Temp

I see in the news today that the police are investigating a missing £1.1m that the Riba say they can't account for following the redevelopment of their headquarters. My guess is they forgot to account for their own fees :-) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fraud-squad-investigates-riba-over-missing-1-1m-bgpnspmhx

Perhaps consider.. a)Adding more insulation to the cylinder? b)Setting the time clock so the hot water is only on first and last thing in the day?

Yes. It's possible for rain and snow to blow up under tiles. The idea is it then runs down the membrane which is draped into the gutter at the bottom. The counter batten lifts the tile batten so water can run down under it. If you plan to fully fill the space between the rafters you should check that the membrane manufacturer allows it to be in contact with the insulation. If you were a boy scout you will know that you shouldn't touch the inside of a tent when it's raining as that can cause the water to come through. Its not quite that bad but not all manufacturers recommend putting insulation in contact with their membrane. Last time I looked Kingspan make one that is approved for contact. For some reason manufacturers that don't allow it to be in contact with insulation, still allow it in contact with the rafters (otherwise it would be no use to anyone). Go figure. I've also used the VP400. It's pretty strong stuff. They say you can leave it exposed for a long time and I did just that. Had some exposed for a year on an out building and it was fine.

I think having a motorised valve in the bypass would be useful. You could arrange for it to open and close depending on the relative temperatures or time of day. eg bypass at night when it's cooler outside than in. Heat exchanger in the daytime when it's hotter outside then in

I think you may only need to do the inlet bypass. I think you could leave the extract air going through the heat exchanger - it just wouldn't be able to heat the incoming air.

Thing is you can't reclaim the VAT until the house is completed. A completion certificate is just one way of proving it's completed but the HMRC do accept other methods. What you tell the heating installer is up to you :-)

Is that road also needed for access? I ask because if no owner can be traced then anyone (angry neighbour etc) could fence it off and obstruct your access. You would not be able to legally evict them because only the land owner can evict someone. You couldn't remove their fence without committing criminal damage. Your neighbours might be able to go to court and claim they have acquired a right of access but perhaps not you? In Huntingdon there was an issue a few years ago over rubbish collections from private roads. The council suddenly discovered they needed the land owners details so they had someone to bill if the condition of the road caused damage or an accident.

You might be OK but a completion certificate isn't the only thing the VAT man will accept as evidence of completion. I would read the claim form carefully and submit a covering letter that plays up the scale of work that still needed to be done and any problems funding it etc.

That's my understanding. A builder should charge you 5% on labour and materials he supplies (even if he pays 20% on materials from a builders merchant). Any material you buy yourself from a builders merchant or elsewhere will be charged at 20%. (or perhaps 21% if you order from Belgium) All of the VAT you pay can be reclaimed using Form 431C. So overall both a conversion and a newbuild end up zero rated, it's just a different process and paperwork. All of the VAT the builder pays can be reclaimed by him when he does his VAT return. In case nobody mentions it.. Do NOT start work until you have all the paperwork sorted for your CIL exemption.

Have you got a reference for this? I've looked at the notes that accompany the reclaim forms 431NB and 431C. The new build form 431NB doesn't mention agricultural buildings (at least a search for "agri" gets no hits) and its quite clear at the bottom of page 4 and top of 5 what you can/cant retain and still qualify as a new build. The conversion form 431C only mentions agricultural buildings in one place and there it's only talking about eligibility criteria (eg must not be a dwelling already).

Perhaps worth remembering that of the 4 pairs you actually only need 2 to make an 10baseT connection. So if it turns out one or two pairs are broken half way along the cable the simple answer might be to wire up the remaining pairs.

+1 on the punch downs being a common problem. I'd look at that first and perhaps just remake or perhaps make up a dongle that puts a short or say 270R across one of the pairs and look for that from the other end just to check you have the right cable.

I believe you are only allowed to retain the front wall and foundations. Otherwise it's a conversion. What does your planning permission say? Convert or knock down and rebuild? If it's a conversion your builder should charge 5% (on both materials and Lab) but you can reclaim this using... https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-refunds-for-diy-housebuilders-claim-form-and-notes-for-conversions-vat431c Edit: I'm in a rush to go out but... Do not refer to it as a garage anywhere if there is a danger the Vat man might consider it part of an existing dwelling and will reject your claim.

Presumably it's a metal pipe so can you trace it with a metal detector?

In my area builders merchants sell a few different grades of plywood. All is claimed to be wbp but some is dire quality and how they can claim it's waterproof I've no idea - it seems to have more in common with a well known brand of breakfast cereal. Shop around and go see what it's like.

If it was my forever house I would have the arches out and full length steel beams installed. Quite a lot of work. There isn't much of a pier left at one end and that might need fixing. Rewiring can cause a lot of disruption leading to a lot of making good plaster and redecorating. Whats the heating system like? I think I would get quotes to do a lot of work and use them to haggle down the price. Allow a decent contingency. If they won't budge and it doesn't make sense financially I'd walk away.

My understanding is that the Danish scheme covers claims up to a date (4 weeks from them being told about the insolvency) and premiums until the end of the policy. This makes sense for something like car insurance. Basically it gives you 4 weeks to find a new policy and the premium back to pay for it. So in theory you are no worse off/don't loose anything . For a structural warranty it's problematic as you can't so easily move to a new provider. I think anyone with a policy from Alpha that is underwritten by CBL should ask Alpha if they have a new underwriter. If they do then ask about new paperwork. If not then I suspect all cover for claims ends after the 4 weeks are up. Alternatively you should get your premium back from either Alpha or the Danish scheme. This is just my interpretation of what I can find on the web. I might be wrong!

I believe sockets are allowed in a bathroom if over 3m from zone one but must be protected by an RCD. Just not sure if the RCD can be in the socket or if it had to be in the consumer unit. Try the electrician's forum?

Warranties are only ever as good as the company that writes them. The Danish protection scheme appears to cover part of the premium if you can't get it back from the credit card co... http://www.skadesgarantifonden.dk/english/Sider/QAs.aspx 1000 DKK is about £120. It may also cover claims but only for 4 weeks or so after the company goes bust.

BuildIt article.. https://www.self-build.co.uk/alpha-insurance-liquidation-structural-warranty-advice/ Note the quote from CRL that says self builders "do not need to do anything at present" and see the paragraph that follows. Edit: Just noticed that was their response to Buildit in 2015!

Seems to be problems with both... https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/breaking-news/troubles-at-cbl-see-alpha-insurance-go-into-liquidation-93956.aspx

They figure people don't water their garden enough so rainwater butts sit there full and most of the rainwater goes out the overflow into the sewer.

Is this where the FSCS rescue scheme comes in?.... https://www.moneysupermarket.com/money-made-easy/what-happens-if-my-insurance-firm-goes-bust/

Jolly good. If your hob is on cylinders I think you will be surprised how little gas a hob uses. Ours gets a lot of use and a 47kg cylinder lasts at least 18 months.

We built our house about 11 years ago. At the time someone told me to budget £100 a meter for just about any service involving trenching across a field, more if it had to go under a road. The water main actually ran across our plot but needed diverting to the edge. This involved a trench and pipe about 45m long all on our plot. The cost for that and connecting our house to it was about £4600 so pretty close to the £100 a meter budgeted.