MJNewton

I think you're overthinking the series of events that led to the situation the OP is in. I know it's an unwritten rule of the Internet that we have to blame someone and make them accountable for the malice and/or sheer negligence behind every action they took but come on. Speaking of the current situation, noting that the worktops are now in place, what do you think the chances are of successfully separating and removing/refitting the two worktops without damage? Furthermore, what are the chances of the architect stumping up the few grand to replace them should the worst happen? Would he also be paying for a new island worktop to ensure a batch matched finish of the whole installation? That's really not a road I'd want to be going down, particular when the option of a nice set of chunky cutting boards is on the worktop table.

Where did that statistic come from? Is it from the 87% of statistics that are made up to prove a point? ?

It's a massive waste of money and materials though, regardless who ends up paying for it. I don't see how it could be considered a poor installation. There is no standard for a worktop height (how could there be given we're all different height with length limbs?) and so unless it was specified beforehand then it's to spec as long as it is within bounds of reasonable expectation. Edit: I stand corrected! Apparently ISO 3055:1985 states that food preparation should take place between 850mm and 1000mm. I think that only reinforces the point that this installation is well within spec though. Or by 'poor installation' did you mean having the island worktop a different height? In which case, yeah, that's nuts and taking that route formalises the assumption that one of them is somehow 'wrong' and a compromise had to be found to make the situation tolerable. Maybe we need motorised unit/worktop height adjusters, just in case someone buys us a pair of slippers for Christmas that have a slightly different sole thickness than the ones we wore whilst doing our builds?

I suspect it might be an optical illusion caused by a combination of varying depths of frost between the warmer screw head locations and diffraction of light from the meniscus of thawed water. Can you cover a screw head overnight and remove the covering in the morning? It’ll still have been subject to the same temperature swings but I expect it’d look ‘normal’. All speculation of course. Alternatively, if the dips really are forming might the screws be contracting in the freezing temperatures?

Ours is 900mm from finished floor level to top of worktop. We spent a *long* time deciding what height to have and soon discovered we were really were overthinking it having gone round measuring the height of any kitchen we stepped foot in and discovered if there is a ‘standard’ then it’s got quite a tolerance to it in practice. Indeed, we discovered a difference of 20mm between the heights of our own (non-connected) worktops in the existing kitchen and had never previously noticed this in the 10 years we’ve been here! I think this is one of those cases where it’s only an issue if you make it one. And believe me, I’m something of an expert in creating such scenarios. Don’t let it haunt you.

Yes, I was mindful of the possibility that the VCL might well completely hide the consequences of any problem I might have with my flat roof - or at least make it more difficult to work out the source of any leak. With the former I could well imagine you might get years of ignorant bliss with such a situation!

I might be misunderstanding but that sounds like quite a lot? Our average daily electrical consumption is a very consistent 10kWh and I've always assumed this to be quite high. That's with daily dishwasher, washing machine, TVs and lights left on my the wife and daughter, computers running 24/7 etc... The complete opposite to your approach by the sounds of it? Ah, but we do have gas central heating so if you're all electric that could explain the difference! No EV here too.

It does sound like it's just lack of use that's led to condensation forming in the ducting, particularly given it is inside a cold loft (insulation only slows the rate of heat transfer and so given long enough even the thickest of insulated ductwork will cool down). I think the installation looks fine on the face of it too. Sure, perhaps joints could be taped/sealed and maybe more insulation applied (e.g. rockwool wrapped around everything you can) but it looks like someone has put some effort into installing it. It certainly is nothing like the shockers we see from time to time and that are easy to find fault with. If the unit isn't working then, yeah, maybe you could go down the route that Iceverge suggests to get some air moving inside the ducts. But I think I'd focus on fixing the MVHR as it's a most worthwhile system to have, particularly in winter. Have you braved opening the front panel of the unit? I'd be particularly keen on seeing how well the condensate drain is working - or not. Just brace yourself for more mould which might require the heat exchanger removing to allow a thorough clean. I'm sure you can save this.

Ah, okay. If you were renting I was wondering why you were getting so emotionally involved. But yeah, if it's a family member's house that explains it - and as you touched on makes it a bit more difficult as you don't have complete freedom over what to do.

Why don't the new and old floors match up? Presumably one of them isn't perfectly flat? (Hopefully the old!) If you do go down the self-levelling route then you it can go straight on the surfaces as-is as long as it's suitable for the maximum depth you required.

Are you renting?

Agreed, at least in terms of locations. I always put them in every corner and whilst my wife moans about this during the build she's the one that benefits most when she plugs in her phone/tablet etc all over the place! What I no longer do is put multiple sockets in known locations for AV equipment. In one house I put four doubles and it still wasn't enough - and didn't look particularly neat anyway given the variety of plug types that went into them. Now a single double is all I put in and use multi-way adapter strips plugged into that. It keeps things hidden out of the way (you can nearly always hide such an item even behind the most sparse of equipment rack/cabinet) and can be easily scaled to accommodate additional devices. Given the relatively low power of AV gear there's no safety-related issue that might otherwise have warranted multiple wall sockets.

Gravity already has it sorted. ?

It should be - I certainly have never had an issue and I wouldn't claim to be any cleaner than the next person. Have you had issues before, or is it just in the place you're currently in? If the latter might it be an issue with the sealant used?

Where is the vent relative to the bed? I really don't think you'll have an issue. I sit under a vent all day at my desk and don't notice it - the air is ejected sideways and mixes with the air up at ceiling level.

I've been toying with the idea of doing something about my own CCTV setup... It's a Zoneminder installation that's been running on a desktop PC (sold as a server but for all intents and purposes that's what it is) for over 10 years now and whilst I've never given the power consumption a second thought when the machine was used for all sorts of other things - including my 'daily use' computer - it now sits there most of the time drawing 30-50W just monitoring video feeds. If I can get a Pi 4 to take on the role I could probably save £50/yr. I was looking at Shinobi but will also check out Frigate too so thanks!

Ah... disappointing. I read the title as Design / costs for a shepherd's hut or moveable 'brothel'...

That's what I do for our patio lights, or rather they are set to come on at sunset and off at 11pm as their primary purpose is to remove the 'black hole' look that our bank of sliding doors would otherwise appear as when looking out from the house at night. There's a manual switch (or the app of course being 'smart' and all that!) to allow them to be overridden if/as required.

Ours works perfectly - not a single false positive or negative in the years it's been in place. Rate of rise detection is the secret (>5% in 5 minutes works for me), not absolute threshold triggering. It's the perfect alternative to trying to train partners and kids!

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We've got a wired Aico setup so pretty much the de facto industry standard - but I tapped into it with a relay base so that the MVHR turns off in the event of fire. Having done this I also figured I might as well be alerted to this event and so a Shelly relay sends me alert too. As to what you can really do about it - good question and something I've always wondered about what I would actually do! We do have network CCTV so I suspect my first action would be view that to see if I could see a fire. If I could then I'd phone the fire brigade, if not and the trigger remained active I think I'd call the neighbour and get them to go and take a look. Speaking of Shellys, particularly in the context of a cheap way in to 'smart' environment monitoring/protection, I've also got a couple of their flood sensors placed in areas I suspect to be most prone to flooding (e.g. under kitchen sinks) similarly configured to send me an alert should water be detected.

Screwfix have some flexible nozzles too. I might buy some even advance if needing them - could be handy to have around.

This sort of thing. However, having now seen those angled nozzles @PeterW linked to I think I'd actually go for those now!

You can get silicone sealant in 'squeeze tubes' (large toothpaste tubes) which I expect would work... or at least that was my mitigation plan when I opted for an overhang on our sink!

I was playing 'spot the difference' and the only thing I thought I found was that you'd modified the lion on the left so it looked a bit like a dog... I didn't spot the bl00dy great windows for quite some time!!