Barney12

I know we all like a good moan about suppliers and contractors. I'm as guilty as anyone else! But.......credit where credit is due........ My Quooker boiling water tap died overnight on Sunday. It simply switched itself off after a few seconds of being switched on, no warm up, no heartbeat (as they call it), nada! I phoned the tech support line on Monday morning. The guy confirmed my Quooker was a Fooker and that the service team would call me. 1 hour later an incredibly nice lady booked an engineer for today with a two hour time slot. The incredibly polite and helpful guy turned up (within the time slot!), fixed it (faulty electronics board or summin'), put a new filter in and tidied up everything as he found it. His only challenge was a lack of mobile signal so couldn't get a signature on his gizmo. Thank heavens for that. I had to boil a kettle for nearly 24 hours. Can you even imagine the hardship? ?

Another EDIT ref noise: Thinking about it my radial ducting to/from each room is either a)first floor - buried within the warmcell blown insulation of the vaulted ceilings b)ground floor - burred in rock wool in the ceiling void. Perhaps this helps too?

As has already been mentioned don't underestimate how much space is needed for all the "gubbins". It takes a fair degree of planning to keep it tidy in a confined space. I think "noise" must be impacted by make/model and system design? I have an Airflow Androit system and it lives in an under eaves space accessed from one of the bedrooms via a simple plain door (no sound proofing, not even a draft seal). The separating stud wall (plasterboard on one side only) has some 50mm celotext between the uprights but that is it. It is completely inaudible with the door shut and isn't even that loud if you're next to it in the eaves itself. The only time you can hear it in the bedroom (or from any of the terminals in each room for that matter) is if its on boost. EDIT: I guess I should add that it does have a silencer fitted and all of the inlet and extract pipework I.e. the two to outside the building) are well insulated.

This was exactly the two points I was going to make: Death and Taxes! You definitely need to get some decent legal and tax advice.

There is another area that could make the Powerwall attractive to a some who perhaps have issues with quality of supply or have other reasons for not wanting to loose power (e.g. medical devises). That is the fact that they have now introduced a gateway with UPS functionality. https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/tesla_adds_backup_capability_to_powerwall_for_first_time Up on the moor we seem to suffer from more power outages than most and in today's modern world its a real PITA!

Sorry late to this thread but all my loo’s exhibit the exact same problem as noted by @vivienz and @Jeremy Harris I don’t have a water softener but that’s because I live in a soft water area. The issue is unchanged by “seat up” or “seat down” (no girls in the house ) House is well insulated. Water is mains but as it crosses a fair stretch of open moorland before getting to the house is always very cool. Last few days it’s been bloody freezing!

I just had a look at the website. Your choice is going to be driven by ‘smooth’ or ‘grained’. If you want a smooth finish then it’s going to be MDF (and a painted MDF door is absolutely fine). If you want grained then go for solid timber. The grained effect product in MDF is the foil wrapped one (I.e it has an imprinted foil) which is definitely best avoided. As for worrying too much........welcome to the forum, you’re in good company ?

My 2p’s worth: Avoid foil wrapped. The glues that bond them to the MDF fail over time and even faster still if exposed to moisture. Nothing wrong with painted MDF. Dimensionally stable but will swell if subject to damp/moisture. I assume lacquered must be ‘painted with a coat of lacquer’. Only reason to do this would be a)improved resistance to chipping etc b)colour stability c)sheen levels. But hard to be specific as ‘paint’ and ‘lacquer’ are often interchangeable terms. Not certain on the difference of the last two. I assume they must be grained? Possibly a better quality of grain with the veneer. id be very surprised if either isn’t dimensionally stable on something that’s not that large and panelled.

Crikey they have gone up in price since I bought my set 15+ years ago! ? Absolutely cracking bit of kit though and a massive time saver!

I fitted 100% Crosswater (taps, mixers etc) in three bathrooms in a barn conversion I did in 2002. I sold the barn this year and not one single failure. Of course the quality of the product may have been higher back then. A lot of stuff (in my opinion) is not of the quality it used to be as production has moved to the likes of China.

10% is norm for cuts and breakages. Careful planning of your tiling layout is though also key so you minimise cuts/wastage. All the tiling suppliers I've used in the past will take back unopened boxes which would be my preference over finding theyre out of stock or the batch changes resulting in a shade difference. Personally I like to keep a number of tiles as "spares" once the job is complete. In a few years time you have a breakage/crack/chip you'll be glad you did.

AH, now it makes more sense!

Congratulations! ?

You left off: Cat Flaps Letter Boxes

The starting point in your situation is to get a quote for an install that is not going to be subject to the RHI scheme. You may be quite shocked at how much cheaper your install costs become and it will then bring into question the viability of the the scheme. As an aside I gave up with Nu-Heat as they simply could not get their heads round the low energy requirements of my MBC build (like you near passive) and were massively over specifying the requirement. I also got MBC to put the UFH pipes in because their cost represented incredibly good value for money.

Thats an extract from 2 pages of A4

Resurrecting my previous thread as I have a new level of notoriety in the local area. If I didn't need reminding that building something contemporary on a National Park divides opinion I've now even been quoted in a entirely unrelated planning application objection

The mix looks a bit dry!

Thats uncanny timing. I've just been going through the exact same thought process for a kitchen I'm planning in another house. Its going to be a DIY-Kitchens purchase (Thanks to feedback from this group). I know its not going to help you buy my solution is to go for one of the inset sinks with offset half bowl: i.e. (random link selection!): https://www.franke.com/gb/en/ks/products/kitchen-sink/ariane/122-0154-935_detail.html where you mount the tap in the corner (thus away from the wall).

That’s a “family” sized cooker ?

Thanks. Sorry, completely missed that! So certainly not on general release. I wonder how they select "household tests"? Based on previous Sunamp reliability perhaps they've learnt a lesson about putting units on general sale too quickly? I assume they put these units in FOC to get "real world" testing?

Is there any more information on this? That’s two posts now ( @DenkiJidousha suggested 6 months away) that suggest Sunamp are testing lower temp phase change materials.

Without wanting to be cynical (Ok, I am being cynical ?)...... What do you think the chances are that online/remote suppliers send you samples of their “better” pieces of timber? A foot long sample is not really going to be any guide to a large order which may come from multiple stock. I am with others in that find a local mill, go and look at the stock. If they’re half competent then they should be able to create any profile you want. Ok, you might spend a bit more but this is something you are going to look at for many, many years to come! just my 2p’s worth.

As Nick has said you really can’t go wrong with Sonos. If you’re not an audio nerd then you’re unlikely to be disappointed by a Sonos One in each room. Relatively low cost and infinitely expandable. The gen 2 units have voice control builtIn (Google Assistant and Alexa) if that’s your bag. Even if it’s not then you’ll grow to love the simplicity of just asking it to play your favourite music or radio station when you walk into the room. Go buy yourself a Sonos One and try it. If you buy direct from Sonos you’ll get 100 days to try it and if you’re not happy send it back for a refund. As Nick eluded you can go “big” with Sonos. I have 5 central Amps, 3 subs, several standalone speakers and a 5.1 setup using a Soundbar, Play 3’s and Sub in the TV Room. In whole house mode cranked up you can “feel” the music and it’s not muffled, distorted crap either. The only slight draw back is that I have to go round and straighten all the pictures on the walls after an evening of dancing ?????? P.S. I’ve had the dubious honour of having dinner with Sir Cliff. After coffee he pulled out his acoustic and did a few renditions of his classics. My overriding memory is “bloody hell he’s thin”. ? The worse part was we had to drink his own wine from his Portuguese vineyard. It was not exactly great. I believe he’s flogged it now as it was something of a failure.

Not sure what you’re moving it with, I’m guessing muscle and elbow grease? if it gets drenched it will start to bind together but that would take a good downpour over a prolonged period.