Temp

Try asking Door Stop if they can persuade the seller to forward the certificates. I know its not Door Stops fault but it doesn't exactly create a good impression of the company if their dealers are unhelpful.

Having poured over VAT 708 again I agree it qualifies for reduced rating under section 7 "Reduced rating the conversion of premises to a different residential use". That's on the basis that the number of "single household dwellings" (as defined in para 14.4.1) will increase from zero to one. So a contractor should charge you 5% VAT on labour and materials. However because its also a "building used as a dwelling" I don't think you can use the self build reclaim scheme to recover the 5% you pay the contractor or the 20% you pay on materials you buy yourself. So as you suggest you should get the contractor to buy everything and deal with the VAT. As others have said you may find it hard getting a contractor to charge 5% VAT on everything. Para 7.1.2 refers to a certificate (which is essentially a letter to the contractor stating that its a qualifying building so he should reduce rate). I don't believe you are required to give him one but others have found it can help. There is an example certificate in para 18 but you will need to edit it down to remove all the guff about charities etc and to to state that it qualifies for reduced rating citing paragraphs 7, 7.1.2, 7.3 and 14.4.1. I think some people here have already done something similar. This is such a tricky area you really should take proper advice. I'm not an accountant.

Whole area appears to be a bit of a mine field. Did you manage to avoid paying VAT when you purchased the pub? or did you issue a certificate 1614D? Neither?

Perhaps I'm wrong above... https://vatexchange.co.uk/commercial-property/vat-converting-pubs-commercial-property/

I've had same issue with HMRC, they wont give advice "before the fact". You may have to pay an accountant familiar with this area. The full wording of that para says... My understanding is that there is a difference between developments that are zero rated and developments that are exempt from VAT. I believe the latter cannot reclaim "input vat". I recall reading there is an "option to tax" which makes the sale potentially liable for vat rather than exempt. I think this allows input vat to be reclaimed. Then when the sale is made vat is charged at zero % which is the rate for a dwelling. Something like that anyway. Sorry I'm not an expert. Something similar applies to a build to let property. They are also exempt (rather than zero rated) so vat on materials cannot be reclaimed without a similar trick?

Bit of googling found these. Colour? Too far away? https://eshop.solentbrick.org.uk/epages/BT3815.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3815/Products/PL12 Reclaimed.. https://www.watlingreclamation.co.uk/shop/brick-specials/plinth-bricks/2-red-plinth-stretcher-straight/

What about 40cm square paving slabs on top.

+1 With a bit of fancy shuttering they dont even need to be solid. Eg to reduce the amount of concrete you need to mix. Got any bodies to dispose of?

Welcome to the forum. Can you get deeper planters? The extra depth of soil might help the plants as well.

How long ago was it done?

Humm... Can I persuade my local pub to cook a dozen lamb shanks to go in my freezer or are take outs banned from the scheme ?

Not sure that's possible. UV light is the only thing I can suggest.

Perhaps see also.. https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/low_voltage_cut_off

If the cells are totally flat rate don't fast charge them as that's a known fire risk in model circles. Many chargers will refuse anyway. You can try a slow trickle charge to see if the voltage comes up but best do it somewhere safe. I don't rate your chances of restoring the pack very highly.

Relatives have the Mira digital shower although theirs is pumped. It's best feature is the ability to have a second controller outside the shower although that's mainly a benefit if it takes awhile for the hot water to get to the shower in your house. As I recall theirs tells you when the water is upto temperature. I'm not an electrician but found this from NICEIC.... https://www.niceic.com/www.niceic.com/media/PDF/FactSheet-Bathroom-A4-4pp.pdf The work is notifiable so the electrician must be a member of a "competent person scheme" sometimes advertised a Part P scheme member and he should notify Building Control for you.

The Americans use it on chicken don't they or is that different? Edit: https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/chlorine-still-the-most-popular-sanitizer-in-the-poultry-industry Coming to a supermarket near you after Brexit.

I've read that 1L of 5% bleach in 49L of water is good enough for cleaning surfaces.Tesco sell 2L bottles of 1% thin bleach for £0.38p. I reckon 3 of those in 45L of water will give similar results. Total cost under £1 for 50L. PS: yes their thin bleach is Sodium Hypochlorite.

Perhaps some sort of wash stand...

We put plastic pipes in the wall.

It does assume you have too much solar gain in winter. I have my doubts that's true for many houses. The water would also make conducted losses greater (they use Argon for a good reason). So you would need to have enough solar gain in the daytime to make up for increased losses at night and when the suns not shining/too weak. I suppose you could use Argon and water in triple glazing. You could dose the water but who hasn't seen brown water come out of a sealed heating system?

Clearly its not the actual calculations that are taking the time, he's just very busy with higher priority jobs. I'd start making enquiries elsewhere.

Just for info.. Grohe use a program called Revit from Autodesk to create their cad models (.rfa files). To view them you need the Revit CAD program or the free Viewer that comes with it. Only problem is the downloaded is 7GB even if you only want the free viewer. I'll leave it installed on my PC for a week or two in case you'd like me to look at some others but after that I'll probably uninstall it.

Managed to open the cad model of the Grohe and look at the bottom. As suspected it looks like this..

I might be able to load their CAD model. I'll have a go and let you know.

Post a link. The few I looked at weren't open at the bottom.