CH1

Hello everyone - I'm now at that stage of choosing induction and extractor. A couple of years on does anyone have any feedback on the choices made back in 2018, or any purchases made since then? Good or bad feedback about a choice made is always helpful! Many thanks

That's the problem I'm trying to work out - if you pay more upfront, say 100-200% - does that reduce the costs down the line. If a lower quality piece fails then I'm paying for a replacement part, a plumber's fee and possibly repainting or tiling if they are wall mounted.

Thanks for your comments. I didn't mean to imply Crosswater are poor quality, it's just that I'd never heard of them before looking at bathrooms, and my architect said his plumber steered him towards Hansgrohe over Crosswater on the basis of quality. But who knows, maybe that was just a case of vested interests!

Crosswater look very good value and aesthetically look good too. Has anyone any experience of them 5/10 years after installation? They are not an expensive brand so I'm immediately thinking the quality can't be as good. Does anyone have any experience of using them longterm? Thanks

Thank you everyone for your responses. All good helpful stuff. One more question on choice of Velux finish in bathrooms. The size we want 94 x 98 for the bathroom only comes in white painted finish. Does anyone have experience of installing a white painted in a bathroom, and has maintenance been an issue? Or did you opt for the near maintenance free polyurethane finish? We'll also have MVHR so hopefully most of the moisture will be drawn out of the bathrooms anyway

I have a box of now not needed sample pack of about 50 (roughly A6 size) colour swatches and a sample of the sinusoidal panel from Kingspan. It seems a waste to throw it out if anyone happens to be passing through Camden and wants it. Self builder, architect - anyone? https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulated-panel-systems/roof-panel-systems/sinusoidal-roof-panels-ks1000-srw

With the solar roof lights being only a little more than the electric Integra roof lights does anyone have any advice on: 1. which is more expensive to install (cost of builder fitting solar versus cost of electrician wiring the electric ones) 2. any problems long term with the solar ones if anyone has experienced issues with battery life or any other experience/advice which might sway my decision making. We'll have a mix of manual (for those easy to reach), solar (one large rooflight that doesn't come in electric so we have to go solar) and possibly the others integra. 3 of the roof lights will have the black solar reduction ornings fitted for hot summer days. Thank you

Incredibly helpful thank you. That's completely altered how I'd (incorrectly) understood VAT and barn conversions. I thought 5% was payable and that part was never refundable. But now I see I can claim for not just the eligible products I buy myself at 20% but all invoices for supply and fit at 5%. We're probably going main contractor route as never done this before, not enough experience nor time to do the build ourselves, so presumably he will charge 5% on all invoices and I then claim that back after the conversion is done. Although cash flow will be stretched, that's some extra wonga I thought I'd never see again - result!

Because a barn conversion attracts 5% VAT so I'm assuming that when I reclaim the VAT on products purchased myself HMRC will apply the 5% and refund me 15%. If it was a new build I'd fill in a different form and they'd refund me 20%. Going back to my hypothetic example - if the main contractor charges me 5% VAT for supply and fit of the roofing materials then there is nothing to claim back, VAT was properly applied at 5%. I think that's the situation, but if anyone has done the process on a conversion do put me right if I've got this wrong!

Thanks to both of you, that's definitely helped me understand!

I think I’m about to ask a stupid question but I’m going to ask it anyway. It’s about the 5% rate of VAT on a barn conversion, the rate which applies to our build. Looking at ways of saving cash. Likely to have a main contractor. Let’s take for example roof panels as the product - a big cost. If I buy the product and main contractor installs I can claim back 15% VAT afterwards on the roof panel VAT. And the main contractor charges me 5% VAT on the installation cost. If main contractor buys and installs the roof panels he charges me 5% VAT for doing that as it’s a barn conversion - supply and fit. But will he have to pay 20% on the roof panels when buying the product, the cost of which he has then no doubt passed on to me? Or can the main contractor purchase building materials with 5% VAT applied from his suppliers? In other words for the ‘big ticket’ items is it worth me paying for the product, assuming I can manage the cash flow, and assuming he agrees.

Very helpful thank you so much everyone!

The glass manufacturer gave me u values for glass and frame combined. The G value for glass alone will no doubt be better, but taking into account the frames it then changes the u-values. So it sounds like a jump of 0.1/0.2 isn't that much of a saving? The south elevation will be recessed so hopefully that will help the potential overheating

Could any knowledgeable person out there advise whether it is worth installing treble glazing over double glazing where the improvement in u-value would go from 1.3/1.4 to 1.1/1.2 for two large areas of glazing (one curtain wall system east elevation approx 10m sq) and other sliding door plus 2 fixed panes approx 12m sq south elevation, albeit slightly recessed glazing. The cost to upgrade is approx £2.5k. Is an improvement of 0.1/0.2 a decent improvement for the cost? thanks in advance