Mr Punter

Any pictures?

Yes there is someone else who posted recently on the same subject. Here it is...

The windows need to be sealed externally. If the outside is yet to be rendered they won't be properly sealed.

Standard tactic would be for them to swerve / ignore / delay until you tire of chasing them.

I really like the design. Nice and simple. Higher ceilings could be good. The living room windows look quite big. If you are overlooked from anywhere you could feel a bit exposed in some parts of the house. Regarding overheating, if you mark up the floor plans with a North point it will be easier to assess, but yes, it looks like it could be an issue.

Interesting. Try contacting the water supplier. I have a property in Hove and Southern Water are replacing the lead supply pipe F.O.C. as part of a scheme. I think they do up to 12m.

I would always get an excavator and experienced operator. We did a basement once on a very restricted site and the operator - the son of the plant hire owner - made it look so easy. He just knew where the machine should be, where to stack the spoil for muckaway. Even with practice I would not have been able to do it and may have ended up in the hole. For tricky layouts I like to get the guys who do the topo survey back to mark the building corners, then again to mark on the foundations for the brickwork.

No, https://www.russelltimbertech.co.uk/windows-doors-ranges but quite confusing.

Hence my 10mm suggestion.

Make up some formers with 4 x 2 timber cut accurately to your required structural openings on a chopsaw and screwed together. Square them up and screw a piece of ply over the top corners. Get you bricklayer to build up to these.

Hi @Novice Becky I would go for 20mm off width and height. You may find the Russell delivery charges quite high as they ship from Glasgow.

According to @IanR, Internorm and Norrsken are worth a look.

Have you looked at heated skirting? If you have plans they will send you a quote.

You may get fed up with carrying laundry, food and bins up and down stairs. The overheating will be a massive issue to the point where some rooms will be unusable. You will need a huge budget to get this built, so do your sums regarding finished values. As others have said, forever home is a nonsense.

I have a small goods lift as I am in a four storey house with the kitchen at the top. No pit required. Lifts take up a surprising amount of space. Cheap ones are really slow. You will need an expensive maintenance contract. I think it is silly designing with a potential future lift in mind. Better to move to a bungalow or flat.

You could possibly look at this sort of thing: Needs to be less than 3m2, so you may need to take a bite out of the room behind.

Maybe no cavity tray above and a lintel bridging the cavity. Looks like the ground floor window in the picture. You could coat the wall outside above the window with Stormdry.

Maybe one of these https://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/armitage-shanks-conceala2-high-level-cistern-syphon-side-inlet-lever £78 inc. They can go in the loft or boxed in at high level.

These look like Marley Eternit Slates. They are pretty soft compared to genuine slate and they do not last that long. The silicone is a massive bodge. £650 is a piss take.

We once had an old style high level cistern. Nothing would escape it. No turd too big or sticky to resist the torrent from 2m up. No double flushing needed there.

Rationel and Velfac are part of Dovista. Velfac is a composite, with timber frame inner and aluminium sash. Rationel are more like an ali clad timber frame. Solarlux I think mainly do sliding folding doors, connies etc.

You can't have the cladding touching the cill or ground. It will wick up lots of water and rot out in a matter of months. Best practice is at least 150mm gap at the base of cladding. Often this is in brickwork.

The timber frame will shrink and move down in relation to the blockwork. It has probably done most of the shrinking. The blockwork was not designed to take the roof load, so be cautious. It is one for a structural engineer.

I think they were the right way up. The underside top picture shows a rough edge and border. The topside lower picture I think is non slip surface.

Is this meant to be drinking water and if so, has it been tested? Assuming it is fine and passes the tests are you just concerned with flow rates and pressure?