Temp

Go around every rad yourself. Have a good feel all around the pipes and valves checking for any dampness. It's easy for small leaks at rads to run down the pipe and dissappear.

Just to check.. There is "Last Mile Asset Management " who are a nationwide connection company and "Last Mile Electricity" who are an IDNO in one area of the country. Are you in the area covered by the latter or are you dealing with the former?

We have 110mm pipe coming up through the floor under the sink. Think a rubber adaptor seals the 40mm sink and dishwasher waste pipe to the 110mm. Never had a problem.

Great site for all things paving and drainage. https://www.pavingexpert.com/blocks04 "Unacceptable construction"... See the accompanying text if you want to argue with a contractor.

Ah I didn't spot this was a garden wall. Is it a retaining wall?

I would expect it to have appeared earlier if normal efflorescence. I think there is a chance something may have changed 2 -4 years ago. Check for blocked or overflowing gutters? Any pipes in the area? New paving? Anything that could make the wall a bit wetter than it was before.

The planners will normally grant permission for a temporary static van if you apply with or after planning permission for a house. If you apply before they may worry you are trying to set up a caravan/traveller site. My understanding is that you don't actually need planning permission if everyone living in the van is a site worker. So if you and your partner are both going to be physically working on the house then you might not need planning permission. However you may yave to prove that so it might avoid hassle from the planners if you do apply with the application for your house. Children cannot be site workers. There may also be HSE issues if children can play in the site.

It doesn't bother me but some worry about what's in insulation as well.

I think some people worry about the chemicals used.

This is very common situation. A neighbour complains and the planners feel obliged to check all the paperwork is in order. They call it regularising the paperwork. If you took the original down in 2007 and built the new one in 2017 they will probably argue the new one isn't a replacement and that you needed to meet Permitted Development rules or make planning application in 2017. How tall is it? Its possible it may not meet Permitted Development rules so a planning application might have been needed. They should be able to tell you this when they visit. If it doesn't meet Permitted Development rules don't panic... If its been finished for more than 4 years I think it's too late for them to take enforcement action. In which case you can Apply for a Certificate of Lawfulnes on the grounds that its too late to initiate enforcement action. Have proof of when it was finished ready for their visit. Don't give them original documents give them copies. Good evidence might included.. Images from Google Street view/Google Earth with dates on. Receipts or invoices from builders. Bank statement showing payment to builder? A letter from a third party confirming you finished it in 2017. Family photos taken back then? Ideally dated on the back. Picture of Granny who died in 2017/18 admiring your handiwork? If you can't prove it was finished more than 4 years ago ask about making a retrospective planning application.

It's interesting that Chinese stock market funds have gone up a bit recently.. Will be interesting to see if this continues, perhaps suggesting a bit of confidence returning? or just a blip?

Have them read this.. https://www.cncbuildingcontrol.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CNCD-053-Warm-Roofs-Easy-Guide.pdf

How old is the house and when did it appear? In house is 10+ years and and the efflorescence is new then most likely it's due to a more recent change/leak . If the house is newish then could be just a natural/common issue with new bricks.

Is that at the level of the DPC? I'm wondering if rainwater is getting into the wall higher up and running down inside the cavity before emerging through the bricks at the DPC level? If that's possible check to see how the water is getting in higher up and fix that. Then when the wall is drier try brushing off the efflorescence with a stiff broom. Avoid wire brushes as they can scratch up the brick.

What you are entitled to is in the T&C of the contract. Are we talking about drawings done for planning or for Building Control? If you're just talking about planning drawings it wouldn't normally be hard to remake you own CAD model. Annoying but possible.

What I do is go to my boxes of screws to find one that fits the thread in the handle. Measure it with vernier calipers to find the thread diameter. Then put the screw through the hole in oven door to see if enough threads stick out to go into the handle. If not use vernier calipers to measure depth of hole and add enough extra to go into the handle. Then I discover Screwfix doesnt have one that length so I end up buying another assorted box of different length screws from Amazon 😞

Google found.. https://artemrestoration.com Who offer a brick cleaning service but I've never used them. They are London based. Says they also remove paint etc

+1 We actually have two wired networks. One just used by security cams. The other main wired net has three PC, two printers and 4 WiFi AP around the house and garden. Best way to connect them. Hate to think how many WiFi devices we have.

Tried switching to the 5GHz band?

How long ago was it removed? If more than 4 (10?) years ago you might be able to apply for a Certificate of Lawful Development on the grounds that it's too late to take enforcement action. Unfortunately I think the fee for a certificate is similar to that for a planning application but unlike a planning application, if you meet the rules, they can't refuse one. With a planning application they could refuse permission and decide to make you reinstate the chimney. For example if they think its loss is detrimental to the appearance of the house or wider area. If its a listed building there is other legislation that you might need to comply with.

Discussion on Farming forum here.. https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/biodiversity-offsetting-anyone-done-it.370772/

That looks like salt efflorescence. My guess is your gutter is leaking/overflowing and the rain water is washing salt out of the bricks. Fix the leak and try using a stiff broom to remove the salt. Some websites say washing the bricks with water or pressure washing can work. Others say it makes things worse. Some info here.. https://prosoco.com/brick-efflorescence-removal-and-prevention-tips/ Personally I would avoid using chemicals as they can mark the brick work. Even scrubbing with a stiff brush can do that so try small areas first.

Just had a look at the calculator and pig/poultry farm land is estimated at 70kg/ha/y. Green field/open space is 5kg/ha/y. So converting pig farm to open space saves 65kg/ha/y. So you would need about 3.23/65 × 10,000 = 500sqm or a patch about 22m x 22m. My guess is you would need to buy it and put a covenant on it preventing future use as a pig/poultry farm or other high nutrient use. But after that you might be able to sell it, possibly back to the farmer :-)

Another approach might be to buy a small area of a pig farm and take it out of use. I think the Natural England calculator has data for pig farms already built in because part of the calculation for a new dvelopment depends on what the land is used for currently. I think it can also handle mixed use so you can tell it your development will replace X square meters of pig farm and Y square meters of other land with X+Y Square meters of development. That should allow you to play around to work out how much pig farm you would need to buy to break even. Might not be much.

Do adjust the voltage before connecting the router as it might be supplied set too high. Will need a voltmeter for that.