ProDave

FAR more details needed. Most important, has it EVER worked properly? If it did work properly and has stopped working properly, then WHAT has been done recently? That isolator switch is the normal 3 pole, but only 2 are used, so even if the fan is a timer fan, it cannot be wired and working as a timer fan. would need pictures of the inside of the fan, and the inside of the light switch.

Your existing one is s split system, being replaced because the indoor unit is noisy. The monoblock won't have this indoor unit, so surely the buffer tank can go in that place?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. you should have refused a smart meter and stuck to your old dual rate E7 meter.

Then let them come and fit the monoblock, with a buffer tank if they insist. Give it a fair chance and only then discuss any new problems that come with the new system. Rejecting it because you think there might be a problem is not valid reason for rejecting it.

I have never liked E7 because it penalises you with a higher rate for the daytime. And that then forces you to use the noisy things like washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer etc in the middle of the night when you want the house to be quiet. Far better is a single rate tariff, and solar PV, then the best time to heat the house is in the daytime. using a heat pump.

Why have you only got 285mm between joists? That is awfully close. What sort of joists are they? This is a theoretical problem, i.e. you need some form of making it conform to a set of written regs. I have the same flue (with ample clearance) and from practical experience when the stove is on, even after burning for a long time, the flue is only warm to the touch, and I swear in the real world a piece of wood in contact with the outside of that twin wall flue would most definitely not come to grief.

Then make it a condition of the missives that they grant a right to lay a pipe to the river if you should need to. Get your solicitor on the case now.

Two options really. Dig a test pit at ground level, literally a 300mm cube hole and try a percolation test in that. If that drains away okay, then you could install a filter mound system, which is just a pile of very expensive graded sand and the drainage field on top, then covered in earth. You usually need a pumped output from treatment plant to pump the output up to it. Or if you have access to the watercourse (as in legal right to dig up the land and lay a pipe) then do that. It is by far the best solution. In my case building control rejected the filter mound and at that point SEPA agreed to discharge into our burn, but unlike in England, SEPA seem to want you to prove land drainage is not possible before they will agree.

My previous 1930's house had a slate DPC.

Cold tarmac is what the council wagon carries and 2 blokes go around shovelling it into pot holes and give it a quick run over with a wacker plate. Within about 2 weeks, nothing is left of it in the pot hole.

Without a thermostat anywhere what can happen is all the TRV's shut down, and the boiler and pump keep running to circulate hot water around completely pointlessly, and waste a small amount of gas firing up occasionally to keep that water hot. The traditional way was one room did not have TRV's instead that room had a room thermostat. That needs to be the room that takes longest to heat up, so you can be sure the other rooms are warm before that turns off.

Not a design criticism, but if you have the HW tank under the stairs, and you are having an unvented tank, you WILL need a drain for the D2 discharge, so you will need to provision a drain under the stairs. That will need thinking about and planning at floor slab laying time. Just pointing out as it may not be immediately obvious you will need a drain and will be a bitch to add later.

That sounds like a lot of different button pressing and confuguring. How do you backup and restore that lot so WHEN a part fails you can program the new part just as it was. If it was ALL contained in a script or a program that you could save and restore, it would be easy. I can see the fun of battling to make something work like that, but would not want to rely on anything I could not simply restore to a working system if one part broke.

I see two completely separate issues. The poor insulation The poor condition of the decra roof. Both need tackling separately. I see no reason why the insulation cannot be fixed by adding more on top of the existing straw. The devil is in the detail, you do not want ANY of the original roof uncovered, e.g. the bit you removed to have a look will just let cold air get under the rest completely negating any insulation. You want to ensure the whole roof is covered with no gaps and only then is it worth adding more. How has the decra roof been fitted? It is a lightweight covering often used on mobile homes, and I have always understood it is lad onto a flat board. Your sagging decra tiles suggest it has been laid like traditional tiles on battens and has sagged between the battens. You probably want to lift some tiles to have a look.

So if none of your devices are natively alexa aware, how and what do you program and in what sort of language, to make alexa talk to your media centre?

On the main news today, the Government are proposing to scrap this rule, which in their words would unlock 100K houses stuck in planning at the moment.

If the fibre is not there yet, don't do your final surfacing until it IS there and working. 20 years ago a new house up the road from us had just moved in and were somewhat peeved when SSE came along to dig a trench down the road and across their entrance for a new supply to 2 new houses down the road (one of those being our first self build)

I would tell them to halt work until you have had building control look at it. Post pictures of the wonky walls and point them out to building control. Don't make any more payments to the builder until it has been resolved and you are happy with the work.

And they are not even the coloured ones that are coloured so that building control can easily see that they are treated. No colour, they are probably not treated and building control could fail the job. It needs ripping off and starting again. Sorry.

We too had to have the first 3 metres finished in tarmac, so I did it all in that right up to our level concrete parking area. If you live on a single track road, passing traffic WILL treat it as another passing place unless you park on it yourself to stop that. Not much you can do to stop that.

If they insist on a buffer, then can it not go where the old inside unit is? On the understanding it will be SILENT and of not they WILL make it silent.

Not at all. Best to site the HW tank as central as possible to points of HW usage, distance from ASHP does not matter.

That is why Highland council grant temporary planning for a static caravan only, with the stipulation the static caravan must be removed before occupation of the new house. I bent that as far as I could and got mine amended to "habitational use of the caravan shall cease upon occupation of the house" so mine remains as a work room and store room.

+1 for questioning a buffer tank. That is usually used in a very low heat demand house to avoid short cycling. I would tell them to go ahead without a buffer tank and you accept the consequences that it might not run quite as efficiently, but that is unlikely in your case.

If DIY laying tarmac, you can use a wacker to compact it but you must keep it wet with a hose.