ProDave

It is not always clear cut. Looking at the aerial picture it looks like the house on the other end of your row has extended to the side almost to the boundary. So you may argue that is a precedent? The trees around your plot would kill any argument about an extension restricting visibility. I did briefly consider trying for a new dwelling in the house I previously had, but it would have been a small house and both would have had tiny gardens, and parking would be awkward sharing the same entrance. And there was a covenant issue so I decided just to extend.

Start by posting pictures of exactly what first fix plumbing is in place and people can better advise what is needed to complete second fix. Are you just talking of plumving the loo, bath, basin and shower or heating e.g. radiators or UFH as well?

Anyone who wants it on the left tight against the bulkhead has never actually done any washing up. And don't kid yourself just because you have a dishwasher that you never will do any washing up.

That is very similar to a house I used to own. I first got permission to build a detached garage in the side garden some way from the house, and in front of the building line of the houses to the rear. It only got planning on appeal because the appeal inspector determined that some nearby houses in the village were built right up to the road, and he consluded allowing my garage in front of the building line provided a visual link between the houses set back, and those right up to the road. With garage built, there was then no problem getting permission for a 2 storey side extension between the house and the garage.

Definitely sink in the middle. Don't forget the draining board.

With an outlay of £8000 and you would be unlikely to self use more than £800 worth of electricity in a year it has a payback time of 10 years. The daytime generation from the PV won't help the big storage heater, but it would help any suplimental rea time heating and hot water heating, and og course all electrical appliances used in the daytime.

How similar are the 2 dwellings? Any mileage in living one one for a few years while you finish the second, then sell the first and move into the second?

That looks right. The cable entry detail on the outside ASHP unit is not the best and getting multiple cables in is not easy. It is better if you can get a length of say 12 core control cable and run one length of that from the ASHP unit to the inside wiring centre.

If you want your meter swapped, e.g. for a smart meter, you contact your energy supplier which is separate to the Distribution Network Operator. It is up the the supplier to ensure the meter fits or make alterations to make it fit. Only the DNO or the supplier can make alterations to that equipment. With a bit of tidying up a smart meter will fit where the old one is. But if you are thinking of getting that changed, terminate your SWA into the adaptable box first to "stake your claim" to that space above the CU.

Is that leaking like that all the time? Or just when it rains? Start by making a listening stick and with all taps in the house turned off use the listening stick to see if you can hear water flowing at the main incoming stopcock. You might have a leaking pipe under the floor. If it only leaks like that after rain, it might be rainwater getting into the cavity.

Some types of timber cladding can be really poor, there is a self build with timber cladding near me that in the winter the cladding just soaks in the rainwater, and ends up looking like a cheap soaked garden shed. I have never been a fan of cladding "left to silver" as it rarely fades evenly and often looks tatty and worn after a very short time.

It looks like they have already widened the "road" in an attempt to prevent this?

Post some pics of the controls. If a proper start / stop, check the start button is pusming the contactor in all the way

A couple of plants in large tubs, one either side of the bay might make it easier too see / avoid hitting the bay window. Post a picture of the water coming out of the vent, that might be more serious.

Adaptable box will be fine above the CU. Link the two with a bit of rigid conduit. Second pic, red and black are the L and N feed to the old Radio Teleswitch. Are you still actually using the off peak any more? I don't think those Teleswitches will be working much longer.

What are you actually asking? Pic 1 is a waterlogged lawn, presumably in winter. Pic 2 seems to be the same lawn in summer with most of the grass dead? Pic 3 is a drain pipe entering an inspection chamber. Did you think there was something wrong with that?

Should be 2 layers of 15mm pink fireline board with staggered joints. Mounted on resiliant bars for reduced noise. Was there any insulation in there that came down with the ceiling that might not have been replaced?

Hi and welcome to the forum. Does that come with much land? Is it remote from other dwellings and do you have electricity? What's with the render behind the water butt? Looks like a project with plenty of potential.

Seriously, with a full renovation, I would be planning ahead for WHEN you won't be able to get a gas boiler. Yes you can get one now, but how long will it last? and what will you replace it with. At that point starting with a broken, irreplaceable gas combi will be a bad starting point. So I like the suggestion of a good modulating system boiler, with proper thought out controls (priority DHW) and a "heat pump" unvented hot water cylinder. Then next time, you (or a future owner) can swap the gas boiler for an ASHP. I have never owned a house with a combi but used plenty when staying with relatives and I just don't like them. Every one I have used you turn the hot tap down to get a nice gentle flow to wash your hands and the water jumps up to scalding hot. Taking a shower and someone else flushes the loo and your shower temperature changes. Once you have tried hot water from a well designed Unvented cylinder system, you will not want to go back. As long as you have good mains pressure water to support it.

I would say BEFORE you tighten the glass fixing nuts, you first ensure all 4 are at the same level, so when you tighten the glass you are not bending it. If the 4 fixings are not level, then correct that first.

My PV diverter measures generated and consumed power to that could "signal" the ASHP to start up if there was enough surplus, but that would then have to be integrated into the regular controls to override "DHW demand" regardless of what the time clock says. Yes an ASHP takes a few minutes to ramp up, and they don't like starting and stopping so you really would not want to keep interrupting it every time a cloud came over. I guess this is what battery storage does. I don't have that on my present system, but later i hope to add more PV and battery storage. Batteries should be ideally placed to soak up even short bursts of PV generation and then discharge the batteries later into a constant load device like the ASHP.

There is no easy way to command the ASHP to start up heating DHW when there is surplus PV, and in any case on a partly cloudy day PV production can go up and down in quantity very rapidly as clouds come and go. Yes the immersion is a COP of 1, but the energy it is using if "free" and not using it, it gets exported and wasted (at best paid at a low export rate if you are able) so better to use it than lose it. The PV diverter responds very quickly to peaks and troughs in the PV generation

My "simple" way to achieve that is set the timer so the ASHP only starts to heat the DHW at 11AM, by which time there should be decent solar PV to be used up by the ASHP. The PV diverter works automatically on it's own at any time, so on a sunny day the ASHP will be soaking up the PV and the diverter will be putting some into the immersion heater as well. ASHP heats DHW to 48 degrees then stops. Immersion heater thermostat is at maximum which seems to cut out just over 70 degrees. 5kW ASHP seems okay with low heating load and I would not want to go smaller for DHW heat up time.

So much has been done already. the job is actually quite simple. Have you actually costed forgetting the silly grants that force the use of MCS contractors. and just buy the kit and employ a trusted plumber and electrician, or just do it yourself?

A lot of solar PV. In simple terms it generates more power than it consumes.