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Sash window usage

This is an article taken from the Imperial College London web page
it may interest anyone who has traditional sash windows.

PRESS RELEASE
Scientists formulate a heat wave survival guide
Wednesday 6 August 2003
Scientists from Imperial College London have found a simple solution to city dwellers' despair as temperatures soar during summer heat waves. In a bid to cool down they have to learn how to ventilate and cool rooms by using windows and the building properly.
Dr Gary Hunt of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who is leading research at Imperial on the fluid mechanics of natural ventilation explains:
"Many of us have forgotten how to correctly use the sash windows so carefully installed by the Edwardians and Victorians to maximise airflow.
"If used correctly it is possible to significantly improve comfort in the office or at home without using air conditioning units that place high demands on energy and increase carbon-dioxide emissions."
Using laboratory modelling techniques that accurately replicate the flow of air in small-scale physical models, Dr Hunt and his team are able to measure and clearly visualise how air circulates within rooms and buildings.
"The trick to getting the maximum flow of air through the window is to slide the sashes so the window is open equally at the top and bottom.
"By separating the in-flow and out-flow, cooler incoming air efficiently flushes the warm air out of the room. The warm air inside the room tumbles out of the top opening and the cooler air form the outside comes in through the lower opening," explains Dr Hunt.
By applying mathematical analysis and using small-scale laboratory models, the researchers were also able to calculate the size and placement of windows to maximise ventilation.
"The laboratory modelling technique relies on examining the movement of water through a model typically one twentieth to one hundredth of the building size. At this scale water moves through the model room in the same way as air moves through a real room," said Dr Hunt.
Results show if the windows of a room are too small or their location is not appropriately chosen, hot air, which collects at the ceiling may extend down to the occupied region making the environment unpleasantly hot and muggy.
"Offices typically experience the largest heat gains during the occupied daylight hours, when the need for ventilation is greatest. Minimal gains occur at night when the space is unoccupied.
"Our research shows a good strategy is to leave sash windows in the mid-position overnight - providing it's safe to do so. The cool external air flushes the warm air out of the room and also cools the walls, floor and ceiling. The cool walls then absorb heat the following day and prevent the internal temperatures from rising as high," he added.
Work is now underway at Imperial on a range of problems concerned with the fluid mechanics of airflows in buildings. Projects include modelling airflow in large multi-story buildings, which allows researchers to calculate how to naturally ventilate them effectively.
"The aim of our research is to gain an improved understanding of the physics of airflow in buildings through the use of laboratory and mathematical modelling techniques and to develop simple design guidelines that will help architects create energy efficient buildings of the future," said Dr Hunt.
For further information, please contact:
Judith H Moore
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6702

Sash window and parquet flooring repairs, plus door hanging, What bliss!

What a wonderful week it's been.
I was originally apprenticed as a carpenter in 1968. Despite having done sooo many other things in my work life, carpentry remains my favourite thing to do. This week was nearly all about carpentry, with the odd bit of plumbing, and electrical work in and around Eastbourne added to a very full week.

Making box sash windows work properly is really very satisfying.
Yes, I know - it's sad - but I do get a buzz out of sliding sashes up an down!
These particular sashes had been over-painted so many times that the home owners thought the top sashes were fixed. Freeing the sashes from the frames only took a few minutes. Remove the staff bead. Ease out the bottom sash (the cords were broken). Remove the parting bead. Ease out the top sash (again, the cords were broken). Ease out the pocket pieces, pull out the counter weights. Disassembly is now more or less complete. Now all we have to do is repair, replace, and reassemble. The process can take an hour or two or more - or it can take all day - it just depends on what needs to be done. These particular windows needed a good deal of renovation - but by dusk they were back in full working order with new cords, replacement pulleys, and new brighton catches. If you have sash windows in need of renovation call me on 07930 335 937

A plumber did this!

The bathroom had been fitted last year by some 'professional' company. Last month I was called to correct a problem with the bath taps/shower head unit. The gasket between the bath and taps had never been fitted. It leaked only when the shower stream was falling on the tap heads. Over a period of time, water had found its way through the tiniest of gaps (it always does) and caused some damage to the ceiling below. A simple mistake or oversight that anyone could make. Today I was called in to fit a new basin. A bottle had fallen off one those narrow glass shelves that sit above the sink straight into the bowl and had cracked it. The sink was still usable but unsightly. I put my head under the sink and this is what I saw....

Misc

Click on the image to see it in glorious technicolour.
if you think this is OK..... please tell me why!

Electrics, plumbing, plastering, fitting an eastbourne kitchen

The kitchen has as expected taken up all of this week.
Oliver was off sick on Tuesday and so a delay started... by Thursday he and Abdul (his apprentice) had rewired the kitchen and corrected some horror scenarios in the consumer unit (fuse box). The best one being that when the main switch was turned off - the house was still live. Still all's well that ends well. The faults have been put right and the kitchen is now up to current regs. Oliver and Abdul finished 'first fix' on Wednesday. The owners then decided that they would like the kitchen walls skimmed prior to fitting the kitchen. This meant that Raf started plastering late on Wednesday evening and completed the task by just after 23:00.
By doing it like that Oliver was able to do 'second fix' and 'test and certify' by late Thursday afternoon. While all of this was happening I had sorted the rerouting of the plumbing so that it was all ready for the final connections when the kitchen was fitted... Friday morning we finally started fitting. By close of play today, Saturday, the clients now have a fully functioning kitchen. Monday will be a short day of small details and by the mid afternoon we will be on our way to the next job.

Fitting a kitchen

I'll be tied up all this week fitting a kitchen in Eastbourne. The old kitchen units, tiles, plumbing and wiring have been ripped out today and thrown in a skip from Haulaway Skip Hire. What has been exposed is a decade or so of electrical bodges. Oliver, our certified (in more ways than one) electrician, is going to be sorting out the whole of the electrics. A new kitchen ring main will be installed and all new switch gear. With all the tiles off the walls and the units out of the way, there is no better time to do the re-plumbing and rewiring. Once that is all done Raf, the team's plasterer will set about skimming all the walls. Then all that is left is to install the new units and appliances from Howdens. By Friday the kitchen should be finished... I wonder, what could possibly go wrong?

Resealing a shower tray.

From the phone call it sounded simple enough.
"I've tried sealing the shower tray several times - but it is still leaking!" So went the call. I called to investigate - and opened a can of worms! The plumbing was sound. In fact the Eastbourne plumber who had been called in to renew the shower valve had done a very nice job. That wasn't the problem. The shower tray was enclosed on three sides. and someone else had obviously used several tubes of silicone, and had added those ghastly, useless trim seals to it. It was - in the homeowners words - a mess. The shower tray pedestal panel was removed and yes, it was definitely wet under there. The shower tray was in fact being held in place by the silicone because the floor in one corner was completely rotted away!
And so the nightmare on Schofield Way Eastbourne began.
In order to renew the floor and reseat a new shower tray (The old one was finished) the tray had to come out. Tiles had to be removed and walls cut back to free the tray, and then more of the walls needed to be cut back some more to allow the new (deeper) tray to 'slip' in. It doesn't sound difficult on paper - but believe me it was a nightmare. Not a job for the faint hearted. It was much akin to me trying to fit into the size trousers I wore two decades ago. With much grunting and puffing and swearing the new shower tray is firmly in place and ready to be tiled on Monday.
Now it's just a case of making good and the job is complete. All nightmares end. Jim'll Fix It 07930 335 937

renewing a ceiling insulating plastering coving in eastbourne

This week Raf and I have been renewing a ceiling in Pevensey Bay near Eastbourne. First we had to rip down a lightweight fibreboard suspended ceiling (that was easy). New ceiling joists were installed, plasterboarded, and 200mm Rockwool Insulation added. Walls and ceiling were skimmed and plaster coving installed. It is all currently drying out, and will be ready for painting next week. The room has a completely different feel about it now. To have a look at a couple of photos of the project click HERE.

Randy Pausch

Every once in a while, as I surf the broadband enabled superhighways of the internet, I come across something that stops me dead in my tracks....

Today's date is 5th April 2008
within the next weeks Randy is going to die
He is a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University
I would ask you to watch the following short video he has made.
It has to be one of the most jaw droppingly inspiring videos I have ever watched.
Full stop....



This short version was on "Oprah".
After you have watched the short version go here to see the full version.
Please leave comments after you have watched it...