Courses, Attics and Painting

Courses, Attics and Painting

I've recently returned from a Home Maintenance course in the UK. It provided me with the basics to look after a house including painting, tile fixing, basic electrical and plumbing among other things. The Instructors are brilliant and it was worth the trip. There are DIY night classes in Dublin but my work schedule means I could easily sign up and miss half the classes. It was handier just to take a weekend and get it all done in one go!

You can check out their website here:
http://thebtc.co.uk/brochure/home-maintenance-courses/

Fly to Gatwick and either rent a car or arrange a taxi in advance. They can arrange B&B accommodation within walking distance of the center. The B&B I was in provided breakfast and evening meals and were very welcoming.

I've been busy recently doing painting outdoors and getting the attic properly insulated. It's slow going but it's great when you make some progress. I found Coolmine Decor great for helping select the right paints and very knowledgeable. Local builders providers also have a wealth of experience and expertise on hand. As long as you don't ask too many idiot questions!!

One thing I learned on the course is that there's a lot of detail that goes into things. Having an experienced builder teach us meant we got a chance to try things and get useful critique and tips we might not otherwise find out until it was too late! He mentioned a few online places to use and others that are well known to avoid! It was a very hands on class so you got to try things yourself and understand the process and see the results.

The training center do other courses like fitting a kitchen. I'll probably return at some stage but closer to when I'll need the skill so I don't forget what I've learnt!

For now I'm still gathering materials and just starting the task of putting them to use. The advice I give to myself is don't rush and everything takes time. I can always think of more stuff I need each time I prepare for a job and could spend every day going down to the hardware store to pick up more gear! I've deliberately decided to hold off and limit my trips otherwise I'd be both broke and driven mad. With no tools to start with I'm just beginning to get on top but there's always more materials you think you might need to consider.

I'm nearly done with updating all the light bulbs to LED. The kitchen has 8 x MR16 Halogen downlights with old drivers attached. I'd hoped to replace them with some LED downlights and completely replace the fittings but the LED ones are not as bright as I'd hoped, I got two samples and I'm glad I did. One requires a larger cutout and the other has a style I'm not happy with. As a friendly Electrician said you'd be better off replacing the fitting with GU10 to feed the LED bulbs at mains voltage and removing the drivers altogether. That would also offer me the chance to pick from a wider range of bulbs, use the same downlighter fittings and cutout. Think I'll take him up on that. The existing halogen aren't great and I'm hoping for a much brighter experience once I'm done.

I think the next trip will be the Self-Build show in Citywest in September to talk to people there. Might see you there!

Mould - dust or colony?!

Mould - Dust or Colony?!

I recently took a Mould expert around to a friend's house to try to resolve a long standing health issue with one of the occupants. They suffered from frequent sore throats, dizzyness and other symptoms. After exhaustive medical investigations I was interested if there was any mould / spores that could be the cause?

I kept skeptical as I'm trying to build a house, so everything looks to me like a building issue and I was aware of SHS / Sick House Syndrome. But, having an independent specialist come in would be useful.

This journey began a few months ago when I purchased a viable mould kit from the same company. This I placed around the house and found the highest concentrations around the bed of the affected person. This prompted me to invest in an expert to pay a visit.

So, did we find mould, yes. Lots of it!!

He noted inside humidity was over 65% in the bedroom whereas outside was 55% during a quick check. The air vent was blocked and there was an ensuite with no window, just a fan although the shower was not used.

He identified at least 3 types of mould in the following locations:

Bedside locker - both the side of the locker and the rear of the drawers
Under cistern and below sink in ensuite
on ceiling above toilet
on bottom of picture frame
on backpack
rear of curtains
on the ensuite door

There was a new bed and that was clean but within a year it also would have been affected

What was surprising was how he found it. I would have discounted what he showed me as house dust but there are subtle difference to be aware of:

House Dust doesn't settle on vertical surfaces
House dust doesn't form colonies, it lays down an even layer
using a microscope app on your phone to zoom in can show more detail
a flashlight was used to show up the mould but make sure you use it along the edge of the surface, not directly at it to see the make up of the mould

The cause was high humidity and low air changes.

The resolution:

• Unblock air vent, use rockwool if necessary to allow some air in and kept a bit of warmth
• Dehumidifier
• Air rooms daily if possible by opening windows
• get humidity stabilised

The bedside locker was a case in point, dust doesn't cling to vertical surfaces very well and the mould was a light coloured brown, the same as the wood, not easy to spot but if you spend 10-12 hours in the room you'll know all about it!

The ensuite door had what looked like spots of talcum powder but was in fact mould - the magnifying app helped there.

The picture frame looked like dirt or dust but the mottling was in fact a signature of mould and how the colonies form.

The backpack is like ones I've seen stored in attics for years, mottled and area of discolouration, best to bin it!

The treatment process is to wash curtains etc with detergent, get an Anti-Mould spray to clean down and dry the surfaces. Nothing major and monitor the humidity and air quality to make sure the problem goes away. The locker when cleaned can be varnished with something to protect against moisture.

Note that north facing rooms, poor insulation or other factors may create different concentrations / risks so get an expert out if needed to verify and take action.

Hopefully this might help someone else figuring out why a friend keeps getting ill, get a GP to look first but if it reoccurs, maybe it's the environment, and the person's reaction to that.

Worth looking into.....

There are many Anti-Mould products out there, but recognising mould is the key, then you can do something about it!

Renting improvements

Renting improvements

While I'm waiting on news regarding the site I hope to build on I've been pursuing improvements to the house I'm renting. I got permission to swap out the front / side security lights with LEDs and found a very diligent Electrician who replaced them. They are very impressive, perhaps not quite as bright at the old 400W halogen but cover a much larger area. They recommend leaving them on when triggered for 20 minutes to give them a long life. They were slaved to an existing PIR, I might have replaced that but wanted to keep the cost down. The landlord reimbursed me but it's worked out great and is a welcome upgrade.
The previous lights were very old and giving out. I tried to replace the bulb out of the one I could reach and open myself but didn't insert the bulb properly but time for a replacement was already due. The rear ones are still working away so will leave them for another time, hopefully someone else's problem by then!

I had a problem with an alert from one of the Argos / Kiddie Smoke & CO2 detectors last week. I installed two, one per floor years ago. It turns out this indicates a fault. They are meant to be replaced every 5 years it seems and these are just beyond that. I'd tried changing the batteries but that didn't clear the fault so it was only when I checked the manual I realised. Keep those manuals!!
I had difficulty finding a replacement set, Argos only do separate Smoke and CO2 detectors now. I did find them again on Amazon from a company called "Landlords Direct" and they have a 10 year Lithium PP3 battery included. they are up and functioning now although they don't "speak" so if you hear them it won't tell you if you're going to choke or burn to death, just get out!!

I've been reading up on push to fit plumbing and think there are a few improvements here I could make. One is regarding saving water in the toilets here. Perhaps with a "Delayed action inlet valve" so fresh cistern water isn't immediately added to the water flushed down the loo.
http://www.thomasdudley.co.uk/bathroom/cistern-components/hydroflo-part-4-float-valve.html
There is also a hippo which reduces the amount of water held in the cistern if you have really old Loo's like I have (Pre-2001).
http://www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk/buyhippo_eu.html
Small changes but might be worth asking for permission to install.

We have a noisy pipe in the attic, particularly when I flush the loo. This is due to over demand on the pipe. The fix is to reduce the pressure / slow the water if you have a valve in the attic on that pipe you can partially close. The article below is great for helping to understand what diameter of pipe should be used:
http://www.johnhearfield.com/Water/Water_in_pipes2.htm

Finally the push to fit solution I was investigating is this:
http://www.wavin.co.uk/web/solutions/potable-water/plumbing-systems/pushfit/pushfit-hep2o-26.htm
Very easy to spec, buy and install! Something I can do finally! Screwfix also stock them!

So, interesting learning over this last weekend and a few small project I could start to investigate for when I'm bored!!

KNX - The Idiots Guide

KNX - The Idiots Guide 

Well, I've been looking into using KNX for Home Automation for a while now but still couldn't get my head around it. I subsequently decided to put some money into it and purchased a basic set of kit but found I wasn't able to get it to work. The key goal, press a button and it turns on a light, I never got working......:(

I had the opportunity this week to travel to London on a few days holidays and linked up with a KNX trainer for a day. I subsequently found a small configuration issue that caused my problems and having brought over a subset of my KNX kit, was able to apply this knowledge and got it to work!

What I hope to do here now is show you how to create a basic KNX setup from scratch and configure a basic lighting setup. A KNX course is probably still the best way to go but if you have the time and inclination this stuff is possible to learn and figure your way around.

To start with you'll need a switch, an Ethernet Interface and a DHCP server to offer the KNX IP Interface an IP. You can use a simple windows service like http://www.dhcpserver.de/ and make sure you let it disable the necessary firewall interfaces and if you've more than one network card, setup the service on the correct one. Once configured you will see it running in the systray down the bottom right and when you power on the KNX IP Interface it will offer an IP to the MAC Address printed on the KNX IP Interface. That's all you can really do with that device. I wouldn't bother fixing a static IP  on it at this stage.

In ETS5, go to the Bus section and select the Discovered Interface and then Click Select to make it the current interface. You can also test it here by clicking the test button.

Now you can create a new Project. The most important thing here and where I went wrong is selecting the right bus interface - SELECT TP HERE EVERYWHERE! 

This step cost me 4 weeks! Thankfully in London I was able to see a working setup and having brought over some of my own kit, get that configured to my satisfaction too. This gave me confidence to go back home and setup my lab correctly. 

In ETS change the view to the Project Root. This gives you all the different views you need in one section. Now you need to ensure all your devices are imported & listed. Due to differences in available devices depending on the Language chosen some devices may not be listed automatically. Also note that you may need to enable certain Apps:

I went for compatibility mode and the Online Catalog which are free but require tinkering with the myknx.org licensing portal to activate. Bit of a pain to be honest. They also offer more advanced apps which look useful but come at a cost. If you're using ETS regularly consider them but for a once off home build project, I'd suggest you can get by without! 

So, I purchased several devices from http://www.eibmarkt.com and found none were listed in the online catalog as this company chooses NOT to publish them there at all?!! Well, I wanted a reality check by buying real kit and got one! There are lots of KNX manufacturers but the KNX Organization appears to want to keep the knowledge very private so it's hard to know in advance what will work easiest without having a mentor or guide. Anyway, it won't stop you but it can be confounding! My own order consisted of the following items. I've been subsequently told that the power supply I used which comes in 3 parts could be replaced with a single unit if I'd known what I was doing! 

Push button 1 make contact (NO) white 242134 - Special sale - 1 pce. Available Product No.: AA0819148 Manufacturer: Elso Manufacturer no.: 242134

EIB KNX IP Interface PoE, with up to 5 tunneling connections Product No.: N000401 Manufacturer: EIBMARKT Manufacturer no.: N000401

EIB KNX 360° Presence Detector KLR incl. bus coupling unit! Product No.: N000530 Manufacturer: EIBMARKT Manufacturer no.: N000530

EIB KNX Voltage supply 29.5 VDC with 1 choke 640mA (SV-2/DR1) Product No.: N000601-DR1 Manufacturer: EIBMARKT Manufacturer no.: SV-2/DR1

EIB/KNX Push Button 8-fold, White matt finish - BE-TA5508.01 Product No.: N760052 Manufacturer: MDT Manufacturer no.: BE-TA5508.01

I/O device for bus system 4 In/ 12 Out US/U12.2 - special offer Product No.: N780113 Manufacturer: ABB Stotz S&J Manufacturer no.: US/U12.2

EIB KNX bus cable ring 100m green EIB-Y(St)Y 2x2x0,8 Product No.: NS0140116 Manufacturer: Verschiedene-Diverse Manufacturer no.: EIB-Y(St)Y 2x2x0,8

DIN rail 247mm steel UZ01B4 Product No.: NS0661480 Manufacturer: HAGER Manufacturer no.: UZ01B4

Push button 1 make contact (NO) grey 5TD4701 Product No.: NS0850394 Manufacturer: Siemens Indus.Sector Manufacturer no.: 5TD4701

Switch actuator for bus system 16-ch 5WG1567-1AB22 Product No.: NS6508387 Manufacturer: Siemens Indus.Sector Manufacturer no.: 5WG1567-1AB22

So if you want to use the above as a benchmark go ahead! The IP Interface is an OEM unit and you'll see several other Manufacturers use & rebrand it too. I purchased a bit of MDF from B&Q and proceeded to wire everything together. I used a local Electrical merchant for the bulbs, fittings, electrical cable etc and put a functioning system together to learn the various options and how they work. See the picture of my kit below. 

So, I want now to import my actuator which controls power to the light socket. I found merely attaching this device to the KNX bus was not sufficient, it also requires it's own 230VAC supply! I can test the bulb in manual mode fine. To import it try the online catalog first in ETS. I found all the Siemens Industrial Products here:

https://www.hqs.sbt.siemens.com/cps_product_data/data/produktdb_en.htm

I searched the contents link and found the actuator. It should come down in a knxprod file which indicates it's received some attention lately, a vd5 or lower extension means a much older catalog file and might not be that useful. Now you can import it into KNX in the Catalogs section:

You can choose to import everything or just what you want. I imported everything which then installed some extra plugin content and got subsequently stuck, so I went back and just installed a single device! 

Here is my search for "567" showing the device up correctly.  

Now we can check the knx push button 8 fold switch is there:

So, now we go back to our Project and link this all up! I've created some building objects as follows:

Then searched for my Switching Actuator:

Now I can add this into a particular area of my building, in this case my Utility Room, I added the push button to my Living Room too as shown below. 

Next I add the switch into the living room

I can customize the devices before going further. This is to enable/disable particular buttons or parts of the device to make it simpler to configure. If you've an 8 button switch, the MDT one disabled all 8 buttons by default in my setup whereas the Siemens actuator enables all 16 connections! Set this up now and you won't have too many options to ignore later. 

I'll start by enabling the top two buttons on the MDT knx switch as follows:

 And change the behaviour of the buttons as follows:

ETS has automatically added the devices to appropriate "lines" so next we'll join them under Group Addresses. We'll need to create a topology here. An example is shown below:

This should be sufficient for our needs to turn a bulb on and off and change the status LED on the push button. Under Topology you can right click the "Button 1 - Switch" and choose "Link with" and select "1/0/1 Light 1". Do the same with Button 2 to Light 2. 

You can now associate the Actuator Channel H in my case with light 1

Now it's time to program the devices. There are two steps here per device. One is to "Download individual address" and the second "Download Application". 

Note: the 20 device limit in ETS Lite means each device uses a license, so my 16 port actuator is ONE license, the KNX push button 8 fold is ONE license etc. This should be ok for a home setup but add a weather sensor, presence sensor and multiple push buttons in each room and you'll quickly run out! 

Make sure all your connections are firm - my KNX bus wire to the actuator was loose and the programming light wouldn't come on. I next found my ABB binary input device already on 1.1.1 so changed the addresses by incrementing them by 1. I was then able to program the actuator fine. 

Next you "Download Application" and if all goes well you hear it reboot and you see this:

If you use the wrong device download you can damage the device. We saw the display on a temperature sensor fail in the lab I attended as an example. 

Next I did the push button switch, The issue I found was there was no obvious programming button. With these it's best to get the manuals as sometimes there are particular button presses required to activate programming mode. 

http://www.mdt.de/download/MDT_TM_RF_Push_Button.pdf

This is a good example of a KNX device manual - there are LOADS of options to play with. It turns out it does have a programming button but it's not easy to spot! 

So, now we should be able to actuate the lightbulb if I've done my configuration correctly. It works! I can use Diagnostics to verify the bus operations:

My physical setup is as follows:

It's not tidy but it works. Each bus connector has 4 connectors for red and black so you can daisy chain away or connect back multiple devices if you wish. Wiggling the cables out again is hard. The KNX cable uses SOLID copper, whereas alarm cable uses thin strands. Don't try to use the wrong cable here - I'll use alarm cable for the ABB binary inputs but KNX bus interface cable will always be taken from the green KNX cabling I purchased with a solid core. I stripped out the colours I needed to make it easier to work with in my lab. 

So, that will give you a quick intro to KNX. I can't get the push button LEDs to function but will resolve at some point. I've a POE switch for power but you can power the IP interface off the KNX bus if you prefer. I hope to have a few IP Cameras so it makes more sense to get the POE in now. Hope this helps you get the light bulb working, believe me, once you get the first one turned on, mark the date, as it's onwards and upwards from there! 

First-Time Buyers Grant - Budget 2016

First-Time Buyers Grant - Budget 2016

I'm a little bit in shock! I think that's the first time any Budget has actually targeted me directly,it's usually the big cheeses! All the talk pre-budget was that the grant would not include self builders which appears now to be full of holes as the cheese! You can now use this newly announced benefit to help secure a self build mortgage (I hope) and pour it into the deposit.

My own deposit has been nibbled away as I pay my Architect / Quantity Surveyor and other professional fees. While one of the banks told me this is included under "allowable" expenses it was still a worry. There's still some clarity required and Revenue will hopefully have a website up to apply for it by January 2017 but it's a welcome move and encourages me to pursue my dream a bit further.

The costs are significant but I hope to have QS figures back shortly and see exactly what I'm likely to be looking at. That plus the choices it will drive will ultimately determine the future of my build.

But at least this is one direct benefit the budget has offered in time for me and may well make the difference in the final estimates.

KNX

KNX

Simple title, complicated technology! First I'm going to thank Seamus who provided invaluable insight into KNX when I was about ready to give up! You can check out his blog & build here:

https://passivehouse-phpp-selfbuild.com

Note also that the NZEB open doors event runs each November and his house is one of those where I met him last year. He's both knowledgeable and very patient with people's questions so I recommend a visit!

http://nzeb-opendoors.ie

Now, onto our Topic. I've been thinking about using KNX as my home automation technology of choice but finding out about it is a bit hard. There are a few sparks who do it but you're going to pay a premium so I thought I'd give it a go myself.

Firstly register with MyKNX and complete the online course in ETS eCampus which they offer for free. Once complete you get a voucher for ETS Lite, the program you use to configure the KNX devices:

https://my.knx.org

The dongle you need is €60 and with VAT and delivery it works out just over €90. The Professional version is €1,000 but if you wait around you'll see offers, particularly in October, 26% off etc. The Course above also gives you an small upgrade discount to Professional but it's a lot of money just to program a light switch! The Lite version allows you to program up to 20 KNX devices. Not exactly sure what that means in practice and if it will cover a small house but we'll see. The Demo version of the ETSS software covers 5 devices so you're not completely stuck!!

Next you'll need to get hold of further knowledge. The best forums are in German & French. I advise using the Google Chrome browser and activate auto translate!

Here they are:

https://knx-user-forum.de

http://www.knx-fr.com

They will respond in English but the best content is anything but!

I've ordered some basic KNX gear to start me off and get familiar. This post gives sample kit to start off with and was what prompted me to fire an order off:

http://www.knx-fr.com/showthread.php?tid=2129

The online shops are many but I used:

http://www.eibmarkt.com

There is also:

http://www.eib-shop.co.uk

http://knxshoponline.co.uk

http://www.ivoryegg.co.uk/shop/t/knx

So, once everything arrives I can wire it up and see how I get on, can I get a light bulb to turn on and off?!! We will see! At least most of the kit is directly applicable to my own House project so it's going straight in there. I've gone for the bigger versions of most devices to ensure it can be of use, a good investment hopefully! Time will tell!

Good luck with whatever Home Automation technology you are using and may the right light switch always turn on for you!

Pre-Planning Submitted

Pre-Planning Submitted

So, today was the day I finally saw the sketches being submitted to the Council for Pre-Planning. It's a small but important step on the road to find out out if I can build a house.

The sketches have taken a while to develop but at 89 square meters represent a very comfortable house for 1-2 people. The Architects, MosArt, have done a fine job extracting my requirements and with little nudging getting the sketch to where it's at.

The main feature of the site is that the front of the house is just off South at 220 degrees. This means the rear of the house, which is perfect for privacy is a lot darker. The challenge was to increase light here through the use of as many windows and skylights as possible. I've also got a roof at the front suitable for up to 6 solar PV panels. I might also fit some down the back if I'm lucky later.

The key interior design is an open plan living / dining / kitchen area at the rear. With a sliding door to the Garden it represents new living space for me and a chance to break out of my bedroom where I tend to spend most of my time currently!

So, looking forward - there's a few more things to do. Feedback from the planners is of course going to be anxiously awaited but they are very busy currently so we'll see how we do there.

Cost is the other big factor. I plan to engage a Quantity Surveyor and get a handle on costs to determine if this is something I can afford. I can then choose to proceed, proceed but do more of the work myself, or, cancel the build as it's too expensive. I can work with the Architect to reduce cost but at some point you have to call it a day if you're too stretched. There are other ways to get a home after all...!

Once I make a decision on cost I see Planning Permission and going out to Tender as a joined up task as one leads to the other. Finding a good builder and bringing in the project on budget are going to be very important goals.

Well, I wish you well on your projects at whatever stage they are at!