ProDave

Ask Building control. THEY decide what is acceptable not your builder. If BC say stairs are okay as per the plans that they appear to have approved, then tell your builder to build to the plans. Just to clarify, the "Certificate of lawful development" is in effect your planning permission. That is not building regs. you have notified building control? Have they seen the plans? if not get it all approved before you start.

It wasn't a 6" step that bothers me, you can tilt it and walk it up onto that on your own. It was the idea of putting it up almost at worktop height. The issue is I cannot lift a WM that high on my own, 2 strong people could do it but I am only one not so strong old person with SWMBO not being up to lifting half the weight of a WM so every time you want to lift it up or down onto it's elevated spot you need to find a strong willing helper or pay someone. I don't like the idea of "building in" the need to get someone else in to help me maintain something.

Butane will not off gas much below 0 degrees C so would be pretty useless up here. It has to be Propane for outdoor cylinders. Leave Butane for summer caravanning, though I still see no reason to use it and i had propane for my touring caravan.

Before sitting through that, I would need someone to give me a simple and succinct summary of what wonderful benefits I can look forward to if I were to fit such a thing.

I would ask him to show you the regulation that is concerning him. Is he worried about a leak, ignited, and a flame out the top of the cylinder?

I dug a 2 metre deep test hole not very much larger than the digger bucket using a 3t machine.

100mm is woefully inadequate. I have not heard of a 100mm tinber frame for nearly 20 years. The standard has been 140mm for a long time, with 200mm now a better target to aim for. Before you proceed any further what are the predicted U values of the walls and roof of your proposed build.

Hi and welcome. Oxford is where i hail from, I spent the first 23 years of my life in Headington.

I take it all the people recommending a raised washing machine, are not actually the person that will be lumbered with the job of lifting the machine up there are they? That will be A N Other's problem?

I do 99% or my work on an hourly rate. As long as you trust the guy to do a fair days work without slacking, you should get the best price. If you insist on a fixed price, he will have to think of everything that could go wrong and cost for it. then at the end you will be complaining that you have paid him twice what you think it should cost based on hours.

In Scotland they should have been replaced by 1st Jan 2020, but I know at least 2 here, including my next door neighbour, that still has a septic tank draining to a watercourse. And I keep hearing adverts from a company in Essex on the radio telling listeners they have to have their septic tanks replaced if they drain to a watercourse.

No air tight membrane? No service void?

Firstly a Septic tank should no longer drain to an open ditch or watercourse, you really should have replaced that with a waste treatment plant over a year ago. If it really does not drain, look at an above ground filter mound, and a pumped outlet treatment plant.

My last £3K car lasted 9 years and I sold it for £500 with 10 months MOT. Present £3K car I have had for almost 4 years and expecting to get similar if not longer life out of it. When do you think i will be able to buy an EV for £3K and expect 9 or 10 years life from it?

Yes caravan systems usually work on a pressure switch. The pump stops and starts on pressure. So you just open a tap as normal, the pressure drops and the pump starts. When you close the tap the pressure builds up and the pump stops. As this is just relatively clean hand washing water and not very much of it, how about (cough) just draining it to a soakaway a little bit away from the shed? If you have a rainwater soakaway for the shed send it there? But don't tell anyone.

My concern is has the plot got planning yet? Are the planners happy with access that close to a corner? Just because the existing house may be using that access does not mean the planners will allow a new access at that point for visibility reasons. That might be a bigger concern that the planners say no you can't use that access.

No. He had an unexpected inheritance that is paying for his car indulgence.

I am not convinced your stairs will work. Don't base your plans on what is there, it will be a new staircase based on current building regs. Replacing the second set of winders on the existing stair with a new quarter landing, will make the overall length of the stair longer and that is before you allow for modern building regs limits on rise and going which may add another stair if the old one was steeper than current regs. Go to one of the on line star suppliers and model it properly on their design tools. The "snug" is not very snug is it? If you want a proper "snug" swap the kitchen and snug over so the kitchen joins the dining and living, and the snug can be a proper separate room at the front.

Okay a cupboard with a door on it to hide the tank then.

I doubt you will make a standard Victorian house mouse proof. They only need a tiny hole to get it, an air brick hole s all they need. A pot of rat poison and knowing where to put it is a pretty standard thing is a house in the countryside up here. Usually putting some in the loft deals with them. I am convinced at out lasy house they got in by climbing up the render outside then in through the obligatory roof vents into the loft. Our new house, air tight, has proved mouse proof so far, there simply is not a hole large enough for them to get in.

Or put the water tank high up on a shelf and have gravity feed to the tap.

Could be. If a little loose then they would not close properly and the system pump could be pushing a bit of water through.

Still no lights. Okay check this. Check that all the actuators on the bottom rail are screwed fully down. They might have been removed during the work and not put back properly. To do this, turn all zones on and wait a few minutes for them to warm up (they are hot wax devices) and then make sure the big metal ring at the bottom of each actuator is screwed fully down.

I was hoping the control box would have some lights to show which zones are turned on, but no such luck. I take it there is a separate manifold for upstairs? Do you fancy taking the lid off that control box and take a picture inside? Don't touch any wires. Are there any lights on on that Wilo pump downstairs? The flow rates showing are quite low, do they increase when you turn up the downstairs thermostats? (will take a couple of minutes from turning up the thermostat to see any change)

What is actually stopping you having a pillar in that corner? As long as the access is still wide enough?