Mr Punter

No real edges as this is part of a terrace. I will try the sticking down of battens. Thanks @Ferdinand

Good plan. The only issue may be that the top of the roof has been painted with some sort of black stuff, but it feels dry to the touch. I will give this a go once I have sorted out what kit to get. I have a few tubes of CT1 so I will try this.

I have a single en-bloc garage with no electric. It has a corrugated cement asbestos roof. I will use it to store some tools and materials. Any ideas / recommends on LED solar lighting? I would prefer a single strip / fitting and it need to be fairly bright so I am not fumbling around. Any ideas for mounting the panel to the roof? Do I need to drill through? It will probably get used for max 60 mins in a day. I am not sure whether to get a purpose made kit or separate components.

Could you not just stuff in some mineral wool along the eaves and maybe hold it there with a strip of breather paper stapled in?

Your ASHP with UFH will heat the house easily. With lots of trees around it may at times be difficult to get rid of combustion gasses with the multi fuel heaters. You will probably need to create a fairly big inlet through the wall or floor as well.

Good advice as per from @JSHarris. I can understand - if you are having piled foundations - that the GSHP seems attractive but there are several drawbacks and the ASHP systems seem to be where the investment is. Mitsubishi and Viessman both have good reputations but there may well be more suitable manufacturers. Why are you having multi fuel in 2 rooms? If this is new build it won't be needed / wanted.

Agreed as I have done this with a pump station. The ground water pressure began to crush the chamber. It was too late to dig out, so we just concrete inside the bottom 2 feet of the chamber. Luckily the chamber was oversized and it seems to have stopped deforming but in hindsight it would have been better to concrete base, install chamber, fill with water and concrete surround.

I think it is just Thermalite type blocks and you may need special ties as if they are standard size they don't course with standard size bricks. The first course needs to be spot on - laid in mortar. The rest looks easy (at least it does on YouTube). I guess the coursing thing may be an issue with openings as well but the blocks are easy to cut.

I think you need: Rotating laser level - ground works, foundations, concrete, brickwork Laser line level - tiling, kitchen fitting, flooring Long spirit level - wall and floor level and plumb Short spirit level - sockets and switches

I am sure the plasterer will feel that is helpful. Offer to make him tea as well.

There is a presumption against building in the countryside, and for good reason. I do not think you will be granted consent to live in a mobile home. If you choose to ignore or try and get around the planning laws in some way is another matter.

The garden look fantastic. I am a developer so probably look at things more from the view of gaining most value, but if all the surrounding houses are on similar plots, gardening is your thing and your current house can't be made suitable the new build sounds good. Just make sure you spend time getting the design exactly right for you before you submit your plans.

Is there any way you could build a new house elsewhere on the site and retain the existing one?

Maybe try www.gardenlaw.co.uk

The architect detail shows the lowest slate resting on the blockwork. When the building shrinks this may cause a problem. I think you may need some rafter feet attached to the end of the roof to take your guttering. In the past I have just attached 50 x 25 batten to this for the over fascia vent to go on and added a further 100 x 25 section below this later after the wall cladding was done. Overclad the lot in aluminium.

Be useful to see the drawings from the architect as they need to factor in supporting structure, decking / floor finish, insulation, waterproofing, drainage, door threshold details, wall abutment detail and parapet detail. They cold roof means you also have ventilation / condensation risk. For a warm roof, why can't MBC just build the structure to appropriate falls for you roof contractor to add vapour barrier, insulation and waterproofing? With the cold roof proposed, is this completed by MBC with all required ventilation / waterproofing?

Relax it will not be an issue. Add more cement and water, maybe with some plasticiser / washing up liquid. Also, hose pipe over everything. You could do nothing and it will still be OK. Remember that most sites probably don't bother.

We have put IdealCombi in our latest project. We used a combination of inward and outward opening.

It sounds like you have reached the end of the road with this person. I favour getting an architect to work the design up to planning consent stage and using a different firm for building regs. Make sure when you appoint that that is the understanding and they will hand over the CAD files. Needless to say you may need to do a bit more research / look at the designs, planning success rates etc before you choose next time.

On sites they will normally lead with the blockwork and never attempt to clean the snots off the brickwork or use a board to catch any droppings. The standard is, sadly, just do it a quickly and easily as possible. I think that brickwork first is better, but there are some decent bricklayers on here who may give better advice.

No, your lights will be fine.

It needs to be designed so a 100mm sphere cannot pass through.

We just added a capping of MDF architrave to the top of the stair strings and installed LED strip underneath.

If you are completely in the dry, try a floor sander. What are the floor finishes?

It looks a bit high compared to the step up to floor level (220mm v 100mm?)