Temp

I would put more than 50mm of PIR in the cavity if building again . At least 75mm, ideally 100mm. I also have concerns that builders don't always butt together the sheets of insulation very well. If I could figure out how to do it I'd prefer two layers with staggered joints or some sort of filled cavity.

Definitely. However the ramp doesn't always have to be very obvious. It's possible to hide it in a long path that winds around steps or similar. Sometimes the BCO wants a level and suitably finished access from the pavement to the front door. Other times he just wants it from the car parking space to the front door. If the house will be multi level indoors then the WC must be on same level as the door with the ramp. If your WC will be narrow with door and WC pan on opposite sides watch out for the need to get a wheelchair past the basin to the pan. I had to hunt down a narrow basin as we got it slightly wrong.

Is it going to be brick and block or timber frame? Is that enough for a brick and block house? How much do you need to allow for the void in the cavity these days?

In the end I ordered a "46W" 600*600 panel off ebay and it arrived today. Listing says it's dimmable, packaging says non-dimmable. Have contacted seller but it doesn't bother me as I got it to take it apart. In case anyone is interested.. Inside there are two strips of about 96 LEDs each making 192 LED in total. The power supply is a 1A constant current at 50V max so they must be arranged in 16 strings of 12 LED or something like that (12*3.3V = 39.6V). The diffuser comprises three layers: Lower translucent white sheet 2.5mm Transparent sheet with textured surface (edge lit by the LEDs) Opaque white backing Behind that there is a 2-3mm thick foam layer which seems to be only used to fill a void. So the whole thing could be even thinner than it is. The whole lot is retained by a thin sheet of aluminium and about 24 self tapping screws. If I ever need some think aluminium for one of my model planes this might be a source. Not a lot of insulation between the LED strings and the metal frame. Power supply has Pout:44W marked on it (not 46W). 27-42V 50V Max Constant current 1050mA Short circuit Protection So I could reduce the number of LEDs to str if I decide to cut it up to make a smaller back light.

We have a wall mounted basin in our WC. I think this one is discontinued and perhaps too shallow front to back for an ensuite anyway. It's bolted to a block wall but would be ok on a suitably reinforced stud wall. Deeper basins are available with brackets to provide additional support.

Neat work Peter.

Which side of the house are the air vents? I would check if air is going in or out of the wall vents with a joss stick.

Colour isn't too bad. I would leave it and see if it fades. Paint it light next time. On sawn timber I prefer wood stains (Ronseal etc) which I spray with a cheap hoselock pump up garden sprayer. It ruins the sprayer but the small ones aren't much more expensive than several good brushes.

Our stats have been off all summer but this weekend we decided to turn on the bathroom and living room stats they could call for heat if needed. They both came on first thing today so it must have been below 18C in the living room overnight.

We typically nudge it down to say 16-17C when going out. We have stats in each room and they are all set different. Even if there is someone home the default is more like 18-19C in the daytime rising to 21-22 in the early evening and weekend. Depends how active we/you are when home.

We have about 50mm PIR+30mm EPS. Also wish we had more.

I have a 10 year old Visonic system that uses wireless PIR sensors only. I've found them to be very good. If you disable the LED on them the battery lasts more than a year. Visonic normally only support professional installations but you can buy the bits and DIY which is what I did. I'm not up to date on their latest products so don't know if their phone support has changed/improved. I think you can arm/disarm it using your phone but we normally use their wireless key fobs like you have for a car. If you do use a phone you interact with the alarm via the keypad on the phone not an app. That may have changed though.

Yes. Lot depends how well insulated your house is. If your house is badly insulated then it makes more sense to turn off or up and down when there is nobody home or at night. If it's very well insulated then it's not costing you much to leave it on 21C all the time. Our house was built about 11 years ago to slightly better than building regs standards. We program our UFH to drop the temperature at night by about 3 degrees (aka "set back"). This means that most nights the heating is off unless it gets very cold outside. However it can take 90mins to get back to "normal" temperature. So when we are getting up at 6am the heating is programmed to start rewarming the house at perhaps 4.30am. With rads 5.30 would probably have been ok. Most days there is someone at home but if we both leave at say 7.30am the heat we have put into the floor slab dissipates over the next few hours when there is nobody there. As I said it's not quite so bad for us because there is someone at home most days.

We also have MVHR and our house isn't perfectly air tight. Not least because we have two wood burning stoves. They have glass doors but aren't totally room sealed types, they burn room air. So we probably loose some benefit of the MVHR heat recovery but the constant ventilation provided is great. Clothes dry faster on racks, air feels fresher. Wouldn't be without it now.

We have UFH on two floors. My view is that it works well for families that have one person at home in the daytime. If you are both working 9-5 then it's possible rads are a better option. UFH does work with carpet but I strongly recommend you use the special low TOG underlay (circa 0.6-0.7) and keep the overall TOG value as low as possible (ideally 2.0, max 2.5). If you walk into a carpet shop and they tell you all of their carpet and underlay is suitable for UFH then they don't understand the issue. Usually they will have to go and look up the manufacturers information to find the TOG. Beware as they may come back with made up numbers. One chap tried to tell me the TOG of a carpet we were looking at was 10 - like a reasonable duvet. When you have found your carpet and place an order watch out for the small print. One said something like... "Many of our carpets come in two versions, either hessian or rubber backed, we reserve the right to supply either version". The hessian version will have a much lower TOG than the rubber version but won't feel as soft under foot. Try out the carpet and underlay combo in the store to see if it feels right. Make sure you get exactly that combo on the order and delivered. If you find a good carpet salesman he will understand a lot of the above. If the TOG is too high you might be able to crank up the temperature of the UFH to push heat through it but that can effect the performance of a heat pump or oil boiler (to lesser extent). Worse case you crank up the flow temperature and the temperature of the return to the boiler gets too hot for the boiler to work in condensing mode.

Lets assume that the geometry means the PWA would definitely apply if it was us doing the digging. The PWA would also apply if we hired a contractor to do the digging rather than physically dig ourselves. It's what happens when the Water Co or one of their contractors is digging that I'm interested in. Is it still the land owners responsibility?

I'm sure that's correct (about their statutory powers). Would be nice to find a reference.

Hypothetical question... The water/sewerage companies now have responsibility for some shared pipes that may cross your land. If they need to come and dig them up who has responsibility for complying with the Party Wall Act? As I understand it the PWA applies between to land owners. Here is an example I made up. The pink pipe is in one property but within 3m of a building in another.

Reading the article it looks like the council found the lost drawings and then sent out another enforcement notice, perhaps on different grounds to the first one.

I'm thinking that the land registry might have a way to remove a covenant that cannot be enforced.

I did one for an outbuilding that needed PP. I used SketchUp to do the elevation drawings and included an isometric/3D sketch using the styles to make it look like a hand drawn sketch.

First thing to do is get the solicitor to confirm if the covenant is valid/enforceable. I understand they have to be written for the benefit of another piece of land yet many were written in favour of a person. https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/news-blog/covenantswhat-you-need-to-know-about/

We have around 180mm PIR insulation between 200mm deep rafters. I don't think it's enough. If building again I would look at either a SIP roof or a warm roof (insulation above the rafters or above and between).

This is the sort of think I'm thinking of... https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/236473849/wave-in-a-frame-free-uk-shipping?ref=related-7 https://www.jazzitupinteriors.co.uk/acatalog/FUSED-GLASS-WALL-ARTWORK-PANEL-JDORGASTR_6020.html

I haven't purchased the glass panel yet but it will probably be around 600mm X 200mm. I've just found 600 X 600 panel on eBay for £22 so might buy one to diassemble for parts and ideas. Claims to be 45W dimmable.