Conor

Nope, not all. Check the BC document and it gives guidance on unvented runs. Here in NI, if it's less than 6m it doesn't need to be vented. None of our basement runs are vented and go straight to the outside manhole

Yeah, get a drain CCTV / surevy company round to check your inverts and the public sewer levels etc. Fairy standard. Or even if you are getting a Topo survey done that surveyor should be able to get it done. But a CCTV survey will tell you everything.

Are you planning on pulling it down? If not, forget about it, it's not a risk. Looks more like textured rolled plaster. Just scrape a sample off and send it off for testing.

No, only a couple locally branched ducts, most are single ducts from the manifolds. The semi rigid ducts seem really good at dampening sound.

The key to a quiet system is big ducts and big fans running at low rpm. Prevent noise being made, rather than trying to treat noise. Attenuators / silencers help a lot as well, we've one on each main duct leaving the mvhr. The only noise we have is in the two bedrooms closest to the unit, despite a large attenuator and large semi rigid ducts. I'm going to dial back the airflow as I think it's too much. It's only noticeable on boost.

Better doing it in reverse. Set your main immersion coil to say, 45c, timed to overnight cheap rate. Then have your solar diverter powered immersion set to a much higher temp, say 60c. This setup means that on sunny days your tank will be heated up to 60c, and your overnight immersion won't be needed. Then, on dull days when you've less heating and maybe used more water than normal, the overnight top-up will ensure you'll always have hot water. If you ever run out during the day, then you'll have to boost your main immersion. We've a similar setup, but with an ASHP doing the overnight top-up to 45c. Even this time of year, our 4.5kW array isn't enough to heat the water sufficiently.

We did it same as Joe, newel post on the second bottom step. The underside of the handrail is a continuous 900mm above the imaginary string line across the treads. And remember, max of 100mm space between ballusters / spindles.

100%. Just dump all your peelings in, run some water, hit the button and it's gone in seconds. We have the top of the range model, don't know what the cheaper ones are like but it's fantastic. I've shoved the remains of a cooked chicken down it, no bother. Seems to struggle with limes which is rather random and comical. No smells, not as loud as you think, and a doddle to install. Takes up a lot of room under the sink though and you'll need to have your waste pipe lower than normal. So get the unit before brining your waste pipe up into the cabinet. Only issue we had with it was when the spark was trimming cables near by an a 1" bit of wire got in and jammed it. Even at that, removing the unit to get in to it is easy, no tools needed (just need the hex key to refit it).

^^^Get an insinkerator. One of my favourite things in our kitchen. Contemplated a prep sink in the island with an insinkerator, but in the end prioritised prep space instead and have it in the main sink directly behind prep area. 90% of our food waste goes down it.

Batten out all of the units to give you a service void behind all the units. It's drastic, and kinda needs to be done before you start building the kitchen! Or, as nick says, rip out the back of the sink unit. I had to rip the base of mine out to fit my quooker cylinder, and take out one of the rear pieces so the flex hose weight would go up and down unimpeded. In the previous house had to rip out the back, and carve out a large notch out of one of the drawers in order to make room for everything. Modern kitchen units haven't changed much over the years (i.e. same depth and still have usual bits like shelf supports, solid base, etc ) so once you add in an oversized sink, boiling water kit, filter / sparkler and a waste disposal system, you've no space left. Our 900mm wide unit just about has space for a small plastic basin and roll up drainer. And that's with back and half th base removed and no shelves or drawers.

Apparently you say bye bye to any kind of warranty if you do this esp as almost all nowadays are moulded and have to be cut off. Hence our mvhr is plugged in via an adapter rather than removing the plug.

Try Argos, use them a lot more than Amazon these days, not much difference in price and we can normally collect same day from our local Sainsbury's.

Batten the walls behind your units to create a service void. Makes life a lot easier

Are you sure it's not meant to be 16mm pipe rather than 15mm? I.e like you'd have with an UFH manifold. I've used compression fittings on 15mm speedfit pipe loads of times and the olive really digs in (exactly why it's not suitable for compression applications).

We went for PVC aluclad. I'm aware timber is at least double the price. We're absolutely fine with the white PVC on the inside, works fine with our style and we wouldn't gain anything with wood or timber on the inside.. Performance wise, we're over the moon with them.

By having the window open, you're cooling the inside pane of glass (imagine a waterfall of cold outside air pouring in through the open window). This is enough of a drop for condensation to be formed. Better off having the window closes and having the fan womed for longer.

Look for an internorm supplier / fitter. We're mightily impressed with their triple glazed aluclad windows and prices were very good compared to the rest of the quotes - in and around £35k, while a lot of alu/alu clad quotes were £45-£60. That was 18 windows, 2 patio doors, aluminium front door and a 4.6m bifold. You have a lot of glazing, I think you are going to pay £40k + regardless. Definitely go for triple glazed.

There has to be some slack or else you couldn't drop the panels or or remove them, each one is a good metre long. I looped up and excess slack but left enough so you could flip a panel up 90° in situ and access the connectors. And the MC4 connectors are well tough.

You can't reclaim the VAT and I doubt they will zero rate it. I got to the point of refusing to pay but they didn't back down.

It's entirely down to the surveyors valuation. We reached our full value about half way through the build (and therefore could draw down the full amount) due to the increase in property prices locally. I'd reccomemded arranging the valuation asap. However, if you've completed, surely you'd be looking for a normal residential mortgage at this point and settling up with Ecology, rather than drawing down more funds?

Speak to your solicitor. We found an ambiguous covenant on our property dating from 1920, it was hand written and barely legible and solicitor couldn't trace the originator of it... So we had to cough up something like £350 for an indemnity policy.

On the 25mm roofing battens. My roof though is a thermohouse panel system and is counter-battened, so I've a 25mm void under the felt as well as over. The drainage ridges in the trays are about 10mm high or so and that keeps the panels off the plastic and provides the ventilation gap. Plus whatever airflow come from under/over the roofing felt - I've continuous soffit vents and dry ridge. Image below is an unusual section where the trays met a flat roof (flashed 300mm under) but again, the flat roof is counter-battened and vented.

I wanted to do the same, we had a blind supplier round during the build and she reccomemded the battery operated ones... Cheaper as they are produced in bigger volumes and install costs are less. Batteries last for ages.

There is airflow. Both under the trays / felt and under the panels as well (there's a good 25mm + void and a continuous gap at top and bottom on the trays). The centre of the trays are hallow and therefore part of your vented roof structure under the felt. Not as much as rail mounted panels of course. But I think the drop in performance is marginal and only really comes in to play over a certain threshold (I'm not sure what it is). I went with GSE inroof trays in our natural slate roof and wouldn't do it any other way. The savings in slate and labour paid for half of the system. And it looks far better.

Can't comment on your specific question, but its easier to bend a 90degree strap to 30degrees or whatever than it is a straight strap.