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Things can often get installed to suit the convenience of the tradesman and minimise effort. Routing cables and pipework in an ideal way can be a surprisingly tricky planning problem rather like completing a puzzle. Some do a good job of planning 'in their head' based on years of experience or possibly just do it the same way every time. But without recognising the issue up front and having a sketched layout done - which may need redrawing a couple of times to resolve conflicts - it is difficult to control. When do you ever see a tradesman spending half a man day sketching layouts or routing plans ? Most would consider that money down the drain on a fixed quote. And always seems to be a race between plumber and sparky to use any readily available apertures. Builders get construction drawings (most of the time) but domestically it seems no-one ever has a wiring or plumbing plan beyond where they want the end points. You can't get domestic architects interested in planning service voids either.

Yes, I had heard that, and you promoted me to reach out to them to get a discussion going. I am a little concerned they will say that the chimney needs doing first. The liner seems okay, but the masonry on the chimney itself needs work and I am hoping I can do that later, rather than as part of commissioning the stove -- purely for cash flue priorities.

There is what I am thinking. Either take the whole wall back to stone, or expose more of the stone work to give the correct/ample clearances.

Yes it looks like a problem. I have done a quick scan of the building guidance, and it is too close to the flue. The distance above the appliance seems okay - it is about 650mm, but the distance of that bit of timber to the chimney liner is only about 200mm.

That’s standard fitment, nothing special. Another panel supplier you could look at is Joris. I will take a picture of mine as an example later.

Supply and fit for a new residential dwelling is 0% You can’t use the supply and fit route as a way of tricking the self-build VAT reclaim process. The person supplying and fitting the items has his/her own set of rules to comply with. So it’s up to their judgement whether wardrobes they supply & fit should be zero rated. They could then be liable for any incorrectly charged VAT if investigated (as someone else posted here previously).

Thanks @Susie, very helpful. I'll check your blog out.

That is a neat solution. Maybe a bit OTT even for me 😀

5%.

If there was no bco, the question I'd ask myself is " can this go on fire due to being hot"? Timber being obviously a combustible material creates confusion. If it is completely enclosed so that flame can't reach it, and there is no oxygen supply, then it cannot burn. But the risk is of someone damaging or penetrating the protective boarding. The insulated plasterboard is a great concern though. It will fail purely through heat,and then maybe some air can get in. Or eps of pir at a joint might be exposed directly. I think you must remove that area of insulation. The effect on insulation is minimal. BUT it is a BCO matter so you not only should do it but must do it. And most bcos I've discussed it with think timber burns even when encased, so perhaps change the timber to something else too, just within the zone distance stated. Metal stud? Multiple layers of cement board? If you must regain the insulation then squeeze in some rockwool if you can. Then you can relax in front of the fire. NB new burners have direct air intake from outside. Yours probably doesn't have that facility so will fail regs.

supply and fit would be zero-rated to begin with surely?

Chase in the ICF with a hot knife, then plasterboard straight onto ICF, screw and adhesive when around windows if you have less fixing points at openings. If you have any sloped ceiling then think ahead if you need electrics or other in these areas. See our blog. We have no service voids but in the vaulted lounge/kitchen we used the roof rafters as they where deep we have insulation between rafters (rock wool) and underneath PIR so could chase into this.

‘Tis quiet, but remember, those two things you mention aren’t mutually exclusive lol We’ve got those type of panels on our garden building and they come with the 75mm cutback to effectively form a drip and stop the insulation getting wet. We used a company called Briarwood which was a lot better value than Kingspan and they were jolly helpful when I talked through the installation.

Or in my case, less, and building control accepted the manufacturers figures.

You definitely want the insulation cut back at the ends, 75mm minimum. You can get a metal L-shaped trim (with the correct angle for your roof) that mounts to the underside of top panel at the cut-back, which covers the end of the exposed insulation.

All the required clearances are here. Manufacturer's instructions also need to be taken into account in case greater: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6336e58be90e0772dc9651a2/ADJ_2022.pdf

I thought some of the manufacturers of these sheets supply the ends with the insulation cut back, you 100% don’t want the insulation exposed, creatures will chomp at it, definitely needs a flashing over it.

What evidence do they require so they can check that it can be claimed? If the invoice is from Ikea it's obvious, but if you get a joiner to make and install fitted wardrobes, the invoice is unlikely to provide this level of detail.

Personally I’d stick to the letter and not have any combustibles even if hidden from sight. Use cement board, mineral wool etc. Agree with @ProDave though - modern stoves are much better made in terms of efficiency, air leaks etc. BTW you know that this is notifiable work and should either be under BC control or by a Hetas person? I did mine under local BC. A carbon monoxide monitor one of the requirements. Might want to look at your liner to check that it’s properly airtight.

We chased in and fitted conduit, loads of messy work, but I feel it makes the plasterboard feel more solid, by fitting the boards directly to the icf without a void. if you use sodal squirty foam behind the boards it bonds directly to the icf as well as screwing.

Forget fitting any additional insulation it is 100% not needed, forget the u value of nudura blocks for some reason it just looks poor on paper, they don’t add additional insulation in Canada you certainly won’t need it. you will wonder why you fitted a heating system at all once you move in, sort the airtightness and heating will be the least of your worries.

Airtightness will trump insulation, and in winter, that, coupled with MVHR, will give you a plenty healthy-enough ROI on the house you've built, and then live in. Adding IWI will be expensive, hard to execute perfectly (to achieve that 'goal'), and will impact on 2nd fix and GIA. Leave it alone, you'll be spending a grand to save a hundred. Pointless (in actual, real life).

Have you asked the roof panel manufacturer?

I always thought it was fascia, but I'm definitely guilty of forgetting the 's' - it's one of a few words I have to consciously think about! 🤣 I think because the ply is structural, it needs to be screwed directly to the rafters - I did ask the SE about a few options but he wasn't keen. Massively wasteful too as all the joints need to be staggered. Yes, absolutely - that has been planned in. There is a 50mm gap below the ply, then insulation. At the eaves I'll add a vent strip in the soffit and at the top there is a Glidevale Monovent specified by the architect which takes up a load of space below the windows and ultimately forced me to use a lower pitch than I could have had otherwise. I just need to work out the best approach to ventilating that space above and below the Velux windows. Ah, I didn't know - I've just found a few helpful resources relating to roofing in Scotland. I don't particularly want to change too much at the moment, I'm just trying to find a build-up that will actually work and satisfy building control. I was hoping to use a roofing contractor for this aspect, but as soon as they hear about the ply they're not interested as it's unconventional. Just received a labour-only quote from a good roofer I've used before for £6K - it sounds like a 'go away' price to me so I will probably end up doing this myself.

Have you asked the roof panel manufacturer?