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We were in Puglia at the beginning of September and checked out prices of bathroom sanitaryware etc at local Bricco. The prices for bathroom stuff less in euros than we had paid for the same bathroom stuff in the UK eighteen months ago!

We will definitiely be diy-ing. And if anybody needs any help from December on give Bob a shout.

Agree about the bathroom stuff, we've already got the Castorama catalogue and the price of a bathroom suite is very cheap, if you want bog standard white, which is fine by me. You can always use more expensive tiles to create the luxury effect. We will compare the boiler and rad cost but just wanted to know if the uk offer works out cheaper, would it be compatible. We just can't justify the 8600 euro quote especially as most of the pipework is already in place, rads just need coupling up and the boiler fitting and gas connected (it also included plumbing in bathroom suite).

I've nearly rubbed the numbers off my calculator :eek:

I think we girls might enlist the help of you guys later on in the year, we have set aside some money to do up our bathroom and kitchen. I know you'll understand that just having a brand new, super clean bathroom is essential to girlies. The kitchen is ok, but since I'm such a pigsie, and cooking is important to me, having a servicable area makes it all the easier.

Any of you girls know anything about bread ovens, apparently we have one outside?

And remember once the renovations are done, we'll have to try out our new kicthen on some new unsuspecting victims :rolleyes:

I have no first hand experience of installing/modernising bathrooms/heating but will be going down this route early next year. My impression is that we are limited to what we can do ourselves without the involvement of a geometra or someone to sign off the work - safety?.
SOMEONE PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG.

I believe copper piping and fittings are different sizes in Italy, our threaded fittings are now metric but is this the same standard as Italy?
As far as bathrooms are concerned maybe there will be problems with the sanitaryware fittings.
The other problem I can foresee is the question of guarantees, or in the case of a breakdown can it be rectified in Italy.

Maybe the answer is to buy ½ûÂþÌìÌà made appliances in the UK, unless of course they are made to UK specs rather than ½ûÂþÌìÌà which may be different - I don't know.

Paula - I know that I am not helping you but I just thought I would add a couple of points that I am interested in before the expert - wherever he/she is will answer all our queries.

Stribs

Paula
It might be a good idea to buy the boiler and rads in Italy. I'm not sure if the rads would be the same as those in the UK - they look different to me. But that way you would have the x amount of years guarantee if anything went wrong. I don't know the price of the rads, but I checked out the price of boilers in a big DIY shop and it was around 600 euros for a combi. In the end I just let the plumber supply it because of lack of time. The plumber's bill included 90+ euros for the "libretto". This is a fairly new development whereby you have to register your boiler with the comune and get it serviced every year and this annual service again gets registered at the comune.
I do agree with you about the saving on the cost of doors/windows by sourcing here in the UK. The ones in Italy are certainly of a superier quality, but all I needed was a cheap internal door (for the bathroom) which could be painted. Under £30 in B&Q, but I could find nothing near that price in the DIYs in Italy. They don't seem to do the bare wood kind at all - or at least I couldn't find any.
Good luck with your project
Linda

Paula your quote is on the high side we have just had a 3 storey house in Marche plumbed from scratch literally when we started no water connected. our total cost was 7500 euro this included combi boiler 11 radiators all pipe work and labour also included the instalation of 2 bathrooms kitchen and utility room for which we supplied the fittings only hope this gives you some guidelines.

Regards Rod

Thanks for the reply Rod,

Now thats a realistic figure. Ours is only on two levels (villa rather than a house) and the pipework is already in place on the ground floor level. The lower level hasn't any as yet. I think the bloke just thought of a number and doubled it. Still we're luck in the fact Neal is in the trade anyway and know's what is a realistic figure and what is not. Ah well we'll get there eventually one way or another. We're back over for a couple of weeks so we may get a few more quotes.

Thanks again

Any work with gas is serious business in Italy with fines for non-compliance. Our idraulico has explained to us that any boilers installed must meet current energy saving legislation and KWattage is also controlled. They may also need to be boilers certified as meeting an italian norme.

When a boiler is installed or a new system created there are four sets of paperwork completed one for the client, one for the idraulico, one for the local comune and one for the regional administration of the area. Indeed boilers must be serviced each year and I believe tags are put on them. There are fines for default.

We have a pellet boiler now and the paperwork is the same but there is no requirement for an annual service. We have been most surprised at how a central heating system is designed and installed in Italy - now we have seen it we understand it - but some of it is quite mysterious. I would get some alternative quotations for all the gas work and source materials locally. There are some fab radiators produced in Italy which are very thermally efficient.

I never thought of central heating we have a tiny villa.

Would a storage heater be more effective?

Do italian villas 'trip switches' a lot, the electricity is intermittent in Puglia and emergency electricity is recommended.

More to talk about at the party I guess, will report back Paula.

paula the quote you were given is extremely high.... you can buy a combi boiler at our local iron mongers at the moment for e440 ... special offer...

agree with previous posts...they all have to be registered and checked each year so if you get a funny make of boiler you might not find an engineer here to do that side of it... so be careful you might find yourself having to take it back...

we had a total sytem fitted here with bathroom connection to mains and drianage in an apartment next door... high quality iron radiators...hand made one for the kitchen...combi boiler etc ..etc... cost e4500...

as for heating if you have never lived in an italian house in the winter you will never ask why you need it... it will get very cold without double glazing and central heating

regarding windows here...there are regulations on the quality of the windows..... understand your attempt at saving ...however again i would say to you be careful.... high quality finished aluminium with the larger space between the windows is a completely different standard to plastic british ones...you will find the direct heat on these at well over 100 0c for at least a couple of months will tend to make the plastic last well below normal times..

apart from that you will find when you live here one of the most important aspects of italian windows are the shutters... they keep heat out during the summer and the rooms cool.... unless you are planning on having air conditioning ... the other major plus is the roller blind fly screen fitted between the two.... despite someones comments on lack of wildlife in italy insects are and will be a major problem... the homemade versions are ok... but if starting from scratch its best to have them as an integral part of the window...

so yes i know cost is an element but it seems to me you are saving pennies here to spend pounds in the future... be sure firsst the uk boiler is acceptable... no one will sign off on it if you do any of the work or they havent made a penny or two on the purchase... and as for the windows get more quotes.... we fitted fourteen here... including four of them being double doors... all with blinds and screens and with the larger thermal gaps ....and it cost e14000... they were all made to measure at a local factory we fitted the frames and they fitted the internal parts...

one thing we did find is if there are window spaces you do not need as an opening for air then the glass bricks are a good substitute... especially as a builder they are easy to install and cheaper than opening windows....

all windows will officially require permission from your commune to allow the work.... friendly neighbours spend lots of time on the phone here to the communes...its a favorite pastime...we have had four already agaist us in two years....so we feel well in with the rest of the locals who seem to treat it all as a bit of sport... and providing you have friends within the commune you will avoid anything apart from filling in back dated papers... otherwise fines

Thanks for that John. We're back in a couple of weeks so we'll re look at the boilers again once we get there. As for the windows we've already been out, got the sizes ordered and they'll be driven over at the end of next week. We're putting shutters up first then the windows will sit behind and I know what you meen about the mozzies, I was eated alive in June and normally its Neal they like and not me. :(

[QUOTE=paula hampson]Thanks for that John. We're back in a couple of weeks so we'll re look at the boilers again once we get there. As for the windows we've already been out, got the sizes ordered and they'll be driven over at the end of next week. We're putting shutters up first then the windows will sit behind and I know what you meen about the mozzies, I was eated alive in June and normally its Neal they like and not me. :([/QUOTE]

Scuse me ... did someone mention mozzies :eek: A few yeh, but being eaten alive :( Like you Paula they usually go for my partner not me. Must be something (or a lack of something) in my blood.

Is this a big problem in Puglia generally or perhaps only if you are living nearby to an open water deposit or something? Doesn't the commune spray?

I know that when we were living next to a semi dried up river bed at one time (small pools of stagnant water) we had a BIG problem with mozzies, drove us mad.

Should we be thinking of installing mesh screens on the windows?

And .........following on from the earlier question...... is there a mossie season?
In other words do they die when it gets cold(er)?
And when might that happen?

Lesley

In all the years i've been traveling abroad, France, Belgium, Holland, Grand Canaria ( eight times), Greece, Cyprus, Spain (twice) Ibiza (twice) I've never been bitten. Italy, bloody munched upon :cool:

italian human biting insects are prevalent everywhere.... not just mossies... they arrive in spring and can inhabit houses until late october- november... communes do spray once a year... however with very little effect apart from the night that they do you have to have heard from the locals they are arriving and make sure you cover up anything you are growing to eat or touch outside and all windows closed...the stuff is very poisonous and is undoubtedly based on that stuff that drives sheep farmers mad in england....for the life of me cannot remeber the name but it is founded on a nerve gas developed by the germans in the second world war...

the other problem is that with milder wnters...in certain areas here and the illegal immigration problem there are a number of human biting insects migrating from north africa...and they are becoming a minor problem in the more southern areas

so the long winded answer to your question is they do not inhabit areas only by rivers they are everywhere..... worse yes if you have large amounts of trees nearby...or lying water.... the alternative to screens is to keep windows closed... hardly viable if you dont have air conditioning.... so if you are to live here you have to get used to it and keep an anti histamine supply handy...

Anyone putting in underfloor electric heating? if so how much per sq meter in Italy ?Is it easy to find it and install?we would leave the connections etc to aa qualified electrician just lay the stuff.

Becky

underfloor heating i think is ofetn used here but hardly ever with elctrical cabling but in general with water pipes

i think you will find if you enquire that electricity prices here are almost beyond comparison with uk prices... cripling..... italians you might well have noticed in their houses turn off lights everywhere...

so as regards running costs electricity is a no hoper...

... another reason and obviously if you have lots of money this will not apply is that the amount of kws available is as a standard limited and if you start adding to the electricity burden by trying to heat either houses or water with it you will find it tripping off a lot of the time... so you can ask them to increase the kws to a level above standard which is usually 3 or 3,5 which they will happily do because then they can charge you more for your standing charge and also know you will be planning to use lots of their expensive current

so as not to let you think there is no hope and i know in the uk say because of the lower cost of instalation electrical options are cheaper to commence with but then running costs outweigh inital saving... there might well be an option....

ie lots of the older houses here have back boilers on ther fires...you light up the fire hot water rises and goes to a tank high in the house and by gravity feeds down into your hot water outlets.... ok maybe skip the backboiler option unless you already have it but say buy a modern wood/pellet burning apliance...connnect in the hot water supply and then lay in underfloor pipes... you have a fireplace/stove running on relatively inexpensive material ... you have hot water when the fire is lit and heating to other rooms... you have a security of supply providibng you have the wod/pellets...

maybe the initial cost will be high but the running costs will be a lot lower than the electricty option and it will soon overtake that side of it... i doubt you would have had enough power available anyway to heat without the benefit of the fireplace so you would most probably be burning wood anyway... so try and make it work twice for you.... as some others have suggetsed also who are far more technicaly aware than me you might well be able to substitute the hot water supply via solar energy... again with rises now guaranteed here of at least 5 % on gas prices...i havent heard the electrical price hikes yet these might all provide you with a more secure,less expensive future and if you are just starting off better to start right instead of having to rethink things and do a lot of the work later

hope the above helps to inform you on your options

final comment...you will find it hard here to get anyone qualified to connect in and sign off on work they havent had complete control over...especially in the electrical gas connections bussiness....

[QUOTE=Susan P]Scuse me ... did someone mention mozzies :eek: A few yeh, but being eaten alive :( Like you Paula they usually go for my partner not me. Must be something (or a lack of something) in my blood.

Is this a big problem in Puglia generally or perhaps only if you are living nearby to an open water deposit or something? Doesn't the commune spray?

I know that when we were living next to a semi dried up river bed at one time (small pools of stagnant water) we had a BIG problem with mozzies, drove us mad.

Should we be thinking of installing mesh screens on the windows?[/QUOTE]
YES,NO ALTERNATIVES.

[QUOTE=will]yep completely agree with Sebastiano....i made some DIY ones last spring as couldnt afford purpose made ones and they totally transformed the house a much nicer environment...not paranoid about opening windows etc etc..its not just the mozzies but the legions of other winged intruders....just need to put some wire mesh around chimney to stop the owls getting in now.[/QUOTE]

You could always put a cOWL on top Will, mind you, I always find that having an owl or two flying around in the house does help to keep the rat population down a bit... :) :p :cool: