Roundtuit

I appreciate the need to manage relationships, but surely paying the bill gets your seat at the table? You don't have to be mates but staying friendly is likely to yield the best results. Effective communication is key, and in my experience, much of the industry isn't very good at it, sometimes by choice, so you'll need to compensate. For what it's worth, we encountered our fair share of be!!end$ during the build, and after a while, a month's delay didn't even count as a delay. Just keep your patience, problem-solve on a daily basis, and look forward to moving in!

Could try Walker Nene Truss Co in Wisbech. I think that's where ours came from, although supplied through the frame supplier so I've no direct experience. We had large attic trusses.

Yes. All the sand from the same quarry, and white cement.

No, soakaways didn't come up; someone from the drainage board came out to site to discuss my proposals and ok'd it in principle (subject to the rainwater and treatment plant discharging separately - I think to meet any discharge testing requirements). I followed up by submitting a sketched plan of what we'd agreed, and that was it. Yes the site is level, and I should point out that we actually discharge into a piped section of the dyke - maybe soakaways are to prevent bank erosion?

I suspect anonymity isn't going to be a realistic option if you want to try fix this, so be prepared to pi$$ the neighbours off. I think you need to get someone from planning round to look ASAP so you might need to make a nuisance of yourself, and play on the fire risk aspect perhaps. If you're getting no response, call and ask what their complaints process is... It looks wrong on several levels, and I'd be very unhappy with it next door to me. Good luck!

Interesting. Our local drainage board allowed rainwater discharge into the dyke down the side of our plot, on the basis that the volume going into the dyke would overall be the same whether there was a house there or not. The treatment plant discharge also goes into it about 20m further upstream.

I fitted hedgehogs in some 125mm galvanised guttering and fixed with a bit of galvanised wire right around the gutter. As @SiBee -not impressed; took them all out. I think it's easier to clean your gutters out every now and then.

I hope you're not about to propose some sort of glazed solution....

Has the guy upstairs maybe laid some sort of click-together laminate (without any underlay?), and it's the joints that are moving and creating the noise? Seems odd that he'd do anything structural to his floor to make it less solid or flex more than it did previously. Not that it will help, but does the Party Wall Act apply to a shared floor/ceiling?

Well, it sort of does if that's the base value for the uplift. If you try and separate the affected land, how do you value it to get your starting point for the 30% uplift? ~ 1/2 an acre of garden, maybe land-locked, with a limited market, or as a potential building plot? If you got planning permission, you'd split the title of course.

Not sure how that would work from the vendors point of view. What base value would the uplift be on? We've got an overage clause on our plot, and as others have said, there was no issue with a mortgage. Is it possible that its the current state of the property that is putting off lenders? If you're looking to mortgage the property after you've renovated, then maybe it's a bit early to be talking mortgages.

Should that be metres rather than feet? I can't see a 'shed conversion' being worthwhile unless you've got a pretty substantial shed. I don't know what a new garden office costs, but £16k doesn't surprise me.

Offer them £50 cash to fit next time they're passing ?

Welcome, and good luck! Plenty of experience on here so ask away!

Welcome! Embrace your bats! In the not too distant future you can sit on your new patio on a warm summers evening (with a glass of wine perhaps?) watching them flit around keeping the bugs down...

Yes, the whole job. UFH downstairs, rads upstairs, two towel rails, 8 zones with individual room stats (JG). As @LA3222 said, most of it is diy'able. Now I've seen it done, I could have done a better job myself...

Our job was pretty much as you describe above and as per the quote (270m2, 16kw Hitachi ASHP, 300l tank etc), and it came in at less than £18k about 4 years ago. Obviously areas vary, and prices are only going one way, but it looks like there's some room for negotiation in there.

I chose the blackest ones I could find to try and make the black in-roof solar panels blend in, but with your cladding, I think I'd want some contrast, and maybe go with far left on top photo.

Hi Margaret. Welcome back! Off-topic, but what was the outcome of your garden excavation project?

11mm isn't really much to play with. Once the compriband is on, you'll need a bit of slack to get the window in the hole without accidentally pulling it off. We had one or two of ours that ended up with a bead of silicon underneath rather than compriband. I suspect if you risk going any tighter you might be restricted to just using sealant, but even that will need some space if you want to get a little finger in to smooth it off!

Not in a cubicle I can understand, as it might restrict air flow, but I can't see why it would be an issue in a 'wet room' type situation?

Sorry, I don't fully understand; is the plasterer not coming back to plaster?

Had to Google that. Every day's a school day!

Efflorescence?

We're just on factory settings, and it's activated pretty quickly by both wet rooms. One extract is right over the shower, but the other is about 3m+ away. We dry stuff routinely in the utility room, but I don't think there's enough 'steam' in there to activate the boost.