Mr Punter

You are doing the right thing going around with a foam gun and perhaps some decent tape. Look out for boiler and extract holes, overflows, condense drains etc. Trades very rarely make good around these. Bear in mind that not every day will be cold and windy, so you may find it performs OK for much of the year.

Yes, external heat loss walls only.

I have a Samsung and the ice maker needs attention about every 4-6 weeks. Also, water from the ice / water runs down the outside of the door, which starts to rust. This must be commonplace as when we reported this the engineer turned up with a complete new freezer door and swapped it out. Also, out of 5 I bought for a development, they all had issues with the plastic surround on glass shelves cracking. Annoyingly we got the same 3rd degree each one we reported, where clearly it was a manufacturing / product defect.

Perhaps don't bother with UFH. Cover the slab with, say, 40mm PIR type insulation and top with 22mm chipboard plus your choice of floor finish. You will lose 60mm headroom. You can either have radiators or heated skirtings. For a heat source, you may find that oil is cheapest per kWh. If you oversize the rads and plan ahead you could swap out for a heat pump in the future. If / when you ditch the staircase, look at whether the replacement can be located to make better use of your space. It is often quite easy to cut out and trim a timber joisted floor.

I think you are being a dick to stake so much money by "accidentally" demolishing parts of the house. The downside risk is enormous and I cannot see much upside. Just get a fresh consent, knock it down and build from scratch.

Depending on the soil type you may well need to budget for piling. If you can have a discussion with the local authority building control they may be able to give you a steer with zero cost.

I don't like all the bedrooms directly off the living space. No privacy.

I understood that part E only applies to new build, change of use and conversions. I think that @andreas is working on an existing house.

I don't think this is one to lose sleep over. As long as the cables are not buried in the middle of insulation you are unlikely to have an issue with them overheating. They can be better (cooler) clipped to joists. Unless BC have requested derating it or you have used cable smaller than 2.5mm2 I would just ignore this. There is no requirement to fit thermal insulation other than on the bottom floor and none to fit acoustic insulation in an existing house.

You would need long screws for the plasterboard. Not sure why @Iceverge is against PIR between rafters and OK under. I would just PIR as the rafters are quite skinny.

Yes, ventilation will help. Also you need to prevent warm moist air getting into the structure. What type of insulation? Is it all boarded and finished? Where is the mould?

The owner of the woodland may not need to apply for consent as it may be allowed as PD under the 28 day rule. Even if they wanted to use it for longer, as long as there are no permanent structures, they may well be granted consent anyway.

Bad luck. Are you going to appeal or fresh application? Sometimes the appeal can be useful to pin down which refusal grounds are relevant, so any subsequent application can focus on addressing those. It all takes time though!

I doubt electric underfloor heat mats are suitable for external use. Get some rock salt.

You see this sort of thing a lot when bits have been added. It will make life much easier if you lose the cast iron soil pipe and replace with plastic. I would also be tempted to run the r/w downpipe to the right of the soil pipe and connect the bathroom wastes into the new soil with strap on bosses. It is a bit of messing and you will need to alter the gutter. Someone else may have a brighter suggestion.

Yes no issue. The lids on the inspection chambers are screwed down and airtight. This sort of thing: https://www.sumpsandpumpsdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Mini-Sewage-Pumping-Station-5m-Lift.html

A pump station is a good option. You will only need a single pump. You don't need a macerator. You can get ones for indoors or out. Include for non-return valve, high level alarm and discharge pipework minimum 63mm HDPE. The pump will fail at some stage and need replacing. Don't get a big chamber as when the pump dies there will be more to empty. Consider not having it serviced and just save the money for when you need to swap out the pump.

The email was really good.

They are nice looking tiles. 200m ground floor is big!

You may only need a couple of sheets of 25mm. Cheapish.

👍

Suspended ceiling tiles get water stains really easily. Is there any way you could help prevent the condensation forming in the first place? Celotex?

The water should not get that far. The ACO should keep 99% away but would be better nearer the door. The bit of marble? outside looks quite high. Can we see a picture from outside? Is the bottom of the frame sealed?

Agree with @SimonD regarding being antagonistic. Make your case for approval, citing planning policies to support it. Address each of the 4 proposed refusal grounds in order and how your scheme responds to them. Ground 1 (design and form out of character, failing to enhance the landscape) is subjective and there are should be several planning policies to briefly cite that will support your approach. Ground 2 (loss of non-designated heritage asset) is not dissimilar to 1 but references different policies. Again there should be enough about your scheme to outweigh this. Make the point that without viable redevelopment the existing building will be lost to decay. Ground 3 (car use / sustainability) emphasise the sustainable features of the scheme, work from home, knit your own yoghurt etc. Regarding ground 4 (ecology), don't use the phrase "patently false". Instead state that the report was submitted on xxx and you can provide copies if required. Have copies with you for inspection. Don't try to 'prove' that the planners have made errors. They are just doing a not particularly well paid job. Perhaps redraft, maybe using ChatGPT.

Yes it was 3.5 m3/h.m2. These are often extrapolated from a couple of tests. The door threshold looks really poor and was possibly never detailed correctly. Velfac windows have the glass on the very outside of the system so the glass cannot be placed in the insulation zone on a cavity wall. They require very careful and sometime awkward detailing to work well. Plasterboard on dabs is nice and easy to do but useless unless the surface you are fixing to has no outside air. So not blockwork or any holes through to the outside that are not 100% sealed (which they won't be). The "We will put a continuous ribbon of plasterboard adhesive around the perimeter of the boards" never ever happens.