Redbeard

Add a good margin for error to the cited turn-round time. My last big-ish order was estimated at 8 weeks and took just under 14.

I assume you mean 'remove the need for conventional deep strip foundations...'. Even with steels you still need foundations - just fewer of them, insofar as you only need a footing where a post hits the ground (probably - ish). - Installation of new structural beam supports with associated foundations as required There are, at very least, 2 bits you need the SE for, I'd say: 1. To tell you how you make the pool 'stand up' while you almost undermine it with your footings and 2. To tell you what you need to make your extension stand up. Oh, and 3. You need his/her PI insurance....

Welcome!

Maybe. I cannot see a side path, but maybe there is, on the RHS. Can you get down there all the stuff you need? If it is a narrow path then there may be a lot of double-handling; for example pallets of bricks need to be stored at front and barrowed in small loads. Etc. etc x lots. You need an SE to design footings which will 'cut the mustard' with the least possible digging and impact on the pool. @Gus Potter may be along later. What is the green bit next to the proposed ext'n? Is it a hard-standing or the roof of something else? A lot may depend on whether you are having this wholly built by mainstream builders, or you are having significant input yourself. One person's 'fiddly' is another's 'joy of detailing'. And again, in terms of cost reduction, if you are providing say 75% of the labour after footings, and you are good with blocks, then building in block may be the answer. If you are good with wood, then TF... etc. So, is this a 'contractor job' or are you getting your hands dirty? The more detail you can give re 'variables' the more informed an answer we can give. I am visualising v deep footings next to the pool (ooh err!) but I am not a Structural Engineer.

Do you want more than you can get with PD? PD limits ridge height to 4m (from ground). We have a sloping site which 'lost' us c700 of that, so it would have ended up with a shallow-pitched roof which looked really stupid. Went with Planning and there was no issue except the wait. But we did not have the tree issue. If you can build what you want under PD why not do it. If you want to dot all i's and cross all t's you might go for a Certificate of Lawful Development as irrevocable (I think!) proof of PD.

Perhaps if your introductory mail had made reference to a range of apparently different surfaces of apparently different ages we might have suggested more than one sample, but the impression I, at least, got, was that it was the same original material throughout, in which case one sample is surely enough.

Send them a quote on letter-headed 'paper' to supply one to them at the price you have been quoted + 20 to 25%, and confirm it *will* be at the address before their contractor arrives.😉

Very true, but a lot of authorities used it as a 'short cut'.

+1 re no gas, although of course you can have no idea of how much you will save till you get a quote. Ditto agree with @Bonner re negotiating.

Dehumidifiers will do the job if the 'box' (the house) is closed. If it's not you will be trying to dehumidify the world (and that will take a long time!). If my guess re floor level is right and that residual cavity at the bottom of Pic 1 remains open you will have a sizeable thermal bridge all around the perimeter of the house at floor level. I find it hard to imagine the intention was to leave the lower cavity open, so what was the original plan for it? @Oz07 is right, I think, that injected bonded graphite EPS beads are your only option now (and the right option, compared with Rockwool which may absorb moisture, below DPC). I have had difficulty getting EPS blowers to engage with partial jobs or 'non-standard' installations, so I hope you have better luck in your area. For such a relatively small area, but one which it is essential to 'treat' with insulation, I think whatever you have to pay is worth it. I don't have any contacts in the SE, I am afraid. I am sorry you have had a difficult time of it.

Variegated crushed stone, with a path area laid lower as a base for recycled block paviours. (Our contractor got approx 12m2 for free via Facebook when we needed to match in with some that I had laid 30 years before). That way you get a clean path and a solid (if perhaps sticky-in-the-wet - though I am sure that a better knowledge of stone than mine might also sort that one) hard-standing. If you have the space, 2 paths give clean vehicle egress for both sides of the car.

If you make your own it also has the possible advantage that it will not be left on a reel. Did anyone mention ensuring the reel is fully unwound? A hefty draw on a part-wound ext'n lead shows what a good resistor it makes... (Egg-sucking and grandmothers not intended!)

Whether the roof has flat or vaulted ceilings I would suggest cut some rigid insulation at the eaves to form a 'ventilation profile', then (if it's a flat ceiling) 200-300mm of your choice of 'quilt' on top of the joists at right angles to them, then friction-fit semi-rigid mineral wool between the joists to finish. Then VCL, then plasterboard. If it's vaulted you'll need to 'build down' from a 50mm vent path to get a B Regs compliant level of insulation. (Crudely about 150 PIR or 270 'fluff') BUT (re ventilation), The WC etc roof is a lean-to, isn't it, which presumably means there is no cross-ventilation from the eaves? So... Can you put vents in the end of the 'WC end' and the utility, to get air flowing that way. Keep the 'ventilation profiles' I refer to above as well, so you get a bit of extra supply ventilation to the void*. *Of course this only works if you have voids, and doesn't if you have vaulted ceilings. More info, please!

I don't know how likely this is, but try it: Previously you had just concrete. I assume the top pic is 'before'. Now you have mud and broken concrete. It looks as if mud has splattered up the wall and has imparted a layer which absorbs water. So is it that the bricks area completely soaked through, or that the 'mud overcoat' is wet? BTW, you said As this is a cavity wall you might not see damp internally even if the ext wall was wet. This was, after all, the original idea of cavity walls, that a failure properly to maintain the external skin would not automatically result in damp internal conditions for the tenants ('tenant' used advisedly as experimentation with cavities started in 19th C when the private rented sector accounted (if I remember my Housing lectures properly) around 90% of the housing stock. (I accept, of course, that that cavity in your pic may well have been retro-filled if it is, as I guess, c1960s).

I certainly don't think it is fussy not to want someone else's rubbish delivered to you, and I too thought that asbestos skips were, for a start, usually covered and lockable, but @Russell griffiths may be right about the grades. OTOH, however well bound it is, asbestos-bearing is asbestos-bearing, and I would not want some (insert applicable word) removing my crinkly asbestos garage sheet from an open skip to put their cr** in, leaving me with another asbestos problem to solve. A cover would go a fair way to avoiding that.

I like the way you used the cardboard cut-outs to boost the apparent numbers!😉

But that's their (or the sales person's) problem. They have delivered what you didn't order, and you want what you did order. You have every right to ask them to take these away and let you know when the correct ones are ready for delivery. If this will screw up your timetable then maybe there is a 'bird-in-the-hand argument which could be won by an additional discount. AFAICS you hold all the cards at this stage.

Is this a problem over the whole roof, or in discrete areas only? I suspect, given your description, that it is rain blowing up the laps. Although I suggested in another recent thread that sarking felt is not always 'noticeable by its absence' this may be an exposed situation where it would help. It's a bit older than mine, but not much, and I would have little hesitation re-laying at least 60% of my slates as a new roof . I have seen an example in an area of very high industrial pollution where natural slates resembled 'porridge', but if your slates look OK from the top it may well be 'cause they are.

Looks very like it. Try to get rid of the bubbles that are there and do a 'controlled experiment' with significantly smaller amounts of detergent.

Hello! Although the first bit of insulation is always the best one (the graph of insulation efficiency climbs very steeply, and for each subsequent unit flattens out further and further) 100mm on the ceilings is pretty unexciting. The Bldg Regs would require 270mm of 'fluff' (glass-fibre or Rockwool or - as per @Sparrowhawk - recycled plastic bottle insulation ) or a tiny bit less of sheep's wool, recycled cotton, flexi woodfibre etc. I would not recommend lass than 300mm. The stud walls are going to be more tricky for you because of the tight space. My minimum recommendation would normally be full fill of the stud depth, with a wind-tight breathable membrane stapled over the studs. If I could I'd put the same membrane over the ceiling insulation too, to reduce the risk of 'windwash' - cold air getting in among the layers. Are those rafters 150mm? So you could get 100mm in and still have decent ventilation between the felt and the insulation. Access would be easiest if you took the ceiling down. That could, if the pitch is steep and headroom less of an issue, allow you to add further battens and insulation under the rafters. Note the minimum suggested 270mm on the flat ceilings and possibly the 100mm+ to the stud wall may comply with current Bldg Regs. 100mm in the sloping ceilings wouldn't. Normally I advise people to make sure they do, so that on future sale they don't get would-be purchasers trying to push the price down. Others take a different viewpoint. Getting Bldg Regs approval (or not) costs. See Planning Portal for details. @Sparrowhawk has covered the rest re air-tightness and thermal by-pass.

You raise a valid issue, but I'd probably be just as worried about heat-loss via the window-board, unless you have checked and there's 75 - 100mm of PIR insulation in there. Most Oriel windows like this seem to have absolutely zilch that's insulative between the window-board and the outside world. In my experience uPVC window installers don't necessarily tend to be insulation or air-tightness specialists. As far as you can tell, what is actually supporting the window-board (and the whole oriel window structure)?

ps - site currently resembles the Somme ...and sadly probably will do until April+ Is there any scope for a rudimentary 'porch' outside the door (even if it's a free-standing 'shed') so you can have a good doormat and change wellies outside?

... or ask agent to contact the would-be buyer and offer a discount that is more than the cost of re-roofing? My roof has no membrane (and, unlike your friend's mother's house, never has had). I won't say it has never leaked, but at 100+ years old it still requires very little routine maintenance. If I came to sell, however, I am sure the survey would point out the lack of sarking as an 'issue'.

Shrinkage will cause air/w.v leakage through cracks in the plaster layer. Do an excellent VCL on top of excellently-fitted insulation.

Is this clear sheet? How about clear 'Sticks like sh*t'? In my experience it sticks ... jolly well.