Do you buy extras?

[DannyT]

When buying your door furniture, led ceiling lights, light switches etc, do you buy extra for breakages down the line?

Just thinking about situations where you only bought enough door handles to get the interior done but you have a breakage 3 years in. Your door handles are nowhere to be found again so end up changing them all.

Is this something people do?

[JohnMo]

7 minutes ago, DannyT said:

When buying your door furniture, led ceiling lights, light switches etc, do you buy extra for breakages down the line?

Just thinking about situations where you only bought enough door handles to get the interior done but you have a breakage 3 years in. Your door handles are nowhere to be found again so end up changing them all.

Is this something people do?

And the spares, where did I put them? Bugger I've looked everywhere?

[DannyT]

6 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

And the spares, where did I put them? Bugger I've looked everywhere?

You put them in one of the 3 spare bedrooms that nobody uses.

[JohnMo]

Well you have answered your own question, as you have already sorted out your storage of the bits.

 

9 minutes ago, DannyT said:

3 spare bedrooms

Why build that big, you must rattle about in there 

[garrymartin]

I bought a spare handle set when changing all the handles on the doors in our house. The previous handles had all been on for twentyish years and I'd never had to replace one. Less than a year in with the new ones and a bunch of stuff fell over in the garage, against the handle, and bent it badly. Now, the handles are still available to buy, but the moral of the story is these things do happen sometimes, and it's a small price to pay for a little peace of mind.

 

I have a spare handle set (or more accurately, one side of a door now!), spare catches, a couple of spare hinges, a spare LED spot for the ones used across the whole of downstairs, and a few other bits and pieces. Never had to use anything other than a handle yet, and I'm sure some things like the hinges wouldn't be really difficult to replace, even if I had to do all three per door, but it's just a lot easier and my mind is a lot more peaceful knowing I have some spares to hand to fix issues almost immediately. I do make a habit of very meticulously keeping things like part numbers and supplier information when I do projects, so I don't always keep duplicates of everything, more so the things that I'd feel forced to change as a set if one failed and I couldn't source an identical replacement.

 

I've thought the same thing about larger items and don't know where I'll end up for some of those in the future. Solar panels are a good example. Do you buy an extra one just in case one fails in an array of eight identical panels or end up with one looking slightly different to all the others if you have to replace it with something different because they are no longer available?

[torre]

For a door handle, plug, switch etc I'd think in terms of swapping one out from the least used room rather than preemptively buy spares.

Kitchen door/drawer is probably the one that worries me a bit and if I was having a custom colour or finish would worry more. Expensive to buy just for spares though.

 

It's always reassuring to have a couple of full tiles or flooring planks left over, but generally from a planned %wastage rather than buying a whole extra pack for spares

[Super_Paulie]

i bought an extra pack of the kitchen ceiling sealed LED units when i found a cheap set on ebay. Seemed to make sense, been in the loft ever since but one day i'll say to myself i did the right thing...

[ProDave]

I never buy lights as sealed fittings.  I buy lights with replacable lamps of a standard size.  If you do decide to buy sealed fittings buy a good number of spares as in 10 years time or less they will be impossible to buy.

 

Even when buying lamps I buy a large box.  LED lamps can vary from one manufacturer to another even if claimed to be the same, and you don't want odd lamps in the same room do you?

 

I wish I had bought s spare of each flush valve and fill valves in the toilet cisterns, in case that design is not available when one fails.

 

Likewise UFH parts.  In our previous house, the mixing valve on one of the manifolds failed.  It was about 10 years old.  I found that was now an obsolete manifold and I only found a replacement as a new old stock item.  I doubt I would find one now, probably necessitating replacing the whole manifold. 

[DannyT]

Some good suggestions here. Hadn’t really thought about solar panels but well worth an extra couple stored in the garage when buying 36 anyway.
Naturally there will be some spares left over from slates, bathroom tiles, flooring etc.

I think the stuff that would have a bigger visual impact if had to change them.
If fitting MVHR I suppose it’s worth buying extra filters at time of purchase rather than 5 years down the line.

Obviously the list could be large but dedicating a space in the house that you just built way bigger than you needed (nearly always) shouldn’t be a problem and extra spend would be tiny in relation to overall budget.

 

Its all another reason for me not to go fancy on smart switches, wireless stuff etc, great while it works but when it doesn’t and needs replacing, nightmare.

A light switch should be just that.

The only thing that should be remote is your TV 😂