Mr Punter

If you have rigid insulation it is difficult to make it fit snug to the closer. I know they act as a vertical DPC but why not just bring the cavity insulation to the edge and have a strip of DPC up the sides? The cavity closers do hide a multitude of sins (mortar snots, missing insulation, uneven cavity width, missing wall ties) and make plastering simpler and Building Control seem to like them.

Stick down is more expensive and time consuming, but a much more solid feel. If you DIY, do three rows at a time, loose lay first with everything cut to size, mark the area and remove the boards. Apply adhesive to the marked area and lay the boards into it. Keep everything clean.

Good point @TerryE but how would this work in a cold loft house, where it seems like the top floor ceiling plasterboard is the airtight layer?

I am not keen on the weird pan connector sizes and the number of adaptors needed to make them work. We have done quite a few with a flexi and left a bit of room so you could take the pan off and replace the flexi if needed. You seem to get a fair amount of tiling tolerance around the pan connector but almost none at the top of the flush pipe.

Removing the flush plate gives access to the cistern so you can change all the components without being a gynaecologist.

A while ago I read that to get the required permeability you had to drill a load of 2p piece sized holes all over the OSB. With the Scottish type softwood boards they have a gap between. Now it appears OK to use normal or T & G OSB. Not sure what changed.

Now installed. It is so much quieter! Stir-fry test tonight...

We have used 90mm black MDPE for this. Comes on a coil and difficult to manage without special equipment but OK on a hot day. We joined the lengths with a compression fitting.

When I get samples I like to try to scratch them, smack them with a hammer and try snapping / bending and burning with a lighter. It doesn't indicate the effects of the weather, but it can give an indication of robustness. The corrugated stuff looks quite shiny. Will it dull down?

I have seen some fantastic houses in ICF, timber frame and brick and block. All are capable of achieving very high levels of comfort. There are pros and cons to each.

The same firm charged £3,740 per house for 2 houses 10 years ago, but they were a bit bigger. All were just mains fed - no tanks or pumps. I guess there is some economy of scale with multi units but maybe prices are coming down as it is more common for these to be specified.

We had 7 houses designed, supplied, fitted and commissioned and it worked out at £15 per sq m - £2,485 per house.

32mm for single phase

We had a contractor do some concreting and each batch was cube tested, with concrete and reinforcing specified by an engineer. I hope it doesn't fail as it was very expensive and now almost inaccessible.

Quite a few of the small tower cranes are 3 phase so you would be able to run one without a generator, but I am not keen on having a 415v site supply. Our domestic supply is 100A. Amazing how skinny the cable is though.

Getting 20 quotes is time wasting - for you and them. Between 3 and 5 is fine. Having good people you can trust is worth more than a cheap price and nightmare work / workers.

I have just looked at this from plan view. The idea below has a 2.1m wide circulation space extending from front to back with double height voids either end. The front door has been moved down to the same level as the kitchen. Stairs moved. Please note the arrows on the stairs always point UP. I haven't messed with the internal layout much.

The two sides of the house seem so disjointed that I would be tempted to split them into a pair of semis and either sell on or live in one half and rent the other.

General pottering around tasks are fine, but noisy power tools outside are a no-no. Inside works are OK but if you are using a multi tool for extended periods make sure the windows are closed (and wear ear protection).

https://www.diy-kitchens.com/products/appliances/all-sinks/lago-2-double-bowl-undermount-sink/in-lag340_340/wp2087324/#.XFBLidugKUk at £140 plus VAT.

Looking at the house, when you saw it, it probably represented good value. The reason for this is not only the lack of kerb appeal and the condition, but also the compromised internal space. If you are going to throw some money at this, consider your budget and what you want to achieve. I don't think that the front porch works alone will add much value over what may be gained with some inexpensive external decoration / landscaping / driveway works. The kitchen seems to be on the ground floor - about the same level as the external ground. I would expect to enter through the front door into a hall and have a door into the kitchen without going up / down stairs. I would also expect a WC on this level. Is this the case with your proposal?

There seems to be at least six rooms on the floor plan for what I assume is the living area floor(s). Is it bedrooms and bathrooms on the top floor(s)? Are the left and right hand offset vertically by about half a floor? I think that with a different stair / level arrangement, you could make much more of the space and link it together more coherently but it may be that it works fine as it is.

It is a question for your architect and engineer as the steel needs to support all that stonework and blocks and needs adequate bearing either end. You could use a separate steel for the inner leaf. Also I would ask them why you only have 50mm of wall insulation, especially as your wall is 450mm thick.

I am with @ProDave it looks like it was designed by Escher. The section on the left below has a monopitch roof that works OK as it is set a bit lower than the adjacent roof. Also, as @jack suggests, cladding above masonry = OK, not the other way round.

We paid £18,500 for 2 storey 480m2. We had cheaper quotes but they were too rough and we were town centre.