puntloos

I know, one of those topics, and surprisingly I couldn't find any obvious previous topics, so here goes. Of course there's always tradeoffs, but surely there's a few ones that stand out? Let me discuss a few options, of course keeping in mind you don't have to do the same type throughout - maybe kitchens/bathrooms are exceptions? UFH-compatible floor This already rules out standard wood, both due to heat change limitations Engineered wood is strange. It seems to be "okay" but I'm not quite sure what constitutes okay. Why is it even a problem if a floor doesn't conduct heat too well? I know it sounds obvious but heat inserted into an area will have to go *somewhere*. Assuming you insulate well below the UFH pipes, the heat can only go up into the house, no? What type of loss am I missing? Or is it just somewhat slower to transfer the heat upwards? Carpet, even low-tog not ideal? Or should I consider carpet-on-tile? Slipping This rules out non-textured tiles, but there's plenty of other very flat materials too. Is vinyl safe enough? Or is slipping not really an issue as much as I make it out to be (or limited to kitchens?) Damage/Replacement Either hard to damage/scratch, or not noticeable that it's scratched (but I certainly imagine high-trafficed spots will wear? Easy to replace physically? but if you do replace, suddenly you can see that one tile that's 4 years newer.. color Which is the most durable type? Or should I not try to avoid any damage, not worth the extra? Foot Feel Already discussed here: In short, wear socks? But are there non "heat/cold" aspects? Sound Tiles cause more echo, I guess due to super-rigid structure. Carpet seems optimal, with low-tog being better but not great for UFH Wood has a tendency to creak (after a while). Color Personally I prefer the warm oak style just examining things in a store, but I don't quite know if I should do that throughout the house, (regardless of material, oak-style porcelain is fine too) Should I do different colors on south facing rooms than on north facing ones? Price All floors seem to somewhat fall in the same price range, only wood is a lot more spendy. Are there hidden costs? Thoughts? What did you pick and why?

Anyone with tiles? Do you heat them? When? Or just wear socks? (so pragmatic..)

I don't think we have that deep pockets, but what brand are those? Interesting point, do these fridges breathe at their feet in the front or do you need to provision it properly somehow? I imagine a "well built" wall would be fairly airtight, nice for aesthetics but indeed not sure where the heat would go..

It seems the best fridge types (for our lifestyle) is one of those bulky american style ones. Carpenters are fairly easily able to build a box around them: The problem with these is that if your fridge dies and a replacement is a different size, you're in trouble, same with if stuff falls behind it somehow (or you want to swap water filters..) Any opinions on if this is a good idea? Are these fridges typically similar enough sizes to not worry about a replacement fridge? Can you easily pull the fridge out? A further thought is that many of these (not the one pictured, probably) are plumbed in, with a water filter that needs regular replacing. I'm thinking I might be able to route the water line through the cabinet above the fridge and have the filter sit there?

As I understand it, tiles and stone feel cold, because they conduct heat easily and therefore if they are 20C, they will happily pull heat out of your feet (@37C). Am I correct that to avoid this effect, you will have to permanently heat your tiles to something like 25C, whilst perhaps engineered wood or carpet need no heating? If so: - 1/ Wouldn't this source of heat not be problematic in summer? Should I always walk around with socks/shoes on to avoid this? - 2/ Cost? Do you keep your UFH at 'feet-friendly' setting and if so how much extra cost per yr is this? - 3/ Using engineered wood might feel better for feet, but then you will lose more heat if you actually want to heat your place, because it isolates the heat away from your house (more)? What's the right balance here?

Looking at some fancy tiles online: http://www.bellacasaceramica.com/gallery/priorato/ are twice the price of https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Maine-Oak-Wood-Effect-Porcelain-Wall+Floor-Tile---225-x-900mm/p/236074 (per sqm) What do you get for the extra price? Are we paying for "fancy brand" or very specific colors, or are there other differences? The fancier ones are slightly thicker (11.3 vs 8.5) so at best 25% more material. Is thicker even better?

Storage, well, of course I have a plot, on which I can put "a shack" but I'm not sure if it's safe enough (burglary?) I suppose storing some roof tiles might be a sensible and not-too-easily-stealable thing? Appliances seem to be not too problematic stock wise?

While we seem to be normalizing the world somewhat (even though covid is well on its way to a new peak, Ukraine, etc etc) I was wondering: - What is the average build time for a 250m2 Non-TF, but high insulation new build? From the first day onsite to the first day you can 'properly' sleep in the new house. (water, power, heating all ready, but snagging underway) Any major drivers that will make it longer than normal, e.g. does it take ages to do airtightness testing, or should we not insist on brand X or special paint color Y - What are the major reasons for delays? I imagine timely foundation digging, window/door deliveries, since if they fail to complete, everything else has to wait. Stock and/or manpower shortages due to Covid? What can we do to prevent ourselves becoming bottlenecks? Any choices we should make "now" so we don't hold up progress while we're umm-ing and ahh-ing? - Any war stories? What unique things held up your build and how could you have avoided this delay if you only .... ?

That's the design I'm going with, because indeed the extra price for a secondary device is "okay" in the great scheme of things - for me at least. FYI my current device cost list. Fully separate A2A with four FCUs adds maybe 10,000 and suddenly you will be pretty much guaranteed you can cool and heat your way out of any spikes in a very responsive way. No idea what the impact will be on the installation cost but I imagine it isn't going to break the bank by itself. One important thing to design properly is that you don't want the two systems fighting each other (A2A cooling and A2W heating your room)

Rainwater, I don't think you'd want to do a grey water install (using rainwater and maybe even sink water to flush toilets) - it complicates things hugely and it feels somewhat 'iffy' - I guess there should be handsoap in there to sterilize a bit but I'm not sure I'd want that type of water to be aerosolized into my bathroom by flushing.. Just catching rainwater and watering your lawn etc feels .. probably too hard for extensions but if you are doing a new build it's probably straightforward, we're already digging deep to get the full foundation ready. As for a mech design- I had a designer who got me "80% there" and cost me a reasonable amount for the amount of work delivered. With it I'm going to tendering, but no guarantees.

Aaaaand my hope is dashed, nope my magic fridge manual: If you build it in like the picture shows then the doors don't open. Perhaps not ideal....

Fair enough.. my counter space is at too much of a premium for storing such a device. (instead, I don't really need a ginormous amount of freezer space so it could work..) I also found https://www.ivisitkorea.com/korean-buying-services/ e.g. https://koreabuyandship.com/how-it-works/ - if I don't have to worry about stores shipping internationally I already found the fridge indeed for about 1250 quid..

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/item?goodscode=2248433649- seems to even have international shipping available, although they are somewhat optimistic on how heavy the thing is..

I found one! https://www.us-appliance.com/srsxb2622s.html It's even for sale. Sadly it's $$$ and I mean literally, it's from the US, (also very very $$$$) probably 120V and nevermind.. Now I'm trawling the korean LG site (since korea is 240V) - which has next level weirdness https://www-noblesse-com.translate.goog/home/news/magazine/detail.php?no=8498&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp "The LG SIGNATURE washing machine floats like an island in the sea of Jeju.".. right in front of braille unreachable by any human. Unless you stand on top of the washing machine I guess. But more seriously - searching for "ice maker" in korean https://www.lge.co.kr/search/result?search=얼음정수&force=false The pictures seem to indicate they are in fact built-in j813sn35 (1341 GBP ex postage) - not plumbed in I think j813s35e (1242 GBP ex postage) - according to the manual I think it might just be plumbed in after all: How do you guys handle importing stuff? Do you even consider it? Warranty? for 1242 this seems somewhat doable - just stash it in a shipping container and wait a few months..

Hmm. It's worth considering. It feels somewhat stupid to have 2 devices that basically make ice. That said, an ice maker does take up a lot of space inside the fridge too. Interesting. Do you have a shortlist of devices you're considering?

Well, perhaps I'm micro-optimizing but indeed the dispenser in front is important. My current fridge indeed allows a very quick walk-up, and walk away with chilled or chilled+cubes water in under 5 seconds. Opening the fridge door and trying to get an ice scoop etc is .. less elegant Miele did have this one: https://vietnam.miele-importer.com/en/refrigeration-and-wine-conditioning-units-2497.htm?mat=09059290&name=F_1472_Vi (yes.. vietnam.. ha.. hard to find)

Revisiting this topic - instead of having a proper built-in fridge with icemaker - which seems to be unattainable - is there some elegant way one can get a standard freestanding american style fridge and 'convert' it into a built-in? Do built-in systems exists where you attach standard cabinet doors in front of it somehow? Or is that a lost cause? As anyone can see looks a lot better than

Do you have a bit more info on this? My impression from a quick google is it's a bit .. shiny.. My current default is a "wood-style" porcelain but frankly haven't given it too much thought yet. Something like this? Doors? ?

Yes, this is a lot along the lines of what I am thinking. Most "devices" (power sockets, doors, anything you can buy at Home Depot) aren't deeply ugly by themselves, but in this rental when I just ook around I don't see a single power socket that doesn't have uneven, smeared, cracked paint around it. No Light fitting doesn't have some traces of unevenness . Pipes and cables everywhere. One thing my wife commented is that one house we recently viewed just seemed to 'fall apart' even though it was 10 years old. Doorframes with cracks around them, lots of gaps in plaster etc. I suppose it could all be subsidence but it was never fixed

Good example actually, if I squint at the MK logic it looks like they're both slightly thinner than bog standard, and they have a bit of a curve at the top I imagine it contributes to the feel of quality a little. And indeed decorative = brushed metal = few pennies extra once you have your supplylines set up. FWIW this is why I wonder about people that go frameless windows, it is certainly harder to do this, but no frame means no accents means "feels cheap".. but I am sure it all comes down to what you "expect" and this whole cycle. Fun anecdote: My parents have a flat roof bungalow, it is considered somewhat luxury in NL. My wife associates flat roof with literally living in a shipping container and considers it cheap. Perspective and fashion outweigh actual quality sometimes.

Ha, sadly the 'kerb appeal' is something I somewhat skimped on based on the Eifel tower principle - https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/20/priority-french-writer-ate-lunch-everyday-base-eiffel-tower-place-paris-not-see-2/?chrome=1 I think a landing strip might impress people even more.

Of course taste is hard to debate. A person from a worker family who came into money would probably "bling it up", Trump comes to mind - "A poor man's idea of what a rich man looks like" - gold and purple accent lighting and tvs up the wazoo - https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/donald-trump-gold-apartment - where a person from a landowner royalty would just staple a deer against every wall and call it a day. "who do you want to impress" As for @markc's point - big difference between the white tiles you'd find in a government building toilet and e.g. this modern thing: And of course as @Mr Punter says - "It tends to be that these first get fitted in expensive houses, then they become ubiquitous, then they fall out of favour." but I would add that is probably more true for "ultra fashionable" like the bathroom above. I think that one will fall out of style fairly quickly, so you'll have to commit to refreshing your entire house every 10 years.. or just be old and stuck.. I go for classics

At some point everybody will have a Posh Spice in their livingroom..

Living in a few rentals over the last few years as well as visiting lots of properties to potentially purchase I've certainly "felt" some houses looked fancy and some looked cheap, but on reflection I still can't quite put my finger on what makes this happen. Of course a lot comes down to taste but I wonder if there's commonly accepted things here. For the record we certainly like simple lines, so e.g. "shaker doors" in the kitchen don't work for us. So I ask you all- are there any design features that might actually be just-as-expensive that make a place look cheap, vs which design features make a place look so much more elegant yet don't cost a lot to do? A few examples: Fancy: Lighting at floor level - stairs, perhaps under kitchen cabinets Fancy: rounded corners of windows rather than just 'cut into the wall' Fancy: built-in closets Cheap: uniform white tiling Cheap: white power sockets But would love more examples? More generic principles?

And how long did that take? 8 is fine, but indeed "instant" seems to be the dream. Asked my guy to explain the whole 'branching' point. Will let you all know when I hear ?