Gone West

IIRC loose lay LVT doesn't need expansion gaps.

As you say, in theory, but in reality who is going to worry about 200mm difference in a site measurement.

If I'm following you correctly, the centre line of the hedge is 1m from where the side of the house will be, and the drawing shows 1.2m. I don't understand what the problem is, as your boundary is the the centre line of the hedge which is only 200mm different from the drawing. We moved our house around 0.5m, from the drawings, to give ourselves more working space. We didn't tell anyone and there were no repercussions. I wouldn't worry about things like that.

We installed a conical shaped STP, which just sat on the top of a thick concrete paving slab. The sloping sided hole was dug out by the local farmer who placed the slab at the bottom of the hole. The STP was chained down to four angle irons which I banged into the side of the hole. It was easy to level the STP because it just sat on it's pointed base. The hole was back filled with type 1. The STP had a 450mm turret riser which was concreted in. The farmer charged £160 but this was fifteen years ago.

Would it be a good idea to have an airtightness test done. Then you can also see where the leaks are.

Western Red Cedar doesn't need any treatment to stop rot and lasts for around seventy years. It will go grey without any surface treatment, which some people like and some don't. You will find the rain washed areas go grey quicker than the weather protected areas, so can look patchy until it all evens up, which can take years.

Depends what sort of wood it is, and what if any, surface treatment you intend to use. I would use Cedral myself.

At our last place we had 1920s asbestos roof slates that were just about 100% covered in moss.

I use mostly Soudal foams, sealants and adhesives. I don't think you can beat them.

Although you don't own the hedge the boundary should be the centre line of the hedge plant trunks.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but it would take me years to fill a compost bin that is, what looks like, over 2m high and 4m diameter. That's from my just over half an acre, sounds like a plan for the National Trust. Our compost bins rot down very quickly.

Great job.

Is that measurement to the centre line of the hedge or your side of the hedge?

Yes and then no. I designed and built my own PH but it wasn't recent, it was fifteen years ago, when the regulations were less onerous and costs much less. It took us eight years, doing a lot of the work ourselves. I would do a new self build now, but it would be a turnkey build.

The fresh air is coming from the loft, same as if I had a PIV system.

"On 31 March 2003, they were banned from use on roads in the United Kingdom because of safety concerns. They were all called in and crushed, though a few survive in museums and private ownership."

I have fitted several new windows already which don't have trickle vents. I don't like the look of trickle vents, and retro fitting them seems like much more of a PITA than a small hole on the ceiling.

This is an old bungalow, so is there any reason I shouldn't have ceiling mounted humidity activated vents in the dry rooms?

Surely whether humidity activated or manual, when open, they rely on the wind to work. I thought the idea that trickle vents worked correctly, had been debunked years ago.

It's all just thoughts at the moment, although it would have a thermostat.

Run off the battery system, charged by PVs and off peak cheap electricity.

I've done the very low energy usage, new build, fifteen years ago, this is an 1840s/1970s, single storey, stone build. I learned a lot from the new build and the works I am doing, are to make it primarily comfortable. If I fitted PIV, it would have a simple electric post heater. This would be used for maybe three months of the year and would only be lifting the input air temperature to around 24C. The levels of infiltration would be much the same as in my new build.

@Redbeard, @JohnMo, @Nickfromwales, @Mike Many thanks for the comments, plenty to think about there. Sorry to the OP for derailling his thread.

I've just bought 26 lengths of 63x38 and 89x38 treated CLS from the local B&Q, and I was pleasantly suprised. It was pretty straight and had been stored under cover. I know it was a small order but I was happy. Very different from the crap I was often delivered from Jewsons when I was building my TF house.

So if I ducted the PIV to the dry rooms then the dMEV would then suck it out.