Temp

I can sympathise. We bought a plot that already had PP but it still took me a year to get PP for what we wanted. At one point we submitted revised drawings and didn't hear anything for 4 weeks, then they told us the conservation officer had quit and we would have to wait until they hired a new one to get a response. After a year messing us about we discovered a letter they had sent to a previous owner of the plot that said a house like the one we were proposing "might be better" than the approved design. When we produced that letter in a meeting there were red faces and bosses were called into the meeting. They gave in but still took another 8 weeks to issue the grant. Actually building the house was easier than getting PP.

Bit of expanding foam to fill gaps.

Some LED drivers come with a remote control device allowing brightness and colour to be changed. Needs the right type of LED strip. The one we have remembers the settings when the power is switched off so you don't need to use the remote often.

Personally I wouldn't overlap. I think there will be too great a risk of movement. In addition I don't think much sticks to pressure treated wood. I can see water getting trapped under the tiles in contact with the wood.

I think planning departments send documents out to a third party to be converted to pdf? Earlier you mentioned there were objections. I would read them all looking for those that are valid planning objections. Most won't be. If there are any you can address by making simple changes perhaps consider doing so.

Wait for the electrician and talk to him. I think the downlight Co is talking nonsense. Where is the LED strip going? The LED driver will need to be minimum distances away from wet areas and possibly hidden away in the ceiling with 24V wiring to the strip. I have three 230V LED downlights and a mirror with LED strip back-light all on one switch. The driver is built into the back of the mirror.

Assuming this is for a new house.. If you buy them you have to pay VAT and reclaim it later. If the builder buys them they should be zero rated to you as well as his labour. Make sure his quote doesn't say "Plus VAT". If you buy them you also get to keep any left over. If he buys them he may insist any left over are his (dubious).

Normally ASHP is a supply and fit item. Eg The installer should zero rate both the ASHP and their labour to you. So there is no VAT to reclaim. Same as you do for other trades that supply materials like the electrician. If you are buying the ASHP yourself then yes you can reclaim the VAT. I would add a note to the reciept stating that there was a design change to use ASHP rather than an Oil Boiler.

You can't normally claim for outbuildings but see this post which suggests it might be possible depending on what the outbuilding is going to be. The idea is its not really an outbuilding, just your house is in two parts... Might be worth amending the plans to replace "workshop" with "Home Office"....but I'm not sure if there is a fee for that. Is your Home Office going to be for business use? Then it can be reclaimed through the business if VAT rated? Beware that might trigger business rates? Capital Gains Tax? https://yorkshireaccountancy.co.uk/blog/tax-implications-of-building-a-home-office/#:~:text=Running Costs%3A VAT on expenses,ready-made office is reclaimable.

+1 Just make sure you can prove you have given the builder opportunity to rectify. Typically that would be a letter sent "Signed For" giving him a final deadline of say two weeks or you will find someone else and take action to recover. You can only claim for legitimate costs so ideally make sure the quotes are only for things he should have done. Don't include any new work, changes etc. Keep those separate.

Also worth Googling for uPVC door seals. Lots of different replacement sections available. The difficulty is finding the one you have.

+1 They are on the bottom right as shown in the diagram on page 7 The NO and COM pins are connected together when its calling for heat. Not connected when it isn't.

Systems with multiple stats typically use a wiring centre (or a box with a different name) that performs a logical OR function to generate a Boiler Enable (BE) signal.... BE = StatA or StatB or StatC.... My guess is the Roth box is performing that function and probably timer functions as well. Did the electrician or plumber check if the BE signal (or whatever it's called on your system) go active at the boiler?

Perhaps consider moving the stack in the utility room to the corner of the cloakroom next to the WC. Then run 50mm/2" around the utility room above floor level. With upstands for washing machine etc.

395mn to the top of the pan. The seat extra. I probably aimed for 400mm and the stone floor took more than expected.

The top of our pan ended up about 395mm above the finished floor. Google says normal height for the top of the pan is around 400mm. The seat adds a bit more. That seems to work ok for my 6ft kids. 1m to the top of the frame wouldn't be possible on my house as the window sill is lower than that. I did discover that some pans have a non standard spacing between the wall mounting bolts, flush pipe and waste pipe. So perhaps worth checking the pan you want will fit before its all hidden. Make sure the frame is securely fixed to the wall and floor and ideally 2x4 studs either side as well the forces are quite high when someone plonks themselves down on the edge of the pan.

Apart from the silt in the bottom the only issue we have had is with the tap freezing and bursting when we forget to wrap it up in winter, but this applies to all outside taps. I should really build a permanently insulated box around it. I forgot to mention we fitted a programmable timer to the pump so can set it up to water the garden while away on holiday but have never actually used it for that.

We installed an underground tank and pump when we built our house. The instructions specified a concrete slab foundation to stop the tank floating out of the ground. It has a leaf trap/filter but has still accumulated a fine silt in the bottom. There is an access hatch/manhole cover to allow the pump to be lifted out. Gets used a lot in summer for garden watering. Can't remember the exact capacity but think it's around 2000L. We also had a caged IBC on an allotment. This was raised up about 800mm on blocks laid horizontally so a watering can fits under the tap and gives a bit more pressure for a hose. I don't think the IBC we had would be cutting enough for underground use without more reinforcement. Probably need to fill it with water then concrete around it? We nearly had a disaster with our turf. The weather changed to sunny and windy and we couldn't water it fast enough to stop it shrinking and gaps forming. We had two sprinklers going and moved them every hour but still wasn't enough. Couldn't use more sprinklers because the pressure dropped so the area being watered didn't increase. The rainwater tank ran out on second day. The next week or so we had the sprinklers on mains water.

If the fence isn't likely to be refused (eg its the same as neighbours and its not 6ft where it fronts the highway) then I think I would just apply to have the conditions discharged as that's cheap. There is always a small chance they will want a different fence or changes but you will have to take that risk if you really want the paperwork wrapped up. Otherwise I'd just leave sleeping dogs lie. If you want it discharged I would write something like.. Re: Planning Reference Number aaaaa I am writing to request planning conditions number x and y be discharged. x) We are proposing a six foot wooden lap board fence similar/identical to that used on neighbouring properties. Attach photo of neighbouring fence. y) As all construction work has been completed we request permission to remove the tree protection measures required by planning condition z Make sure to include/pay the fee (I think one fee still covers multiple conditions discharged at the same time but check). If they bother to send someone out apologise and say the builder got ahead of things or say you sent it last year and didn't notice they hadn't replied.

Biggest issue many face is with the process of getting planning permission. Not sure if the survey will capture that. It took us over a year and a lot of money and C02 to get approval. Most of the delay was due to a lack of resources in the planning department, turn over of staff and a lack of consistency. They told the previous owner of the plot one thing and told me the exact opposite.

Any room in the loft?

Opinions do differ on this. Some insist that it's not a problem if the wall is vapor permeable or if the permeability increases as you move from inside to out. In my view it's hard to know if the walls are vapour permeable and it's better to add a vapour barrier before plasterboarding. Do you have any plans for ventilation? When you seal up an old house you inevitably reduce draughts that might have been helping to keep the house dry. I think this is more an issue for houses with solid walls and no DPC etc. When we built our house we opted for an MVHR system and I think the constant air flow they deliver does work better than trickle vents in Windows even ignoring the heat recovery part.

I think I'd check that the insulation in the cavity isnt causing any damp to transfer across. What can happen is that insulating on the inside "moves" the internal brickwork towards the cold side. Then, if warm humid air created in your house can get through the new insulation, water can potentially condense on the now colder surface. That air can get through to new insulation via electrical sockets or any other holes, perhaps at floor or ceiling. So I think careful attention to sealing gaps is important. I think this is another reason to check the insulation in the cavity wall hasn't all slumped leaving uninsulated areas.

I think this level of detail Warrants getting a planning consultant involved. I would find someone local and give him all of the above with a request for an opinion and a quote to handle an appeal.

You can hire Cable Avoidance Tools (CAT) quite reasonably to trace a cable run. https://brandonhirestation.com/cable-avoidance-tool-hire Electric cables can be easier to deal with than sewers.