettle Range of batteries. I had AAA, AA, C and D, and used them all in various torches, radio etc.
I don't know anything about wooden poles but any sort of aerial mast will suffer fatigue or a sort of gradual growth in cracks at stress points. Any mast that visibly bends a bit when the wind blows will eventually snap, and often it's when there isn't much wind. It puzzles customers when a relatively mild breeze snaps their aerial.
When you look at the snapped off end, you can often see that the fracture is clean at one end and gets gradually dirtier towards the other end. That's a measure of how long the crack has been forming, invisibly.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.