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Moving on to day 2 of the timber frame erection, I make no apologies for this photo-heavy post as the pictures speak far more eloquently than I can on the subject matter. Especially as I don't know the right words for much of it. It rained overnight here in Dorset, but nothing disastrous and it was all gone by a couple of hours into the morning. Here's how I left the team yesterday evening: This morning, another day, another crane. This one, I think, was even bigger, but it hurt my neck to keep looking that high, so I can't swear to it. Along with the crane was the next lot of timber frame components, but also the steels for the ground floor ceiling/first floor. There's a lot of steel in my building and whilst being very good for the structural integrity of the building, it's pretty rubbish if you want to stick an MVHR duct through it. At the production stage, my MVHR guy liaised with MBC to request penetrations through the steels for the ducting so that we didn't have to try and deal with this after the event. Here's one such steel with the right holes in the right places. Again, the crane did its thing and shifted all the posi joists into the interior the building and helped position the internal stud walls. All the steels were craned into position as well. The posi joists were man-handled up onto the steels: This is the run of the posi joists, looking from the eastwards from the west facing window. This is looking from the end of the living/dining area towards the kitchen and utility. This is looking back towards the building from the field. The silver box is the attached garage which will not be part of the thermal envelope; we haven't yet decided whether to put any insulation into this, but that can come later. The interior of the garage looking out to the field: A shot taken from the scaffolding. I'm standing at the west side of the living room (where the field is) looking over the lane and the fields beyond. For those of you who know north Dorset, that's Hambledon Hill near Blandford Forum in the distance. And finally, this was resting on the joists upstairs. It pleases me greatly.

Thank you. I'm pleased with the way its coming together.

We started the roofing last week. We decide to go for CUPA 3 heavy slates, these are a thick spanish slate and designed for the weather we get in the Hebrides. Let's hope they do what they say on the crate. The first job was setting out the the various lines using a line and some red brick dye. Our roofer than graded some of slate pallets into different levels of thickness and any rejections. Now my job was to carry the slates up the ladder. So far three pallets have made there way on the scaffolding. Before the first slates were fitted we attached the dry verge strip. I did some research and asked a post on here, but finally decided on the Klober 'S' strip. We had already attached our barge board so I didn't want a 'T' shaped one that would go over the barge and underneath the slates. The 'S' strip is actually designed for slates and battens rather than slates and sarking boards, but because of the thick slates we have used this fits snugly where it meets three courses. Not the best photo but you can see the black strip above the fascia. The plan was to the front first, but unfortunately we had a mix up with the velux flashings so we can only go so far just now. We are however able to do some slating at the back, but we are waiting for our metal roofing material to be fitted which will hopefully arrive soon. Our joiner has prepared the timber for this to be fitted.

We went to committee and previously I had spoken to a couple of the councillors and they told me they would support us. We had our three minutes (wife did this well) then an objector (who we knew would object)had his say and he told lies, sorry, he made statements that were not correct. I tried to demand that I could refute these but was told we had already had our three minutes. Planning officer then told lies, sorry, made statements that were wrong, and I could prove it but was not allowed to respond. Every councillor voted against our proposal and the councillors I had thought would support us could not look me in the eye. I was told off the record that the councillors were told to vote against it. I went to appeal with evidence of untruths and won hands down, the appeal officer even told the planners they were not abiding by their own policies and pointed out their inaccuracies. You dont need to ask me what I think of planners do you. ?‍?. (That’s the nearest I could find to a cowboy).

Mines not far behind. Hum, bit more work required I think. Yours is looking fab (jealous face).

Odd comment, frankly very odd! Bit of a chip? It seems you have an issue with professionals in the construction industry, the professionals who design aspects of of the built environment. I was approached a couple of weeks ago by a women who wishes to build a large extension, she is unsure how to go about it and the way to get best value for money. I suggested that I would have her planning permission drawings produced and I would have various details drawn up by our structural engineer and the building warrant drawings I would produce using the material produced from various sources including the "standard text" which is part of our library (roof makeup, renders, fire stops, drainage etc. which as you know is not detailed as a drawing but often just provided as text which specs the makeup). We would then obtain her permission/warrant. This will give her a full design and PP and building warrant when complete and will cost her little more than £1500.00 for our fee. She is not buying a comfort blanket, she is buying security and she is buying detail that we will insist her extension is built to. This gives her a high quality well designed build without "professional builders" erecting some cheap tat with poorly or non-designed aspects. If anything goes wrong due to the detail provided then it is our practises liability, for which we have insurances which will protect her and she is aware of this. We as a firm would protect her and would even step in to cover costs if we made a mistake that cost her or her appointed builder due to our negligence - we will also plan to PM the build for her and provide a site PM who will keep an eye on details as the build commences and allow for variations to be produced if anything must change due to our error or factors beyond our control which we may or may not change for. What you possibly don't understand is the RIBA/CIBSE stages and how a building design evolves. Clients will have ideas and this allows a design brief to be produced, the client will then agree or disagree with this and it is revised until the client is happy - this then may end our involvement and gives them something to go and tender the design stages to several firms. Then the original or new firm will undertake a concept design which as the name suggests is just the concept then the process goes through similar stages as the DB and if all is approved will go onto detailed design - at this stage it is entirely possible things will be designed and detailed that will never make it to the final building but that is due to many many factors, almost always the client seeing something new they want during the design stages. What may end up on construction drawings may not resemble the concept design at all but that is how buildings evolve, if everyone knew what they wanted from stage one then we would go directly to construction drawings but the chances of us designing exactly what the client wants would be slim, therefore we have stages. We do not aim to rip people off and often trades resent professionals because they don't like being told how to do their trade - I can see this from both sides of the fence, but a consultant engineer sitting with for example with a DuPont technical representative and discussing precise use of a product and specifying all the sundry products to go with it will often ruffle the feathers of your roofer who wants to go and use Fakro Eurotop because that is what he uses and he can get a deal on it at his favourite merchants. The client then may end up with a mongrel of a roof. The roofer may be a brilliant tradesman with excellent skills but they might not actually know how all the materials precisely go together for that guaranteed 30 year roof. Pro's might not be able to fit it, but the chances are we know damn well how it should go together. The roofer can go about this the correct way and ask if they can apply for a variation but they often don't and if they are met with resistance by the engineer due to DuPont being used for a particular reason they go in a huff. It's an age old issue. Designed detailed building built to spec should and in almost all cases will work properly, most issues we read about on this forum and see in shows like Grand Designs you will often note are due to lack of design and planning. Pro's and trades will never see eye to eye, simple as that. I argue with very skilled electricians weekly - usually because they didn't read a spec properly and or made a colossal mistake. Look at Grenfell, penetrations in service riser fire stopping... 1 of two things happened here: 1. Someone didn't read the spec or neglected the spec, written by an engineer. 2. A "pro builder" decided to undertake it himself with no design and decided not to carry out remedial work on the penetrations or simply didn't understand what it was for.

Hmmm - not sure where to start with this one - so lets just say I am not sure this view is wholly accurate and may mislead people dangerously. I feel it very much depends on what and where you are building but primarily why you are building and your background. Coupled to this the concept of 'expense' is just a world view thing and has little interplay with the cost / value equation you will need to deploy across the whole build. If building for oneself then getting it right for you probably moves the cost / value equation about quite a bit in terms of professional support as would building in a sensitive location / conservation area / green belt etc. There are some aspects of professional support it is very hard to avoid. Structural engineer (I am not one so have no axe to grind here) for a start although a set of plans may contain all the calculations the building control people will need to be convinced that they are relevant today and that any alterations as might be required to meet current building regs have been reworked by a competent person and at the very least the roof structure will need a set of stability calcs. The architect question is also tied up here, and they are a costly aspect but the value balance in the equation is critical. I can only speak from personal experience as in the three build cases I have been involved with we have always used one to ensure that in getting what we wanted, not what we thought of, and we swept out all the corners of the possibilities by relying on their professional experience and challenging them to match our expectations. In the first two cases we did and we are happy with the result. In the third case we won't know until we get the building finished but I suspect that its going to be good - I can build it well I think but designing it is a whole other ball game - speak to @caliwag he will have a view I am sure. There are of course some lucky clever people who can design and build a house without any professional support at the design end (SE accepted) but you can never know just what a difference that professional front end work would have made - engineering optimisation is after all not aesthetic optimisation and a home / house is a machine for living in but there are a lot of aspects to living.

Excellent progress. I hope the plumber doesn't hold them up

If he needs an alternative to oil which will also (hopefully) not involve a rapid phase-change, as is not concerned by fire risk, I see that TNT has a higher volumetric heat capacity.

Your cut into the wall is going to have to be laser precise are you will score the coating of it. When on it will look nice and sharp though .

This is it https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/product/epdm-metal-wall-flashing-plastisol-coated-3m-length.html

I would definitely see if you can persuade someone to apply to "object", so that you get your 3 minutes to address the committee. Anyone can "object", they don't have to be a neighbour, or even live nearby, so if you can persuade someone to request to speak to the committee to object, but in reality only object about some very trivial non-planning policy point (like they don't like the style of something that you're not intending to fit anyway), then you should be OK and get your opportunity. I did something similar for our neighbour, who found his application for a granny annex going to committee, really just because he'd managed to upset a lot of people in the village by trying to sell the land behind his house to a developer, who got PP to build 24 houses on it (another story). People being what they are, when he put in a quite reasonable application he had a lot of objections in writing, so it was automatically called in to committee. None of the objectors registered to speak at the committee meeting, so he asked if I would, really so he could address the committee himself. He was planning to move a phone pole as a part of the changes, a pole that was a nuisance in that it narrowed the pavement and caused people with prams to walk into the lane. The movement of the pole wasn't in his planning application (no need for it to be) so my reason for standing up and objecting was to request that a condition be placed on the application, if it were approved, such that the phone pole was relocated in order to reduce the risk to pedestrians walking past the new entrance he was creating for his granny annex. I stood up, made the point about pedestrian safety and that the pole needed to be moved, then went on to say that other than that I supported the application as it closed off his old double garage entrance to the lane and so made more parking spaces available for churchgoers. Both points were noted by the committee, and then my neighbour stood up, made his case for needing accommodation for his ageing Mother and mentioned at the end that he accepted my point about moving the pole. His application was approved. He did come around later that evening with a bottle of wine, but I felt I had to refuse it, as it sort of seemed to seal the fact that we'd colluded to give him his chance to speak. So, I'd suggest you try and do something similar, just so you can get your three minutes of fame.,

Not if it isn’t in the PP. You can only claim for a garage if it’s included in the PP.

Quite a lot of the timber frame kit suppliers here have a range of standard designs. But they won't always work well on any plot. A house at the bottom of our road I am sure is an example. Enter via their drive and you arrive at a blank gable end with no windows or doors. You can turn left and after 2 turns you eventually come to the "back" door facing completely opposite to the road. Or you can turn right and go through a gate that takes you into a garden and there is the front door. The house design seems completely wrong for the plot and I am convinced it is just a standard design plonked there with little thought.

Taking your list and breaking it down to items that anyone building on that plot of land would have to face, and those items that are optional, or could be resolved in more than one way: 1. Any form of demanded environmental study/report/mitigation measure is going to be mandated by law and/or the planning authorities. Nothing anyone can do except comply with the requirements or walk away from considering developing that land. It's nothing at all to do with self building. 2. Archaeological surveys, reports, watching briefs etc, exactly as above, the developer of the land only has a choice as to whether to comply with the law/planning requirements or walk away, and it wouldn't make a jot of difference if the developer was a self builder or any other builder, the same would apply. 3. The use of a planning consultant depends on many factors. Self-builders are no different from any other builder when it comes to making this choice - if it looks like obtaining PP may be challenging then anyone should carefully consider if there is merit in using a planning consultant who will be far more familiar with local planning policy and the particular quirks of the local planning department. 4. Ground condition determination, not necessarily drilling, there are a host of ways of obtaining the data needed and anyone developing any land anywhere is going to need this information, whether they are a self builder or any other person wanting to build on the land, 5 All foundations need to be either designed using approved details (effectively SE designed systems that are known to work for those conditions) or have to have an individual SE's input. It matters not whether the builder is a self-builder or not, Part A applies equally to all. 6. The vast majority of houses built in the UK are not designed by an architect. Last time I looked at the data that was available, the figure was something like 10% are architect designed. Whether a self builder chooses to use an architect to design a house is no different a decision as to whether any other builder chooses to use an architect. 7. An architects project management service is probably something a larger developer may choose to use, probably on a non-domestic development, than it is something a self-builder would opt for. Some architects offer it as a service, usually along with some form of certificate to satisfy a lender, some don't. 8. No such thing as a "Technical Architect" as far as I'm aware. There are architects, who have their own professional body, and their are architectural technicians, who are not architects but often do many of the smaller jobs for which an architect's fees may represent too high a proportion of the total value. 9. A building warranty is not usually optional for self-builders using a lender to fund the build, or who need to sell the house within ten years of completion. There is an alternative, to have an architect manage the build and provide a certificate, and some lenders will accept that in place of a warranty, some won't. The decision as to whether to have some form of warranty is not at all unique to self builders, it applies to anyone building a house that wishes to either use a lender to fund the build or wishes to sell it within ten years to someone who needs a lender to fund the purchase. 10. Site insurance applies equally to anyone building on land. It's not mandatory, but you need deep pockets if you wish to self-insure for public liability risk. Everyone from big developers to self-builders face exactly the same decision on site insurance. 11. CDM doesn't normally apply to self-builders - read the useful summary on it here: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/2514-cdm-2015-and-the-domestic-client/?tab=comments#comment-38515 12. There is no legal requirement for any "site cabin", for self builders; there will be for a developer or big builder employing people though. All a self-builder has to provide is a toilet and hand washing facilities, which can be met with a portaloo. 13. Not sure where you get the idea that there is any requirement for a "fancy mineral water dispenser". There needs to be clean water on site, but there isn't a requirement on a self-builder to provide potable water (although most would, as tea/coffee definitely lubricates site workers and keeps them happy). 14. There is a legal requirement to put fencing around a site that meets the requirements of the insurers, primarily, and the general test as to whether site fencing is adequate, in terms of protecting the general public, is the normal legal test for reasonableness, "would the man on the Clapham omnibus consider this fencing to be a reasonable way of keeping people out?" 15. Site safety notices are a mandatory requirement, to warn the general public that it is a potentially dangerous building site, to tell them to keep out (this backs up the statement that the fencing makes) and to advise anyone entering the site on the minimum level of PPE that they should both equip themselves with and use when working on site. There is no requirement on a self-builder to enforce the wearing of PPE, although many of us try to, just out of common sense. So, in summary, quite what amongst this lengthy list is specific to a self builder, and doesn't apply to anyone else building on a given plot of land?

My garage although built under permitted development was included in the house planning permission (gained after it was built) so VAT can be re claimed.

Do cows and sheep count??

Could you cut into the wall and form a lead soaker similar to what you would have on a roof. Then at the walls edge put a concrete channel in to collect this water plus any from the paving area and have to run to wherever your closet drain is. If you haven't the height to fit a channel then make your own from some semi dry concrete and a length of 110mm pipe. https://www.raygrahams.com/products/133182-concrete-dished-water-channel-36-x-10-x-5.aspx

Yeah, if you try to store all the heating you'll need in the winter during the summer (e.g., http://www.earth.org.uk/milk-tanker-thermal-store.html ) then the numbers won't work. But there're long periods in the shoulder seasons (spring and autumn) when currently harvested energy just about balances your energy use averaged over a small number of weeks and even in the worst bits of the winter there's some energy to be harvested. My rather big bet is that a large thermal store will cover the gap from, say, early December to early February when there's a net energy loss from the house.

Don't tell hubby, but I am enjoying it. I daresay I will change my mind quickly enough if something goes wrong, mind you!

You had better be, because once MBC turn up on site, it's fast and furious and everything has to fit around them. Things happen at an incredible pace and no matter how much you read about it, how many videos you look at, it doesn't quite prepare you for the reality of that speed, or not in my case. Some surprises are good, and this was one of them. I'll get to the photos shortly, but first a few comments on what else has been happening since the slab was finished on the 9th August, or thereabouts, as some is preparation and others are running in parallel. First off, immediately after the slab was finished, I confirmed that everything was still good to go with the scaffolders and that they would be here the week before the timber frame was due to be certain it was all in place. I understand that scaffolders have quite a negative reputation in general and I can only speak of this, my one experience of dealing with them, but so far the firm I'm using have been professional and polite throughout, from the manager to the guys actually putting the scaffolding up. Long may it continue. You may recall my post about my little problem with the overhead electricity lines and my concern about being able to put sufficient scaffolding up for the MBC team to do their thing. The scaffold guys came around as far as they could with it, but there isn't much around where the garage will be and I will admit to having some qualms over this and whether it would cause massive problems for MBC. It turns out that it didn't. At all, not in the slightest. Nada. Phew. You'll see the detail of it later, but it was a weight off my mind to see the garage actually going up. So what's happening with the electricity thing, then, I hear you cry. Currently, it's a waiting game. There is a viable and acceptable solution in play, which is to replace the poles that support the lines which oversail my property with taller ones, an increase in height of about 3m. This is fine with me, as I don't object to the lines being there, after all, I bought the property with them in situ. The wait is down to planning permission, but not mine. It seems that because the proposed increase in height of the poles is greater than 10% of their current height, the DNO has to apply for planning permission to replace with the new, taller ones, and the DNO is no different from we mere mortals who also have the statutory 8 week wait for the planning decision. So, we wait. Sadly, the DNO are showing no signs of paying for the work so far and the quote for the work, inclusive of VAT, is around £8k. Let me state at the outset, I have no intention of paying £8k for this, particularly as the lines running over my property are then on a voluntary basis, with my consent (the wayleave agreement). I have done some reading around the subject and, in particular, the level of compensation that DNOs typically pay to householders if a wayleave or its more permanent cousin, an easement, is granted to the DNO. In the case of an easement, it's anywhere between 1% and 2% of the value of the property with all the legals at the DNO's expense. I haven't had a chance to talk through this with the wayleave officer, but I suspect and hope that we will reach agreement on the logical course of their doing the work at their own cost and I will grant them an easement. It seems a fair exchange and an efficient way to give a good outcome. Whether they take the same view remains to be seen, but I shall update once I know more. With regards to other tasks, I'm basically thinking ahead to once the structure is weather tight and secure. This stage of the timber frame should be done in a couple of weeks, so let's say 14th September. My solar PV is all booked and ready to go shortly after that but I need to get the velux windows and a roof course of the tiles up so that the PV installation can go ahead. I'm waiting for quotes right now and hope to have this sorted by early next week. Once the solar PV is in, I won't call the roofers back straight away as I need to wait for the glazing installation, which is due on 24th September, so the rest of the roof will get done most likely in early October. What else? Well, my UFH, MVHR and all the kit for that is actually starting to get sorted this week, from tomorrow. MBC are pushing off to another job for a couple of days to give my plumber time to get the UFH stuff sorted for the first floor. What? UFH upstairs? Yes. I'm a girl and I function best at temperatures a couple of degrees higher than you boys. It may be that we don't need it, but it's easier to put it in now than for hubby listen to my teeth chattering for the next 30 years. Okay, okay, I'll get to the action stuff now. So, bright and early the day after the bank holiday, the first enormous flat bed lorry stacked with timber frame arrived. The crane was already on site, as were the MBC crew. Actually, I think I've got 2 crews, a total of 7 guys yesterday, which explains the blistering rate of progress. It was a really tight squeeze getting that lorry up the narrow lane to the site and the drivers really prove their mettle getting in and out of there. This is yesterday's crane. They have an incredible reach and are quite something to see in action. I couldn't get the whole thing in a shot. Before anything happens with the walls, the team go around string marking where the beams are and putting down sole plates for the walls to lock into. The black stuff is the DPM which overlaps the EPS underneath. Space was getting a bit tight on the site, but between the hard standing and the inside of the house, everything found a spot. Once all the marking out was done and sole plates were down in the right places, the crane hauled the walls up and they were guided into position. Here's the view over the field from what will be one of the living room windows. At the end of yesterday afternoon, all the external walls were up and they starting marking out for the internal stud walls. There's more to follow from today, but I'll put that into a separate post. This one's busy enough.

Only for you, pal.

You'd better keep my secrets or there'll be trouble!

Well recognised, Jack! Your name has already been mentioned a couple of times but don't worry, your secrets are safe with me. For now?

Why is the flashing dependant on the block paving? I thought you found that the block paving is what introduced the leak... I think you need to look at having a completely waterproof contiguous external skin - all upstands, glazing and flashings in place, thoroughly tested, then do the paving.

Lies damn lies and statistics! ? You can use the info if it says what you want and leave it out if not ?. If any of the houses have been up for sale in recent times you may find sales particulars from the last time they were marketed on something like Zoopla. They should have room sizes albeit they may not be accurate either ...

I’m sure I read that the EPC contains the floor area of each property. Obviously not every house has had an EPC done, but where they have this is public data. https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressByPostcode.html

Tanking the inside would only delay the water problem if it’s not fixed at it’s starting point. It will just take longer to become an obvious problem but when it does the fix will be MUCH more work, much more disruption and expense...... and will send you mad !

Top progress...these pics show how strong a slate roof is too. It's like three layers of solid stone thick and perfect for our wild weather. Top job

The door arrived today, exactly when they said it would. Delivered by there own van who drove up from England yesterday, dropped one at Aberdeen this morning and a couple more to do in Scotland before he heads back. Ii was easy to fit, fitted perfectly and seems to work well.

There's no stopping it now. Buckle yourself in tight and keep the pace up and you will be shopping for curtains in no time.

Sorry, but i’ve got serious doubts that tanking the inside of the building will do anything at all. The answer is to find out how the water is penetrating past the external membrane and fix it at that location.

Ok so the PP refers to after the build, that’s a pretty stringent set of restrictions and I’m assuming the conservation officer wrote most of them... ask if you can build a brick privy as that’s got to be in keeping with the period ..! TBH I wouldn’t go with a shed as a tool store as your local light fingered fraternity will relieve you of the tools within it I expect within a week... small container is the way to go - you can buy demountable ones that have a resale value of virtually what you will pay for it so it’s a good investment to sell at the end and doesn’t need lifting into place.

Yes I am definitely coming around to this idea particularly if we buy a decent static and we feel it is a tenable option for 18 months. Swmbo and I had reviewed our options this evening and I said a Sunday walk through the village or hike in the surrounding hills is just as rewarding if we are living in a finished house or cosy static. I am learning a lot doing the garage footings block work and like the idea of cutting my teeth on a less critical structure, it is a whole mini building cycle where I will learn hands-on to do everything from wall ties, air brick ducts, beam floors, wall plates, window and door and fitting. Once the garage is roofed the storage limitations of the static will be eased considerably plus we get a proper utility room for a washing machine and dryer.

Just build the garage and then it can act as your storage area for all the materials you will use. Can also be an office, tea hut and maybe even a toliet area if your putting one in it. Will be a practice run for you to fine tune how your build might go.

I think your getting to the root of the problem with this statement. Get those windows in really well, get that flashing on and hopefully your there.

If its that noisy, and your as sure as you can be that its coming from the HP coil, then too damn right. What if it gets worse? The last time I had a warranty claim with telford, prob over 8 years ago ( and not really a fault more my blagging as the EV had gone and popped the UVC ) they dropped off the new one and waited to collect the old one.

Ok, I’m getting you , so the Newton dimples lap over the top of that concrete ceiling but don’t reach to bond with the edpm, so while water running down the stone wall should be stopped by your (work in progress) flashing, dampness in the stone wall can reach down to behind the dimples....including on top of the dimples that are lapped onto the ceiling, so if it tracked far enough to exceed the lap of the dimples it would be onto the top of the ceiling. Thats how I’m reading it if there are no further damp proof membranes...is that right. In that case it looks to me like technically you are vulnerable, but realistically, it might never happen. Whether you should be concerned I’m not experienced/qualified to say. Based on what I understand of this though, If it were my build I’d drop a few quid on a surveyor who specialises in remediation of damp problems having a look, or get your building control guy (if he’s the helpful type) to apply his brain to it. Regarding “can make flush with final floor”...I believe your average walk on skylights that APPEAR flush only do so because the paving surrounding them is on pedestals raising them above a clear drainage floor that is somewhat below the top of the upstand on which the skylight is sitting. If your slabs are sitting on a mortar bed right up to edge of skylight I think you’ll have a problem.

God it’s painful to see how things are done by supposed professionals.... the last thing you want is water ingress after your all paved up...... get it flashed and sealed up 100% around those edges or your going to hate yourself in a few years when it starts to let water in.

I have done quite a bit of flashing onto rough rock walls and it’s definatly harder than a nice brick wall. You will need to work out your maximum depth needed to go into the wall due to the unevenness of the stonework, it will only be as good as the weakest link. Also I have found that cutting a single slot with an angle grinder and then pushing in the flashings leaves little room to properly seel it up. On walls like this I often take outa good 25mm -30mm slot by 50mm deep i then build up the bace on an angle and put the flashing in and then re- mortar the hole, that way if there is any difference in expansion and contraction resulting in micro cracking then the water will not track back into the wall because of the fall. Its al lot easier if the wall is prepped first so that you have your levels all worked out. But hay ho.... done correctly the flashing will hide a lot of sins and give you a good crisp finish. Prep a whole section before starting and mock up the flashings as these uneven walls can really chuck a spanner in the works if you assume anything..... I am not a pro and the use of fancy sealants may well be advised, this is just what worked for me.

The shower/basin waste run as is (in white), just ends above a grill over the drainage gulley as per the sketch on p77 so no gas ingress as such but maybe a little "stinky waste pipe" smell yes. SWMBO really not keen on dropping shower etc into the soil pipe so I reckon it''l be my long run idea but with a universal solvent weld AAV like this and then run the wc overflow separate and out the eaves.