ryder72

I think the screed was 50-60mm. The floor was covered in a vinyl tile finish. What we found was that the screed had cracked where the stone slab ends of the island (1200 * 900*20) were in contact with the floor and the unit legs were passing the weight into the floor. This is very unusual and after digging the screed it was found that the PIR has sunk in the region. The site structural engineer was of the opinion that 50mm PIR is not really suitable and it was a possible combination of insufficient thickness of PIR and screed that caused the issue.

On a completely different note - We installed a kitchen with stone tops on an island on a floor that has 50mm PIR insulation and then screed on top. The worktop cracked at the hob in about a month and it was then discovered that the PIR was just not thick enough to take the point loading from the island. It turned out into a huge job for the builder to dig everything out and start again. I am not an expert in insulation but 50mm may not be enough from a loading persective.

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In response to the OP's request - water is held pressurised a bit above boiling point and dispensed around 95-98 degrees. When one considers the temperate of the container that its poured out into, the heat loss probably cools it down to around the 90 degree point anyways. Of course this will depend on several factors such as the mass of the container and surface area in contact with water, temperature of the container, volume of water dispensed etc.

All good points Jeremy except the argument goes wobbly when one factors in the capital cost of a tap and say a 10 year service life. The main reason to buy is convenience and time saved not having to wait around. Its a worthwhile buy.

This is a biennial trade show with very little radically new on the market. Even as someone from the industry I tend to see it as a jolly to catch up with old contacts than to find anything of interest.

Thanks everyone for your help. I am surprised more people havent had this issue.

Impossible to fit anything now unless we cut out the ceiling below and replace. The only solution I can see is the mat solution during extreme weather which is now turning into normal weekend weather..

Its a good point. A rubber mat might do it. Its not been a problem for 2+ years and now we have weekly storms so its getting annoying.

Used daily.

My house was built in 2017/18 and had a wet room on the first floor with a shallow trapped waste that connects to a SVP. There is also a washbasin and a toilet drains into this SVP on the first floor and a utility room sink at the ground floor. The SVP is vented in the flat roof and has a bird cage type contraption fitted to it. During the recent high winds I started to notice a whistling sound in the ensuite and initially worried that something might be damaged on the roof. Access to this roof is not easy, nor is the top of the SVP visible (hidden behind a parapet) from ground level. After a bit of investigating, it has become apparent that the vastly varying wind pressure is causing water to be sucked out of the waste and this in turn admits air into room causing the whistling sound. Running the shower for a few seconds to fill the trap back up stops this noise till the water drains away again. The recent stormy weekends have been the only occasions we have experienced this. Is there a solution to this problem?

Most good sink manufacturers offer a stabilizing bracket for use with steel sinks. They screw into the worktop and clamp around the tap to almost eliminate flex. Dont need thicker steel to do this. I once had 8mm steel plates punched with 35mm holes to try and eliminate wobble and even this didnt eliminate it so the answer is > 8mm.

Our rendering contractor said steel mesh can cause problems with adhesion of the render to the eps as well as leave the render exposed to corrosion damage to the mesh should any of the galvanising become damaged during installation. We installed a fibreglass mesh which was fixed to the EPS and then rendered over. 2+ years later there is no damage whatsoever. Fibreglass apparently resists burrowing rodents.

Cutout sizes are consistent within brands for same type of sinks. ie Franke or Blanco with have only 3 or 4 cutouts for all their steel sinks. A ceramic or composite sink may require a different cutout. But it almost certainly wont be the case that the cutouts across brands are the same. Why would they want to do that?

Washing machines with front loading can be raised on a plinth but must have a restriction panel or similar above it to prevent forward tipping.

In don't know of any kitchen cad software that with read a .DWG. Most companies will be able to scale of a to scale PDF but please don't expect them to use a PDF a2 or larger soft copy to open and get dimensions from. It's too much of an ask for most designs to have that level of IT skills. Further I would question the morality of using someone's time for free. You should expect to pay a competent firm for their time. Alternatively when you get something for free the value of what you get is reflected in the price you pay. Nothing is free.

Wedi have the benefit of being lighter and easier to cut etc but any backer board is fundamentally the same thing.

You will probably have to get someone to cut and then toughen low iron glass to suit. Shelves for glass cupboards are available off the shelf in set sizes and always made from regular glass. By the time you go though this exercise I doubt its going to be cheap.

This will almost certainly be one of the numerous italian contract manufacturers. Typically Airforce, Faber or Elica. Wont be as good but at that price.....

Be very careful when someone presents a painted wooden door. To keep costs down a number of companies use strips of inferior grade timber and veneer it over with Oak to create the impression of a solid oak stiled door. Ultimately you will get what you pay for. Since you prefer a more traditional style door definitely avoid anything that is lacquered over foil (smooth or grained). Try and get to the bottom of the source of the doors you are buying and the construction of the door. If what you are looking for is a painted wood shaker kitchen, then either buy solid tulipwood doors (its a softwood but its absolutely fine and you wont be fooled into believing you have paid for some super duper timber) or pay more and get a solid ash/oak framed door. Your worst outcome is to pay for a door as described above believing its something that its not.

if you have a pathological need for it to look immaculate at all times, its avoidable. It needs to be cleaned, sealed and polished regularly to keep it looking good. If you can live with the organic wear/stains that will inevitaby appear, then its absolutely fine.

35mm for the combined tap and 32mm for the dedicated tap but they provide a plate to cover larger holes.

All of this seems like a convenient way to say our product doesnt meet the standard set by the market leader but we have some excuses to justify our shortcoming. Its like saying I dont run as fast as Usain Bolt but I consume less energy as well and I am cheaper to sponsor.

I dont really have a definitive answer. On the face of it fixed hinges on fridges and freezers looks more substantial but they are only 2 load bearing points which is perhaps inferior to sliding hinge systems where there are multiple loading points. Most of the higher spec models in any range seem to come with fixed hinges only with the sliding hinge systems usually seen on the lower spec/cost variants. Soft close is nice to have but I dont think its the end of the world. The only way your door would slam is if it your fridge alignment wasnt correct or you slammed it shut. Soft close does howevver eliminate the possibility of appliances left open by mistake.

Be careful with this one. Fixed hinges appeared on the scene about 15 years ago and while on the face of it, it is a better system and appears more robust we have come across more of these failing in time compared to the sliding hinge system which appears to be more clunky. Perhaps the reason for this is that the fixed hinge system carried the furniture door as well as the appliance door while the sliding hinge system splits the weight. Manufacturers are moving towards the fixed hinge system and features such as the soft closing is only available with the fixed hinge system so this may well be a case of change for change sake without actually materially improving anything.