Mr Punter

I send a window schedule so there is less chance of confusion. Makes it easier for them to quote.

I suggest just extend the living room. Straighten the wall in the kitchen to increase the WC into a shower room. Use the under-stairs cupboard to access part of the garage as a utility / coat room. Like this:

Which way is North?

If you cannot afford the VIPs, 40mm PIR will give you an extra 50%, so like having 60mm EPS. 50mm PIR would be like 75mm EPS.

If you have the money you could change your EPS for Kingspan Optim-R which is a vacuum panel insulation board. The 40mm thickness will be equivalent to 195mm of your current EPS.

If you want that house to be on Play School you will also need a round window!

Yes. Submit the same scheme but include the offer to pay the environmental scheme money. It sounds like you are pushing at an open door.

Cheap adhesive from a mastic gun just to hold the insulation in place. Tape the joins. Pre drill the battens so your chosen plug will fit through. Drill through all. Fix the whole lot with long screws into plastic plugs.

The market looks overvalued at the moment, but unless we see a rise in interest rates it may stay that way.

The PWA can be a bit of a gravy train and you are the one who will be paying. If both surveyors need to discuss this and draw up an addendum award it could prove quite expensive in fees. Politely point out what you have said here. Maybe get a hose on the stuff before you drop in down the chute.

I have used natural slate tiles. We did adhesive and mesh on the insulation, then the tiles. Butted up with no grout.

It is most likely that the washing machine is only connected to the cold water, so it should not deplete your hot water tank.

Celotex / Kingspan / Xtratherm style foil faced boards, joins taped with self adhesive aluminium foil tape as a vapour control layer. https://www.toolstation.com/aluminium-foil-tape/p81953

+1 to the 50mm taped PIR under the rafters. It really cuts down on condensation risk.

Yes, that is a bit strange. They are both DOVISTA. I got a quote from Velfac in November. With Rationel they referred me to a distributor.

I like sand cement and lime.

I assumed he was connecting the chicken shed.

That looks good but complex to build. The detail where you have an external terrace above the dining area will need careful consideration.

On site surveys the numbers with 3 decimals are the height (normally) above ordnance datum (AOD) - which is a recognised benchmark height based on mean sea level.

They often use a rotating laser level to work out which corner is highest and build the others up to match. Below ground you can have quite a thick mortar bed and it will not show. If you have never done any bricklaying, building your own house alone is very ambitious. Maybe buy a pack of blocks and have a practice, using hydrated lime with the sand instead of cement so you can reuse.

I have done this several times and @CivilEng2020 has it spot on. Connect both to an inspection chamber near the boundary, the theory being that if the systems are separate in future yours can be piped accordingly. All the connections to the drain need a water trap.

BC will want a fair amount of detail for a full plans application (which is what you will need). They need full details of how each part of the regs will be met, shown on plans, with notes and calculations as appropriate.

The first floor landing is at the base of the arrow.

Thanks I see the plans now. I cannot work out how the stairs work. To make the plans easier to read it would help to have them all the same way round and an arrow on the stairs pointing up.

Grip It I once fitted some legs to an Ikea table, then found some 6mm spacers in the fittings pack. Sure enough, I turned the table upright only to see that the screws had gone through the top. I think they did the tops in different thicknesses and mine was thin! I sent it back and got refunded on the basis of a small chip in the corner...