MrP

I would always recommend use of non corrosive fixings for external applications. Even though they are unlikely to get 'wet' there is always going to be risk of some moisture penetrating over long periods. Stainless steel nails are freely available for nail guns, a little more expensive but definately worth the extra in this case.

Just a heads up on the green pb, British Gypsum actually advise not to skim the board when tiling an area. From memory the rating almost doubles in regard to how much weight of tile the board can carry when it is not plastered as you get better adhesion of the tile adhesive direct to the board, particularly useful if you are using a stone tile or large format porcelain. Plus you save on money not plastering the area also .

I can absolutely assure you that is not the case, there is no guidance that allows for spot inspections and there are pretty strict guidelines BCO's and all inspection records have to be made available on request. The only thing this may apply to is air tightness testing which can be done on spot check regime. I can't say this does not happen at all as there is always going to be rogue inspectors, the same as poor builders and every other profession. You would be amazed at the level of monitoring and auditing as a BCO.

Private building inspection services is the key and i include the LA in this. All Approved Inspector bodies have a commercial pressure and this is always going to affect the impartiality of the inspection service. I am not a fan of nationalisation but I do think in this case commercial decisions need to be removed from building inspection services. The danger here as I am sure many are aware is how this then is run. We all know how many government departments are run and managed. I don't see a particularly improved situation with this either. Consumer protection has to be the key driver - it needs to start hitting the builders in the pocket before anything will start to change.

Any mineral or rock wool, including the sausages wrapped in polythene, under suitable compression (crucial) will provide fire protection and is what is widely used along with a 2x2 solid timber for closing cavity. Be generally warned of any so called 'fire rated' b1 & b2 type expanding foams - these are not fire rated. I did a bit of research on this stuff for a previous company and they are only tested for surface spread of flame and for use as a gap filler in conjunction with an intumescent mastic. Bit naughty of them really to have fire ratings plastered all over the fron of the cans.

Thats the thing about water, it is both canny and incredibly patient - it will find its way in eventually!

I have been looking in to this exact detail myself with vertical cladding. You can buy pre-treated cant rails @ 47x75 off the shelf. A bit over-engineered but designed for fencing and i cant find anything smaller. 25mm cavity should be fine provided sufficient ventilation grilles/gaps left at openings and top and bottom of cladding.

Stop Press!! I know many of you were disillusioned with the UK house building industry but fear no longer as TW are breaking the mould and pushing the boundaries for sustainable green house building. They are now even offering double glazing!!! Not only this but 'quality insulation'!!! (What they mean by this is actually 100mm cavities). Made me smile on my rounds - good old house builders. The sad thing is they have waiting lists as long as my arm of unsuspecting buyers clamouring to buy a bog standard box about the size of a shoe box for obscene amounts of money.

Traditional construction can be built to very high even passivhaus standards with a little care, the right spec and not too much additional expense. Google the Denby Dale or Golcar passivhaus and most of the construction details, thermal values and costs are online.

This really depends on the relationship you have with the current landowner and also the price of the land (i.e. Worst case can you afford the risk of owning an undevelopable plot if pp can not be obtained). You could end up spending thousands on design and planning fees for the landowner to then cash in on your work and outlay to sell to highest bidder unless you can fully trust them to stick to original agreed price (very unlikely unless it is owned by family member). I think the best way would be to have a pre-planning discussion with the local planning authority (sometimes free, sometimes a small fee), they will generally give you a good idea if anything and if so what type of build will be accepted on the plot. If that is a positive meeting then i would negotiate with the landowner a price or have a survey to agree value and fair price. I would then approach a solicitor to draw up an option contract, this is a binding agreement but you will have to pay a deposit upfront that will secure the land at the agreed price if and when planning permission can be obtained. Beware the deposit can be lost however if pp can not be obtained - there is always some upfront risk and capital when buying land without planning.

That does look pretty amateur, difficulty is if you have supplied the tiles then your only recourse would be to withold payment for laying. Not good, some pretty poor tradesmen around at the moment!!

Have a look through this, it gives a max tolerance of +/- 3mm over a 2m straight edge. Not really much excuse for flatness as with a decent adhesive bed you should always be able to even it out. Joint thickness is difficult as it depends on tolerance of the tile but i agree with earlier comments that you would like to think he would have stopped and spoken to you once he realised there was a problem. filedownload,15912,en.pdf

From my experience you are right and the types indicated are low risk and will come under non-licensed work so you can remove yourself or you can ask your demo contractor to do it for you. if you go on the HSE website there are some standard method statements for quite a few situations which you can print and use.

Regarding the asbestos, the only way you can be sure is by having the materials sampled by a lab, generally whoever did your survey can provide the service. Regarding the demolition, you need to submit a section 80 notice form, the council have 6 weeks either to either issue a section 81 or if no reply it is deemed accepted.

Even with the tree removed you will still need a suspended floor but you will be able to reduce the foundation depths by approx 30%. Ive had a play around with the figures but cant quite get to the 2.1m though that you have been advised. If you can tell me what the tree type is and where about on the south coast you are i can calc the depths your BCO will ask for. The only other thing is your soil type - clay soils are either classified as low, medium or high volume change potential (basically it is how much it will shrink or heave due to the clay content). If you do not have this information from a soil report then the BCO has no option but to calculate based on the worst case scenario - im not sure whether you would have had a soil report done?