jack

Ah, okay, thanks. Following our nightmare experience with John Lewis induction pans, we bought Le Crueset. Just moved to Miele for washing machine - hugely impressed with it. You can just feel the quality. AEG dryer - again, very good, and came with a 5 year warranty. Siemens fridge - seems fine. Hand-me-down 3 year old Miele freezer (which I believe is made by Liebherr) - again, seems fine. Siemens hob and ovens. Hob not that impressive for the reasons above. Ovens seem good. I did look at VZUG ovens (Swiss, I think?) but from memory they were a lot more expensive.

That is truly a thing of beauty. Puts me in mind of those amazing structured cable installations you sometimes see:

We have one, and I'd agree with that assessment. I know they all balance power across the different zones as power increases, but even if there are just two zones on, one in particular will tend to pulse its power every couple of seconds. Annoying when you're trying to just heat something evenly. I don't have anything else to compare it to, but I'm also not convinced that the magnetic field distribution is that great, based on what I see at the bottom of our saucepans.

Result! Common sense for the win!

Yes, they can be received right up until the decision, but since most people don't know that, it's most likely that there'll be no further objections.

Ditto for us. The local parish input was the only negative feedback we had from anyone, and it wasn't even discussed by the planning officer in the approval. The only thing they count for is the potential for bringing it into committee, as @JSHarris says. In our case, I can't imagine that the councillors involved would have done anything beyond submit the negative comment. Had there been 4 other objections, theirs would have tipped the balance, but that wasn't an issue for us.

I made this mistake. I don't really know what we were thinking at the time, but my best recollection is that we were paranoid about overheating. I doubt it has anything to do with cost. Upon reflection, we could have just turned the system off in hot weather. In cold weather it would just have contributed to the background heating of the house. You can also run such systems off PIRs, so they only operate when someone actually comes into the room. Live and learn - I'd definitely have pumped hot water circuits if I were doing it all again.

Been there, feel your pain. I don't know why it's so hard to just install windows properly the first time. I know @Bitpipe used magicman and I believe he was happy with the results.

I'm sure it's a combination of simplifying the machinery/jigs they use for cutting and assembly, and minimising the number of material types they need to keep in stock. Also, the outer stud does have panels attached to it, plus may need to hold potentially heavy cladding. I think it would be a challenge to greatly reduce the cross section of the outer stud while still providing a good fixing for, eg, battens.

Great news! Now for the easy bit!

From memory (I looked into these guys about 3 years ago) they use an oversized evaporator. Not sure about the other two things.

Amazing they'd skip something like that rather than sell it off cheaply. Serious bargain though, well done!

The peak was actually well over $11k. It spent a few days getting to $10k, then hit $11k less than 24 hours later, crashed to nearly $9k in a heartbeat, bounced back up and is now oscillating its way down. I expect more correction - it regularly loses well over half its value before consolidating and heading up again.

Just the sort of thing Hitler would have said!

We have a 4.5m slider along one side of our kitchen out onto a courtyard. It's rarely opened - when the weather is good enough it can be a bit too warm to have the doors open, given the insulation levels in the house! The wall at 90 deg to that has two floor-to-ceiling windows and a glass door of the same size. We use that door far more often than the slider. If we were doing it all again I doubt I'd have a slider or any glazed opening as big as that we presently have.

It's the modern British equivalent of Godwin's Law.

Yes, it is what I believe. Admittedly our position isn't helped by our negotiating team being an incompetent shower of gobshites - that's part of our weak negotiating position. According to Amazon, it's available from tomorrow.

No, it's all done on the documents. Ours was done by email by someone 100 miles away.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you (we) negotiate from a position of weakness.

That's terrible news, sorry to hear that Dave. Is business good generally for you?

We had a local guy (near Farnborough) knock up some plain steel gates with verticals every 90mm or so. They're about 1100 high, with two leaves about 1800 wide each, and a single leaf about 1000 wide. From memory they were about £1200 bare (no galvanising or painting), so your quote appears comparable given yours are galvanised. Don't underestimate the cost of galvanising - it isn't cheap for large custom items.

Welcome to Buildhub. If you've been plastering for 34 years, I assume you'll either have the shoulders of a god, or they'll be completely knackered!

Yep, I watch his videos now and again. Interesting stuff.

The NZ south island accent has clearly been influenced by its Scottish heritage.

Exactly. Every light in our house except the one in the plant room runs off our home automation system, and I can't remember the last time I used the app to turn a light on. It's the added functionality that I like. For example, each light switch (spring loaded, so momentary hold) can be used to control anything in the house. For example, at the moment, the garage lights are set to come on for an hour when I hit the switch. I could program the system so that if I long hold the switch, it will open a window, say, three seconds long, count the button presses within that period and keep the light on for that number of hours. I have our bedside light switches programmed so that a long press acts as a "night mode" switch. All lights are turned off, any blinds left open are closed, and the garage door is closed if its open. When our gates are installed, I expect them to have them close at this point if they are open too. Most of the blinds open and close automatically, and are programmed to close a certain time after sunset and open at various times in the morning. There are some downsides and risks, for sure, but for the most part the system has been very reliable.