ToughButterCup

Its the shifting stuff around isn't it. And its shifting the same sheet around - never yours - always the children's A Level notes or some such rubbish (They're all in their 40s .... ) Told them their stuff is on Death Row. You ought to have heard the bleating....

Work harder ya lazy B_hubber !

Not in (my) Vaterland by chance? Vorsprung durch Bautechnik?

Welcome. I see you might be looking in my old stomping ground: Charlbury / Chipping Norton . Lovely place if you can ignore Clarkson's pervasive domineering rudeness - and the set that surround him - in Chippy ... You might want to think about Hook Norton - just outside Chippy - adds two minutes to the trip to Charlbury station - but they make Old Hooky there. As in .... Wassa Matter Lager-Boy: frightened you might taste summat ? Where have you built before ? I ask because we might learn from your experience - share it even?

Um.... you can penetrate the wall just below the level of the (say) toilet in the top floor can't you? Thats what everyone told us we should do.

Yes. No, if used carefully No idea. One of my tracks survived long enough with a couple of guides missing for me to get someone to change the track for me (because I'm not the HeMan @Russell griffiths is ..... bear in mind he grew up knowing how to change a track before he could change his trousers)

Have look at this : the render (white) butts up against the steels supporting our Wintergarden. I have a feeling (no more than that) where the steels meet the render (sand and cement coated with three layers of silicon-based paint), that I should fill the 'joint' with some form of mastic - a bit like putty in a window frame. I think I need to do that because the steels will expand and contract at different rates than the render - and so increase the likelihood of cracked render - and rusting steels. Mastic - yes or no ? If yes, can you suggest a trade name - or suggest an appropriate type of mastic please.

Design the battening such that the lowest batten supports some sort of valence (such as the one in the image above). We were supplied with a special glue (but I suspect many other generic mastics will do ) that sticks the membrane to the valence. I'll dig around and see if I can find a spare tube. It won't hurt to tape the membrane to the valence as well. I'll look in our stillage to see if we've some left over.

Ditto for us and our old cottage - and for a neighbour 3 doors down. I agree with @ETC above - unfortunately for you..... Just a thought... Is the bottom photo of the gable end? Is water getting through a gap between the roof tiles and the brick / render .... i.e. the leak isn't related to the chimney?

Welcome. To help you I did a search for solar pv on this site ... search bar > 'solar pv ' > everywhere and this is the result Enjoy yourself refining the results ... > + more search options Ian

They could do the grouting then @Jilly .....

So back to the question: architect or technologist? There is a place for each. Would members who ask this question in future please spend just a few minutes reading the many posts on the subject. Nice quiet fireside reading.

Am I right in suspecting that you are building on a slight slope? I ask because I had no idea how useful a gentle slope can be ... drainage, SUDS, garden, burying top spoil...

Ask them. But your question is interesting. And here's a commercial answer

Hmmmm, there's a stage before that: it's needing to use the saw : and knowing where the sharpening stuff was put away last time. And in houses with children who now have their own house - checking that your sharpening kit has not been ' stolen '. I walked into my lad's workshop the other day. He had the good grace to show his embarrassment .

Hello (both). Welcome. Interesting issue. Just to be up-front about things - we aren't experts, merely hard-bitten interested people. Do not take our advice as anything more than an aid to your own thinking. Please also consider taking professional advice Why do you think you still have a claim? Does your thinking center on the HMRC definition of 'lived in' ?

Welcome. How about some photos to help us get a 'feel' for the place , please?

But " We've had enough of experts. " haven't we? Unless this lot need one to back themselves up. Cynical? Me? Yes.

Our made ground 'batter' is 45 degrees at one end and 60 degrees at the other. Height - never less than 2 meters

Everybody shunts responsibility off onto the next trade : until the carpenter comes. Ours said " I sort everyone's mess out " . You have what you have. Talk about it to your tiler - a decent chippie will fettle that without a second thought.

German.

Your surname Beckham by any chance? ☺️

Welcome. I advise you to read Build Hub content, after you've finished surfing though 😉. Ian

It's not so much the ten minutes sharpening @dpmiller, it's getting sufficiently well organised so that the job only takes ten minutes. I last sharpened mine two years ago. Not used last year, but need it now - well - soon. Where's the file, where's the jig, where's the vice (moved since last used) - forgotten where I've put it - under a pile of sh!te I expect ? But when I settle to the job, it's as calming and pleasing - soothing - as bulling boots used to be in the army. And when the wood chips fly, big smile, and then it's - oh I'll just touch it up so that next time ......

Paid for them yet? If not negotiate. If so, ignore. I 'see' loads of issues around my house which annoy me - hasty job - not quite finished - not this, that or the other - Jesus that's fooked oop innit. And when I point those issues out, others say they didn't - wouldn't - would never have noticed had I not pointed it out. Invite a friend round watch his / her reaction . Got a SignificantOther ? No matter what anyone says here, follow the guidance given. And forget the cost.