puntloos

I already own the speakers I have in mind to go there. But in general yeah, flat panel is a bit too much of a compromise given the quality of the rest of my system Absolutely but it'd mean I would have to make a much deeper fake wall, so it wouldn't gain me much. (plus- these speakers also are side-radiating..)

3-seater couch, and a 3-person family. Yes. But I'm very open to better furniture arrangements if you have any? The movie/tv watching will be only 3 people, with 'guest seats' only being a nice to have. Perhaps we can put some movable seats behind the main seating if we really want, although not sure if the heads will break the projector beam then.. It's covid, don't you know? I'm preparing for the next round! Bah my stereo is quite elegant. Looks close to this! Ha, my wife is a software engineer she could actually do that But yes, in fact my main challenge on both aesthetic and practicality are really the side speakers: which one is better (noting that on the other side there is 'just wall' and I might have to put the speaker in the walkway there too..

A quick version.. some minor changes (e.g. thickness of walls are a bit too much) But yep, our main audio experience is also our only/primary one so it better be good..

Dolby Atmos 9.2.6 ? - the little pillar is exactly the right place for side speakers, the center of the window is (roughly) where an extra pair would go if you want to go all whoooooah. (that's the audio geek term.) Fair point. I'm debating splitting the window in 2 anyway, but it wouldn't be worth splitting purely for the speaker location..

The main reason is speakers sticking out (e.g. the speaker next to it in the picture) it basically eats into the walkway.

Quick question: I'm debating installing speaker(s) into window sills. Frankly I'm not too thrilled with how it looks but just for my curiousity's sake: How far, and where can I drill into window sills witho ut compromising any thermal barriers, creating cold bridges etc? Main goal of course would be bolting the speaker to the sill, as well as feeding it the sound cable.

Looked at this somewhat myself, very popular in home automation enthusiast groups in my company, but it feels like it's too DIY - I'd love to hear about professional installers who can do this with confidence.

At least good to know it's possible. Yeah I can certainly imagine that it is fairly straightforward for a company to mix-and-match the types of panels delivered, where all the hinges are identical, so all you need to do is supply two "end leaves" and one normal leaf (assuming 3 panels) instead of just one end leaf and 2 normal leaves.

To put it differently: - A standard bifold setup has one panel that's attached to the side wall with a standard hinge, and one panel that can lock to the wall (when the bifold is fully closed) but is able to open, and "be a door". - Puntloos bifold setup would have "door panels" on both ends. Other than cost I see no major downsides.....

I think I understand what you mean, however this: Would be fine too for me (slightly less ideal, yes).. in which case I think/assume you'd just need a lock that can release on both ends of the bifold.. - The (in this picture) left lock to the left frame would release and you can fold all panels against the corner - The (in this picture) right lock to the right frame would be the door-mode lock with a handle (presumably with the left lock in place, and the hinge between the left 2 panels locked straight.. I think it could work.....

Bifolds typically have a function, where the bifold is closed but one panel acts as a normal door. My question: can you choose to have the 'normal door in the corner closest to the hinge? Detail: The best way to hide my bifold panels out of the way are external, next to the side room: Obviously(?) the rightmost panel in the above picture is attached to the side frame. But, I'd ideally want the "single door mode" to be also in that corner, like so: (picture is a bit meh, but you get the idea - where the panel in the corner is the 'real door') Can bifolds do this? Can the door fold into the corner on a sunny day, but can the small-door-mode also be in that same corner?

Hey all, I'm hoping to start building (and take down the original structure) in May-Jun timeframe. Middle of bird season. Anything I should do "today" about the garden? No 'major' trees here, but of course there's some shrubs, hedges etc that will be hard to guarantee their safety with big-wheeled cement trucks etc going up and down the property... Nets? Cut everything down? (neighbours might bristle at this..) What happens if we do find an active bird's nest somewhere during construction that is "badly in the way"? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/construction-near-protected-areas-and-wildlife says: In exceptional cases, avoiding harm isn’t possible. In these cases the law allows for actions which would normally be illegal if you can show that: - the activity is lawful, such as development with planning permission - you’ve not been able to avoid the impact of the activity Would that put us in the clear if we stumble on an unlucky bird/bat during our process and have to try and gently coax them to leave? We do (obv.) have planning permission but is that sufficient here or would it need to be some special planning permission including a "bad luck for the birds" section?

Alternatively I did find this one. Might be useful for hands-free or distance operation.

Excellent, this is a pretty good alternative. Perhaps just create a row of these buttons that you can all flip..

You're not wrong, but well, there is IMO a point that these switches are not "critical" (let alone required by regulations) in the places where I'm suggesting, so having them a little less shouty seems fine. Anyway like I said if most/all of a room is on the same circuit anyway surely it's not that hard to create a central "off" switch?

Well, kitchens have scary systems similar(ish) to lathes, e.g. blenders, hobs etc Cinema system - well ha this actually is why I thought this up, smart homes fail sometimes, in particular my logitech harmony, once every 4 months maybe, literally keeps raising the volume. And while it is doing this, no other controls work. Fun! I just think that IF the power systems in one room are all on the same circuit anyway, it couldn't hurt to have such a shutdown and it would probably be very easy to insert while you're building the room from scratch anyway?

Home cinema, kitchens, garages can all be pretty scary or dangerous. I was debating building "mains switches" for them, so in case of emergency there would be some important button to hit and everything would be off. Something like this: Big button but also an "accidentental trip cover" that prevents too easy bumping into it triggers. But - this is ugly in living quarters. Are there any elegant versions of this, and is it a good idea in the first place?

Thanks Gents, yeah the larder thing seems somewhat nice to have an overview but it sounds like something that would fail too easily. What are the feelings on pocket doors? Clearly they are more complicated than standard doors, but they have major space saving benefits in my design. Are they reliable enough for fairly common use?

Why are pocket doors for tenants risky? But yes we have not one set, but 2! Frankly they are "okay" but a 1m60 wide (so the individual doors are 80 I guess) door set requires a meaningful amount of effort - my 3 year old manages, but barely. Will a 3m wide pocket door instantly double the effort needed? Which brands are sooperdooper fancy and will open better and stay better? Or are the differences minimal since this is just raw physics - trying to move (guessing) 2x50kg of wood and glass will be impossible with a pinky unless you have some "gear" or "pully" system that will take the load off? The larders are kinda the same story, very thin grip so you can really only get a fingertip in (so I need 4-6 finger(tip)s to be able to move it). But yeah, filled with cans and packets of flour etc, so lots of weight..

Apologies for vague title and non-ideal location but: Currently living in a fairly modern rental, it has pocket doors, kitchens with self-closing drawers, large pull-out larders (example) cabinets etc. And frankly I'm disappointed with how easy many of these are to operate with one hand. - with one hand it's near-impossible to open the 1m60 wide (double, so with a clever mechanism) eclisse pocket door. - with one hand - same for the pull-out larders. One key problem with these is that the actual grips are tiny, for example the "handle" in the pocket door is maybe 0.7cm deep, but also the doors run "okay" but definitely not with one pinky. What is reasonable to expect from good pocket doors, larders etc? Should you be able to open/close them literally with your pinky (without any special pinkyweightliftingchampionship skills)? And will that level of smoothness stay for 5? 10? 20 years?

The particular (and only) window on that wall is a laundy room. I suppose that they might care for potential changes/development but currently, nah. Yes, planning to Worth calling out, I'll take a look.

Here's an approximation. The walkway as pictured is 1m, there's a 2m hedge, then another walkway on my neighbour's property, then a garage, then a 2nd floor wall. If I were the neighbour, in the current situation, I doubt I would care. The outdoor unit would perhaps fill the 2000-2500 height layer, which might almost be invisible from his walkway.. but I suppose if he/she wanted to remove the garage and put... I dunno a swimming pool there then the ASHP noise might be annoying?

In my current design I have two smallish (1m) paths next to both sides of my house. Inserting an ASHP unit on the floor of that walkway will make passing it quite awkward. Instead, I was debating how problematic it is lift the device 'up in the air'. I imagine attaching a 150kg device to a wall it will put a strain and maybe the wall needs to be reinforced? (does it? is 150kg okay?) I was thinking effectively putting it on a bridge. My absolutely terrible drawing: This would 50%, or with a 2nd pair of legs, 100% offload the wall. But, walking below it, would that be acceptable? Safe? I imagine that as long as the 'bridge' is below 2.5m there is no planning permission needed. Bad idea? Good idea?

Absolutely. I'm not going with my suspicions here, I'm trying to somewhat wrap my head around the challenges and figure out how to find specialists that understand the same.

Ha thanks, I'm not too concerned about the calculations, I'm more thinking about the expertise needed to use dual-purpose ducts. Or are people overselling the difficulty for a decently skilled heating team to do this?