Mr Punter

Unless this is a good reason to do otherwise, stretcher bond works well for buildability, economy, durability and structural soundness. The selection of brick and mortar colour can make a huge difference.

Did you do a full plans application for Building Control? If so, what detail was submitted? What area is the balcony? The risk they are concerned with is warm moist air from the room below rising into the joist zone, condensing on the timbers and not being able to evaporate into open air quickly enough. Would a step up onto the balcony be possible? That way, you may be able to have a warm roof construction and allay their fears.

Spray foam insulation in lofts is considered very unfavourably by many lenders. Perhaps consider the cost of removal in your purchase price. Also, ensure that the loft conversion has building regs as a habitable space, otherwise you may end up starting again.

Make sure the timber is completely dry as you could lose 10mm depth in shrinkage across the grain.

A normal branded steel tape should be fine. If your longest measurement is 8.0m the 2 pack Stanley ones from Screwfix a decent value and give you +-2mm over 8 m. Height is simple with a decent rotating laser level.

A room that is accessed via another habitable room rather than a corridor / hallway.

Make sure your warranty provider and BC are 100% happy with the use of screw piles.

Could be an inner room?

These work much better if located above the hob, but I guess that is on an internal wall with no easy ducting route? A 160mm diameter hole with a core drill will be best.

I would just do it with a normal flexi. I think rats are a consideration if this is ground or basement level though.

Can you tee off your existing supply? Also, look at getting them to share the trench with the electric if they are the same route. Sometimes it can work out.

Their first post was

I have used an architect for planning and they are happy to supply the DWGs for construction drawings by others. He made a very comfortable living and is well thought of and successful. Other architects have been known to charge a release fee for drawings where they were used for planning for a site sold on, which I see as a bit cheeky as they have done no extra work. I could understand additional fees if the drawings were used for a project elsewhere, but I think some architects can take the piss. The answer to the OP is the architect, who gives you a licence to use the designs. They could just give you printed plans, PDFs or DWGs.

Yes, we have used rebar offcuts in the past but the polystyrene is very buoyant in the concrete.

Surely the portico manufacturer has some typical connection details?

They did well to stop the clayboard floating up in the concrete.

Can you cut the legs off the hangers? You would need the floor designer to sign off on this.

What connects to the bit circled blue?

No issue at all. Doormats can be 20mm thick. You would not notice the staircase unless it was more than 20mm out.

Did you identify the pipe on the water company sewer plans? If so, it would probably be a water company sewer and as your connection was made on your own land you would not need an easement. You need to be very careful with ownership, rights and easements as it is easy to fall into various traps.

At a guess, £100/m2. At least it is easy access. I know a bricklayer who uses a piping bag and can get a fair bit done. If the wall always looks that wet, you have some drainage issues.

Mostly boundaries are defined by buildings, walls, fences, hedges, ditches and roads. How much land do you think they are planning on stealing?

I thought self build was exempt?

I have had these both as owner and adjacent owner. They do not define boundaries, although some attached drawings may indicate them. They often have photos of the boundary areas. Is someone after nicking your land? You could get a topo survey done that would set the current location of everything.

You could just get a SE to look. They won't charge you much and you need one anyway.