Dave Jones

get a refusal and appeal it.

the muck will always crack as the plastic cill moves a lot especially in the sun.

loft insulation ?

hire a paslode for the weekend. very cheap.

and you cant have both at the same time.

wouldn't worry about it.

use thinner insulation for 1m around the stepped area so the screed can be feathered.

you are actually using 7n blocks right ? If you have any double beams fill the void they create with conc, really helps stiffen it all up.

they pinched the drawing from nhbc but what is actually showing is a sleeve through which the soil pipe runs. You have a soil pipe by the looks and no sleeve in which case should be a joint either side of wall. There is one on the outside, is there one on the inside as well ? wouldnt worry about rodents unless its going to be on display and not buried. https://nhbc-standards.co.uk/5-substructure-ground-floors-drainage-and-basements/5-3-drainage-below-ground/5-3-14-protection-of-pipework/

he hasnt had one as it doesnt work.

ok i understand, and can see why the truss company have made them massive to get over it. The truss load is taken by the inner skin so you will need to notch it over the cavity upstand on the lintel. If you are using building control then you will need paperwork from the truss supplier saying its ok to butcher their truss otherwise their structural calcs which your BC will need to give you a completion cert will be invalid. Only ever met 1 Architect who had any sort of clue about how to build anything. Most of them cant even design a window or door to work brick.

just stop please. ASHP will never work for you even if you left it on 24 x 7. They are crap in new houses so you stand no chance. Accept that you have been had over and move on. Ask for cash settlement instead of the pump install or just sell it. If you cant get mains gas get an oil boiler.

why have you got a lintel so high up in the first place or is the roof just low ?

stud wall and a door.

post up the drawing. How deep are your footings and who decided that ? If the opening has a small pier for the lintel to sit on it reduces the span your allowed to use without an SE designing it. Should have saved the money and not bothered with architect and used an SE and your own drawings. As you have found out they are useless. Just a tip, make sure your structural openings work brick this not only will save your bricky time but make it look a lot better without dog rough cuts. Architects are normally clueless about this and spec windows/doors such a 700, 800, 1500 etc which all don't work brick. Whatever they spec divide by 225 and then round up to the the closest whole number or half. eg 700 window is wither 675mm or 787mm.

The problem you may have is that your final roof covering may need the block to be primed prior to sticking to it which will be hard if its dpc. Personally I would use rubber on top, assuming its a warm roof as you show zero ventilation on the drawing should it be a cold roof.

how is the kitchen vented to the outside ? Same with bathrooms, showers etc ? You say the problems started after kitchen was plastered, hence looking at vent/extraction. Is the extractor been moved/knocked and is venting into the cavity maybe ?

separate lounge, not a fan of the canteen style setup.

lol ?

not unusual to have the tray couple blocks higher than FFL on inside skin, especially if a sloping site etc

its a tray so weepers on the outside lapped up onto the inside skin. same over lintels, meter boxes ect

if you can get mains gas, get it. trust me.

a cavity tray must be provided on any oponing that breaches DPC https://nhbc-standards.co.uk/6-superstructure-excluding-roofs/6-1-external-masonry-walls/6-1-17-dpcs-and-cavity-trays/

no problem at all sitting wall plate on a lintel. It's less weight on it if you think about it.

dry verge all day long. zero maintenance.