[Twiglet]

I have been told (by this Forum) to leave about 0.5mm gap per metre of track if you are coping with big temperature changes. I have tightened my trackwork up a bit since getting the loft properly insulated (in the eaves) - which has reduced winter-summer temperature differnces by a factor of at least 2. As to painting baseboards, again I have heeded advice, although I can't say my pine+sundeala/MDF efforts have moved much in the few years they have been up there. I reckon, for what it is worth, that the problem will be MUCH worse in a damp outside shed than anywhere else.

 

[Twiglet]

Many thanks Richard ... I read with some envy about our American (and Australian?) friends who do not have this problem - thanks to aircon they can simply solder the lot and not worry about thermal expansion/contraction at all.
In general terms though, which is more of a problem - humidity changes or temperature changes?

 

[Twiglet]

Brian, you are quite right - if you can put aircon in a US home you can put it in a UK one too; the problem is that firstly so few homes in this country have any form of proper climate control fitted as standard and, secondly, there is so little demand that prices are sky-high even if you wish to install it. Just a generation ago even central heating was quite rare ... I remember frost on the inside of the windows!