Mr Punter

Fantastic job. I really like to see quality craftsmanship and it seems so rare.

+1

Really? We have several different glass specs on the same elevation - double glazed, triple glazed, toughened, laminated, different gap widths and pane thicknesses and I have not noticed any difference.

If you used stainless they will only have a bit of surface rust and should not cause any problems once rendered.

The glass in a frameless Juliet balcony should be toughened and laminated. It is likely to be at least 12mm thick. The glass thickness and the location of the fixing points are the main factors concerning how much flex. Are you having a handrail on the stairs? I wouldn't want my mum trying to grab the top of a sheet of glass to steady herself after one too many drinkies.

If the timber is left a natural colour, the bits you have coated will weather differently, so coat the whole elevation or it may look crap.

As long as they are the same colour and general style (modern, traditional etc) they will look fine.

I have known BC to object to any FR coating that requires periodic re-coating, which was why the non-com stuff was oft specified. A right pain and vast cost. As per @Ian this is only an issue if you are near a boundary (not necessarily another building) and if that is the case you may be better choosing a fibre cement based cladding.

Very strange having a Pozi joist ground floor. How do you get access to fix the non-combustible board? Also, fitting 150mm rigid PIR insulation between Pozis is near impossible. Can you not do beam and block or concrete hollowcore instead?

The gaps are not very even but should be fine with mesh coat and the render will fill the gaps in any case. You could have used plastic packers. I would not fancy grinding a gap - sounds messy. If this is a "proper" expansion gap going through render and board with the special bead then he may have a point but I have done some fairly large walls without. I think horizontal expansion gaps are more important than vertical on timber frame, but you need a break in the vertical battens to match the expansion gap in the render. As yours is not multi storey I would not bother with any. For fixing I use stainless screws. They react less with other materials and were recommended by Bluclad and other board manufacturers.

Regarding the materials, if the rest of the house is brick, you could do the extension in render or vice versa. Regarding the windows, the CO makes a reasonable point and I do not think the rear elevation looks well resolved. It is hard to see where floor and ceiling levels are, but I would want a decent ceiling height in the kitchen and the new extension looks a bit squat.

The danger may be that the house has far less value when you come to sell. I rather liked the idea of tiles. The combination of timber cladding and green roof would be too much like a hippy shed for my liking.

Solving the dampness issue is best done with type C which involves stripping all internal linings. I can understand why the idea of a croft house conjures up romantic notions of renovating a beautiful old building but it will be lots of work and cost and you will end up with a poor layout and a substandard house compared to a well designed new one. If you find a plot and start from scratch you could build a lovely home that is sustainable, easy to heat, clean, dry, airy, light and with spaces that work for you. There are also far fewer unknown costs with new build.

Often have to put a bung in either end of the run. Sometimes with external runs you put a bung at the far end and fill the whole underground runs with water.

I have used https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/dupont-tyvek-flexwrap-nf-152mm-x-23m.html around pipes and ducts and for under / a bit up the sides of windows. One roll should do the whole house.

For somewhere cheap - £200,000 - the tax is £1,500 For somewhere more expensive, say £600,000 it is £20,000. Perhaps roughly what each person may pay for a car or annual holidays. Not an unfair tax IMO.

I also don't get the forever house. What is the objective? Things change as you go through life. Moving is fairly cheap and if you are lucky enough to always move somewhere more suitable, why not? I spoke to an older couple today who have a fantastic large detached house on 1.5 acres but they are looking for a new house which is central, easy to heat, lock up and leave, no garden maintenance. What they had before suited them with young children, but now has become a bit of a pain, so time to move on.

I have used XPS insulation which has a much higher compressive strength than EPS and PIR type insulation. I have used it on a garage floor under plastic tiles. Fairly cheap. Stuff like Foamglass is perhaps stronger but costs loads.

40m2 is fine for a studio. I think the minimum to be mortgageable may be around 30m2. Normally work well in town / city centres or holiday lets, not burbs or rural.

Timber frame needs a drained and ventilated cavity. to do otherwise is a risk.

Where does the timber frame start? Looks like a fair amount of brick and block so far, so you may do better sticking with that. Maybe you could do timber frame kit for upper floor(s) and roof if you are keen on it. You may need to build solid below ground as this is retaining a reasonable amount. The small below ground bit makes this very awkward as you have extra issues with moisture, retaining soil and insulation bridging.

Get an engineer to look at this again. You could use piles, king posts or sheet piling, none of which require 2 metres.

What is the knapped flint all about? Is that a vernacular style where you are? If not, I would not bother as the panels are too skinny to look anything and the bond will be all over the place.

There does not seem to be any storage space. Also the bathrooms look tight and I can't work out where the landing is. What is the room top right? When you say 1 metre reduction in width, is that side-to-side or top-to-bottom on your plan?

I like that you can change the modules and have several intermediates on 1 switch plate, where nobody else seems to do, say, a 3 gang with 2 intermediates and a 2 way unless you go for a grid switch. Decent value too.