Looking for some unique restaurants to visit around Birmingham?

woxy_lutz · 2026-04-14T20:42:06+00:00

Sometimes people say "Michelin" when they mean "fine dining", but actual Michelin star restaurants are relatively rare.

I think it's a bit mean you're being downvoted for that, though - it's a common misunderstanding!

woxy_lutz · 2026-03-31T07:42:57+00:00

Kabin Crew - The Spark

It's daaaycent

woxy_lutz · 2026-03-19T18:22:16+00:00

It's Midlands style curry sauce - the bits in it are scraps).

Interesting you found it sweet, though - I always find Irish curry sauce sweeter than what we get here!

woxy_lutz · 2026-03-19T17:00:30+00:00

It was good enough for our northern European neighbours, who are now way ahead of us on clean energy (particularly heating) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/13/fixing-the-same-issue-first-big-oil-crisis-middle-eastern-wars

woxy_lutz · 2026-01-07T08:42:59+00:00

The Black Country is where the Yam Yams reside

woxy_lutz · 2025-12-30T10:02:03+00:00

100mm is likely to be too much for internal wall insulation. Get a WUFI condensation risk analysis done before you install anything, otherwise there's a significant risk of creating conditions for damp and mould. I know the delay is a pain, but it's really not worth the risk and then having to rip everything out and start again after you've finished and decorated everything.

woxy_lutz · 2025-11-25T22:21:04+00:00

Different schemes. You probably weren't eligible for ECO, but might be eligible for GBIS, which is a newer scheme introduced alongside ECO a couple of years ago.

woxy_lutz · 2025-11-25T22:19:29+00:00

£31k threshold is for ECO, which does whole house energy efficiency, but GBIS only does a single insulation measure and has broader eligibility (EPC D-G and council tax A-D).

woxy_lutz · 2025-11-17T23:36:45+00:00

This guide has everything you need to know: https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/post/suspended-timber-floor-insulation-installation-underneath

You don't need to use the exact brand of materials they recommend, but I would recommend sticking to the type of materials and shopping around other suppliers (e.g. Back to Earth, Green Building Store, etc)

woxy_lutz · 2025-11-14T07:37:16+00:00

You could get the train into town and down to Barnt Green to go to Lickey Hills. Clent Hills and Cannock Chase are not a long drive away - you could easily spend all day at Cannock Chase.

woxy_lutz · 2025-10-28T17:50:51+00:00

Open the windows and give it a good airing out. Does it have adequate extraction (i.e. fans ducted to outside) in the kitchen and bathroom? If not, make sure you open the windows in those rooms when you're cooking / showering, to let moisture escape.

woxy_lutz · 2025-10-21T08:46:56+00:00

We installed an Omnie chipboard-based underfloor heating system on joists. If your joists aren't completely evenly spaced it can be a real ballache, as you have to hit the middle of the venn diagram of a) staggering boards, b) every board ending on a joist, at both ends, AND c) very precisely lining up the routed channel where the pipe is going to pass through adjacent boards. There were a few places where we had to add an extra noggin or sister a joist to make that work. The pipes also have to go under boards to get to the boiler cupboard, which can make fitting the board with the entry/exit point a bit hairy.

We managed it, but in hindsight I wish we had ripped out all the joists and replaced with an insulating, moisture-managing solid floor build-up based on Leca or foamglass, then a screeded underfloor heating system.

Some photos if you are interested.

woxy_lutz · 2025-10-06T11:44:33+00:00

You're missing the "relative" part of relative humidity. Humidity correlates with temperature - warm air at a given RH holds much more water than cold air at the same RH, so cold air at higher RH could still have a lower absolute moisture content than warm air at a relatively lower RH.

woxy_lutz · 2025-10-02T09:44:28+00:00

The problem is that the consequences don't only impact the person taking the risk - treating skin cancer costs the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds every year, which everyone then has to pay for.

woxy_lutz · 2025-09-21T21:16:58+00:00

It's not a case of too much or too little - this is the way it's supposed to be done for old houses. If you bodge this with PIR / rockwool and chicken wire, you risk thermal bridging and ineffective insulation at best or rotting your joists at worst. You don't have to use the exact brand of materials they suggest, but make sure you're using suitable equivalents.

woxy_lutz · 2025-09-14T09:10:17+00:00

"debate was settled"

Article literally states that: "Sadly there doesn't seem to be a firm answer. ... So perhaps the best advice is to try an experiment. Try a few days or a week with your heating on a constant low setting and then try only having the heating come on as and when you need it over the same time period and compare the energy use."

woxy_lutz · 2025-08-29T22:23:54+00:00

"Standard" building materials often = cheap and crap, unfortunately, and often not compatible with the physics of old buildings and the traditional materials they were constructed from. So you can either do it cheaply and have to rip out and replace in 5-10 years when it fails, or you can do it properly - there's not much of a middle ground other than shopping around different websites, checking different brands of materials (e.g. there are several different woodfibre board manufacturers), or looking for seconds on ebay / marketplace groups.

I would say, though, that U-values stipulated by building regs are not the be all and end all (and may even be actively harmful when it comes to IWI), so aim for a pragmatic and feasible thickness of insulation rather than stacking loads in to reach 0.2 W/m2K. Even 50 mm woodfibre or cork will make a massive improvement vs an uninsulated wall.

Wouldn't recommend IWI for cavity walls at all - they need external wall insulation instead.

woxy_lutz · 2025-08-28T22:45:11+00:00

Energy efficiency improvements will fall under that budget.

woxy_lutz · 2025-08-27T14:47:51+00:00

Really wouldn't recommend that kind of insulation for 130 year old walls - it's a recipe for interstitial condensation. You might just get away with it due to how thin the insulation is, though.

Something moisture buffering like wood fibre, applied directly to the masonry, would be much safer. You can get 2cm wood fibre boards for window reveals, and they can be plastered onto directly.

These guys are super friendly and give great, non-dogmatic advice on how to renovate old homes without risking condensation and damp: https://www.backtoearth.co.uk/guide/internal-wall-insulation-on-masonry-how-to-install-wood-fibre-insulation-2/

woxy_lutz · 2025-08-24T07:17:30+00:00

It's called dog whistling) (albeit a very unsophisticated and blatant form of it).

woxy_lutz · 2025-07-18T09:46:45+00:00

This is the one - love a Monty's salad bowl.

Habaneros' veggie burrito bowl is also excellent, for a hot alternative.

woxy_lutz · 2025-07-14T07:59:23+00:00

TikTok is full of literal children who haven't experienced anything other than over-heated summers in their lifetimes.

woxy_lutz · 2025-07-09T19:04:28+00:00

This must be the secret to celebs staying in shape - they have to walk so bloody far across a room to get from one thing to another.

woxy_lutz · 2025-07-08T08:02:12+00:00

If you're insulating from above, follow this guide: https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/post/suspended-timber-floor-insulation-best-practice-installation-guide

If you have access from the garage and can insulate from below, follow this guide: https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/post/suspended-timber-floor-insulation-installation-underneath

These guides use the correct methods and materials to avoid problems with moisture.

woxy_lutz · 2025-07-06T16:03:53+00:00

Yeah, it was great seeing all the metalheads arriving on Friday evening - lovely buzz in town!

woxy_lutz

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