MJNewton

You are mixing up manufacturer's warranties with consumer rights against the retailer. The former is nearly always easier/safer to depend on as the remedy it provides is so clear cut (if it breaks in time window X they fix/replace it) whereas the latter might rely on you ultimately having to make a case in court about what in order to get your rights upheld in the context of what is 'reasonable'.

With Marks Electrical storing my items I must admit to being worried about them being thrown around the warehouse, and whilst of course there'd be no issue about liability of those damaged goods there is the issue that they might not have the stock to replace it if it arrived damaged and so could only refund your money in such a situation.

I think we were lucky as I was shopping for appliances in Sep '20 and decided to settle on a hob, oven, dishwasher and fridge/freezer primarily due to some good offers being on but I did note at the time that remaining stock numbers were getting rather low. Subsequent delays with the rest of the kitchen (mainly the worktop) meant that we only got them delivered a couple of months back and they'd been sitting in Marks Electrical's warehouse for all that time, and when I spoke to them about delivery they did say I'd been lucky and they'd been having all sorts of trouble getting stuff in. They also said some manufacturers had completely stopped manufacturing some of their product line and were instead just focusing on a subset of models. Incidentally, we did go for an AEG induction hob and have been thoroughly pleased with it - particularly the intuitive and responsive controls - and would definitely recommend them. Got an AEG oven too and whilst that too is good, it's got a few 'quirks' that I wish it didn't such as the timer counting in tens of seconds rather than minutes so setting a quick 15 minute countdown isn't quite as quick as we'd like and were previously used to! First world problems of course...

I'd more approach this from what they might be e.g. at some point in the future when you come to ever replace them with something that might be more demanding (or even if you change your mind with regards to your initial purchase). A case in point is our AEG single oven rated at 5300W/23A and there's nothing particularly special about it. Installing large(r) circuits now won't materially add to the cost, but could save a small fortune in the future. Personally, I'd be wanting a 6mm / 32A supply for each.

That's all fairly standard/generic so they may well switch between different suppliers.

They don't manufacture in the UK and so for domestic installations wouldn't expect them to get much of a look in?

It is normally something they'd shout about as each glass manufacturer (there are only three in the UK - Pilkington, Saint Gobain and Guardian) have big marketing departments with trademarks and fancy diagrams representing their particular implementation of coatings, iron content etc. It would normally also be specified on the glass units themselves as a sticker has to be applied post-manufacturer to indicate which way round they go. I was going to suggest getting in touch with whoever made them as I've found them (well, admittedly I've only spoken to Saint Gobain) to be very helpful in discussing 'technical' matters.

Who is the manufacturer of the glass?

Yeah I was worried about the packaging/delivery side of things as even I would be at risk of causing some damage getting home nevermind so one that doesn't care quite so much. I might give a local BM a go first and see what their prices are like. I used them for plasterboard and the apparent discount each time was all over the place - it felt like they were using a random number generator as part of the equation.

Ah, okay. I'm not keen on builder's merchants given the opaque pricing models they adopt but maybe I'll pop in and give them another chance.

Can anyone recommend suppliers of MDF skirting, whether that be online or national chains? I'm after a ~121mm 'small torus' profile and am being drawn towards skirtingsrus based on a combination of price and profile availability.

I'd always give a Magic Eraser I try - never ceases to amaze me how effective it is on a whole variety of surfaces. Handy things to have around so nothing lost if it doesn't work. I just pull a small chunk off and it ends up lasting me years despite having a young daughter who draws on walls and furniture from time to time.

It might just be a bloke with a couple of meters looking to make a bit of cash. Not in an underhand way, I hasten to add, but just filling an apparent gap. I suppose if they provide some online trainining, and of course lend you a tester, then it's not all bad but you can then all that from here (the forum).

I wonder what the 'professional-quality' bit means? Is it a euphemism for 'impressive looking'? If the building regs don't mandate/recognise a particular qualification/certification required for sign-off then you really can't be held to needing to meet any particular level.

The installation issues look like fairly typical 'poor attention to detail' that go with many a tradesman that don't take pride in their work. It's the sort of thing that'd disappoint me but also the sort of thing that doesn't surprise me anymore (and what pushes me towards DIY). Something to note is that if you fitted MVHR to help in the summer then I fear you'll be disappointed. That's not what it's for, and the low capacity of air coupled with relatively flow rates mean that it won't have much of a cooling effect. It can help with stuffiness though, and can help psychologically if you imagine it pumping in fresh air on hot still nights!

That's quite a narrow beam angle for a GU10 so you might struggle. The best GU10s I've found, bar none, are the Civilight CLs from Well Lit due to their 'dim to warm' functionality which we like, high CRI (>95) and low dimming ability. Expensive though at £14 a go but it finally put an end to our seemingly endless search for an incandescent replacement that by that point I stopped caring about the cost. They offer a year's no-quibble returns policy so I felt it risk free to try them out. Nine months on we'll definitely be keeping them. Might be worth seeing what others they offer in case any fit your requirements? P.S. Ikea Ledare are a great value cheap alternative, but their dimming performance isn't great due to non-linear colour change and risk of buzzing (at least with Varilight V-Pro dimmers which are generally regarded as being amongst the best).

Might you have been reading about paint order for walls and skirting *for pre-existing skirting*? If so, then it is indeed quite common to paint the walls last as it is much easier to wipe excess/spilt emulsion off gloss than the other way round.

Makes sense, and its a powerful combination. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to make personal recommendations as I always use Honeywell (and they all (at least those I've had) have the TPI control that doesn't suit your needs). However, if I didn't want TPI I'd perhaps take a look at the Heatmiser neoAir v2-M Wireless Smart Thermostat with Two Channel Wireless Receiver - Heatmiser RF Switch as it implements a basic switching algorithm based around an adjustable differential e.g. if set to 1C then it'll switch on when at least 1C below target and off at target. It also has an 'output delay' setting to delay a call for heat for x minutes following being turned off. They do have 'smart' versions available to if you want app control and whatever features might also come with that (e.g. geofencing).

Are you after just a thermostat (temperature control only, timings dealt by a dedicated timer) or a programmer* (combined temperature and timing control allowing different temperatures for different times of day/night)? And wire or wireless? *Which might nowadays sometimes go by the name of a smart thermostat if there is some form of app control too

Look at the other side of this story to things you've *found* inside the building fabric... In my case my best has been what appeared to be a child's 'code book' inside a lathe and plaster partition wall. It had the date 1950 and name 'R Cook' on the front and I happened to mention it in casual conversation with our elderly neighbours and they said 'ah yes, good old Roger' whilst looking at me like I knew who they meant.... It only goes and turns out that it was Roger Cook, a singer songwriter (not the investigative reporter that had run-ins with triads!) responsible for the 'Id Like to Teach the World to Sing' song that Coke used as their anthem and numerous other hits by the likes of Cilla Black, Cliff Richard etc. Roger was born and raised in the house and must've hid/lost that book inside the wall as it was being built. Apparently despite Roger's subsequent wealth his mum stayed living in that modest family terrace for practically her whole life, and he'd deliver coal to her in his Rolls Royce quite regularly. The house meant a lot to the family and he even wrote a song about it (which mention the neighbours by name!). Just to add even more to the bizarre history, the neighbour also casually mentioned that whenever Elton John used to perform in Bristol he'd sleep on Roger's couch in that house rather than pay out for a hotel!

Yes, and it is absolutely superb at providing pseudo-modulating demand functionality where only an on/off heat demand boiler input exists. When well below target temperature it'll run flat out ('100% demand') but as it nears/reaches the target it'll switch it a pulse width modulation to avoid overshoot such that if it calculates that it only require '80% demand') it'll apply a 80:20 on:off ration. With a cycle rate of 6 (times an hour) that means it'll call for heat for 8 minutes and remain off for 2 minutes, every 10 minutes. The cycle rate and minimum on time can be tweaked but only within certain limits. Great for gas boilers and gives rock solid temperatyre control but absolutely no use for heat pumps given what you've described regarding the futility of short burn times. Many other 'intelligent' thermostats that aim to minimise/eliminate under/overshoot will operate in a similar way so if looking for an alternative avoid any that described some variation of TPI (Time Proportional & Integral) or Pulse Width Modulation etc.

For an approximate idea of unit operating efficiency (in terms of heat recovery - is that what you're interested in?) you can simply do (supply - intake) / (extract - intake). More accurate calculations described here.

Definitely worth getting some thermometers, checking they all agree with each other, and fitting them around to see what the temperatures are really like. I had a Nest for a while and found it rather poor at measuring an accurate room temperature. It has multiple sensors inside (7 I think?) and supposedly does a whole load of jiggery pokery to improve accuracy but frankly it just didn't work too well and I got the impression that Google aren't that invested in the thermostat side of things. Online searches suggested it being a common problem for some, and even cases of apparent self-heating from the WiFi chip. Google replaced mine (despite it being second hand and out of warranty!) but the replacement wasn't much better. The stabity of control was also rather poor and not a patch on my old CM927 whose TPI control kept a rock solid temperature with no over/undershoot. Ended up selling it, which was a real shame as it looked smart and the control dial was a joy to use.

Will the adhesive stick to the foil lining?

No, I was just trying to help you out in case you end up with 'must insist on a calibration certificate even though I did actually see you do the test and so you might have made the figures up anyway' type of BCO! ?