Best simple ideas and concepts to design in to new build

[Onoff]

Intermediate switches are handy on mid landings etc.

[PeterW]

Intermediates and second switches are a thing of the past with Quinetic switches ..!

[Onoff]

11 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Intermediates and second switches are a thing of the past with Quinetic switches ..!

 

Sorry but imo you can't beat a hard wired switch. That from someone who uses Quinetic. 

[joe90]

1 hour ago, JamesP said:

Hi Joe 

Can you let me know your first floor build up as I am about to start plaster boarding and would like to eliminate as much noise as reasonably possible. My son's bedroom is under ours.

 

My first floor build up is:

20mm timber floor

20mm Overfloor EPS400 (Wunda UFH) 

22mm Caberdek glued and screwed

225x47 floor joists at 400 centres filled with 100mm Rockwool, I could increase Rockwool.

12mm Plasterboard

 

 

Hi James, mine is 22mm caberdeck, 225 i joists @ 400mm centres, 100 rockwall between joists, 15 mm plasterboarded and skim. I think your EPS from wunda will help a fair bit, but might be worth sound plasterboard or double board or plasterboard on top hat rails (disconnects plasterboard from joists to stop sound. ) we had an embarrassing moment the other weekend, my mate had a bit too much to drink, his wife went to bed early (so us blokes could chew the fat!). And he was moaning to me about his wife. When he went to bed she was awake and told him she could hear every word he said. Breakfast was a bit chilly ?

[howplum]

Shadow gap instead of skirting boards and architrave.

Well for door mats, especially with low threshold doors.

Remote control central locking, although it might stretch the definition of simple! http://www.home-security-action.co.uk/central-locking.html

[Hecateh]

1 hour ago, Jude1234 said:

Spent more money on a really quiet dishwasher in our open plan kitchen/diner/lounge it is so quiet great when you have company

Which dishwasher did you find to be the quietest.  I've been doing some research and they all seem much of a muchness according to spec

[Onoff]

18 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

Which dishwasher did you find to be the quietest.  

 

Certainly not SWMBO.

[newhome]

23 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

Which dishwasher did you find to be the quietest.  I've been doing some research and they all seem much of a muchness according to spec

 

1 decibel makes it about 30% more noisy though I think ... 

 

[Hecateh]

1 minute ago, newhome said:

 

1 decibel makes it about 30% more noisy though I think ... 

 

Yeah, I kind of remember learning something about sound levels in physics.  Isn't 10 decibels louder, 10 x as loud or something.

 

 

[newhome]

I don't suppose you'll be using it night and day with only you there so not a massive issue. I put mine on 2 or 3 times a week. If you stick it on when you go to bed you won't hear it anyway . This one looked ok for the money:

 

https://www.johnlewis.com/bosch-sms25aw00g-freestanding-dishwasher-white/p3215462?s_kwcid=1dx43700024303446493&tmad=c&tmcampid=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_4jgBRDhARIsADezXcismTcGiY8CJ7Tbsl_Xlbyj7gNNsomSn70Gch-_uwTlQcdA-6XfhowaAleqEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[ProDave]

We have the Lamona one that Howdens were giving away free with very kitchen at the time we bought ours. It does seem a lot quieter than the Hotpoint we had in the last house.

[ProDave]

10 hours ago, Hecateh said:

Yeah, I kind of remember learning something about sound levels in physics.  Isn't 10 decibels louder, 10 x as loud or something.

 

 

It's a logarithmic scale.  3db is twice as loud, 10db is 10 times as loud

[Guest Alphonsox]

The one thing we missed and that I regret not doing was putting in door mat wells at the back doors in the utility.

[Jeremy Harris]

On the topic of noise, yesterday I replaced the (very noisy) pull switch in our ensuite shower room with one of these from TLC: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CM2781.html

 

Very impressed with the quiet single "click", much better than the "wake the dead" double click from the old pull switch.

[newhome]

9 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

Very impressed with the quiet single "click", much better than the "wake the dead" double click from the old pull switch.

 

Out of interest why do you have pull cords? I just have a standard light switch outside the door. 

[Jeremy Harris]

15 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Out of interest why do you have pull cords? I just have a standard light switch outside the door. 

 

Two reasons.  SWMBO gets up at the crack of dawn (I don't) and so I didn't want to have the light from the shower room shine into the bedroom at 5 am.  The other reason was to do with the lack of space adjacent to the door, I'd have had to fit an architrave switch and I didn't want one set in to the oak architrave.

[Simplysimon]

we bought a meile as it was only 40db, can only just hear it

[Jude1234]

13 hours ago, Hecateh said:

Which dishwasher did you find to be the quietest.  I've been doing some research and they all seem much of a muchness according to spec

It was this one:

 

60cm Fully Integrated Dishwasher Model:Hotpoint HIO3T1239EUK ID:HIO3T1239EUK-1-735605 P/N: 5054645537334 39dB

[Bored Shopper]

On 01/12/2018 at 02:28, albert said:

I have ruled out a laundry shoot and built in hoover points, ...

 

Just out of interest, why did you rule out a laundry shoot?

[ProDave]

Back to simple ideas. If you are in the slightest into DIY mechanics, then an inspection pit in the garage. Even if you just use it to make a simple oil change a lot easier it is well worth it.  Mine is made just deep enough to sit in on a duck board, not full standing height.

[Stones]

Things that make your life easier:

 

Multipanel / shower wall panels - really easy to keep clean

Kitchen - incorporate drawers and cupboard pull outs for anything below worktop height

Maids pulley - already mentioned, but ours are located in a section of vaulted ceiling so are well above head height / no washing hanging down into room

5A lighting socket ring in main room - single switch to turn off all lamps (really wish I'd fitted a master switch for all the TV and HiFi)

Mat wells at doors - ours were the consequence of the door being able to open over the planned tiles, but we wouldn't be without them.

 

[joe90]

46 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Back to simple ideas. If you are in the slightest into DIY mechanics, then an inspection pit in the garage. Even if you just use it to make a simple oil change a lot easier it is well worth it.  Mine is made just deep enough to sit in on a duck board, not full standing height.

 

Ha, I thought of that but my builder told me round here I would end up with an indoor swimming pool if I built one. Next door had one and used waterproof concrete but it’s still full of water !

[Hecateh]

2 hours ago, Jude1234 said:

It was this one:

 

60cm Fully Integrated Dishwasher Model:Hotpoint HIO3T1239EUK ID:HIO3T1239EUK-1-735605 P/N: 5054645537334 39dB

Thanks - will have a look at hotpoint in general.  That one is no good for me as I'm not going integrated.  

[Onoff]

57 minutes ago, joe90 said:

 

Ha, I thought of that but my builder told me round here I would end up with an indoor swimming pool if I built one. Next door had one and used waterproof concrete but it’s still full of water !

 

You can get ready made fibreglass pits you drop in.

[Ed Davies]

6 hours ago, newhome said:

Out of interest why do you have pull cords? I just have a standard light switch outside the door.

 

Out of interest, why outside? So long as it's more than 600 mm from the bath or shower (i.e., outside the zones) it can be inside. Does a zone overlap the obvious place for it just inside the door?