Temp

I agree it's most likely an old chimney. You can see remains of the flashing at the top.

Ah sorry my bad.

It's measured from the ground adjacent to the building. If the ground slopes it's from the highest part adjacent to the building. You might get away with raising the ground slightly but if it's obvious that's what you have done the increase will likely be discounted.

It's amazing what some will complain about. They might just complain it needed planning permission.

In some areas planning officers are part time, only working 3 days a week. I believe they work the other 2 days at another county.

If you fit clear glass and the neighbour complains it's likely the planning office would require you to apply for retrospective planning permission or fit obscure glass. They do this just to shut the neighbour up and or for the planning fee.

Tape the joints in the foil covered insulation with metal foil tape to form vapour barrier.

One option would be to fit clear glass and some sort of obscure film. At least then if the neighbours move you can peal it off.

Unfortunately that's not what the tech guidance says. It doesn't need to be fixed shut but it does need to be obscured.

Source https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/permitted-development-rights-for-householders-technical-guidance So unfortunately you are correct, it must be obscured to level 3. How well do you get on with the neighbours? If they are happy I would just risk installing clear glass if that's what you want. The planners are very unlikely to come check once the original build is complete.

I used flexible tile adhesive. Seems OK. However some trays aren't very flat on the bottom or strong enough. The mortar base is intended to solve both issues.

We have a wood burner with a pipe around 125m diameter connected to a 220mm diameter pumice block chimney. The increase in diameter doesn't seem to cause any issues. How old is the existing 8" liner? I would see what condition it's in and try reusing if it looks OK.

Oops I messed up. Thats more than the 560 you said you had. That would have to be.. 38 - surface of deck below bifold door cill 50 - 25mm Alupave on 25mm Aluminium battens/spacers 75 – waterproof membrane laid to falls 20 - OSB 165 - insulation 200 - timber joists with 80mm insulation between. Gives a 120mm void parallel to joists only 12 - Plasterboard Total 560 Gives you 165 + 80 = 245 insulation but would need to check 160 and 80mm is actually available.

Personally I'm not a fan of timber decking. It invariably ends up wet and slippery unless you go for some sort of man made or recycled plastic product. Others may disagree. Perhaps looks at something like Alupave although I've not used it myself. Bit expensive? Scratches? https://www.toolstation.com/alupave-fireproof-full-seal-flat-roof-decking-board/p82295?store=null&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjNS3BhChARIsAOxBM6riUoZlamnaT2zDt4YrT16Ze47ZPqdlwRVJegk_wV_rrm0dDi82lsUaAvOwEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Something you need to consider is how to mount hand rails. I think I would look at the type that fix to the outer face of the walls and curve up over the overhanging verge. This avoids any fixings going through the waterproofing layer. Whatever you go for this needs thinking about and designing in before you build. What your architect proposes is a ventilated cold deck. These are going out of fashion in favour of warm deck.. https://www.labcwarranty.co.uk/hubfs/Blog/Blog PDFs/Good practice guide for the installation of timber decks for flat roofs - LABCW.pdf It is possible to build a warm deck with some insulation between the rafters but it typically has to be limited to a ratio of about 1/3rd between and 2/3rd above, something like that. It's also recommended to try and get a condensation risk analysis done. The insulation makers might help with this. Best I could come up with is.. 38 - surface of deck below bifold door cill 50 - 25mm Alupave on 25mm Aluminium battens/spacers 75 – waterproof membrane laid to falls 20 - OSB 190 - insulation 200 - timber joists with 95mm insulation between. Gives a 105mm void parallel to joists only 12 - Plasterboard Total 585 Gives you 190 + 95 = 285 insulation but would need to check 190 and 95mm is actually available. Check your choice of insulation can be used under 20mm floating OSB

We have two top access shower traps. They work great for us. I think building regs require a minimum depth of water seal in them and some shower traps on the market are a bit less. Not sure if this is an issue for bath traps as well.

Looking at the instructions @JohnMo posted... I'm wondering if the stat is shipped with a temporary cap on the spindle to protect it and perhaps this temporary cap has been put back on when the knob was removed?

Unfortunately the government didn't totally exempt self builders from S106 agreements. Unless I'm out of date? Some planners require a developer of a large site to sign an S106 agreement stating that x% will be self build, y% will be affordable etc. So there is some sort of a precedent.

I was going to suggest you offer them a letter something like.. I certify that the development approved by planning reference XXXXXXX will be be a "self build" that qualifies for the Self Build exemption specified in: The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 as amended by The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2014, Amendment to Part 6, exemptions and reliefs. 7. (10) Exemption for self-build housing. Signed dated Witness dated, occupation address. However I'm having second thoughts... Suppose something happened to you that prevented you living in the house. Perhaps an injury or change in financial circumstances. Paying the CIL is one thing but invalidating your planning application is another matter. Instead of "will be" I think I would try "is intended to be" or perhaps "subject to events outside your control is intended to be"? The more I think about it the more I think you need a solicitor to draw it up. I also suspect they will want this to be a S106 agreement. This normally means paying £lots for their solicitor to approve it as well. In addition some councils charge a "monitoring fee" for S106 agreements. One council charges £1500 for a monitoring fee for a single house. So overall I think I would try resisting it. Point out that there is a significant financial penalty if you don't qualify for the CIL exemption and that should be incentive enough to ensure compliance and that their requirement for a S106 agreement and associated costs to ensure its a self build would actually deter self builders.

Apart from that it looks quite a neat job. I don't think I'd bother redoing it. Probably won't notice from the ground.

Many UFH companies buy in some parts. What's written on the red knob? On a mixed UFH and Rad system my bet would be on a pipe becoming blocked by sludge over the summer due to a lack of corrosion inhibitor. The standard way to deal with that is usually to turn off all rads except one. See if the pump can push water through that rad/loop. If it gets hot turn that one off and another one on. Repeat until you have detected them all get hot including the problem rad/loop. Turning them off and on can mess with the balancing so try and note down how many turns are needed to shut off each rad so you can put it back roughly as it was later. If that works I'd still consider draining down the system to remove any sludge you stirred up or you may have same problem next summer. Drain and fill the system a few times then put in corrosion inhibitor like Fernox F1 when you fill it for the last time. Ideally measure how much water comes out when draining so you can calculate how much Fernox to put in to achieve the right concentration. See the bottle. Apparently putting in a bit too much is ok. More than one bottle maybe needed. If the above doesn't work then you're into trying to connect a mains pressure hose to the blocked loop by disconnecting it somewhere. This can be very messy if hoses become disconnected so take care.

We had some triangular curtains and tiebacks made. Both full blackout weight and some net curtains. I don't remember them being outrageously expensive. Unfortunately the company seems to have closed up but it was just a small specialist shop not a high street brand. I had an issue getting curtain track for the sloping ceiling. In the end I purchased regular track for sliding curtains and inserted lengths of plastic rod from a model shop to space out the rings and stop them all sliding to the bottom.

I don't think they are required to put absolutely all correspondence online. When we were going through planning way back in 2005 ish the planners had their own separate paper files as well. However back then you could go and see them. Initially that was as easy as dropping in to the Planning Office reception and asking to see the file but they did away with the reception. After that you had to go to the main Council reception desk in a totally different building and book an appointment. Things might have changed by now though. Might be easier to knock on the door of those houses, explain who you are and ask how they are getting on with their treatment plant and do they have soakaways etc

Found this vid if you need to move the Stats and Wiring Centre to a different channel.. https://www.tiktok.com/@snugunderfloorheating/video/7234800695273196826

I would download a free WiFi Analyzer app from the playstore for your phone. The one I have will give you a graph of the channels being used. See if there are two on same channel or very close. Might need to move your WiFi to a different channel. This is the one I'm using and it currently shows my printer is clashing with one of my wireless APs both on Channel 2.

Sounds like the router is detecting a cable issue and limiting to 100Mbit. Google suggests... Most commonly a Cat5e/Cat6 cable only getting 100 is from a punch down that isn’t the correct cable order, a punch down that doesn’t make a good contact or a broken conductor within the cable somewhere. A basic cable tester will tell you if you have the order consistent on both ends or if there are any conductors that do not connect.