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Usually agree with this on background visual things but I'd guess that @Super_Paulie gets a warm fuzzy satisfied feeling quite frequently over the years. Partly cos of looks, but also the achievement of achieving such a nice looking result. Will be interesting if guests notice, would expect not, but 'unusual but neat looking' things can sometimes get attention.

The formwork is really just a short cut/timesaver. It's the engineering that really matters. I had thought that some raft suppliers give you the choice of just using them for the engineering or for both that and the formwork. Where rafts are more common I believe that using the precut XPS formwork is still not the norm with most making it from 100mm sheet.

First, don't panic! I think this is an easy option. The AFT forms are just a way to make the concrete laying easy, producing the same shape with standard (correct spec) XPS should be fine. Maybe reinforce with wooden forms on the outside if not sure of the glue strength. If you look at people in Sweden laying these types of foundations they don't necessarily use preformed XPS anyway, just build up from sheet.

Feels like it's time for a professional? Find an SE to give an opinion?

@SBMS Is in the process of doing something similar so might have a suggestion. Only some heatpump makers (like Panasonic) actively market this as an option so if your installer usually works with a brand that doesn't talk about cooling then it's not a shocker that they are uninformed. Though I tend to think if your business is selling/installing heatpumps then you are doing a bad job if you aren't on top of all the options in the space but this seems par for the course for much of UK installers.

High ventilation will work in some situations, but will lead to the inside of the garage being near the outside temperature. If you have big swings overnight so its 15C during the day but falls closer to freezing overnight then you will likely find chunky metal objects don't change temperature as fast as the room so as the room warms, higher humidity (warm) air enters and touches still cold metal and condenses. If you live near the sea this will be particularly bad as the sea air will be more humid than average.

Can't say I was thinking of a desiccant type rather a compressor type. It should be the first thing to do if you can. Makes anything else more effective and lower cost. Rust happens due to two things, temperature changes and humidity. If the steel is kept above dew point then rust will be much less of a problem even if the humidity is relatively high. So if you can attack the problem from both sides it's likely easier/cheaper than just trying to solve the problem via either one or the other.

It's when the laser interferometer comes out you really have to worry. Microns? Pah! we want nanometers here! Remember seeing someone proudly show off 4 or 5ft Mitutoyo calipers he got from somewhere 'Not sure I know what I'll use them for but I couldn't pass up them for the price - they are worth 5 figures!'

If you are considering background heat, think differently. You can get the same heat output from a dehumidifier of the same wattage and then you effectively get dehumidification for free. (They aren't designed as heaters but the electricity used ends up as heat). Dehumidifier will have a fan to keep the air circulating inside the room and will reduce the need for active ventilation to the outside (less air changes reduces the amount of work it will have to do). It's not an air sealed space so the dehumidifier will likely work hard which is a consideration and they are more expensive than a small bar heater but I'd guess they are going to be much more effective even if not perfect.

Be interesting to see where places like Pakistan are 1 year after the Iran stuff started. Poor countries dependent on imported energy have been going hell for leather on renewables since then as it's by far the cheapest (and decentralised) way to energy security for them.

🤣 Definitely over thinking this one. That's well within fitting tolerance. Whoever fits it on the day will get it approx there and if you are measuring the the millimetre after it's installed you are going to be disappointed. If it looks good, it is good and you won't be able to see 1.5mm by eye. You need a bit of wiggle room as everything moves with temperature and at different rates. 2mm each end will be sealed with a sealant. Obviously, it's an area when you can give clear instructions/supervision. "I want a minimally visible sealant bead". 2mm is going to be required to fit the slab. Understandable, but think in this case your expectations are a little high and could maybe get you in trouble. Focus on the visual result and not the millimetre. Increased precision increases cost exponentially (or more).

Yes Not going to touch the sides. Adaption in climate terms, means changing the crops we grow. Living with a lower population world (there will be less arable land in temperate zones so it will be difficult to grow as much food as we do now) Obviously air conditioning/more insulation/more heating for people depending on where you live. Adaption also means living with higher sea levels of at least a metre or two maybe more. That means at minimum building a new much bigger tidal barrier in London (and similar examples all over the world), possibly abandoning various existing urban areas due to no cost-effective protections available.

All these related threads being tagged 'Spinny's Kitchen' or similar might be good.

I think this is debatable. While an 80-page thread called 'Spinny's Kitchen Saga' might be quite a read, separate threads are more searchable and this forum needs people coming here after searching for answers.

And even then I'd still want to position the hob so that the worktop has plenty of meat front and back. If it's a fairly standard size one then that means in the middle. Don't want some teenager/contractor/other putting their weight in the wrong place only for it to go snap. (Yes, when installed the underframe is supposed to be able to fully support it but if you narrow one edge to a thin strip murphy will intervene).