Roundtuit

Looks like they've taken on a job they're clearly not up to. Another couple of tries and it might be half-decent. I think I'd go gently at first, and see what sort of response you get. I'd be surprised if a serious joinery business would be happy putting their name to that.

If you're painting it, I'm not sure what benefit there is of using anything other than mdf. I'd expect softwood to be less stable and prone to twist or warp, and hardwood seems over-spec'd.

A quick wash with bleach (sure your familiar with that procedure), then standard masonry paint perhaps. Doesn’t matter what colour, it will end up green! Not sure how you plant it, but I'd go for a drip irrigation system rather than get the hosepipe on it.

Me too. No problems!

It's a pretty easy job to concrete a drain channel in. No one's going to check where it drains to... ?. What's going on with the dropped kerb and tarmac 'ramp'? Was it previously used as an additional parking place?

I use chocolate on snap traps; you can melt the bottom and stick it to the trigger plate to stop the little feckers stealing it.

Render for a reason! I can't imagine that the stonework underneath is in good nick. I'd patch it up for now, and put it on my list of things to do when time and money are not a limiting factor... or maybe hack it all off and re-render with some wire mesh in it.

I'm in awe of the prowess and tenacity of your vermin. I can only assume that you live adjacent to the boathouse at Hereford! Is there a clear route to the roof for them without an overhang? Maybe a gap in a soffit is a possibility? Also, difficult to judge the perspective from your original photos, but if that's a vine or something growing up the house wall, may be consider reducing the height (to ground level).

These maybe? https://www.radiatoroutlet.co.uk/600-x-608mm-white-horizontal-traditional-2-column-radiator

Memory is fading, so just dug the quote out! These are 2016 prices, but £200 for mobilisation, £9.5k for 24 × 12m piles (credit at £10 per linear metre if less depth reqd) plus £13,650 for 111 linear metres of ring beam. No idea what % to add to get to current prices though... Also just found the quote from one of the big boys for the same job...£52k.

Definitely worth looking at some of the smaller contractors. We had bottom-driven steel case piles (26 x ~10m). The piling rig arrived on a trailer behind a 4x4 pickup, so mobilisation cost was only about £350 from memory. Also worth mentioning, perhaps, is that my understanding is that achieving a 'set' on a driven pile doesn't rely entirely on hitting something hard; friction on the sides of the pile also play a part.

Me too. I put in an overhead extractor vented to the outside. Using the mvhr seemed more expense and complication than it was worth. We don't use it very often (occasionally frying, curry night etc), but I always open a window a fraction when I put it on to give it enough air flow. There's an in-line flap to prevent back draughts. Works for me.

Same here, but skimmed in December. Never used a dehumidifier, but called in at site every morning to crack a couple of windows upstairs, and left a couple of fans running downstairs to try and push air through the house. Cant recall how long it took to dry, but it wasn't holding anything up. We get a fair bit of solar gain though, so expect that helped.

Why not ashp? Tried and tested technology; all you need to do is build airtight and insulate well. I'm sure a wood burner can be linked to a thermal store, but I'm not convinced the extra messing about is worth the effort.

Fair enough! apologies, only familiar with using room vents to control the flow. The mystery continues... (and I agree, the fabric of the house shouldn't still be drying out).

As above, get yourself a copy of Mark Brinkley's Housebuilders Bible to start getting your head around the process and cost implications of choices you might make in the early stages. Hold tight....its a rollercoaster! ?

Should be able to do it yourself with a hired meter. Was the system designed for you by the supplier? If so, they should be able to give you the design air flow rates for each terminal. That won't be helping IMO. Air will take the easiest route, so you need to restrict the 'easy' routes to force air through the longer, bendier ducts, otherwise the route of air flow through the house as a whole won't be as intended.

Somethings wrong somewhere. We can dry a machine full of clothes easily overnight. A bit of a long shot, but any chance some of your ducting has been accidentally connected to the wrong plenum and it recirculating extracted air?

At a rough guess, that's maybe about £2k in materials to upgrade...

You need a roofer that is used to working with old houses. Someone who usually works with new builds or modern houses will just cr@p themselves when they see an old roof in need of some work, and assume the worst. Hard to tell from photos, but structurally it doesn't look too bad. Maybe get the roof timbers inspected for wet/dry rot and woodworm by an independent surveyor before you make any decisions. As an aside, when I had an old roof re-slated (200 year old), I 'de-risked' it for the roofers and asked them to price for what they could see, and not build a contingency into the quote to cover 'hidden' problems. When any problems cropped up, they told me what the best fix was and I paid for it. I like to think I got a good job done, with no shortcuts, and only paid for what needed doing.

Wardrobes before carpet if you can, but definitely not on top of. I put some wardrobes in slow-time (like, 2 years after moving in...), so we'd already carpeted the room to make it 'finished'. Roll carpet back, take up grippers, remove skirting, build wardrobe, refit grippers and carpet. Wasted a bit of carpet, but it was better than having a part/un-carpeted room for a couple of years.

You've linked to EPS rather than PIR/PUR insulation; that's quite different in terms of performance, and as @PeterW suggests, I wouldn't use anything less than 3x2 (75 x 50mm) for studwork.

Under the slab, or under the screed? 100mm is pretty poor if you're building to a good insulated, airtight standard, and if you are, 150mm isn't 'top spec' either. I assume we're talking PIR?

+1 to that. It can be hard to get trades lined up in the way a main contractor can, so the job takes longer and you will end up doing stuff yourself that falls between trades, that a 'general labourer' would usually do between fag breaks. I built that way and it's hard work, but we saved a $h!t-load of money.

Looks like a field/wood mouse. I'm sure it could scale the wall and get in as you suspect, but my money would be on it getting in nearer ground level and going up the cavity.