ProDave

A Septic tank should not discharge to a watercourse, so I would say they were wrong to sign it off. More details needed, who's tank, who's land is the discharge point on and exactly what issues is it causing you?

Is it related to the septic tank itself or the drainage field?

Our design SAP was done with an assumed air change of 4. MVHR was always planned. The actual air test result came out at 1.4, which I was disappointed with, but the tester nearly wet himself with excitement as it was the best he had personally tested so far. Then when all the figures were sent back to she SAP assessor, he issued the as built SAP with an improved figure over the design SAP. In Scotland at least it appears an air test is a requirement, and I know of one builder nearby who's air test came out better than 3 and he was forced to retro fit mvhr. So plan for MVHR from the outset, or get the air test done before the plasterboard goes on.

Hi and welcome. That's a disappointing start to a build. The discussion usually starts with "Show me the wayleave agreement that says your pipe can be there"

If you want to have a look yourself, then turn off ALL the lighting circuits, and carefully unscrew each light switch one at a time and carefully pull the switch forward. Neutrals will usually be linked together in a terminal block in the back of the switch box, check all those are secure and the terminal screws are tight, and no cables will pull out of the terminal. The bigger problem will be if it's a live that's loose, you could end up with 3 or 4 brown wires all falling out of their terminals as you pull the switch forward and then no simple way (for the layman) to determine which one should go back into which terminal.

It is certainly going to be a loose wire somewhere, could be L or N. Assuming it has been wired the modern way of "loop at switch" then your problem will be behind one of the switches. Unless you feel confident checking yourself, wait for the electrician. The evenings are light now so you can manage with a few non working lights for a bit.

You may not actually need planning permisson to operate a B&B https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/planning-permission-and-building-control-tourism-businesses If this is still your main residence and you have not made any changes to the actual building to let some of the rooms as a B&B then planning may not even be required. That is the basis that we operated our last house as a B&B as the house was physically exactly as it was in the planning permission.

You are in a hole looking out.

The rules are bonkers and written by a network that does not really want lots of small scale generation. To remove the limit, even of it is possible with your inverter requires permission from your DNO.

Where did we get tot he idea that a new built house now would only last 60 years? I won't be here to see it but I would hope this one lasts longer than that. Though for a long time I have thought my parents old 1930's house (now 90 years old) is long past it's best, with it's poor layout, cold uninsulated solid walls, it would best be knocked down and rebuilt with something ready for another 100 years of much more comfortable and cheaper living?

Well it should be worth more if it has been properly upgraded.

£1000 over 32 years id £31.25 per year. So are you saying if you spend an extra £1000 on insulation you don't expect it to save you £32 per year? I have a theory about houses, that one day, buyers will actually wake up to the EPC rating and realise a modern house with an EPC A will cost a lot less to run and be a lot more comfortable than a Victorian pile with an EPC G, and they might actually pay a higher price for the better house. Clearly if you think the cost of insulation is too high, then the cost of energy is still too low.

Some of us have been commenting on the dire state of much of the UK housing stock. Few will disagree with the fact we have to do something to reduce the energy usage of our housing stock. A good step in solving that problem would be stop building poor houses that will also need upgrading. We sohuld have done this years ago. building standards are only just starting to get close to where they should have been years ago. Someone has already estimated the extra insulation is less than £2000 extra per house. That's not even 1% extra on the cost of the average house. That is a small price to pay to get better houses.

The question here really is WHY are new houses still allowed to be built with such poor insulation levels? It means the main mass market house builders are still allowed to build what most on here regard as poor houses. Having just finished self building a house that exceeds even this new value for extensions, I can say it does not add much to the cost and it is really nice living in a house that is always warm and costs to little to heat.

We get that at the moment, a few choose to explore the metropolis of Invergoerdon on foot and go and have lunch in the cafe at Morrisons rather than do a bus tour of Loch Ness.

The storey I tell is they guy I bought all my scaffolding from. He lived in a semi detached house with a 3M wide driveway alongside it. His neighbour had a similar side garden. One day the elderly neighbour said to him the garden is getting too much for me would you like to buy my side garden, and offered it for not very much money with no conditions. This guy then owned a semi detached house with a 6M wide side garden and got planning for a new house on that side garden. It was this house he was just completing so I bought his scaffold. The neighbour had not spoken to him since......... I know you like your neighbour, but you don't owe them a favour like that. Which is the "front" of your house? you appear to have an access at top and bottom of that picture and 2 driveways that I am not even sure actually link together? ("sloping driveway" appears to taper away to nothing)

Find a merchant who does sale or return. Fit the traps. Invite BCO. Remove and return the traps for a refund.

Probably not. the issue is not just the flashing, but all parts of the flue have to be at least 2" from combustible materials. So you need an 11" diameter clear hole to pass a 7" flue through. you would have to take the tiles off to see the roof structure to see if you actually have space for that. But all it means is you have to move the flue a bit in both directions to meet that requirement, so it might not be exactly where your circle is.

So plots there are 10* the cost of plots here, which is insane as built houses are not 10*

You need to work out what it is you really WANT to build, then put in the plans and see the outcome. If you are really wanting a completely separate dwelling that can be split from the main house, then go for that. If it really is just an annex incidental to the main house, go for that. Then be prepared for a refusal which will at least give you a planning reason for refusal, and you can then amend the plans to meet the reasons for refusal, or even consider appeal. I don't think the constant paring it down to hope it gets passed is really going to work, because you will probably then end up with permission for something you don't want.

You tried the reset button on the bottom thermostat? Odd that one cylinder uses 2 completely different forms of thermostat for the 2 heating elements.

I know someone who cannot use LED lights, it gives her a migraine. I think the reason for this is most LED lights are not actually a constant steady light (no technical reason why they could not be) but instead a high frequency pulsed light. It's all to do with the way the drivers are designed. It is that high frequency flashing (in effect) of the lighting that triggers her headaches. Her solution was, when halogen lamps were being phased out, she bought in bulk so now has a cupboard full of them to last the rest of her life. (so she hopes)

Open the front and look inside, you see the heater snaking it's way around right on the floor of the machine inside. You should be able to see where it exits usually at the back. That is where you want to be looking on the outside (from underneath perhaps then) to find the terminals.

Those are all views looking up from underneath (I assume it is laid on it's side) I would expect the heater connections to be low down on the back of the unit so try photographing that?

Looks good. Go on, I know it would be wasted, but stoke up the fire just to give it a go.