QUICK GUIDE: SERVICES, APPLIANCES & FITTINGS

Services are the poor relation of building materials – largely because we don’t want to see them, we just want them to work. Some we do interact with via their fittings: taps, WCS, showers, wall sockets and light switches, for example, and wood burning stoves (if you’re lucky enough to have one).

Four people sharing a bathroom, using the sink five times each per day, equates to 73,000 turns of the tap over 10 years. That’s why it pays to buy good quality.

Our attempts to become super environmentally friendly can have odd unexpected consequences. It is claimed that the acidity in the condensate from a modern boiler can shorten the life of some components within the appliances, and their life expectancy is regularly quoted as 10-12 years. Older models were expected to last rather longer than this, so you could argue the saving from the greater efficiency of condensing boilers should be offset by the potential need to repair or replace them more often. That said, this is a contentious subject and the figures are of course disputed – plus modern regulations require us to fit efficient condensing units in many situations.

The hidden services (in other words the distribution pipework and cabling) should simply continue to function indefinitely with no maintenance at all. When labour-saving push-fit plumbing joints were first introduced there were questions about their longevity, but general opinion seems to be that there are no inherent risks and they are not expected to break down any quicker than their copper counterparts.