Conor

Throw it back over the fence.

Our install was a total of 6 man-days, £1200. Installing a monoblock ASHP, pre-plummed cylinder, buffer and a couple of manifolds is easy. And also laying a few hundred metres of UFH. I really dont know what these guys charging £5k+ are doing.

Your solicitor will almost certainly say it's enforceable. We had a 100 year old one on our property, the original document was barely legible, but we were still made to get indemnity policy against it. £400 for nothing. You're best bet is to hunt down the successor and see if you can negotiate a release of the covenant.

You'll need to get a sample tested.

Condensation for short periods of time in a hot summer isn't going to do any damage to a building. It'll dry up as soon as you stop active cooling. It's only going to form on exposed pipes and manifolds anyway.

Can't comment on the total cost without more details. My rational for suggesting the demolition is because, if I'm interpreting your intentions correctly, you're going to have to demolish most of the existing building anyway. All front walls, remove roof etc. if you have issues with the rear and side walls, then you may as well remove these, set them back a bit, install dpc, insulation etc. if you've photos or more details on the final spec, that would help. Demolition is a digger for an afternoon and a grab lorry. £1k. Or take it down by hand and reuse / recycle the materials for minimal cost.

Absolutely is not "rising damp". Moisture migration from the stone wall, or (less likely) condensation. The inside surface of the wall will need to be ventilated. Doesnt look like you've any width to insulate, so I'd leave the wall bare.

I'd demolish, start with a blank canvas, move walls in from boundaries, proper dpc etc. reuse the slab. Construction with non-combustable materials, under 30m², no living spaces, ridge height under 2.5m, and you won't need planning or building control.

Are you (and your bank) happy with the reduction in value when you do this? I.e. not selling any time soon and/or you've a low LTV mortgage.

I thought locking (with a key) windows were a thing of the past? I've always assumed the insurance question was asking about latches that click in to place, so can't be teased open from the outside. In my parents house, they had single friction latches. If I ever locked myself out, all I had to do was gently and rapidly bang on the frame where the latch was, and it would just work it's way up and open!

Make sure you use 100mm perforated pipe instead of 80mm. Also, decent bed of clean gravel UNDER the pipe. You want the gravel to do most of the work and pipe only come in to play in heavy flow situations.

Go for 20-30mm stone then.

We've 10mm mixed stone on gravel grids. You really, really need grids for small stones.

Just turn the paver over so the correct face is up ...

Most of the UK is running a lot drier than average. We should have had 310mm of rain by now, it's just 220mm so far. Still, a long way off drought conditions fortunately.

What you've supplied isn't nearly enough. You should show locations and species of trees, hedges, anything hard. Remember, you can only claim VAT back on landscapimg items that are on you planning drawings. It doesn't need to be exact, just cover the bases. A snip of our drawing. We are in a conservation area, so landscaping is a tad more important, esp trees. We've only done a fraction of this and will be many years, and won't look it at all!!

Been tracking my generation. We've produced more this April than any other month in 2024. And by the end of today, it will be the third best month overall in the last four years. Good to see but the lack of rain is a tad worrying.

How big a house do you need? We're a family of 4 and have a 253m² net house and it feels huge. Better to build to the budget you have and get it right.

Glad I didn't tell you guys about my 200mm thick slab with 300mm / 450mm thick ring beams 🤣

A better way to run it is during overnight low rate, and let heat radiate out during the day. That's what we do, very rarely the heat is on during the day. You'd maybe want an ASHP with a slightly bigger output in that case, we've a 9kW heatpump for 253m² floor area, similar U values.

As above, if somebody did the work, you can't claim, they should have zero-rated their services.

No, just don't let the digger track over what you put down. Work back to front.

How thick will the topsoil layer be? And I'm assuming unscreened soil? We had a 5 tonne digger lay our topsoil. Compacted it way too much, now it's a muddy mess and will need to be redone. I'd only track the bottom most layers and leave to top 300mm or so to be compacted by hand roller, at most. Don't roll the top 50mm seed bed until after grass has germinated. Consider drianage now. I got cocky because we did the soil in a dry, hot spell and thought the fact that we are on a slope and the previous land didn't get water logged.

Just have a wider cavity.

It looks like the guys have tapped in to a service conduit rather than a waste pipe. That pit is not part of the waste water system.