ProDave

Don't pay a rat man. Buy rat poison and put it out yourself again and again until they are gone.

My understanding it is water running down the walls, dripping off the window drip beads etc that ends up on the wooden frame of the balcony fixed tight to the house wall. When I built my balcony I anticipated this issue. The timber "against" the wall was fixed on spacers so it sits about 25mm off the wall. Any such drips can just run down the wall as before without wetting the timbers. And I gave them all 2 coats of exterior wood paint before assembly. I don't see an easy fix here other than paint every bit of timber with at least some form of exterior wood preservative, and some local flashings formed over the worst affected parts.

You are proposing an air pressure test are you not, in which case there will be no problem.

I just don't like having to pass through the kitchen to get from the hall to the living room. Stairs from the hall is normal. Your proposal with the stairs at the back is just awkward.

I could see that being caused by a lintel if it was a steel lintel, now rusting and expanding. Re pictures. A lot of phones now try to be helpful by auto rotating an image. So if viewing and posting on a phone you may not even know it is coming out the wrong way up. I prefer not to uses such "helpful" features so I know if a picture is posted the right way up or not.

We have to pay for a proper pump out, but on the other hand we don't pay any other waste water charges.

I don't think they understand your roof. What they have supplied sounds like what we used. The flashing goes on the top (in our case for tiles) In the roof cavity the support bracket and then on the inside (plasterboard in our case) the internal trim. You don't have that inner layer so the support could go between the rafters but it would look ugly. What flashing have they provided for the polycarb roof?

Can I enquire why you want such a tiny hose ultimately connected to such a big fitting. It seems very unusual to say the least.

I see nothing wrong with DIY but you MUST have it pumped out first so you are filling an empty tank. So the replacement treatment plant will have to be installed an in use first, so if planning to refill with the excavations from that, you will have to store that somewhere.

That is a Proboil 2, the same as I have supplied by Howdens under their own brand. Ours was originally the Proboil 1 but the boiler was replaced under warranty as it failed in the first year and replaced with the Proboil 2. Ours only has ordinary hot and cold and boiling (actually 98 degrees) We are in a soft water area so no scale issues and I didn't even bother installing the supplied in line filter. There are also instructions on the Proboil site to dismantle and descale the boiler if needed. Our Proboil 2 has been in use for about 6 years now. Get a price from Howdens before buying.

The one on the right looks to be the connector that comes with a big submirsible pump. the multi barbed fitting is for connecting to different sizes of delivery hose. Where does the skinny pipe on the left fit into this? explain what you want to connect to what?

Picture please.

We did an entire 2 storey extension under a building notice when we were down south. It worked astonishingly well, no problems at all. But then the builder we used had come highly recommended and there was nothing particularly complicated about it. I also remember the astonishingly (by todays standard) cost of building the shell including foundations and roof of just £18K

Can the glass banister panels be removed? I like the Genie lift idea, but it would be a lot less frightening if the glass could be removed and the bath only then needs lifting to floor level and sliding over from the lift. Then glass replaced.

Re sign off. Obviously there is the design and things like structural engineer. We paid an AT to do all the design and produce all the drawings to the satisfaction of building control and issue of a building warrant. Electrical install required sign off, that was my job so for me easy. Plumbing, the only sign off was unvented G3 and Gas safe for the hob. I did the plumbing for both, a plumber I know did the tests and G3 sign off and a different plumber issued the gas safe certificate. AS built SAP issued by the same company that did the design SAP using the final figures I supplied including the air test results. BC effectively certified the stove install, they were very particular checking distance to combustible materials comparing actual to that the stoves install manual stated. All drain pressure tests done by me and witnessed by BC. Glass. BC just checked all the low level windows and doors for the toughened label on the glass units.

Why not drop a flue liner down the chimneys and extend the flue liner only down to the sub floor space. That should be air tight.

So the issue is, as I suspected, you are unhappy with their plans. Has the drain EVER blocked with this new neighbour? Is the extension going to come right up to your boundary? If so you need a party wall agreement that should sort out all the issues including rain water drainage. Someone else will have to answer the finer points of that as I have never had to seal with one. If you want to sow seeds of doubt to your neighbour then suggest if he builds right up to the boundary you might later do the same and his semi detached house will become a mid terrace house devaluing it.

The two browns, presently in the L terminal need to connect to both COM1 and COM2 on the new switch. You will need an extra piece of brown wire to make a link between them. The other two browns in the terminals with a symbol a bit like an X, one will go to L11 and the other to L21 on the new switch. No links this time. The blue connected to N is not needed for the new switch follow it back and I think you will be able to disconnect it from the terminal block with the other blues. Leave the other blues still in that terminal block. The new switch has a metal front and an earth terminal so you will need a green and yellow earth link from the earth terminal in the back box to the earth terminal on the switch.

Is the OP looking for a way to block his neighbours extension from being built?

My plumber friend seems to call into TP EVERY morning, not always to buy anything, but for the free coffee on tap.

A plug in AC unit that has a big vent pipe to get outside somehow to remove the hot air, will annoy the hell out of you. They are so noisy. I would have to be VERY overheated to put up with the noise of that. We have one from 2 houses ago. We tried running it in the bedroom when we were downstairs in the hope it would cool the room enough to turn it off when we went to bed, but it had not really cooled the fabric of the building so soon warmed up again.

Howdens used to do a "Friday Pie Day"

I have a Titan SDS drill not as big as the breaker mentioned, but can do light weight breaking. It is over 20 years old, had a hard life but still going strong. On it's third set of motor brushes and second mains lead (original one was pathetically short anyway) It only cost about £30 when I bought it all those years ago.

I hate builders that do that, give you a lot of land, then fence off just a tiny bit of land for your own private use. NOBODY benefits from the bit of land you have with a hedge and some dead space behind it. I have a relative in a similar situation. He planted a Beech hedge all around his boundary and when it reached 2 metres tall he let all his fences fall down, and now has a private and much larger garden.

I would just do it, take out as much of the hedge as you need and cover the area with gravel and park your car there. If you do ever got an official complaint it would be easy to re plant the hedge or other shrubs. I feel trying to get official permission would be a big hassle.