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Thanks for all the comments, I ended up painting the ceiling with Tikkurila Anti Reflex 2 and it looks so much better!

I've split my area up into Zones. I can get quite a lot of solar gain in certain areas, so zones are good for me, allowing those rooms benefitting for the solar gain to not be heated by the UFH.

Ah didn’t appreciate you were in Germany. will take some of my comments back, maybe not, still looks rough..

The transition from ‘old to new’ seems odd, which may have left a step inside the pipe. Hard for us to comment / judge tbh as these are German standards and fittings not UK.

He’s not a plumber, he’s a chancer time to bin him and find some decent trades before this buried and causes you no end of problems

Here is the plumber's solution

Good spot

First grass cut today, other than a couple of minor things that's everything done now. I'll take more pictures tomorrow.

It’s ’surprising’ how often this happens to listed buildings shortly after they are sold.

moved into our property just over 2 years ago West Yorkshire - Old stone house off the beaten track. I think we are about done but things keep cropping up to improve or fix... so far...(it's been a busy 2 years) - converted the separate barn into a garage/dry workshop/storage area <this was done first because we didn't know all the other SH*! was going to come along> - new double glazed windows throughout, increased loft insulation <needed doing, the old ones were leaky lettingrain and wind in and failing> - replaced the septic tank to a water treatment plant <again found the old septic tank was failing and new rules mean it has to be a water treatment plant> - installed MVHR (just upstairs for now) <the new windows stopped a lot of draughts and produced condensation and mould around the bedrooms - this has now completely disappeared and has reduced the dust - very pleased with it> - Replaced calor gas (LPG) Tank with ASHP this included upgrading the hot water gravity system with a new pressurised hot water system, bigger radiators and more radiators, more insulation/draft proofing. <hated the ugly calor gas tank in the middle of the garden, and now we have proper hot water pressure and the ASHP works really well> - installed 16Kw of solar panels and a Tesla battery <Ordered when I first moved in and took a year of faffing between the DNO and solar installer, but it's in and we are estimating it's taken us off grid for 45% of the year and on top of that, exporting enough to help half the bills in the winter (when the ASHP costs a lot to run)> - added an extension (for new kitchen) - <most stress ever.> the most stress ever, but worth it. We can now tell the difference between a modern insulated room (the kitchen) and an old retro fitted one (rest of the house), the extension can be heated from a old light bulb and stay warm all day. The rest of the house takes a bit longer to warm up. - old kitchen converted into the utility room/ boot room/ downstairs loo < hey - we like a downstairs loo and separate washing rooms (and drinks fridge)

Ignore all the rules you have mentioned. With MVHR you don't really need anything, but if you are cooking smelly food the carbon filter helps. Concentrate on looks, but importantly noise. We rarely use the fan above the first setting, because it make little or difference and is noisy.

I have the engineering drawings that were submitted to the council when the plans were approved. I also have seen the plans in the sales office that show the block paving. I have also spoken to the Site Manager and Construction Manager and they said "We didn't know it should be block paving". I am speaking to the sales team today, emailed the Senior Planning Officer that has taken on the amendment and obviously had myself and everyone who is effected put in a breach of planning control.

Mares tail it helps if you bruise plant before spraying. I normally stamp through it before spraying, then leave it to die off which is normally a few weeks after its rained.

We also have some oak posts on brick plinths. They are located using a length of 20mm stainless round bar sticking up into a hole in the bottom of the post. They hold up a small tiled roof overhang so no need to fix them down.

We have a mortgage on our current house with Nationwide with a Loan to Value (LTV) of about 15%. We're both closer to retirement than starting work, and we were transparent about what we were doing (except for my rolling "2 year" completion timeframe)

Does the contract say block paved or just paved? If it says paved then tarmac or concrete is within the definition

I think I may have neglected my pre-filters the last time I cleaned the MVHR filters. Once again the MVHR Seemed to be getting noisier, initially I put it down to me just always listening out for any noises but this morning when it did it’s morning switch from 100m3/hr to 200m3/hr it sounded like it was on boost. I went to have a look and this time remembered my pre-filter! 🤮🤮🤮 not the best photo but you can probably see that it is absolutely bogging. Almost completely blocked by all sorts of detritus. I don’t think it’s been neglected for more than 6 months so I’m surprised how bad it is. The only thing I can think of is that we seem to have had many more days of northerly/easterly winds of late (according to my gut feeling) and we have cultivated fields that side. I measured the noise with an app on my phone up against a supply terminal before and after replacing the pre filter. 41db before 33db after. Also the power draw 67W before 34W after. I must remember to keep an eye on those pre filters.

No experience of approaching Nationwide directly, but we remortgaged with them via a broker to release equity to buy our plot. The broker said he fully disclosed the reason and Nationwide were fine. This was ~12 months ago.

I would. 1. Remove the planks. 2. From the top down use some permanently flexible sealant to seal any gaps around the perimeter and joints of the fermcell. This will help with airtighness and prevent most of the moist air from the house coming into your roof space. 3. Then lay 140mm of a good quality mineral wool like Rockwool or RockSilk between the beams. You could then put timbers at a depth of your choosing across the beams at 90deg at closer centres. Say 100mm or 140mm and lay more more mineral wool in-between. 4. Then screw some OSB on top to allow for storage on top and finish off the sandwich. There's no need for a vapour barrier if you make a good attempt at the airtightness with the sealant. It may cause more issues than it solves. Theres probably no point in going crazy with the insulation depth either as you've a large thermal bridge with the brick wall adjacent. You could always insulate that too from the top if you were really keen.

Annual HP maintenance will include checking the glycol concentration with a refractometer. Don't know about chemical degradation but if it incorporates inhibitor I would imagine a life of many years just like water with inhibitor. Also the HP does not reach the same temps as a boiler. Some mfrs have warnings (no idea if anyone pays any attention) about dissolved oxygen, pH and hardness e.g. Vaillant Arotherm Plus - but the following appears actulally to have been cut-and-pasted from a boiler manual. pH 8.2 is quite alkaline, mains drinking water pH only has to be >6.5:

Looks like Mares-tail, quite a bugger to get rid of if it is

Yes you do keep saying this. The same argument is used by the anti-EV lobby as well. How fast do you want this change, and how much are you will to contribute to it. Are you willing to help stop some of the perpetual myths about renewable energy. What societal changes are you willing to put up to reach these goals. The 'renewables' industry is not a single pressure group, it is many dispersed groups ranging from individuals spouting their hobby horses i.e. me and Chris Packham, farmers, local councils, to government departments i.e. Department of Energy and Climate Change. They all have different motivations and aims. Why I keep to the same story that combustion technology is a bad thing and using less primary energy is a good thing. As for renewables being built, it is happening quite fast, could be faster with a clean up of planning laws and stopping this pandering to local opposition groups. Environmental stewardship is not about standing still or changing nothing, it is about, using the best evidence available to improving the environment into the future. Just yesterday, on the Radio, here and here, highlights the problems nicely, it highlights that a lot of people genuinely believe that the problems of renewable energy delivery is either insurmountable, or too expensive, or relies on some magic storage, or a tidal barrage between Devon and Wales. What gets my goat about the whole climate change/ energy debate is the polarisation. Wind Turbines get heavily criticised because the old blades get sent to landfill (which is only partly true), PV gets criticised because of the 'toxic chemicals' used in manufacturing. It is as if the no other manufacturing industry has these problems, farming is the worlds largest polluter, should we all stop eating? What really needs to happen is that we have to accept that to improve the environment i.e. less pollution of all sorts has to happen. Then let the engineers, technicians and scientists find good ways to sole the problems, then the politicians, pressure groups and individuals have to sell it to the public. Sell is the important part as it implies a price. Just what price people will accept.

On the plus side we actually have a proper firm starting this coming week to redo the lead

Wall 'strength' is a function of the normalised compressive strength (how to account for the different height / thickness - a 215x100 upright is approx twice the strength than when laid flat), mortar strength and bond pattern. A simple way to think of this effect is that a wall with blocks laid flat is weaker because mortar makes up more of the wall than when the blocks are upright. (Mortar being between 4 - 6MPa typically). This is part of the reason why blockwork of 3.6MPa strength have as much load bearing capacity as clay bricks which are 20 - 50MPa. Not sure I buy it as a significant problem in this situation but that is the technical reasoning.

What a load of sh*t. Build it out of cavity blockwork and attic trusses so that if you decide to put heating in you can insulate the walls at a later date. Get rid of all that steel and why on earth is there a raft? Standard strip foundations and a ground bearing slab. Use Keystone lintels over the openings. Two different sizes for floor joists shown on the drawings and putting a note on to say that the stairs will be designed by a specialist is a complete cop-out!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-66426703

Couldn't move all nearly 3 tons from exposed driveway to underground before we went away on the weekend. Came back today ; 2 pallets left out front gone. I did think of this but convinced myself a relatively small amount no one would nick, I was wrong. Saves me moving them I guess! - though we may be a few tiles short now 🙃 Morale of story - don't leave tiles out the front

Imagine getting building regs to agree to restore that, as it was.

So it’s nothing to do with the builder It’s the Counsul that promised you paver not Tarmac

Building control had a look and said was shoddy, but as expected wasn't really in their remit to comment/enforce. Went back to original guy: came back with a list of excuses which boils down to: - I hadn't bought him the correct stuff (I bought whatever he asked me - lead, timber etc etc) - I hadn't supplied him with architects plans of the roof (this roof make-up ie steel rafters, z-purlins etc is what he came up with himself, and deviates from the architects plans which are for a timber roof structure, and anyway, does the architect need to supply drawing indicating the effing lead should be oiled, welded expansion gaps etc??!) So basically it's my fault as I stupidly assumed that a professional with years of so-called experience who said they could do the job was actually capable of doing the job. You live and learn.