Mr Punter

You can buy flood resilient air bricks that close up when the water rises.

Most 50mm wide stainless mesh will do. If the cladding laps down a bit you could have a bit wider. Fix to the batten with stainless staples.

Box in the rad pipes the same height as the skirting - 150mm? Quite satisfying to do. Where they come out in the corner, box right to the ceiling. Those steps look too high. The top step would be better set down so it is 1/3 the way between levels. You may need to reduce the bottom step as well so you have 3 risers instead of 2. If they are not right, sort them out now or you will have to live with it always.

I don't know why would make it so you cannot have a visitor who has a walking frame or wheelchair. I have done level thresholds in block paving and they seem OK.

The hinges were bad but the latch was mental! Agree to them having the chance to put it right. Maybe they outsource to others and are not aware of some issues.

I think it can if you add water and leave it for a while (weeks / months) but I think the lime putty is supposed to be better. Never used it myself and it is quite a specialist area. If it is conservation type work do not use any cement at all.

Putty lime with no cement.

Yes, some car body filler would work. Paint it and the metal with some black metal paint and it will be your guilty secret. Are you putting an ACO along the front?

Send it back it is awful. It looks like they used a pocket squirrel.

@joth can you post up photos when complete. Do the birch ply carcases have exposed edges and inset doors? Maybe do a new thread.

I have a 3 point motorised lock and Videx door entry. I guess there may be a way of adding remote access.

It is heavy, really dusty to cut, needs special tools to cut and special fixings, sparky will curse you, the FST stuff is not easy to apply, although it will hold a screw you need to pilot first. Positives - if it is kept dry it is very durable, impact and noise resistant. They use it in double layers for high security institutions. We recently just used Knauf Soundshield Plus plasterboard as it is good for impact, fire and acoustic rating, loads cheaper than Fermacell and simple to fit and skim. We did double layer 15mm on walls and ceilings, which will give all the decrement delay you need.

Are you going to leave much of it exposed internally? I imagine it is expensive, so a shame to cover it in plasterboard. If it is left exposed I am interested in seeing how you run services. Any pictures you take along the way would be appreciated.

Gallows brackets are often a much cheaper way of removing a chimney but you MUST make sure they FULLY comply with this https://www.labc.co.uk/news/how-to-get-it-right-removing-chimney-right-way-video-showing-wrong-way and as others have said, if it is a party wall it can be really dodgy.

4m should be acceptable as access. They may require a turning head at the top. It is probably worth including for large vans / deliveries. A 100m2 bungalow should be non-controversial. You could get an architectural technologist to do the drawings.

I am interested that you chose CLT. What are the benefits / your motivations behind this?

There is a lot of glazing and exposed wall perimeter for a passivhaus. It does not look like it has been designed to the standard and it will be very difficult to try to make it work later. The rooms look OK but overall I am not that keen on the design. A lot of work is needed on the elevations.

I have used Fermacell in the past and I would never use it again. It is a nightmare to work with.

Hello @MiriPiri and welcome. Feel free to ask questions. Do already have a site with planning consent?

Your lintels are only supporting the inner leaf so just go for whatever is cheapest and easy to fit. It is concrete block so I would go concrete lintel.

We spent £73,000 with IC on sliding doors and windows for 7 houses. We used their approved installers. They subbed Compriband for no-name crap, we had 2 doors fall out, loads of leaks, inward tilt turns that shat themselves and several sliders that graunch to a halt. They were fairly cheap but fairly crap. Lots apparent from day 1.

Regarding the money side of things, £1,000 a metre is very ambitious as a build cost. Unless you do most yourself and have very good industry contacts you may find that could be doubled. In your area you may achieve £5,000 a metre for the resale. Out of the 364 detached houses sold in the SL3 postcode in the past 5 years, only 5 fetched more than £1,300,000. I suggest you could look at this as a ceiling figure and work backwards to find the optimum property size, being about 260m2. If you could get a second house on the plot then all the better.

The sliders that are crappy are 2570w x 2400h. They ground when opening. IdealCombi have been pretty hopeless at any remedy. I may have to have them removed and replaced which is no fun as they are on the second floor. I have some that are 2100w x 2300h and they are OK. We also had two sets where the opening door fell out. If it were not for the scaffold they would have fallen 2 storeys to the ground.

Dremel?

I have some IdealCombi sliding doors with low threshold, as well as lots of windows. They are OK in smaller sizes but the larger ones do not operate correctly. Make sure yours are nowhere near the max sizes and you should be fine. They do not install but use their approved installers. I rate the whole thing 3 out of 5.