ToughButterCup

Build the wall and the step(s) Make a little trench (200mm) between the steps and the lawn , fill with 10mm /20mm if you'd prefer to (say) 400mm .

You have full PP? Or Outline permission? Have you submitted your plans to BC for approval? (Often called The Building Regs Application) If so ( and they are happy) , then No is the answer. No (as proof) is the answer to the second question too. One quick way I have heard of as showing commencement is to install a temporary electricity supply (you may already have one?). Photograph and date the installation. Send via email to Building Control. Job jobbed. As usual @Temp (above) has the definitive, official, water-tight answer. It's a bore though. And costs munee.

People are where they are in the house-ownership cycle. Maybe their ' push ' to just get-on-the-ladder was (is?) harder than you realise?

That's a good emetic now. Oooops there goes a biscuit. 🤮.

Three aggressive tomcats.... on patrol most days - when not so deeply asleep that they appear to be in a different time warp.

Welcome. I'm not sure if anyone here (on this board) has any experience of Baufritz: as I understand it they are a "Turnkey" company. Our focus is more on doing it on your own. Perhaps you could ask the company if they have any existing clients who are willing to talk to prospective customers.

Yes Joe that's what everybody says, except when you live there loads of people who live in Shrewsbury always call it Salop - as well . That's quite interesting because 'Salope' is French slang for 'prostitute'.

Wuster. It's another of those places like Shrewsbury - locals call it Salop.

Smells sometimes evoke powerful reactions. The OP above presumably is talking about a smell that isn't wanted and that's really inconvenient. I can't think of a way of dealing with the problem other than to mask it in some way. Or presumably learn to live with it. I had a mate who lived in a flat in Worcester, not far from the Lea + Perrins Sauce factory. I used to visit him on my motorbike. I knew I was near his flat about half a mile from where he lived , sometimes from further away than that. When I asked him how he managed to deal with the quite intrusive smell, he said that after week or so he just didn't smell it anymore. Visiting his flat used to make me hungry -like - really hungry.

Invite them to eat at yours? Our neighbours are 25 meters away : liver and onions, bacon butties, an indecent curry , our teenagers' armpits (when that age) - all within smelling distance at 25 meters. Years ago, I did an attachment in a hospital as part of my job - the doctors (with glee) sent me to work in the the morgue for the first week. A fabulously professional morgue attendant took pity and told me - breathe through your mouth only. 'Click' smell disappears.

Morning, welcome! SWMBO and HWMBO together eh? So who's the boss? 🫡

I'm on first name terms with the local rats. Mice are almost irrelevant. We have some field mice hereabouts so I'm quite careful about controlling them. The rats have already done some damage, they were in the roof. But I sorted that out - took the roof tiles off , clean the hole out filled it with foam , recovered and repaired the felt, popped the tiles back. That's one thing about being a self-builder you can get the job done instantly and you know how to do it and you know how to do it well. We all suffer from rats round here because we are right next to a pig farm. In addition we run a good few chickens so rats are never not a problem. They appear to me not to mind a weekly onslaught by me with my rifle . They don't take much notice of their colleagues being shot. In fact they sometimes use their dead colleagues as lunch. They are worthy opponents and in some senses I'm grateful for them keeping my shootings skills almost as sharp as they once they were. There is of course a dreadful temptation to use poison : but that seems to cause our three cats to have upset stomachs so we try hard not to use it. I will never shoot any of the birds that decide to nest in our Cellotex. They are all most welcome. No matter what Steamy Tea says, I'm almost sure that the U value of a warm starling is higher than the u value of the insulation

Exactly Terry. That's what Debbie says.

A generous interpretation @TerryE. I am ground down by the build. Two new hips replaced in 6 months hammers you. And then I look back at all the work done in substantial pain before the operations... But Hell, there's a house here where there wasn't before. I am mindful of the privilege though. So very many have said that they would like to be able to build their own house..... But .

Absolutely correct @Roundtuit. A local builder ( well respected and trusted) teased me about the issue yesterday. When he'd finished taking the proverbial, he casually mentioned that the new extension - that he'd built for for his own house - had exactly the same problem. Ya just can't get the staff these days.

Exactly

"Ah fookin 'ate them Jackies in yer roof mert.... " says my unneighbourly next door dweller. Neighbour he isn't. Maybe in proximity, but never in either spirit or reality. I do my best to be positive when forced to talk to him. Jackdaws in our roof - really? The little tinkers. Without thinking I replied; "Well the U Value of a jackdaw's nest is much higher than Celotex - since there's a Menage-a-Trois in there, there's at least 7 warm birds , so the U value is much higher than Celotex could ever manage" "Wha ?" "U value - a measure of how efficient the insulation is " "No: meanage aa toi - whassat?" "Ahh, Jackdaws - their kids (last years brood) come and help incubate and feed this years brood: so they live together with mum and dad, bit like the French and their relaxed attitude to ermmmm.... So thats 7 birds all huddled together for warmth. From which we benefit" "Aye, an' when wun breaks wind lahk, 'tl bee even warmer" "Jackdaws don't light their farts Peter" "' Appen. Any road, they wunts shuuuutin' " Says the man who had his firearms licence taken off him last year. We've Bluetits, Starlings and Jackdaws in our roof (just in the Celotex) . And do I care ? Nope. They're all welcome. But am I right? is the U Value higher as a result of avian nesters-in-our-Celotex? Answer me that please Boffins.

Welcome. The answer to that question is writ large all over this forum.

You missed a word out ' It would be for my kids bikes so they aren't ...'

Commonly interpreted as ' ... Thanks for asking us, we have far too much work on at the moment, but if you insist, here's a price which will just about pay for our daughter's wedding in Disneyland....'

The slope will be just under 1 m from the fence to the left of your house. To the side, (the gable) there is a fairly steep slope just over a meter deep. In other words, a common or garden ditch. Absolutely brilliant gardening opportunity .

Welcome. We've all felt that '...gulp...' Might as well call this the OhFFSboard. We're used to it. Here to help and take the proverbial. Ian

Then, a long hot bath and or a trip to your physiotherapist: in my case a sado-masochistic-pain-inflictor- who-makes-me-feel-better-because-she-stops. But fancy this: she's a German refugee living and working and paying tax in the UK. Come here since Brexit ! WhassaMatterWithHer?

Nitric and sulphuric acids - from memory - will dissolve copper (Got kicked out of the Chemistry class before 'O' Level because I threw a snowball at the Chemistry teachers car). Nitric is unlikely to have been made, that leaves sulphuric. Where does the sulphur come from? Maybe a hen laid an egg in the dashboard , that eggshell rotted a bit and then got a bit of water on it - that created a bit of sulphur - the sulphur plus a bit more water then corroded the terminal .... BINGO - that's wot did it Dave. Medals, medals, I want a medal. Please.

You colour blind son?