Roundtuit

If it's rotten, as above I think it will be wet rot. As @PeterStarck says, have at it with a screwdriver and see how solid it is. Unless there's some signifcant deterioration, I wouldn't be worrying about it.

Most expensive trade? Kitchen fitter. He snapped a 3m length of worktop, holed a water pipe, damaged a cupboard door and an island end panel, and cut into the control panel of a brand new Bosch dishwasher with a multi-tool. Thankfully, it was expensive for him not me!?

We've got a Bio-pure 2, which has performed without issue for the last 22 months, to the point that I've not even bothered to lift the lid. Now that I have (had it serviced last week), I've found it's still operating fine, but it needs de-sludging. I think that if I'd followed the recommended 6-monthly inspection routine I could have extended the de-sludging interval. There's a slight noise from the blower, but I think it's mainly from where cables or air pipe touch the inside of the pump chamber. I got some foam material to line the inside of the chamber, but it's not noisy enough to be on the to-do list just yet! My father-in-law slept in his camper van next to it for a few days last summer, against my advice, and didn't even notice it. (It's his choice, honest! We do have a spare room...)

Yeah.. not sure that's going to do it! If your architect is also doing Building Regs application for you, they'll have something in mind I would think. Probably worth having the chat about windows without trickle vents if you haven't already...

Good plan. How were you planning to ventilate then? I assume the 25mm is an additional (internal) layer? What's insulation is in the SIP out of interest?

Try and get another quote or two and review from there. It does sound pricey if they're re-using your existing tiles, but there's too many variables that we've not really touched on yet; size of the roof, number of valleys and complexities, access, local supply and demand.

Old-school winter storage for root veg?

No, but you need to give it some thought. As above, you'd need to get the 'infrastructure' in during the build, but that's not a massive outlay if you install it yourself. Air tightness is key to effective mvhr, so for me, the bigger consideration would be whether to spec your windows without trickle vents (and I would suggest that would be the preferable in the long term), and how you achieve adequate ventilation levels in the interim.

Difficult to say. Possibly, the filters certainly catch a lot, but I suspect that most household dust is created 'in house' so I couldn't vouch for that as a benefit. Probably keeps some pollen out though.

Our electric meter is in an external boundary box (like several others on here), but to be honest, there's nothing else in our plant room I'd want to put in a 'shed'. I think architects need to get their heads around planning-in adequate space for increasingly sophisticated plant. In the not-to-distant past it was pretty much an airing cupboard for the water tank, and somewhere to mount a consumer unit. It depends on exactly what you're planning on putting in there of course, but probably better to make your plant room part of the house-proper if you can I think, to make sure it's secure, dry and accessible.

You need to be pretty airtight to make it worthwhile, but having lived with mvhr for 18 months, I think the 'heat recovery' part is possibly the lesser of the benefits. Having a controlled directional air flow through the house, constant fresh air into bedrooms and living rooms, and extract from kitchen/utility/bathrooms I think is just great. There's a gentle background noise to ours; just enough to tell when the the humidity sensor has detected our teenage daughters extended shower so I can shout up the stairs in a father-like manner. Our sons bedroom no longer smells like he's keeping ferrets in there. Stuff dries quickly; towels/tea towels, laundry dries over night in the utility room. If I had to live in a house without it now, I'd definitely miss it.

I think you're taking the best course of action. Sounds like, having accepted the compromise and the architects £1100 (and I fully understand why you would), you really need BC to rule it non-compliant before you can re-visit the architect for a resolution/compensation. If it turns out to be compliant, I'm sure the buildhub collective can come up with the most suitable, best cost alternative for when you're ready to replace - just need some more pics and plans!

We've got a Franke Maris 1.5 bowl. I like it; low profile mounting, clean lines, plenty big enough and not too pricey. It's not rock solid, but not too tinny either. We have a Franke Eiger silksteel mixer tap which toolstation were selling for less than £100 at the time, but I suspect that offer is long gone.

If you want a short-term fix with a view to doing a proper job later, I'd Flashband it to death. A bit of heat from a hot air paint stripping gun and it sticks to most things!

In principle the numbers sound reasonable. My concern is that there is no incentive for your builder to buy better; the opposite in fact. I'm convinced a lot of trades, over time perhaps, end up being price-takers and just accept whatever their preferred builders merchant charges. I'd want to retain more control and do some work myself as you suggested. Sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it...

We started using an architectural practice as part of our frame package as they were the manufacturers 'preferred' architect. We parted company after number of issues; loss of trust over a topographical survey (long story), and they didn't bother with a site visit. I met and briefed who I thought was doing the design; turns out they passed it on to someone else to work on, and then a third person presented the plans back to me. The proposals were so wide of the mark, I decided to call it a day and find another one. Architect #2 was great! Fixed fee and worth every penny. It's important to find an architect that 'gets' what you want achieve, and uses their flair to enhance and not dominate.

Welcome aboard! Your renovation experience will set you in good stead and is almost certainly something others can benefit from. Unlimited choice is a mixed blessing, but it is indeed a blessing! We're all working through various stages of the process, so feel free to bounce ideas around.

Probably not worth the hassle of couriering, but I've got an unused white one you can have if you happen to be passing this way...

Barnsley. Hailing from God's own county myself, I feel qualified to point out that a Yorkshireman is pretty much a Scot, but with the generosity wrung out of him. Got to price it keenly if you sell up North! (no offence intended, all stereotyping acknowledged, ee bah gum, I'll get me top coat) ?

From my limited experience, I've found that a walk around a house with a good builder was infinitely more helpful than an ar$e-covering survey report. Perhaps there's a reputable builder local to you, familiar with the build type, that could have a look for the cost of their time?

I think we allowed something like 11mm each side, but a bit more top to bottom as the frames needed a 20mm batten on the bottom to attach the cill. I think the allowance is a bit arbitrary to be honest, depending on how you're going to fix them; you'll need more of a gap if you use a compriband-type product rather running a bead of sealant around it. Our fixing straps were cranked to compensate for the gap, but I ended up hammering them flat as the crank was too severe, and then fine-tuning the fit by how deep you drive the screw in to the timber frame. If you're planning window frames that can't be altered (shaved a little if necessary) like alu-clad, then you might want to not make it too hard for yourself!

We got a 'Property Owners Policy' on our plot (about 3/4 of an acre) for a year or two before we started building, mainly as we had a lot of trees to clear in and around the plot, and many of them were not in the best shape. The policy was from Versatile Insurance, and from memory was about £140 for £2 million public liability/property owners liability insurance.

Hmm. Seems to be back on this morning, manually anyway, not sure about the timer. UFH heating is controlled by room stats, DHW runs off the timer on the heat pump (Hitach Yutaki S 16kw). The display indicated the compressor was on. When I turned DHW on manually last night, it briefly indicated a temperature of 30C (I asssume the tank temperature) before changing to display the set temperature (50C). At that point, the compressor would usually kick in, but last night nothing happened. There's a motorised valve that diverts output between DHW and UFH, could that be sticking perhaps?

Hi. My heat pump appears to have stopped heating DHW today. The tank was cool this evening when it should have been hot (on timer), so I turned DHW on manually but the compressor fails to kick in. UFH seems ok, no fault codes showing, and nothing else different that I know of. It's a Hitachi Yutaki split system. Any suggestions for things to try please?

I'd be pi$$ed off too, but you need to decide if it's worth falling out over. If you're happy with the job, I think I'd pay up promptly for the agreed bit and smile and ask nicely if you can come to some agreement about the extra as it wasn't in the budget. Anything you can claw back is a bonus, and as @newhome said, at least he hasn't cut corners and done a poor job...