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I'd ask Heat Geeks about it if I were you.
I had a similarly large quote from Heat Geeks in the summer that I didn't end up moving ahead with. I ended up replacing the old gas boiler with a newer one. I think the USP for them is that they guarantee a minimum SCOP, and all their engineers have to have done their training scheme and therefore should really know what they're doing.
You'd hope that the energy companies also employ people who know what they're doing, however I have heard several anecdotes of that not being the case. Of course you're more likely to hear about those that went wrong than those that didn't.
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Underrated comment. Very good.
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I'll be very interested to hear how you get on. We're a 200 year old solid brick detached house so will need to do insulation at some point. I'd been thinking more about internal, though, tbh.
@frank9755 I can't tell you exactly how likely you are to have an adverse outcome. I do think it's worth beating in mind what that potential outcome is, though. I'm in a similar position, and I'd just really rather avoid any risk of mould and damp. You seem to be making an assumption that there isn't anything preventing moisture escaping the walls internally. In my case I don't know for sure that this isn't the case. I've no idea what wallpapers and paints have been used on the internal walls in the past.
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Congrats on the new arrival, and exciting times!
Charlie DIYte, the DIY guy, Gosforth Handyman, and the Aiden Project are all ones I've enjoyed for a while.
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+1 they have really thought a lot about how to make it as easy as possible to install. I hadn't realised it was a thing until I bought a new groupset last year and it just worked excellently.
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Yeah, WhatsApp is difficult. I still use it a lot, but would like to try and avoid particularly after how Meta has responded to Trump being elected.
It feels like the only reason everyone uses it is because it was one of the first good messaging apps, and inertia because everyone else uses it. I hope we'll soon reach a critical mess to move a big chunk of people to something else.
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I've recently "dumbified" my smart phone, and I'm really happy with the change.
On Android, I installed oLauncher and ScreenZen. I uninstalled every single app with an infinite scroll, even if not social media. I turned my screen greyscale, and I stuck on a Matt screen protector. I then turned off all notifications other than phone calls.
I'm not specifically trying to reduce screen time so I haven't tracked that. My objective was to feel like my phone was a useful tool I use when I need, versus often being a distractor that prevents me doing better things.
The phone home screen is now just 8 text shortcuts to open important apps or features. If I need to use something less common than those 8 I can search for it, but everything is still text. There are no app icons anywhere. I can set the screen back to colour if I want to, but it's annoying enough to do that I only do it when I need to. I've still got online banking, Google pay, Spotify, Waze, Strava and all the other things I didn't want to give up by moving to a dumb phone.
Happy to share more if anyone is interested in this approach.
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I've never paid someone to coach me. However if I were to do so it would be based on a personal recommendation from someone I trust, customer reviews, years of experience. I wouldn't place any value on formal qualification or certification.
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I want to replace a dimmer light switch with a standard one. The current switch is a 2 gang switch. Switch 1 is for downlights in the ceiling. Switch 2 is for a light fixture I have now removed. When I removed it I capped the cable on the fixture end, and then bunged that up in the coving. How can I safely change the 2 gang switch to a single switch as I make the change? Will I have to cap off the wires for the unused circuit in the back box? Or will the wires no longer carry any electricity once they are no longer attached to a switch?
I've just done the job, putting each of the now not used wires in one end of an electrical connector. I must have been feeling pretty sleep deprived last night to even consider not capping them off. Nice easy job. Parts cost less than £3, took me 20 minutes to do, and my partner is very happy.
Is there a good way to find out authoritatively what's going on with fibre internet in my area?
I'd had flyers through my door over the past year saying Gigaclear is coming. I went to a zoom call where they were promising to have it done by the end of 2024. I got an email to say it was available last week so I called them, but they said a mistake and actually it won't be done until the middle of 2026. Oh, sinking heart feeling.
Then literally today Virgin Media show up and start digging up the road with no notice. They dropped a letter through our door saying they're installing fibre internet and will be here for 2 days to do that. However, when I go on their website they just say it is not available in my area.
Looking at the details for the road closure, it was filed by nexfibre, not actually Virgin Media.
I am very confused, but I would like faster internet, please.