We're building a new home (trenches digging as we speak) and are required to have a rainwater tank. I need to talk to the plumber about how I want the house plumbed, from my point of view how best to utilise the 'free' tank water. My thinking is as follows............. 1) Have the mains water inlet ...

I'm making this up as I go along, but I'm thinking that you've got a simple "Two way switching" situation, like we have in our hallway.......... A light switch at either end of our hallway allows you to control the light from either end of the hallway. So you'd just have your "manual&...

LED strips under the kitchen overheads and as a feature under the Island Benchtop ..................... Yeah, OK, blame "The Block" and just about every 'modern' display home, but Mrs P_D wants these in our new build :roll:. So every time you see 'em on The Block or in the display homes t...

[quote defaultattr=""]× I could imagine at that stage, you could possibly damage the water proofing and create a huge job to rectify the same. :([/quote] This stage is a vacant block of land !! That is why I was thinking of having the builder drop a conduit through the cavity wall termina...

I keep hearing "But it's unsafe" but no-one is suggesting that they're going to use a cheap Chinese bed-side lamp in the shower area !! I was thinking, off the top of my head, having a strip of (say) IP67 LEDs at the top of the niche. In the back corner of the niche have a small conduit ru...

Hi Mrs JM..... How did you get the power to the LED strips and where are the drivers ?? Thanks, PD

Any updates ?? :-D PD

It looks pretty, and trendy, and all the rest, but it is unsafe. Is it really unsafe if it's extra low voltage LEDs and the driver is placed securely away in a waterproof location ? PD

Hi Guys, We're getting close to signing for a new build and have the plans just about ready to go to council. We've allowed a space on one of the Family Room walls to place the TV / Entertainment centre. With some sort of variation on a theme, we're maybe, sort-of, considering, some form of, updated...

::angry:: ... I really wish that people would not make general statements based upon one paragraph of info. Could you be a little more specific about just where your anger is directed ? More to the point, do you agree or disagree with the OP putting silicon (hopefully neutral cure) where the pipes ...

While we're on the topic................. I want to run a few 'conduits' in the walls of a new build for future home entertainment wiring. I've 'found' the AS referenced above (thanks unistudent123) but am a bit confused by this...... "Top and bottom plates in internal non-loadbearing and non-b...

The story so far .......... We're getting a builder to quote on our own plan. We have engaged an interior designer (who also happens to have a builders licence) to help us "Project Manage" the builder. So far she's held our hand with dealing with the builder, done all of our selections wit...

Ok, we left you off for August.....now September so must be update time ??? Hope you are inching closer to being underway :) Hahahahhaaaa........ Well yes and no !! I just opened my email and saw two items of interest, one from homeone saying that there was a new post in this thread, and a second f...

Hi guys, My hubby and I went with a house and land package our first priority was to get ahold of the block of land and felt that this was a chance for us to secure it rather than wait in an apparently very long line for a similar block in the estate we want to get into. Hi.....And congratulations ...

Excellent thread.. I'm building my 2nd house now and sent many of the great ideas posted within these pages to my sales consultant.. Came back to $176,000+ in extra variations ::hyst:: ::dizzy:: Just tick all the boxes and worry about the cost later.............. It'll be an awesome house :D :D :D ...

Haha PD do you like stirring?? Meh, I can live with having to move my fridge in the rare instance of a plumbing problem occuring. ;) Oh sorry, Not stirring at all EmyN :o !! As I said, we're pigeon-pair people so it's not an issue for us, but I was thinking that with 200Kg of fridge and 50 kg of fo...

.....in a little alcove/niche in the wall behind the fridge space so it doesn't take up any space in the cavity". How nice is that?! Sensible builders?! :D From reading this thread, yes nice, but possibly more sensible if it was (in a alcove / niche) in the cupboard next to the fridge ? P_D

..... A semi-related note is venting both kitchen ranges and bathrooms to the roof space, which I would have thought is a Very Bad Thing ™, but seems to be done in 99% houses Venting a kitchen fan into the ceiling space has been illegal for at least ten years. Venting a bathroom fan into the ceilin...

There are several heat exchangers (HX) available now at a (semi) reasonable price with around 90% efficiency. They take (cold air) in from the outside and "dump" it into your house while extracting the same amount of air from inside your house. The "magic" is that the two air str...