Why do builders assume that people want the central heating boiler in the kitchen?
I would welcome the idea of an ugly but reliable boiler that could be fitted in a cupboard (like a big meter cupboard) on the outside of the house. Less hassle when replacement is needed as changes to pipework wouldn't disturb the appearance of the room.
I used Unibond bathroom and shower sealant from the local shed. Expensive at 8 quid a go but it's so bloody waterproof it's v.difficult to smooth it after application 'cos it sticks to
*everything*. Flexible too, the only thing that broke it in our case was for some reason the shower tray managed to drop a few mm (don't ask why, I dunno yet!) and the stuff stretched and broke the grout on the surrounding tiles resulting in much leakage.....
The moral to this tale is if yer tray doesn't drop this stuff is good! IMO obviously.
Because they have no brains. The Scandinavians are shocked that we do the washing in the kitchen. They say "do you also take the dishes up to the bathroom to wash them their too". They have the washing machines upstairs
You can always build a small highly insulated brick cupboard at the rear of the house. Pretty common in London.
I used Unibond bathroom and shower sealant from the local shed. Expensive at 8 quid a go but it's so bloody waterproof it's v.difficult to smooth it after application 'cos it sticks to
*everything*. Flexible too, the only thing that broke it in our case was for some reason the shower tray managed to drop a few mm (don't ask why, I dunno yet!) and the stuff stretched and broke the grout on the surrounding tiles resulting in much leakage.....
The moral to this tale is if yer tray doesn't drop this stuff is good! IMO obviously.
Try getting someone out to fix it when it fails in mid winter with 6" of snow on the 'meter cabinet' ;-)
I know what you mean tho, mine is in a cupboard within a small utility area to keep it out of the way. Having it inside somewhere means you get the benefit of the waste heat from the boiler to heat the room. Also it's a short run to the kitchen taps if a combi.
A colleague of mine at work has recently bought a house in Ireland on a newly built estate, not yet fully populated. All the houses there have their boilers in a metal cabinet on the outside of the house. What a good idea we agreed.
A couple of weeks ago someone nicked 22 boilers from the estate.
Only occasionally in Finland do they have utility rooms. Most of the time the washing machine is in the bathroom. It's true that they think the concept of getting your laundry anywhere near the kitchen is disgusting.
More often than not there is no upstairs in a scandinavian house. "Upstairs" is something designed for countries that have too many people for the amount of space available! :-)
Indeed, there was one outside a cottage we rented recently. It was floor mounted (and oil fired) and was about 1m high and 600mm square. Can't remember the make but, as combi's go, not bad at all (apart from [duck] slow bath fill which was quite acceptable as it was the sort of building that didn't actually have space for tanks). A little noisy on a quiet evening too. I can't say the cabinet appeared to be "highly insulated" as it didn't!
Finland isn't in Scandinavia, and most Finns are mildly insulted by the suggestion. The language is totally different to the other Nordic languages, although there is a small Swedish speaking population (there is a dual language policy), and generally Finns learn Swedish and English in school.
The area where the utility room might be is often used as a sauna.
I've seen utility rooms with washing machines or in bathrooms in most countries outside the UK.
The bigger disgust factor is the notion of having carpet in the bathroom.
That's a generalisation which very much depends on location. Away from the cities it tends to happen, but if you take areas like greater Stockholm, there are lots of houses with two storeys plus cellar (washer goes there) and town houses where there is a separate communal building with space to put the washer for each house. It's the same issue that land is expensive, although problems are solved in different ways.
But that isn't limited to non-British people. Most people here are disgusted by bathroom carpets.
However, the European idea of having laundry stuff in the bathroom doesn't appeal. I hate having ugly laundry appliances in there, coupled with the excessive noise close to bedrooms when running them at night. The bathroom is a place of relaxation, not industrial looking appliances. A separate utility room is best, followed by the kitchen, IMO.
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