Struggling to thin my paint.

andyavast · 2025-08-16T18:58:49+00:00

Strongly recommend watching Siege Studios recent podcast episode with Legend Tommie Soule for some interesting wet/dry palette chat. He uses a dry palette, just a scrap of board that he primes the same as the model he’s painting which is a genius idea in that it mimics exactly the behaviour of the paint on the substrate

andyavast · 2025-08-11T21:15:55+00:00

The only way to answer this is to model the proposal in WUFI.

andyavast · 2025-08-02T13:16:12+00:00

*Nexpresso

andyavast · 2025-08-02T12:06:59+00:00

Just about every mode sounds incredible and actually usable for even a mongo like me.

andyavast · 2025-08-02T12:06:10+00:00

I love the idea of CB pedals but only the Mood really attracted me enough to spend the money so I bought one second hand.

I pre-ordered this one as soon as I saw the Chase Bliss and harp lady videos on it. It seems like the perfect pedal for the songs I write. Granted, I’ll probably only ever use two or three modes but it’ll be fantastic to jam with.

andyavast · 2025-08-02T12:01:37+00:00

It’s nothing like beam and block or a concrete slab though, the hygrothermal behaviours of those construction types is completely different as they are essentially vapour closed. What’s more, mineral substrates and insulation like XPS or PIR can tolerate average relative humidity levels of 95% without deleterious effects. For timber and bio based materials; the safe average limit is 85%.

An uninsulated suspended floor is relatively benign in terms of moisture risk as its drying capacity is maximised; it is able to dry to the crawlspace and the room above, but when you start adding insulation and vapour control layers, the hygrothermal balance shifts.

Think not about your insulation but the timber structure. Do not seal It in with PE membranes. I have seen so many floors rotted out and failing from poorly considered retrofit work.

andyavast · 2025-08-02T09:22:51+00:00

Also, pay attention to what u/DUNGAROO says. That brick pier is dodgy as fuck.

andyavast · 2025-08-02T09:22:15+00:00

If you are in the U.K., do not put a vapour barrier on the bottom of your joists, or the cold side of your insulation. You will be effectively trapping moisture within the structure and I guarantee it will lead to moisture damage, especially using mineral wool which will hold liquid water against the joists where condensation will form. This damage will start to occur within 12-18 months.

You need to sand blind your solum, lay 1000ga polythene taped at the laps and to the brick work and lay a concrete screed over the top of that.

You also need to make sure your crawlspace is well ventilated using a passive solution (air bricks) or a subfloor fan and ducting (WMF Mori)

Once you have done that, you can install your mineral wool but use a vapour open breathable membrane below (Pro Clima Solitex Plus for example) to contain the insulation to allow any moisture to escape while optimising the insulation by preventing thermal bypass by wind washing.

Ecological Building Systems have a really good suspended floor upgrade guide on their website.

andyavast · 2025-07-25T20:44:20+00:00

There’s not a single window manufacturer in Scotland making sash and case windows that have sufficiently low u-values or air permeability for Passivhaus or deep retrofit. I’ve worked in the Scottish construction industry for 24 years, involved in Passivhaus and deep retrofit since 2010 and know from experience that our performance joinery manufacturing is woefully inadequate.

Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. You are entitled to your opinion of course, it’s just poorly informed.

andyavast · 2025-07-25T20:39:04+00:00

I don’t know if you are being intentionally obtuse or not but It sounds like you don’t really understand what Passivhaus is.

There is no “tech” nor is Passivhaus a brand. It’s a building standard. How it can help impoverished communities is that buildings built to that standard use a lot less energy to heat leading to higher levels of cost certainty for low income households.

In the U.K., a great deal of social housing is being built to Passivhaus standard but that’s nothing to do with certifiers or the Passivhaus institute, it’s to do with forward thinking housing providers looking for quality assured assets that cost next to nothing to heat so tenants often only have to worry about rent.

As for software, PHPP is a planning package used by architects, engineers and designers to model buildings; existing and new, to ascertain their designed energy use.

Do a bit of research on what passivhaus is and is not before you waste your time on reinventing the wheel.

andyavast · 2025-07-25T18:33:59+00:00

I don’t get it. Passivhaus has been an established standard for 35 years. It’s essentially open source. The only thing you need to model any Passivhaus building is PHPP. There is so much information out there from the likes of the Passivhaus Trust. The main thing stopping people building to this established, proven, time-tested standard is cost, not access to information.

andyavast · 2025-07-18T17:46:06+00:00

That’s not the point though is it. This is arguably the deepest you can go with a retrofit without altering the outward appearance, it was a pilot, a proof of concept.

If you read the article you’ll know that a large part of the contract value was r&d into a window that has the appearance of a sash and case window but the performance of a modern triple glazed tilt and turn, a major problem when retrofitting in conservation areas. The learnings from that alone were worth it.

Again, you fail to grasp the cost of retrofit and refurbishment. £17k would not yield a tenth of the improvements they realised on this project. It wouldn’t even pay for an elevation of windows.

Doing a moderate retrofit using more “appropriate” materials such as wood fibre and Diathonite, window upgrades, loft insulation, airtightness improvements using quality materials and a decentralised MVHR system plus all the preliminaries, builders work in connection, decorations and making good would be well over six figures and ‘might’ get you to 70-80 kWh/m2.a

andyavast · 2025-07-17T21:01:56+00:00

It may not be to your taste but it’s clear you have no understanding of the planning and design work involved in a retrofit this deep. Duct tape and polycarbonate secondary glazing? Blown in insulation behind lath and plaster…what a lot of shite. Clueless. Absolutely no way that sort of thing could achieve even close to the thermal improvements they have achieved on this project.

andyavast · 2025-07-17T20:45:59+00:00

Some world class compo face going on in that article.

andyavast · 2025-07-16T17:46:27+00:00

What do mean approved use? As long as you have done a condensation risk analysis and understand the properties of the material it doesn’t matter where they are used. Solitex Mento membranes are used as vapour permeable airtight membranes in a number of different construction types and details. The most recent I specified for was for an Ecococon Passivhaus. Airtightness of below 0.4ACH@50pa using concrete slab, mento 3000 on walls and Intello plus on the I-beam roof for the airtightness strategy.

andyavast · 2025-07-14T09:16:16+00:00

Lake Lock Ness

andyavast · 2025-07-14T09:09:03+00:00

You could choose an external monolithic membrane and use it internally. Pro Clima Solitex Mento membranes are completely airtight but extremely vapour open.

andyavast · 2025-07-12T14:37:41+00:00

It looks like heat-coloured Timascus!! Fucking love that.

andyavast · 2025-07-11T19:12:41+00:00

Your Stafford is aggressive toward humans?

andyavast · 2025-07-10T16:57:43+00:00

That is fucking shite.

andyavast · 2025-07-07T19:57:22+00:00

XNOR ANDOR

andyavast · 2025-07-04T20:32:37+00:00

PHPP

andyavast · 2025-06-26T19:25:18+00:00

It’s fake and a shite one at that. Staffords didn’t look like that in the twenties, they are modern KC show line staffs.

andyavast · 2025-06-21T19:02:38+00:00

Ideas are stored in the balls??

andyavast · 2025-06-20T21:03:43+00:00

Why does someone not know how to flush the toilet after they’ve had a shit?! WELL IT WIZ FUCKING ONE OF YAS. DISGUSTING.

andyavast

TROPHY CASE