ryder72

A part of our build is specified as clad. Planning has been granted for dark stained vertical timber with no specific mention made of the cladding detail or colours/timber type. We were consider prestained larch cladding from Russwood or Silva. We had also looked into a product called Cape Cod from Vincent Timber, guaranteed for 15 years. As we get closer to looking into the detail, one point that is becoming obvious is that normal timber will need staining on average every 5 years. We have 4 clad elevations facing N/S/E/W with the South and east elevation being the largest and completely exposed to sun so the stain will fade rapidly The North is very close to trees and algae build up cannot be ruled out. Staining will require a scaffold and two elevations are accessible only over a single ply roof membrane. In the interests of getting something more durable, perhaps timber is not the best solution and I have been looking into composites. In particular, Dura Composites have a very good product at a price marginally higher than larch but with a 30 year guarantee and 50 year life expectancy. Does anyone have any experience of this product? From a planning perspective would it matter is we used a composite rather than real timber wthout their prior appproval?

Good so far. MBC have got the frame up at lighting speed. Roofing starts on Monday and glazing arrives on the 12th. All going well we will have a wind and watertight house by Christmas. Then the fun begins.

A good plumber should fit an unslotted waste on this type of basin eliminating the possibility of anyone shutting the waste and flooding the basin. The clou system wont overflow. In the off position water simply drains down the waste. In the 'on' position the waste still visibly stays open but the lever action activates a valve which redirects water flow to a level set by the user. This allows the basin to fill up to the set point after which water simply enters the basin, flows down the waste over the hidden overflow and down the drain. Its a very clever system.

The reason is simple. Most designer products are built for the European markets where they use high pressure systems with flow restrictors and low flow rates through taps. Flooding basins isnt their way of doing things and they run the tap as needed without wasting water. They were very early adaptors of the high pressure systems. Hence no overflows. I am not saying that is right or wrong. I personally prefer not to see overflows. Check out the Clou system of overflows. I have a shockwave file which demonstrates it but I am not allowed to attach it here.

Any reasons why you picked this unit over the Airflow BV400 which is broadly similar on most parameters?

£11-12k should be easily achieveable. Dont know where Rotpunkt got their figure from.

£20k for a Rotpunkt kitchen The price for the Alno kitchen is about right in Germany. Alno is very much a Magnet type product in Germany but clever marketing plus positioning withing John Lewis gives it credibility in the UK and lifts its price right up. Quality wise an Alno kitchen is very much on part with the entry-mid range market. Rotpunkt is similar so really in the UK you should be paying comparable prices for both. If you like send me a floor plan and finish and I can give you an indication of what its likely to realistically cost.

RandAbuild - I have a quote from a company called Systemair (Swedish) which is only marginally more (10%) than those from BPC. I have seen Systemair units and they look very well built. They also offer a number of features that appear as chargeable options on the units that BPC supply. The only thing is that they have specced a branch system rather than a radial one. I am going into investigate this one some more but frankly I am getting to a point of analysis paralysis and might just buy the nicest looking one The position shown on the drawing is incorrect and will be shifted over to the left hand corner of the wall so that both vents will sit inside the 1750 room width.

Any thoughts on the Airflow BV400 or DV145 or Vent Axia Sentinel B units?

I am in the process of selecting an MVHR system for the house. Floor area is approx 260m2. I have quotes from BPC (competitive) and some other suppliers such as Regavent, Systemair etc. The units look pretty similar with comparable (claimed) performance parameters. I know Jeremy used Genvex for is build and some Mitsubishi models have been recommended also. Are there any no go makes/models? Does anyone have any opinions on performance or advantages/disadvanteges of wall mounted units over floor mounted ones? I have attached floor plans of the house. Please disregard the shown preferred position of the unit. An oil boiler has to go against the outside wall as well and I am a little bit concerned about the positioning on the inlet, extract and boiler flue all being on the 1.8m wide wall. I cant seem to find any definitive guidance on the minimum separation between these. Any thoughts? I am coming down in favour of a radial system but I have seen some drawings where runs of over 15m arent advised. Is this correct as I cant see how they can be avoided. I have also come across crossflow vs counterflow systems. Am I getting them mixed up?

I think you are looking at Nobilia that did Next's kitchens. So there are two points here- Within German suppliers the differences between entry to midrange are better specification and more choice of finishes and detailing but not that much in choice of cabinetry. Between mid and top end its more options on design features and flexiblity and to an extent on types of units available. So if you had a design done indicating what sort of budget you had, a good designer would design it to that sort of budget. You should be able to take a design you have paid for to another designer and get 95% of it without compromise. If you take that to an English manufacturer, you will definitely have less choice of units but I reckon still 80% is doable. Good kitchen design has nothing to do with the door and worktop. This is where a mood board or an album on Pinterest is worth its weight in gold to a designer. Gathering images and ideas inevitably unveils a pattern and its for the designer to use this information to pull together a design. A good designer will spot the kind of finishes and styles that appeal to a client and should be able to nail is to the extent of 90% at the first attempt. People somehow feel that the rubbish that sheds and builders merchants come up with is design. It honestly isnt. Its an arrangement of boxes in 15 minutes in a room with no thought to ergonomics or aesthetics with a view to a sale offering 80% discounts. I can assure you that a good designer will easily spend a day and a half to 3 days on a good design.

I agree. And I find it astonishing that people would pay £2000 to an architect to draw up a £60k extension but wont pay a penny for a kitchen designer to design a kitchen worth half that money.

That is a difficult question. You have the budget/white label end of the market, mid price and premium end and the pricing points in Britain are different to those in Germany. There is a fair bit of smoke and mirrors in market positioning here

Bitpipe - I suppose you are in the Aylesbury area then?

I agree with you to a point. But thats only part of the picture. German kitchen manufacturers have a very high level of automation and a huge amount of investment in their factories allowing them to make products more efficiently and manufacturing at a level of volume which no British manufacturer apart from Howdens is able to achieve. Moreover, like a lot of other German industries, the family owned, invest for the long term rather than make a quick buck attitude means most German manufacturers will make a better thought out product that British manufacturers. This scale of production given tremendous buying power which in term allows more investment in manufacturing, product development etc ultimately resulting in a situation where the attention to detail/quality/flexibility package becomes a hard one to ignore. As a retailer of German and British kitchens, I would love to be able to stand behind a British kitchen with the same level of confidence as a German one and say - this is a very good value for money offering you are getting. Sadly, I honestly dont feel I can say it. We deal with a fairly high end British manufacturer and while they do some interesting and unique things, the attention to detail is not just lacking, but at times shocking.

I am working with a lighting designer. Not cheap and they tend to recommend specialist fittings. I have seen her work on multiple projects and I have to say both the quality of her advise and the price/cost of the fittings are in a different league. Whether its worth it is a very personal opinion. Based on experience elsewhere, LED GU10's are not the same thing as sealed units for quality manufacturers (I am not talking about JCC/Aurora/Halers).

Unless they are an established company in the UK, I would recommend you stay clear. A whole kitchen with say 15 units could be a collection of 25-30 different packages of varying shapes and sizes. Damages happen. Mistakes happen. I am not sure how a company can provide an acceptable level of service over ebay.

Second that. Always a good idea to either establish where the fixing points are and add noggings or even better a sheet of 18mm ply.

Bassanclan - AFAIK there isnt a megabad equivalent for kitchens. German manufacturers ship kitchens direct to the country of sale, so unless a German dealer can arrange shipping (highly unlikely) direct to the UK, its a non starter. Transport is handled through specialist furniture transporters so bulk palletised transport wont get you anywhere. Moreover assembled kitchen furniture is volume transport so you are unlikely to get a favourable transport price. Finally, the price differential between UK and German on kitchens is very small, almost only reflecting the transport cost so you are better off buying locally. Nick - Sorry mate but I have to disagree with your approach. Its highly unethical to 'use' anyone. How do you feel when you spend many hours of your time putting together advise and quotes for customers in good faith only to find you have been used. Many kitchen retailers including us have smartened up to this and now no longer 'give' their work away. Most of the good independents run honest businesses and provide good advise and design. Abuse the goodwill and its quickly lost as I am sure you appreciate. Unfortunately it is the sheds who are masters of smoke and mirror that has brought the whole industry down by taken a sales driven approach to kitchens and made idiots believe that there is 50-70% discounts to be had. Do you really believe that they employ 'designers' or a bunch of cheeky salespeople who throw boxes on walls and deceive customers? So thinking that you could go to a shed and pick someones brain for design is highly dubious. There isnt much to pick unfortunately. A good designer will always work for an independent and a good independent will be stupid to let a good good designer go.

I would recommend sticking with silestone, ceasarstone or compaq (all named brands) where possible. Quartz is more or less the same till things go wrong and thats when the other brands out there dont want to know. Silestone is expensive but they do have good customer service to back it up. A lot of the unbranded quartz comes from China, Turkey and Egypt and 90% of it is fine. Its the remain 10% that you need to be worried about. Personally, I dont think the saving is worth it. As far as 20 and 30mm go, 30mm is more expensive (its 50% more material after all) but for all practical purposes, there is no difference between the two. Overhangs of up to 300mm are fine with 20mm worktop and you cant go much bigger on the 30mm anyways if you have cutouts on the same piece. Ceramic is a superb product and there are about 3 major players in the market, Neolith, Lapitec and Dekton. Lapitec has been around longest and is very good but lacking a wide variety of colour and texture options. Neolith has great colours and textures but their service isnt the best. Dekton is backed by Cosentino, the company behind Silestone. Its been around about 3 years and there have been issues with the product but in time they will become the market leader - there is little doubt about that.

We went with their own contracts. JCT I felt was too generic. A sensible builders contract I felt was more amendable to our specific situation.

Thanks. I will try and get quotes for both to see where we stand on this.

I went with local authority on the basis that LABC would be able to insure without checking. They have rejected it. I didnt actually think that any structural warranty provider would have problems with the MBC/KORE system.I have paid the initial fees to LA but it may be worth looking at building control elsewhere if the overall package is cheaper overall. LA BC feels are actually quite low compared to a couple others I have had back.

you mean a quote from buildstore that was different to a quote from selfbuildzone?

pauldoc - selfbuildzone links back to buildstore so its probably the same company underlying.