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Building Control When you think you are ready ask BC to make a final inspection. Our BCO wanted to.. a) witness us pressure test the drains b) check that all panes of glass were coated (he had a tester with him) c) check all safety glass was marked with the appropriate standard. d) I think he also asked for some paperwork from the electrician. Planning Make sure any planning conditions have been discharged. There is a fee for discharging conditions and to minimise that try and get all the conditions discharged in one go. Postal Address The council are responsible for allocating the formal address/house number etc. Some councils have different names for this department but try "The Address Development Team" or ask the planning department receptionist what it's called. They will send you a form on which you can enter a house name. Council Tax Well before completion the council sent us a letter from the Valuation Office (I think) stating that they thought we would be complete on some random date. We wrote back to tell them a more likely date and they accepted it. Council tax bills will arrive soon after. Telephone Get the connection process started asap as this can take awhile. We were in our house 6-8 weeks with no phone while they upgraded overhead lines. VAT Refund You have three months to submit your reclaim from the date of completion. You can only claim for things purchased prior to completion so don't forget any materials like paint that you intend to apply after moving in. Note that some things like plants and landscaping materials can only be reclaimed if they appear on a landscaping plan submitted or required as part of your planning application. Check to see is any trades have charged you VAT in error as this cannot be reclaimed from HMRC.

I'll dig out a few pics and post them up. There have been quite a few posts already on this but the pinch point will be where the flex ducts come back to the distribution boxes - I had a 14 port intake and same for extract and it was very busy - there really was only one place (plant room ceiling) where they could go and also the 180mm duct would not go very far beyond the plant room either. The min bend radius of the flexi ducts can become the key restriction in getting multiple ducts to a given location once they start to overlap, it gets more and more challenging to get the next pipe in. Every MVHR installation should have a swear box, will soon help pay for the build.

I would take the Frametherm and Celotex topping all the way down in the habitable bit of the roof, thus insulating the voids. Then no need to insulate them as well and it gives you a warm storage space if you care to put a couple of trap doors in.

Sign off by building control IIRC.

Indeed. Given the amount of money people are spending on windows it’s surprising that the installation detailing appears to be an afterthought in many instances. IMHO the hierarchy of requirements for a window installation should be 1. robustness of installation - window stays in place 2. robust detailing - it keeps the water out 3. thermal robustness - thermal optimisation This is particularly so in areas of severe and very severe exposure to wind-driven rain ie large parts of the British Isles - http://www.nhbc.co.uk/Builders/ProductsandServices/Standardsplus2016/#135 What I would describe as THERM fetishists spend an inordinate amount of effort ensuring that the window installation is thermally optimised to the detriment of the weathering and physical robustness. All well and good for a Passive House in central Europe where the winters are not only a lot colder but they have less 'horizontal' rain. Pretty isotherms on a computer screen may not look so good in situ on the western seaboard in the middle of January. Furthermore, the simpler the detailing the easier it will be to execute on site. As you’ve pointed out in an earlier post the ‘compressible fill’ underneath the window is daft - as it is in the original Nordan detail. I would only envisage it being effectively used underneath a window to allow for differential movement between a timber frame and a masonry outer-leaf, and even then it would only be between the masonry and the window cill - http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00479931.pdf - detail 3.08 (E3) on page 9

Hi, Can highly recommend a company called Floorspan based in Wisbech. I've been dealing with a guy called Adam who has been very very helpful and unless things go really pear shaped, they'll definitely be getting my business

So main house is polished and sealed took 6 days for the 2 guys, they ended up bringing in 2 machines that weighed a tonne each, through the grits then polished and sealed 100sqm back on Monday to do the garage which isnt aggregate show its a powerfloated finish with a high polished end result.

That's building regs approval not planning. Get the manufacturer to provide their calculations for the design and that will be fine

Tou need a voit stick or voltage detector pen. Something like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/fluke-1ac-ii-voltage-detector-pen/85949 Turn on circuits one at a time and use the pen to see which are live, and them label them with a marker pen. Note for lighting circuits, turn all the lights on when testing as some lighting cables will appear dead when the lights are turned off. This, imho is the only use for these devices, they should never be used to prove a circuit is dead before working on it.

Let it dry out and once dry a bit of bleach and wash it down and don't plaster it till its gone incase it blows.