Mr Punter

Good for boxings, cladding (with a no-mar nose), battens and noggins on timber frame. You can fire them by pulling the nose back. Not encouraged on my sites. Beware of hitting knots in the wood and having your hand in the vicinity as the nails can twist and come out at right angles.

Was suggested to me for stabilising a river wall. It was a similar cost to formwork in the end and the finish was not what I was after. I have seen it used for tunnels as well.

I had not realised the OP had already had some of the roof done, so too late.

Fit abutment ventilators to the perimeter.

I would fully fill the joists with rigid insulation and foam it in tight. Polythene carefully under the bottom and up the sides of the insulated area, then plasterboard. No insulation on top. Cold deck.

Timber frame with rigid insulation and OSB sheathing will work fine. The sides can carry most of the load.

Even though this is a self-build forum I do appreciate your crusade against this developer. There may be other sites that are more suited to your goals but I am keen to be kept up to date with this issue. One of the primary reasons people opt to self build is that they cannot trust the housebashers.

I have had similar in the past. We drained into an old well and used a pump with a float switch to pump up to a ditch. A few houses along the road had covered over the ditch for their driveway crossovers but I think they have cleared them out since.

You may need to do something as a compromise as at the moment you are proposing piping all the surface water direct to the sewer with no attenuation. So a holding tank, a bit of ground infiltration, a few permeable surfaces, directing to a drainage ditch, will all help.

The metal roof looks very good indeed. I am amazed you have the energy left for that punchbag!

Because if everyone did it the sewer would be overwhelmed in a storm. Also the mix of product at a treatment works becomes very variable.

Would it be easier to do the pads with a concrete mixer, chock up and bolt down the base plates so your goal post is nice and level, then pour the rest with readymix? Don't want to be messing with heavy bits of steel and finishing concrete on the same day.

If it is a zipped seam the halters holding the roof panels should space them away from the substrate. If it is flat to the substrate you could maybe use a membrane like they do on some zinc roofs, where the membrane is covered in coarse plastic extrusions or dimples that support the panels and leave a gap for air and drainage.

You are supposed to consider these options in order for surface water: On site via soakaway / permeable surfaces To a watercourse A surface water sewer A combined sewer In exceptional circumstances, a foul sewer

Could you have a fairly flat attenuation tank at high level with a small discharge at the bottom to the sewer and a large sized discharge at the top, so the tank will have to be full before you discharge at full rate and the tank will empty over time?

There is a wasp in this picture. Exercise caution!

I am no engineer and I am just going by other jobs I have seen. Your slab as proposed may be fine but half a tonne would be quite a point load. Because this looks quite expensive it is probably worth getting some calcs from a structural engineer. Sometimes they can save you money by simplifying. Is this structure outside of the scope for Building Control?

I asked the same on the other thread. Confront the planners. Forcing use of flammable high maintenance timber is senseless and not justifiable.

If it is encased in concrete it will resist corrosion. Just a post in the external walls should be galv or stainless.

I think you will need some reinforcing under the column bases. It depends on the soil type. If they were just pads they may need to be 1000 x 1000 x 300 with 2 layers of A393. With your slab you could just place this locally as long as the thicker bit is fairly wide. You need proper base plates on the columns and grout under.

I think you could push back on the fibre cement. If you use one without an embossed grain it could be identical to smooth painted timber but without the maintenance, the shrinkage or the fire hazard.

The STA guide is really useful. I have had some big TF manufacturers just supply a load of plastic sock mineral wool barriers that get dumped on site and not installed. This is one of those areas that used to fall through the cracks as it was no ones responsibility.

Do you have to use a beam and block floor? An insulated ground bearing floor or slab foundation would be good if conditions allow.

If your house is properly insulated there will be no real point in having underfloor heating upstairs. Maybe have a rethink. What is the issue you have with sound transmission? This may be easier as more than one post.

It is a bit annoying but not a huge sum. The house looks really good by the way.