Mr Punter

Good job. I really like it. Another ensuite may be useful for when the sprogs get older. Quite a few trees proposed close to the house, which may get a bit oppressive in 10 years. Have you had it priced for construction?

It is odd that your builder is concerned about heat losses or has any idea where they will occur and to what extent. Your engineer has designed a goalpost structure. If you take the columns out, what will hold up the crossbar? As an aside, @tonyshouse built a brick and block house with a wide cavity. Have you looked at the website? http://tonyshouse.readinguk.org/mitigation-of-thermal-bridging/#more-247

Quite a lot of the square and rectangular downpipes are available flush to wall. I don't think getting rid of #1 is a runner.

I think you could lose downpipe 2. You may want a larger gutter at 3.

There are lots of garden designers who will do the work for a very small fee. I once had a garden designed and was very impressed by the plant knowledge and the the design. She did the drawing by hand and wrote out the planting list. I could not have done it myself but I learnt a lot about plants and shrubs and where they like to be.

The balcony may cause issues. It is fairly large so will need to be a proper warm roof, with insulation and firrings on top of the structure, plus the deck. This can make it up to 300mm higher than the first floor level. You will then need 150mm between the flat roof covering and the DPC for the cavity tray. Doors and full height windows onto the balcony will need to be raised and you may require a couple of steps. You also need to consider drainage as there seems to be a parapet all round. I like to see downpipes shown on elevations as it shows that the designer has thought about it. Also, will the rooflights effectively be walk-on glazing?

If it is being demolished in two years it seems a real waste to fill the cavities only to send it to landfill. You could just heat a smaller room and wear extra clothing.

The drive slopes towards the house and there is not the required 150mm between the paving and the DPC. Could you take up the pavers nearest the house, dig down and install a drainage channel along the front wall so it empties into the gulley to the left of the front door?

I believe our colleague @pocster has these as his preference.

One of the walls has Safety Fast hangers but most have ledgers with Simpson JHA joist hangers. Any ideas @Gus Potter?

We have not really got the coursing to work that well on our masonry walls and we are using timber ledgers and resin fixings on the perimeters of the floor. Do I also need to use restraint straps hooked through the inner leaf, or will the resin anchored ledgers provide sufficient restraint to the external walls if the restraint straps are hooked over the ledgers?

Cut the angle first, then cut the other end square to the right length.

The flue / plume kit?

£15.23 inc VAT https://www.denmanandsonsltd.co.uk/white-cement-25-kg and sometimes on ebay

No, ours was just an open end and the property was fairly high up compared to others. The first floor is raised by about 400mm and the street at the front where the main sewer is is a fair bit lower, so I think it would be fine. We sold the flats several years ago but kept the freehold and I have not heard of any issues.

What a pain. Unless you have suffered a large loss you may be better off not telling the insurers. I once had a basement flood with a surcharging sewer in a property we were converting so I came back from holiday to be greeted with about 6" sludge to clear up as none of the contractors would do it. It was, of course, the plumbers fault as they had left a new pipe connection to the sewer with an open end. Had they bunged it all would have been fine.

I have had hassles with TF erection crews. It is luck of the draw. With some of them it seems like they found them at a bus stop. Others are pretty skilled, but generally it is a smash and grab type business.

They often do a brick cleanup before handover. I guess they will have a cherry picker and seal the windows and tidy up the movement joint.

This is a strange one. Did you engage this contractor to build your house to your / your architects specification with no contract or written agreement? If so, you have all your standard consumer rights, just as you would with any firm and the small claims court may have to be your final arbiter. You could also talk to Trading Standards and find out if the builder is a member of any trade body or organisation like Checkatrade etc and talk to them. This is different from your rights if you had purchased a new house where you would normally expect a snagging period, a 2 year defects warranty with the developer and a further 8 year insurance warranty with the warranty company.

The Geobear Google reviews do not inspire confidence. Unless the property is at a huge discount (at least twice the cost of proper underpinning, drain replacement and crack repairs) I would not go ahead.

The Illbruck products are well thought of: https://www.illbruck.com/en-gb/products-systems/product-finder/tp600-compriband-600-impregnated-foam-tape/

With some beams, once the blocks are in you only get 50mm left, but that should still be plenty.

I just use it to describe any carpentry work that looks like it has been randomly chewed away.

Apparently the trick to cut MFC without chipping is to do a very shallow cut with your circular saw using a blade with lots of teeth, then increase to full depth. You need to clamp a fence to the panel. The vertical cut can be done with a pocket squirrel.

The work needs to commence before the permission expires. Once commenced it can take as long as you like. Get the planners or building control to confirm that the work you have done constitutes commencement. Often doing the foundations is required. The garage consent has expired. A driveway would not normally be considered commencement. I think you may need to bring the wall in so that neither it nor the eaves clash with the corbelled parapet wall. Do it on ground and first floor and lose the step. Does your LA use the edge of the neighbouring window for the 45 degree rule? Some use the centre I think so you could maybe have the same size, just shifted along.