Temp

As for maintenance.. Sawn timber cladding painted with barn black is pretty long lasting finish. We repainted ours last year and the original lasted 12+ years. For the oak.. If you let it go black then silver that's maintenance free but can look ugly for upto 5 years. If you want to keep it honey oak I recommend sanding off any black marks then one coat of exterior grade Dainish oil and three coats of Osmo UV Protection Oil. That's good for 4 years and the Osmo is easy to recoat without sanding just cleaning. Avoid horizontal surfaces though.

+1 It doesn't look like any I've seen.

No point in trying to guess how it will go. There are ways to present your application. Site plans should show where the entrance is positioned but you don't need to show every tree or fence on it. It can be quite a minimalistic site plan/line drawing. Nor do you need to include photos of the existing entrance. Highways are busy and might not think a site visit is worth it if it looks OK on paper.

+1 Although a hole at mid height on the joist better than notching. Sorry if you know this but... I leave a clearance hole around the trap in the ply. I plumb the bottom of the trap in position in the floor and support it losely in the right place but with some freedom to move vertically (eg clearance hole nneeded around pipes to allow say 10mm movement vertically). Then fix down ply and tray. Immediately fit top part of trap through hole in tray into bottom part of the trap. This pulls the bottom part up to the under side of the tray hence the need to allow for some vertical movement. Do some dry runs with spacer to represent the mortar/tile adhesive.

I'm not sure about the use of roofing felt on the wall. If mine i would prefer the render repaired/replaced but this sort of job can escalate. If the render was taken off you might find the wall underneath it isn't sound and needs repointing or even rebuilding.

Last purchase was some Osram Parthom 120 degree GU10 bulbs but only because we have that style fitting. They are just under 8W and 650 Lumens which is too bright on max. Next time I'll go for bit lower power but they do dim pretty well with no flicker.

Long walls also need expansion joints. Think that's slso in Part A somewhere. BCO said we needed one.

Think about the beam angle. Narrow beam has less glare but more shadows an a "spotty" appearance. Wide beam angles give more even lighting with fewer shadows but more glare. My preference is for wide beam angles but they are a bit harder to find. I also look for bulbs/fittings producing at least 400 Lumens. 600 Lumens can be too bright and need a dimmer.

I think that stagger will be fine. Not sure about the bog - waterfall - pond. I think it will be a muddy soup in no time. My brothers pond has issues just with leaf fall.

How far has your application got? Is this just advice or a Planning Condition? The fire service are frequently consulted during the planning process. Ask to see their reply (probably on the web). If there was no reply or they didn't request a hydrant point that out to the planers. Are you building in Cambs?.. https://www.cambsfire.gov.uk/business-safety/planning-and-building-control/ MS Word doc.. https://www.cambsfire.gov.uk/media/1577/building-safe-design-out-fire.doc So is there one within 150m ? If yes send this to the planners and confirm there is one within 150m That would appear to be OK but you would probably have to run a new 90-100mm pipe to it from the main in the road. I would budget about £150 - £200 per meter for that. Might seem a lot but a similar water main cost me over £100/ m ten years ago. It might be cheaper to put a new one in the verge rather than inside your plot? But I'm not sure what permissions are needed for that. It should definitely go on the unmetered side, not least because of the diameter needed.

I think it should be ok if the ventilation void is well ventilated. That means ensuring each bay between joists/battens is ventilated both ends. +1

Cross out those not claimable. I also wrote the amended total and VAT on them in pencil. I numbered all my receipts and made sure the same numbers were on the spreadsheet. If its a whole category of stuff (eg you are trying to incorrectly reclaim vat paid in error on labour) they will send it back. Just a few items they will process it and tell you why the reclaim is different to your total. Just one or two they might not even notice. General rule is you cannot reclaim for anything purchased after completion. However I think there have been exceptions, possibly items delayed by bad weather? Best not rely on them allowing anything purchased late if you can avoid it. Not in my case. All went well.

https://www.steelsdirect.co.uk/faqs/ Check with whoever designed the beam?

More info required. Im not an SE but I thought the bearing end should be circa 150mm? Sometimes brick piers or steel posts have to be added otherwise its only resting on a 100mm thick leaf. If your RSJ doesn't reach to the cavity one end how long is the bearing? Less than 100mm or is their a pier? Edit: Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps 100mm is ok?

Jolly good. If it ends up saving you a fortune consider a modest donation to the forum running costs, let us know and I'll send you a Buildhub key fob..

@sunflower If the above is still the case it might be worth trying to appeal the condition to get it changed to any equestrian business before you start?

How is that different to a painter using his own brushes? An electrician using his own wire cutters. Ground worker and his own digger?

Scratch that. It depends on the exact wording of the condition.... https://www.buckles-law.co.uk/library-news/agri-occupancy-planning-conditions-beware-the-vat-sting/ Quotes.. It is now established that where there is an agricultural occupancy planning condition or obligation restricting occupancy of a dwelling to the agricultural use of specific premises (or similar specific business operational use) then such development will not be entitled to VAT reclaim under section 35 of the VAT Act 1994 (“the 1994 Act”). But... The Upper Tribunal distinguished between the cases with specific link to agricultural and business premises and those will a general agricultural tenancy condition. The later being entitled to VAT refund (assuming all other conditions satisfied)...

I see no reason why it wouldn't be zero rated to you. It would definitely NOT be zero rated if you rented it out before living in it. That's down to a subtle difference between "zero rating" and "exempt".

I'm not quite sure how ASHP handles things but it's not normally wasted.. With a gas boiler the unused hot flow returns to the boiler raising the return temperature. The boiler modulates down to keep the flow temperature constant. So the gas used depends on the mixing ratio at the UFH manifold. On an oil boiler (these can't modulate the burner) the flow temperature rises and the boiler cycles the burner on and off. That can reduce efficiency but not much unless its short cycling a lot. We have a thermal store that feeds our UFH so the oil boiler runs flat out until the store is back upto temperature and then shuts off. This reduces short cycling but wastes some through heat loss to the room.

It can be rotated to the left or right at any angle (below horizontal obviously). I suspect many just hang vertically for the photo.

I forgot.... We wet plastered the fireplace. I got a local stone Mason to supply some 20mm black granite for the stove to stand on. He cut this to my template. This must be the right shape and size to meet the regs. It must be 12mm higher that the finished floor for the rest of the room. The stove must be certified not to raise the temperature of the hearth more than 100c. I can recommend the Clearview stoves but they might not have one tall enough?

What's inside the main chimney? We have one that's "offset" but ours is to the side rather than the back. Inside our chimney we used 210mm (?) ID pumice liner blocks/tubes. Theses were built with the chimney, as you would the inner leaf of a brick and block wall. At the bottom there is one with a 45 degree bend to bring it out through the wall into the fireplace. To the bottom of that I fitted a register plate (more like a register funnel) to reduce down to the 150mm stove pipe. Get this sorted ASAP because I have a feeling stainless liner type flues aren't allowed on new builds only for lining old chimneys. I might be wrong though.

Lucky escape. Buy a lottery ticket this week. My wife hit the end of a pipe that rolled off the verge into the road while it was being dragged along the verge. Damaged a wheel and tyre. The water companies contractor offered to pay for the damage, sent a nice apology and a hamper! I would submit a formal complaint sent recorded delivery and keep a copy. It's up to you what you put in the letter but I would point out that you did recieve an actual electric shock and that you and your grand children may owe your life to your rubber soled Welington boots (substitute whatever footwear you were wearing). Ask for an apology and details of what action has been taken against the person responsible (retraining?) and a copy of any report made to the HSE. I would add a note saying something like "At the present time I will not be taking legal action but we reserve the right to do so unless an adequate response is recieved". This just my personal opinion, I'm not a lawyer or solicitor. I'm kinda surprised you haven't been phoned up by the no win no fee ambulance chasers.

+1 To the no/bad Earth theory. Some 45 years ago as a school kid I had a summer job with an electrician. Went to a school where staff were complaining of shocks from metal light switches, a sink etc. Turned out to be a bad Earth near the distribution panel. The Earth wire was acting like a big aerial picking up about 60V from the adjacent live and delivering it to all correctly earthed face plates. Check the Earth connection in the socket. If that's OK get an electrician to check the Earth back to the CU or possibly even further.