ProDave

More pictures needed of that rear elevation from a side view or partial side view. Can you grab a satellite image of it and post that suitably anonamised?

A bit of common sense at last. Someone has finally woken up to the fact the required updates to the UK electricity grid just cannot happen as quick as needed, so they are now prioritising maximum return and scrapping what they are calling zombie projects. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/zombie-electricity-projects-in-britain-face-axe-to-ease-quicker-grid-connections/ar-AA1RUHYT?cvid=c5a99d221d7e4946a24f8787fdfa1199&ei=21 I would hope that means the scrapping to yet more relatively small wind farms here in favour of bigger ones in better locations (off shore) and likewise the something like 4 battery storage plants planned to occupy some of the fields not far from here.

That has had a wrap around single storey extension. So the Yellow wall is the original back wall and is holding up the original pitched tiled roof and the red wall is holding up the flat roof to the extension. You could take out the yellow wall, but not before organising some form of lintel to bridge the gap where you are removing the wall to keep the original roof up.

It is now with a big hole in the wall.

Quote of the year.

Completion certificate and an A EPC certificate to frame and hang on the wall.

(long sentence / paragraph) The dream : A unique chance to build the house of your dreams, designed and built to your design with perfect craftsmanship and detail. The reality: Nothing goes to plan in almost every way you could imagine (and plenty you could not) and you have to adapt, fight, be patient, get inventive and work your socks off to eventually reach where you wanted to get 5 years ago. Then the ultimate stupidity, you don't learn from your mistakes and think about doing it again.

I am shocked that a brand new car has been written off by this. As said above, that was some hard hit.

They are most likely immitation stone bricks, often cast from concrete in a mould with colouring. Bradstone was a well known manufacturer about the time that house was likely built, I don't know if they still exist. As above, you will be far better off getting the builder appointed to rebuild this, to salvage as many as possible of the original bricks for the outer face as possible, any new ones should be interspersed rather than having a patch of new. But don't let anyone tell you they are not available, they will be from somewhere preferably any "new" ones needed will be reclaimed and similar age / weathering. It will be an insurance claim so make sure you have a loss adjuster / surveyor on your side to make sure it gets rebuilt to your satisfaction.

Was that really new work done recently? It's a LONG time since I have seen joists fitted without joist hangers. Not since I was a boy playing on building sites at weekends (as you did then before elf and safety) and I remember thinking even then, gosh is 3 nails banged into the end grain all that is supporting that joist. And back then, it was.

Yes that is the thing. Just check it is the right size for your stove flue.

I have looked but I can't find it listed where I bought mine from. It is just a fireproof insulated sleeve that goes around the twin wall. In practice, the outside surface of our twin wall is barely warm to the touch and would not threaten even a piece of paper from igniting, but that might be very different with the pipe encased in insulation. Whatever you do, don't do it without the approval of your installer.

When I did mine, I used an insulated sleeve, supplied by the flue supplier for the purpose. It was 50mm thick and obviously fireproof and thus everything else gets the 50mm from combustibles it needs.

Pictures? Doesn't building regs say to nail in every hole?

Conductor area 1.25mm No I would not buy that. My long 250V extension lead is self made using 5 core 2.5mm with 2 cores in parallel for both L and N. I doubt you will find a pre made lead with 2.5mm cable, read the small print. Buy a drum of 3 core 2.5mm flex and make your own lead to the length you want with no joins and a good quality plug and socket each end.

Better to use a heavy duty 240V extension lead and move the 110V transformer. 110V means a little more than twice the current so double the volt drop and larger cable needed.

Most boxes are just too hard and brittle to drill. You can cut them with an Abra file in a hacksaw blade, but you have to start at an existing hole and cut from there.

IF those points were argued clearly and correctly by the main stream media, I strongly suspect the declining oil reserves would be a far more compelling reason to adopt more renewable generation and a great deal more people would support that, than some mythical suggestion that if we don't the world will end in climate disaster.

Can you post pictures of one of the old ones with dimensions of what you are trying to match? Alternatively buy one of these and see if you can accept the look, if you can, these are a softer plastic that you can drill to match the holes of the old box. https://www.screwfix.com/p/deta-tte-2-gang-surface-pattress-box-32mm/437vt

Unless the back boxes are rusted, threads stripped, or some other damage, an electrician would do nothing. It seems a strange idea to change something you should not ever see when the fitting is in place. Photos might explain the why?

It just struck me as "wrong" with the wall plates sitting directly on concrete no membranes or anything looks like a recipe for damp and rot. Just me expecting better detail?

Do the lights have switches? Can we see a picture of the inside of the light fittings. The second picture, can you clean off the dust / paint obscuring the cable core colours and take another picture. I have said MANY times on another forum and repeated here mainly for the benefit of others to prevent this situation. TAKE NOTES AND PICTURES BEFORE YOU DISCONNECT THE WIRING, THEN YOU WILL KNOW HOW IT GOES BACK.

I am more curious what is all the timber laid out on the floor?

I can't imagine the quantity of washing up liquid you would have to add to a 7PE tank to get the air blower to make it foam up like that. Normally after doing the washing up, there are hardly any bubbles left in the water to send down the drain. Are you sure the tank has "started"? Folklaw up here says throw a dead Rabbit into a new tank to get things going, you can even buy chemicals to put in to start it if you don't like the former idea. If the lid you are talking about is where the air blower is, then it needs a vent so can't be sealed.

When we bought our Rationel windows, a timber internal finish was not an option. I understand it has been reinstated but it won't be bare wood, it will be laquered. As above we had a full schedule to check including internal ans external colours and RAL numbers etc. If painting the inside yourself is your plan this may not be a deal breaker though? Only such if you really wanted a timber finish. Time to dig out ALL the paperwork and go through it with a fine tooth comb. I caution that because I know someone that ordered an Oak staircase and all the communication mentioned the floor to floor height they wanted, but then when the final schedule arrived for checking, that drawing showed the floor to floor height wrong, and the stairs did not fit. But because they signed that drawing without properly checking, the manufacturer rejected any claim.