MrSniff

Conduit is used as a matter of course here (Luxembourg) in newish builds, usually flexible ridged plastic. Theoretically this means bends are swept, but the ridges make pulling cables more difficult than you would think - as evidenced by a less than enjoyable and somewhat blue air day removing a coax cable and pulling through new double barrel cable across two floors…

+1 for Unifi access points wired back to a POE switch. This is what we have in a three story concrete built house. I believe mesh uses WiFi bandwidth to communicate between nodes, typically not a big problem, but they do need to be in range of each other.

Shouldn’t be a problem. The new switch should receive data only, with power supplied to the POE ports by the new switch’s power supply (unless I’ve misunderstood the setup!)

We had a similar issue. The socket for each pin has two connectors, and in our case one got bent out of alignment so only one was in contact with the plug pin, so only half the contact and twice the resistance. A replacement socket solved to problem.

Always surprised me to find switches and sockets right next to a bathroom basin in Europe. But here it’s a 16A radial protected by an RCBO so presumably safer than a 30A ring final protected by RCD?

We have the Sonos Beam and two Sonos One's set up as rear speakers. All works surprisingly well, even in an awkwardly shaped room - and still confuses me sometimes to hear sounds from behind me when watching TV. And no extra cabling...

Unifi is their WiFi range: https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-wireless Also available from a well known large on-line book store… We use an AP Lite on each floor of a concrete built house to allow WiFi continuity throughout.

We have one on the landing. No noise and useful extra natural light: glad we put it in.

I’ve got a few Eufy camera scattered around, including the doorbell, reasonably priced. Mostly mains powered, but some battery (and solar panel available). Happy with them so far, local storage (MicroSD cards, so if the camera is nicked so is your evidence), but sends notifications and images to a smart phone with no subscription fees. Happy with them so far… Available from Amazon.

Thanks both. Seems to be a conventional thread. I will give Wunda a call and see what they say. Thanks!

Thanks for the response. Sadly it appears not - no hex or flats: it seem to be part of the casting.

After much procrastination I have started the replacement of one of the UFH manifolds with a shiny new Wunda one. Having removed the old manifold I can now see that it had a captive nut (probably the wrong term) to connect to the isolation valve - the Wunda manifold is just a fixed female fitting... since neither the isolation valve nor the manifold can be wound on to the other, I guess there must be a fitting I need but not knowing the name means a lot of searching has yielded nothing. Can anyone help me please? (Based in Luxembourg I will then need to hope whatever the fitting is translates into German and is available here - not always guaranteed...) Thanks for any help.

Interesting question. No idea, I haven't tried it! I would need to reread the contract, so will maybe take a look later out of interest, but it's in French so will take me a while. I guess like all contracts, the supplier has recourse to the courts and can if necessary close off the supply to the property (no need to enter as there are lockable valves outside each). Not sure if the same protection on continuity of energy supplies applies here.

We're part of a district heating system. Remarkably hot water in a closed system branches into the property and is passed through a heat exchanger, heating the water in our primary system. The provider calculates our energy consumption using the difference in temperature of their water entering and exiting the heat exchanger.

Matt or gloss is a matter of taste, as long as it is designed for woodwork. For intermediate sheens there is eggshell and satin. Water-based paints tend to have a lower sheen than oil-based, but are less likely to discolour. For water-based paints a very good quality synthetic bristle paint brush is needed, as is a very light touch for "tipping off", which is very gently running just the tip of the brush over the still wet painted surface to smooth out brush marks. Water-based paints dry quickly, but adding a paint conditioner like Floetrol can extend the "wetness" time.

I've had good results with Osmo decking oil (colour base coat followed by non-slip coat). It does need to penetrate though which would depend on the existing covering, so a sanding may be necessary (which is what I did when redoing our decking).

Horizontally under wallpaper - no chance of a wallpaper edge in the same place or close to the lining paper edge...

Here in Europe switched sockets are indeed very rare, even next to bathroom basins, something I still find bizarre. Even after living here 10 years I still prefer switched sockets.

@JanetE Sorry, yes a patio brush - long handled and the wire brush has a tapered edge for getting between blocks.

We've had a white (with light speckle) Dekton worktop and splash back for two years. Allowed us to have a relatively thin worktop, and doesn't seem to stain despite my "enthusiastic" cooking: a wipe down and polish with a fine e-cloth keep it looking good.

Ours hasn't budged in 15 years (very fussy contractor who did drives and patios and that's it). I use one of these to get rid of weeds and moss between the blocks: And a light jet wash to clean the surface.

The Eufy doorbell we have needs the base unit which contains the storage and links to the doorbell (and any other cameras) by its own wifi link. If anyone breaks in and finds and nicks the base unit, then that's the reason for having the camera gone as well - no such risk with cloud storage like Ring. The lack of cloud storage doesn't stop you being able to access the stored video from anywhere using the app - not sure about http. Apparently you can download the video clips, but not tried this yet. As an aside, I also had until recently a unifi camera, but the end of lifed the NVR software I was running on a Linux computer. Instead they are now only selling the software with their own recorder hardware.

We have a Ring doorbell (original version, on subscription) and a Eufy doorbell (no subscription, local storage). Both can be accessed from anywhere via an app. Both are a bit laggy (the Ring varies a fair amount, the Eufy slightly less so). Both are battery powered, but can be wired to a doorbell transformer. Downside of the Eufy is the risk attached to having only local storage which needs to be within radio distance of the outdoor unit. On balance I personally prefer the Eufy for less lag and no monthly fees.

Freesat works nicely here in Luxembourg, albeit slightly larger dish needed... Shotgun cable from a twin LNB to the receiver keeps wiring tidy.

Yep, in some ways it's a more sensible approach. We're not actually in Germany (although I can see it from here) - we're in Luxembourg, right by the Mosel river which forms the border between the two.