Mr Punter

We have a washing machine on the second floor, bedrooms on the first and second. House is timber framed from first floor up but the floors are well spec'd. No real bother from vibration.

Looks to me that you will lose a fair bit of space in the airing cupboard and the room below. You still need to get the stuff to the airing cupboard and then carry it back up to the bedrooms. Unless the stairs are a very long way this seems fairly pointless.

Yes I think a plastic trim would be good as otherwise the rubber is quite vulnerable to damage. I take it you are planning to remove the flashing, clean the rubber, trim to size, stick to the wall, install flashing with sealant, adhesive fix 50mm black plastic / aluminium strip to close gap to paving.

Even with no internal walls, with a building 5m x 9m internally, 300mm deep joists will normally be fine. Allow another 60mm for floor deck, finishes and ceilings, so 360mm max for floor zones. You can find a calculator at https://www.jamesjones.co.uk/interactive-span-table The Easi Joist values are very similar.

The bed in the middle looks bonkers to me. If you move it back you could have a sofa / chaise longue / table and chairs / dressing table / study area or whatever.

18mm ply is acceptable at 600 joist ctrs.

It is safer to have the floor in as a working platform. If you later need extensive access it will be from the ceiling below.

12.5mm or I like 15mm which gives (I think) the same protection as 12.5 Fireline. I have recently used Knauf Soundshield Plus which is tougher than normal board and good for fixings. I imagine the dry lining firm got a good deal on it, as our spec was just for 15mm acoustic.

Does the installer have insurance?

The DIY Kitchens I have bought for seven houses averaged at £205 per kitchen unit / £2,690 per kitchen.

Perhaps apply to get the wording changed to "shall be covered using slate matching that quarried from a source within the National Park" What was the stated reason for the condition?

You need to find something to match and base your application around this. If you cannot find it you will have to go with the local stone.

Can you arrange collection?

You can apply online for variation or removal of a planning condition. It may be worth seeing what the alternatives are to see if you can source something similar from, say Spain and discuss with the conservation officer. Can you check the planning register to see if the condition is applied throughout? Also if your building is very focal or near a listed building or otherwise important area you will be on more sticky ground.

I asked for WiFi recommendations a few months ago and five members recommended Unifi. I put in 2 AC Lites and the whole of my 4 storey house is covered seamlessly. Pretty simple to set up and works very well.

I would ask the stone slip company what board, adhesive and fitting is covered on their BBA certificate (if they have one) because otherwise, if anything goes wrong, they will have a get-out. There are lots of boards on the market, like BluClad, which can be used outside. Building boards are sometimes called Calcium Silicate, Magnesium Oxide, Backer Boards and various others but you really need a spec from the slip system manufacturer.

Are the roof windows top hung? They may do well to increase the fire detection to 1 in each habitable room, corridor and staircase, mains fed and interlinked.

B and K

Hear, hear.

Sometimes it takes the stain better if you leave it for a year or two. It is fine left exposed if it is Western Red Cedar. After two years you will probably just get used to it!

I think you should be fine with the battened cavity, and the system is BBA approved. The render systems that have been more troublesome are those with no cavity, incorrectly applied. As the house is completed there is no need to mention self build and don't offer detail that is not required, so when they ask for what the building is constructed of you can say rendered walls and tiled pitched roof.

I noticed the other day that Screwfix seem to have changed from Flexovit to Norton.

Sounds awkward but I am no expert. The beams are quite sharp so chains would be best but you will need to see how to attach the chains to the telehandler. We have slung beams with chains for crane lifts. You would need to have the forks quite high to account for the chains and you don't want to be driving round with the forks extended and a load on them.

It will mellow / fade fairly quickly. Are you going to do the edges too?

Get the material powder coated to the same colour as the cill. Maybe cut it into 200mm lengths and space at 220mm centres to leave drainage gaps.