Miek

You could possibly (if you have one) look at the house from outside with a thermal camera while the heating is on inside. But you would expect insulation gaps at the top of walls or under cills not at the bottom of the wall.

Amazing stuff, almost totally rot proof. Phenolic ply, used for trailer decks.

I've found that pocket doors can be noisy to operate compared to a hinged door which is a consideration for an en-suite. Perhaps there are quiet ones but mine aren't.

You could avoid a submersible pump altogether and just get a pump and pressure tank set (about 750w minimum for good hose output) to lift the water out of the tank ( assuming its below ground?), just needs a foot valve on the suction end to keep the pump primed. I do this to boost the water pressure to my Polytunnel tap which is fed from rainwater from the shed roof into 2 ibc's. Works great ( I have a 1.5kw pump so lots of oomph) Downsides are the pump is noisy and frost protection is necessary Advantages are cost, and easy access to the pump.

You need : Money The rest is easy

Open the kitchen window.

Maybe so, but the best place for a sprinkler is in an area where the fire is most likely to start and that is not inside the inner wall. It's cooking, heating, smoking, electrical appliances, candles, etc....

I wonder when the rest of the UK will adopt sprinklers for residential new builds as they do in Wales? Just a matter of time I would have thought.

Glad I'm too young to remember.

I remember my first mortgage. The bank said you can borrow 50k but in 25 years you will have repaid 150k. Holy S*+t I thought. Every penny went into paying it off early..

Find a local farmer with a tele handler?

I would add. You need a more accurate foundation to build off as the tolerances for a timber frame are much smaller than block for example. You need to be plumb, true and square to with in a few mm, then the timber work will be straight forward and accurate.

the only issue I see is that potentially if water got into the cavity and crossed through the insulation to the inner leaf and ran down it would end up on the inside of the building. This is a remote possibility but better to design for worst case scenarios IMO. I'm not convinced entirely that there is a big issue with the original design, but its a detail which needs to be got right in the first place as it can't easily be altered afterwards .A perimeter french drain seems a good idea regardless.

Like this?

That's a good point, i hadn't thought of that issue arising.

Thanks for taking the time to explain, much appreciated. Apologies to the OP for jacking this thread

could you elaborate? is the concern that the weepholes and DPM are at ground level with the outer leaf DPC 1 block above?

My foundation design is very similar, the architect has specified foam glass perinsul as the thermal break on the inner skin (light green in your case). This means you then don't need to insulate below ground within the cavity.

This is a pic of my shed cladding, larch sawn board on board.

Stainless timbalok? Not seen them in SS before.

I'd go brushless myself, the control is smoother. in my experience stainless screws are soft and will shear if driven too hard, it seems far better to pilot them properly, especially in hardwoods.

If the stairs are made the traditional way with wedges for the treads and risers it might be worth getting under them with a hammer and seeing if you can knock them in a bit.

I looked into building to passive standard with single skin and EWI thinking it would be cheaper and simpler. But I changed my mind and went for a 300mm full fill cavity instead. EWI to passive thickness was a bit pricey and quite a fiddle to install, also needs more specialist trades when compared to a cavity build which is far more common. I also felt that external block and render was more durable than the thin coat EWI render systems, and far easier to fix things to, like downpipes or overhead cables.

140mm is the minimum width for a two storey single skin IIRC. But 140 is non standard and costs more so it can be simpler to use a standard 215 block instead.

I welded up some steel to make cabin footings and cast them in concrete. See pics, but this was a flat site and not on rock. On Rock I'd be tempted to use big tyres filled with concrete as the pads and cast in appropriate steel to suit.