Mr Punter

I think the 600 x 600 are a good call as there won't be too many grout lines. The corners are often the weak points. I think some of the tanking systems have tape that you can use. Make sure everything is completely dry before tanking.

I had an email from one of our contractors saying they had changed bank accounts and could I pay the outstanding invoice to the new number. We phoned them before paying and found their details were unchanged and it was an attempted scam. I think banks are trying to clamp down on this fraud by making sure the payee names match, whereas they currently only look at the account and sort numbers.

Just had a look at the SageGlass site. Very impressive. Any idea of the per m2 cost? It looks jolly expensive.

I'm sorry. That is a shame as I like the design. Can you find out the actual planning reasons for each of their grounds and perhaps modify the location or show in context / justify or modify the materials etc? Often a few small compromises is enough.

I think if you fully foam around the windows and have a quality sealant between the render and frame, plus an air seal internally from frame to reveal, there should not be an issue. What type of windows are you having?

My first thought would be to reduce the amount of glazing as a wall be be cheaper and more thermally efficient without glare. If the architect is any good you will still have loads of natural light and the place will still look sexy.

If you are fitting the windows up to the existing render I would just foam the gap between the masonry and the frame and run a small bead of sealant between the edge of the render and the frame on the outside. Compriband not required.

Good idea. If there is an external breather paper you may want to make this fire retardant too, as lots of those membranes really flare up, especially in a strongly ventilated cavity.

I am sure many people don't do any prep on liquid screeds - certainly not many developers - but they should be sanded and primed if you are tiling.

You don't need to do any prep before you tile it and if the screeder is good it is smooth and flat enough to lay any flooring (LVT etc) whereas sometimes you can get little ripples and bubbles with liquid. https://www.ukscreedsltd.co.uk/preparing-liquid-screed-floor-tiling/

If they are good I would have sand cement. I thought 70mm was standard, not 60mm. Does it have fibres?

I am not sure that it is big enough for access. Maybe only 450 x 600 which is too small to work in. It may need proper rings.

The pipe coming in top right is wrong. Should be a channel with neat smooth benching. There are too many areas for solids to lurk. Maybe this was a "during construction" picture?

We had some plumbers connect a hot water run to the kitchen sink on the first floor of the show home. Next morning when I came in the ground floor was like a tropical rainforest, with water pouring through the ceiling and down the walls. I think a fitting popped off when the pipe cooled. We got rid of the water and put in a couple of large heaters and dehumidifiers and dried it out thoroughly. Rendered walls and tiled floors. I thought we would be up for new ceilings (2 x 12.5mm pink boards) but the only remedial needed was redecoration.

In timber frame, arson, hot works and smoking.

It may be worth seeing if you can get any information from neighbours if they have a similar property. For a proper job you may need to: remove the existing slab excavate soil beneath underpin the spine wall install a new suspended floor (beam & block or timber) The remedial option chosen before failed and will probably fail again. You could just screed the worst bits and hope for the best.

Greetings @Antparker and welcome. A few qs may help us with suggestions: When was the house built? Is it on clay soil? Are there any cracks in the walls, or is the "only" issue the floor? Does the slab have any cracks through it? (You will need to remove floor coverings in any case) It may be that all the ground floor walls are built off a proper foundation and the floor is more than one concrete slab that have settled.

I find the Reisser cutter screws are good until you are using rawlplugs, when the cutter bit tries to rip the plug apart, rotate it or otherwise mess you up.

Cut to falls insulation is expensive. Cheaper to concrete to falls and use normal insulation.

But keep the mask / headgear on, obvs.

Quite often I have seen this where they render a bit into the reveal, then paint the render, then window in, then Compriband between window and render. I think the traditional way is to render up to the frames, where Compriband would not be the right solution.

I would not bother trying to cast the channel into the concrete as if it is not spot on it will be difficult to remedy. Also the channel will get filled with all sorts of crud. We have put in some glazing where we used a recessed ali channel but formed the recess out of timber slightly over sized. We still needed to adjust some bits with a grinder and bolster. Ali trims all round. Ours slotted into the sides as well because it needed to act as a flood defence. Have you worked out floor levels with the insulation, waterproofing and fall required on the terrace v 1st floor floor?

Most of the systems I have seen you drill into concrete and face fix or fix through the base of the channel. This provides a satisfactory fixing and I imagine this is easier than trying to accurately cast the fixings into the concrete. What is the required finish on the red bit? Is there to be a coping or cill detail for this?

Normally there is a gap between the timber frame and the cladding or outer leaf ventilated to outside, so the lightweight blocks would make almost no difference to the thermal performance.

If you do the ceiling first the gap will be down to 25mm and the edges are better supported.