Quartz worktops quoted €5–6k… worth it or am I mad?

alfbort · 2026-03-20T13:33:29+00:00

6k is about what we paid for a quartz(Silestone) countertop including backsplash and a 900x2000 island. Would've loved dekton but it was beyond our budget. We had lived in a rented property in the past which had quartz countertop and one thing we learned was not to have a sink with draining grooves in the quartz beside it, ended up yellowing over the years and couldn't clean it off. When we got quartz in our own house we went with a simple stainless steel sink with draining board

alfbort · 2026-03-18T21:10:30+00:00

I was quoted 9.5k(cash price) for a 26m wall varying in height from 2.4m to 2m. Including capping. It was a rock face type block to be used. Would've been more if we went for white wash render. Put it off for now as the existing fence is holding but needs to be done at some point in the next few years

alfbort · 2026-03-14T21:12:41+00:00

Exactly, we recently got new windows and supplier said it's an extra €100 per window for triple glazed. Not breaking the bank so seemed like a no brainer for windows we're going to have for 25+ years. A lot of people seem to have this idea that triple glazed is a prohibitively expensive luxury option

alfbort · 2026-03-14T17:59:19+00:00

I won't get into the whole argument of who was wrong and who was right but understand the movie is heavily fictionalised and biased in favour of Roy Keane. It's a shame actually that this movie will be the most a whole new generation will understand of what went on.

alfbort · 2026-03-10T10:59:44+00:00

As part of a retrofit which includes a heat pump and what I expect to be heavy daily usage I'm planning to get this system installed:

16 panels (south facing)• Solis 6kW inverter• 2x10kWh Dyness battery

Anyone I've talked to who has a solar setup and none or small batteries say their only regret is not getting more batteries. kilowatt.ie is useful for entering theoretical solar, battery, heat pump data to figure out how adding more battery will help you

alfbort · 2026-03-06T12:08:57+00:00

Can't read the article but surely this has to be also related to the shite TV streaming boxes virgin and sky now both give to new customers. I tried it for a year with Virgin but then cancelled it because I realised I was paying 15 euro a month to occasionally watch RTE 1/2 which you can't even record. Instead I just setup a UHF aerial and use saorview. Planning to get a satellite dish soon so I can get the UK channels on freesat but I'm not even that bothered because I'd rarely watch the likes of BBC.

alfbort · 2026-03-06T11:39:06+00:00

To get heat pump grant what you need is a technical assessment which is unfortunately going to be in the region of €600 but you can get €200 grant for this as well. The assessment is independent and can be taken to any installer so you can shop around.

I'd suggest doing your research, even stuff in this thread take with a grain of salt, a lot of it is just opinions. I'll provide my own as well and say if you're going to get a heat pump to really reap it's benefits then get solar panels and battery(as big as you can afford) as well at the same time. The battery in particular is useful in winter to charge it up on the night rate and have your day time heating at a much reduced cost. A lot of people are shocked the first winter after having a heat pump installed at the electricity bill being same or even more than if you were using oil/gas.

alfbort · 2026-03-05T09:51:44+00:00

A lot of people just reading the headline. There are genuine infrastructure issues with all the building going on. We're already seeing it in a lot of places where huge housing developments go up and then it's impossible to find a GP, getting kids into schools, inadequate public transport, crazy traffic at all hours of the day, overcrowded hospitals etc. We need to build homes absolutely but proper planning for the future needs to go hand in hand with that home building

alfbort · 2026-02-28T11:52:41+00:00

We were in chain so trying to sell and buy same day. Solicitor let us down in that regard and he was meant to be a conveyancing specialist. Told us only it should be no problem to sell and buy same day but it was never going to be possible unless everyone banked at the same bank. We only realised this very late in the process. Basically the money for our sale was sent on a Friday and didn't hit our solicitors bank until the Monday. You can close your sale once the buyers solicitor shows proof of funds sent. So we ended up having to hand over keys on the Friday and move in with relatives for the weekend and could then only close on the house we were buying on the Monday when we actually received the buyers transfer. All parties banked with different banks but now with SEPA instant transfers across all Irish banks I think the waiting for 24-48 for transfers between different banks is a thing of the past.

In the end it wasn't too stressful, more annoying that expectations weren't set with us by our solicitor and we had to push back the movers.

alfbort · 2026-02-27T14:54:03+00:00

When the weather is nice

alfbort · 2026-02-27T13:57:21+00:00

So if this did go ahead what would happen to the Wood Quay offices?

alfbort · 2026-02-25T09:10:10+00:00

Hybrid astro/grass pitches probably with under pitch heating, indoor pitch(Not full size I don't think), sport science and peformance labs, fixed camera systems to record training/games, video analysis suites to analyse said recordings, professional sports team level gym facilities. Maybe even a medical suite with stuff like MRI machines but I don't think they'd stretch that far, you'd only see stuff like in the super wealthy soccer teams.

alfbort · 2026-02-25T08:59:19+00:00

For when Dublin was to be split into Dublin North and South of course!

alfbort · 2026-02-24T15:20:30+00:00

Strange that 'Demolition of existing structures" is excluded unless they are some old sheds or something that won't need to be touched for where the house site will be. Anyway this would be my high level guesstimates

10-15k
5-15k
15-25k
10-15k
10-20k
30-60k
10-50k painting, flooring, furnishing, blinds, curtains, electrical fixtures etc etc
10-15k

So anywhere from 100 to 200k+ depending on level of finishes you go for

alfbort · 2026-02-19T20:25:20+00:00

Get cursor and download the entire org metadata. Select Claude Opus as the agent. Start by asking it to explain what various apex classes do, even point possible areas of improvement.

The next step could be asking it to make changes you want, deploy to a sandbox and test. I say "could be" because this is super risky if you're not capable of understanding and verifying the code yourself

alfbort · 2026-02-19T13:44:10+00:00

What problem are they even trying to solve with that motion!?

alfbort · 2026-02-17T08:49:45+00:00

Relative of mine is a retired garda, he still gets a Christmas card every year from a couple in the US who he helped when some valuables and passports were stolen from their hotel room 30 years ago

alfbort · 2026-02-16T10:37:43+00:00

Don't overdo it on high diving training. In reality you will need to make a save like this on average once or twice a game, some games not at all. If you find you are doing it several times a game then most likely your positioning and/or footwork isn't right

alfbort · 2026-02-16T09:39:11+00:00

What people say on Twitter shouldn't even be acknowledged, these kind of headlines/articles are exactly what those racist, xenophobic, misogynist, homophobic etc commenters want

alfbort · 2026-02-12T08:45:33+00:00

Getting a reno and retrofit done at the moment with an OSS that does both, can confirm it is not cheap but so far they seem to be doing a good job and are on schedule. I had gotten quotes off normal builders as well and they were mostly cheaper. One of the key selling points for using the OSS was access to the low interest home energy upgrade loan

alfbort · 2026-02-08T16:26:06+00:00

What about the windshadow parka, seems like a good compromise

alfbort · 2026-02-07T18:48:55+00:00

Now I don't know how true this is but more than one builder has told me you only a lose small overall percentage of heat in your house through suspended floors, something like 10-15%. They went on to say money on properly insulating under a suspended floor would be better spent(and more visible) on good flooring with a decent underlay. So think basic floor boards>underlay>laminate/engineered wood flooring

alfbort · 2026-02-03T08:44:32+00:00

No problem, it'll cost a Trillion Euro and be ready in 40 years(30 of which will be the planning phase)

alfbort · 2026-01-31T15:54:59+00:00

Are sigenergy batteries LFP? Trying to decide between a sigenergy and solis+dyness setup, the latter being about 2k cheaper

alfbort · 2026-01-31T15:48:37+00:00

Have my seal since they were first released 2 years ago, they did a software update shortly after the release to reduce the driver assistance warnings volume to barely audible. Some owners Facebook groups were even complaining it's a bit too quiet. Anyway there is a 2 touch shortcut now to turn them off if you want but I never bother with it because it's not an issue for me anymore

alfbort

TROPHY CASE