Mr Punter

We got a really expensive Mercury range cooker in blueberry colour. The enamel on the front panel got damaged by something falling on it. It left a really obvious chip so we got the cosmetic repair guy to sort it. He filled it and said it would be best to go to Mercury for the paint as it need to be fire resistant etc. My wife phoned last week and was told they would supply and fit a new panel F.O.C. We did not take out any insurance for this, so I guess it is just their policy.

Jesus!!!

You can build a blockwork skin on the house side of the ICF. This would give you the required cavity. You will, in any case, need to finish the inside with something. You could do a bit like the second diagram, but with drainage under the slab instead of a sump / pump.

Your own case proves it can be done. I wonder how many points the MVHR and airtightness add?

I understand that all drains that serve more than one property were automatically "adopted" following a change in the law. This would not give you the right to connect on someone else's land, however.

On the basis that you will need more drawings for building regs, I would get your building regs CAD person to draw up your new scheme and submit for planning. If the changes are minor you will get consent in any case. As I understand it, even a very minor change can be considered to be a new original work. The person we use for planning consent has no real interest in doing the detail stuff and will happily hand over the CAD drawings to the others. Some architects are far stickier than others, but initiating court action would be very expensive for them so unless the design is very unique and special they won't bother.

When I buy a new appliance the energy rating is stuck on the front on the display and on websites like AO. Try finding / comparing energy ratings from the housebuilders.

Well done - I did not think that A was achievable without renewables, so 95 is excellent. Did you have a specific target? We have just finished seven new build houses and they achieved between B85 and B87, no renewables. Only managed about 4.0 in the airtightness though.

I am sure no pun intended. That is a lot for a trench and some cable! Can you go to one of the other providers for a quote? The market is supposedly a bit more open nowadays.

Down here they only charge about £500 per plot for gas. Must be subsidised.

Yes it would be possible.

You will need to make sure that your Building Control and Warranty providers are happy with whatever system you choose. Type C (drained cavity) systems are considered lowest risk and you have the benefit of being able to direct any water by gravity, so do not need pumps, maintenance etc.

Have a look at Martin Goodall's planning blog http://planninglawblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/listed-buildings-and-their-setting.html If the building is grade I you may be in trouble. It may be that you need a statement explaining how the proposal does not impact so adversely as to merit a refusal. It could be that there are also some positive impacts.

You will prob have done the part R anyway. It is really only a hole through the wall. This is aimed at developers who would not otherwise bother.

Also they are branded as "Optima", which sounds more upmarket.

I do 8mm under doors but please bear in mind floor finishes. If I have 20mm engineered wood I lay this first, then door lining / frame on top, so calculate structural opening height from this. Flooring such as carpet can take a fair amount of height so the lining / frame height may need to be a bit taller or you will need to cut the bottom of the door to get the required space under.

We have fitted seven of these in new build houses selling at £650, 000 to £1,000,000. They seem fine and do not look out of place. We also used their solid worktops which are supplied by another firm and are also good quality. The main downside is that you need to get the design done yourself and you have to familiarise yourself with the website ordering, which I found a bit clunky. I also had a couple of deliveries after 8 in the evening and one on a Saturday morning which was inconvenient as we operate normal site hours.

Trees such as hawthorn and willow together with clay soil means that trench fill foundations may not be feasible even if the trees are a fair distance away. You may be OK with the passive slab approach but I have never had one designed. I am interested to see how you get on. The project we are just completing - silt under made ground next to a river - needed piles to a depth of 25m. Mucho costo.

What are you using it for? They are a bit of a learning curve and as other have said can be v. dangerous, especially if you are loading up to a scaffold. I hired and operated a 14m one for loading roofing materials onto a four storey building. We also got a Merlo rotating t/h with rotating forks for loading plasterboard into upper floors, but we got that with an operator as it was way beyond my ability. Great bit of kit. We loaded out over 40 packs of plasterboard and 14 pallets of insulation into 1st 2nd and 3rd floors in 3 days.

As long as the first floor is not needed to stabilise the walls I don't see why not. Could you not joist it out anyway though?

Have a look at http://tonyshouse.readinguk.org He achieved results of less than 1.0 with a brick and block construction.

That is interesting. I always followed the same reasoning about the liquid leaving solids stranded, but the system manufacturers and Building Regs make no mention of this being an issue. How steep was your blocked drain, and did it block in the same part of the run?

A while ago I spoke with someone at Polypipe and they said that this is not the case. Also, building regs do not state maximum gradients. It is however recommended that an access point is provided at a change in gradient.

We have had some for timber frame racking / sheathing and it got surface mould where OSB did not. Nothing like as bad as plasterboard though.

Don't use Fermacell as it is gypsum based and has a tenancy to go mouldy. It is also fairly expensive and difficult to cut. I recently used HardieBacker which is cement based but also difficult to cut. I cannot believe how neatly @Onoff has cut out the holes for the Geberit. Our tackers left gaps of up to 30mm on the basis that "the tiles will cover it"!