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Never heard of them to be honest.

I know my friends who own their own window supply company and I work with them closely, are looking to distribute Finstral and have been down in their showroom and so forth. The ex UK MD for Internorm (Andreas Simmer) is now the MD at Finstral. Good outfit, good window systems from the feedback I have received.

i saw these and was slightly tempted to drive down and take a look. if you're bored one day and fancy to do that test drive for us it'd be very much appreciated. 😉

I have been recommended this company for a grand front entrance door. Do any forum users have experience with this French manufacturer?

The figures vary a lot by manufacturer for example, at 35C the 10kW Vaillant Arotherm Plus SCOP is 5.03 vs the 7kW model at 4.36 (MCS test results). But my calcs look at this in a different way, by comparing an 11.2kW heat pump running comfortably within it's so-called "mid-range" capacity (c. 9kW ball park) vs the equivalent 8.5kW running flat out, at different ambient temps. So an over-sized heat pump could be more efficient or, at worst, no less efficient than the "perfect size" (for want of a better description).

Good evening. I have been unable to find any views on Finstral windows and a wider search online is limited. Has anyone used this company and if yes, share their experiences? They appear to be be a substantial window & door manufacturer in Europe. I have previously been happy with Rationel but my local window distributor has suggested looking at Finstral for my current project and I would like some independent feedback.

Their FAQs are very informative: https://buffalomachines.co.uk/pages/faqs Website says they have 30 years combined industry experience but company only incorporated in 2023: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15271611 Looks like they are just a UK importer of Chinese machines. So whether you actually benefit from going to them IDK. Maybe warranty issues, but adding the middle man might not help much in reality

I have been attempting to replicate similar properties that have had extensions like this.

Do as @Nickfromwales advised. We cant tell if that wall has been built off the B and B, or off the foundations. Spend £30 and have it sorted.

Good point and I would switch the garage to the right hand side to create more visual space to no 35. Worth doing a few visuals.

Any good? Supplier local 'ish to me in Maidstone. I was looking to get the 1.2T version but circumstances have changed: https://buffalomachines.co.uk/products/buffalo-b1800-mini-digger

If you really want the double fronted, make the left hand half above the garage set back a little with a stepped roof line, making it look right from the start like a subservient extension on the side (probably like has been approved for the house opposite)

It sounds like a combination of poor fabrication, poor install and poor quality sealed units. I don't know how the profiles perform. I think they are Deceuninck.

I'm wondering if I might actually be wrong.... In trying to figure the situation out, I've been watching lots of videos about block and beam floors. In every case it seems that a DPC is placed underneath the beams themselves. So, I might be worrying about nothing. If that's the case though, I can't understand why there was an additional DPC at screed level for the internal walls. This is the same height as the DPC visible on my exterior walls. Maybe a DPC was applied to the internal walls out of an abundance of caution? Am I talking rubbish?

Looking to upgrade to 15mm. I thought the 8mm microbore circuit was fed by manifolds, but removing the downstairs ceiling reveals instead a 15mm secondary circuit feeding short 8mm microbore feeds to the upstairs rads, and long 8mm microbore runs dropping down to the ground floor rads (see photo). This should make things easier because I won't have to hunt around for the manifolds, I can just leave the upstairs rad circuit as it is, run two new 22mm pipes dropping down from the primary circuit upstairs, just after the secondary circuit pump in the airing cupboard, and then connect new 15mm runs from the two central 22mm drop downs to the downstairs rads. Any issues with that approach?

YES. It is proven safe, so stop worrying.

That was a bonus. Your proposal (Double fronted) and the corner home opposite yours, you can understand the comments cramped and overbearing. Difficult design to compromise if wanting the double frontage. You will get there.

A drawing of what you're doing and where you propose to locate the manifold and boiler/ASHP would actually help. We're all guessing otherwise.

These do look very ‘cool’. All you need is a bloody good metal roofer who can fab these kind of things in their sleep.

Yes. Stop worrying and move on.

PIR tends to need to be mechanically fixed though, whereas insulated XPS backer boards can be bonded on and won’t pull away. With PIR you’re reliant on the foil staying ‘fully stuck’ to the core, and that’s not always great after cutting it into small sections and the foils began to tear away. Any box would be better than metal here afaic, so if there’s > 60mm to play with then a fast fix box would work well too.

The house opposite was actually original although they have planning for a two storey (set back) side extension. I was attempting to mirror the street scene with my original proposal.

The kicker with leaving pipes exposed to connect to later down the line is preserving their condition. So add that to the list of reason not to go for the joints under the slab / screed option. But it is an option.

We ended up sending in a sample. It came back negative but I’m now wondering if I should have sent off multiple samples from different areas? I’ve never done this before, if one sample came back negative would you be happy with that result?