Faz

I don't see how that vent works as it is below ground level and will have no airflow....

My place looked like the Somme after running machinery on it for 2 winters. I got a local farmer in with a cultivator to go over it and he is coming back with a power harrow next week. Hopefully it will do the trick.

It is a design issue. Taylor Wimpy didn't retain dDRM (the original architect) and went elsewhere - same with the SE. Looks like they cocked it up. I am sure there are a few dusting off their professional indemnity policies....

If the base is solid the grout will work ok - you can't have those hollow spots underneath though. It needs to be a wet laid cement bed - yours looks like near 100% sand. If hollow spots are left (tap around each slab with a broom handle to find them) the slabs will eventually crack anyway.

Durgos fail after around 10 years - make sure it is accessible if you are going to put one in (unlike an idiot main contractor I had in 2016 putting them in sealed partitions between flats....)

SIPS are far more expensive than timber frame and, these days, they are virtually the same thing. We did a penthouse scheme in 2019 and the cost for SIPS was £180k vs £47k for the timber frame. Check Buildzone for the warranty - the cost for a self build warranty for my 3000 sq. ft. house was £2k - I do have a good rating with them for spec plots which probably helps mind.

You have got to frame it at the top and have a supporting shelf underneath with cut outs for waste etc. A s/s sink would just need the top frame. My kitchen fitter wouldn't do the undermount sinks either - said it was for the Silestone guys. Worktop lot said it needed to be in pre template. Another scope gap needing to be filled by muggings here...

Before tanking you need to make sure you use the tanking tape to the corners and around the tray. I have recessed shower valves so taped around them too. I used the Everbuild system and it seemed pretty good.

That was my thinking - I have a meaty Airflow MVHR system and 2.6m floor to ceiling heights - 2 extracts on the MVHR in the kitchen area and recirculating hood. 2 months in and I haven't even used it since moving in. Same with the tumble dryer - another thing yet to be used. The MVHR is like being inside a tumble dryer without the dizziness! The only downside is the accelerated drying time on the timber and associated shrinkage having moved in mid Feb. Oh well - kept a stock of caulk in anticipation.

I wouldn't get the cement that early - even in plastic bags in the dry it will start to go off over that period of time.

Won't work without a time machine - the PD requires the agricultural use prior to 2013....

Maybe try the PD route and appeal - if I recall correctly, the building needed to have been used for agriculture up to 2013 or so if that works for you.

Don't want to be cruel but you might be wanting to have another go at that wall to level it up before chucking a load of expensive wet cast stone on top - the thing might get on your tits in the days / weeks/ months to come.... Don't know how visible the thing is but, if it were me, I would sort it. If the bodge is the only way to go then concrete and cement haunch the thing to a level - wet cast stone tends to crack if not set level as it is soft as butter. It will look horrible.

Windows have gone mad - my supplier (Munster Joinery) were on a 2 week lead for Plots 1 and 3 then went to a 12 week lead for the last plot. I drive past sites all the time clearly waiting for windows. Mad.

Buy the plot on a conditional contract 'subject to planning' - assuming it is priced for development - if it is agricultural value then you just have to take a punt and enjoy the release of the develelopment value upside if you suceed and, if you fail, then you sell on and wear the purchase and sales costs.

Managed to get around half of that bill back when they flipped it from the developer's commercial tarrif to residential from 17/2. They set the D/D at £200 per month which isn't the end of the world in these volatile times. What this does show though is how much the price cap is affecting charges - it is the electricity costs that are through the roof even though spot gas is up 3x. Wonder how that will effect the heat pumps?

These look like vent tiles mate for soil stacks below. Looks like a dry ridge system they used too so not unusual to make it flow away from the chimney. Once a bit of rain has washed the crap away it probably won't look too bad.

All due to commercial rates - I got a £600 credit back when I amended to domestic from 17/2. Shows what horrors await when the price cap goes away. Net zero needs to go down the pan before all the rest of us do!

You want a shocker - try this! A

Works outside of the demised premises are not allowed - this would even include fixings into the external walls. In the real world, get the License and chance it.

If you are after cheap and decent but are prepared to put up with a slightly thorny journey then Munster Joinery. Spec plots - 4b detached - decent uPVC with metal lounge slider - supply and install £4,600 inc front door and utility door. Mine - aluminum all over, 2 sliders, 4 doors and pretty big - £20k supply & install.

Don't we all once we get into it? The sunshine just brings it on earlier! With build cost inflation totally out of control perhaps now is the time to raise the glass and toast the total stupidity of the HMG in banning red diesel on sites in a week's time. Quality job. Idiots.

Could you not run it behind the facia? Doesn't need much of a fall. Whoever put that downpipe in was taking the piss imo.

I am (or was) a Chartered Surveyor for 25 years until I got fed up of paying the RICS £700+ a year for nothing in return apart from a monthly mag that I chucked in the bin with the plastic intact. So, let's have a look at this - or a job like this, do we need a Party Wall Agreement as well as a Licence to Alter? Party Wall - probably not. License certainly yes. With reasonable L/L costs covered. This can be legal and surveyor's monitoring costs. Can they object to the work on grounds of noise and disruption? [no - covered in the License] One of the couple in the 2 bed flat works with vulnerable children, is WFH since the pandemic so does everything on video calls, doesn't have an office to go to.[Not your problem] She and her husband do however have two large double bedrooms on the second floor at the top of the house. He works in one, she works in their living room which is directly above my living room where a lot of the work will be done. [sucks to be them for a few days] I've suggested they both work on the second floor away from the noise but they don't want to and haven't given me a good reason. Is this something a surveyor would be able adjudicate on in the event of a dispute, or are we getting into legalities beyond a surveyor's scope? [none of this is your problem - smash it out and all is done - it is not like you are building an effig motorway outside the house ffs. The kitchen of the new open-plan space will be below the bedroom of the 1-bed flat. Can the owner object to the new configuration on the basis of potential extra noise from the kitchen and living room below? If so will sound-proofing the ceiling be enough to address this? [No - in fact you suffer their impact noise x10 to what you will make. I lived in a GF flat conversion in Finsbury Park 30 years ago with all of the impact noise above and went to sleep dreaming of getting an Uzi and hosing the rest of the house down!

Not a bad solution or you could have a go with Sika tanking render / slurry. If the rest of the house is on beams can you drop the level in the cupboard below the beam level - not a great thought having damp around timber beams although they seem to have got used to it if the house is 100+ years old!