ProDave

Good points: Building a room in roof 1 1/2 storey house with the roof detailed as a warm roof hung from a ridge beam. Allows the entire internal space to be part of the sealed internal space and is very much easier to get a good detail than attic trusses and a cold roof design. ASHP and UFH working well. Lots of insulation and good air tightness detail, good triple glazed windows well fitted. Room Sealed wood burning stove does not (contrary to popular belief) destroy the air tightness and leak heat out of the building, and (contrary to popular belief) does not overheat the house as long as you leave internal doors open to allow the heat into the whole house. To aid heat circulation from stove an efficient layout allowing main rooms to open up to central stairwell each with double doors. Lots of open space when you want it, or 2 closed off separate rooms when you want that instead. No heating upstairs, it does not need it (just UFH in the bathrooms so you don't have to walk on cold tiles) All bathrooms done as wet rooms. Vastly superior to shower trays. Unvented hot water cylinder heated by ASHP. Posi Joists. I would say essential if fitting mvhr. mvhr. If you are doing the well insulated air tight "proper" build then you must fit mvhr. easy DIY job, not overly expensive and contributes to your low heating bill. NO unwanted penetrations in the building (no conventional letterbox or cat flap) Bad points: Not many, the only one is the wood fibre EWI with render, we have some unresolved issues with the render so until that is resolved I cannot honestly recommend it.

Can I see a picture of the 32mm pipe trying to fit into what is left of the fitting after cutting the bit off? The bit that has been cut off would have been for a smaller pipe, which is why you cut it off if using 32mm, so of course the cut off bit won't fit onto a 32mm pipe.

Do you really want to enter a formal dispute with your neighbour? That would have to be declared if you sell the house and might put buyers off? What damage have you really suffered as a result of this? Is it really worth the agro this is going to cause you to rectify any damage? I agree it was bloody cheeky not to involve you, but this looks to me like a cut off your nose to spite your face situation?

My suggestion is print out the VAT claim form NOW and as each invoice comes in, write it down (yes with a pen) on the claim form and file the invoice in a box file in the same order it goes on the form. That would save the boring job at the end of going through the stack of invoices and filling in the form all on one go,. I am not sure what purpose "scanning" the invoices has? Other than a backup in case the claim gets lost in the post, as you are supposed to sent the original invoices.

Yes there will be some form of control cable as well that will go directly, and not through the isolator.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/21/rising-from-the-rubble-london-pub-rebuilt-brick-by-brick-after-bulldozing One in the eye for developers hoping to knock it down, pay the fine then redevelop the site.

Put an advert on your local freecycle or gumtree and offer it free for collection as firewood. I hate to see useful fire wood just burned on site. Let "customers" pick over it and only burn what nobody will take.

Your flashing is probably okay, it is probably hidden soakers under the tiles

The "screed" idea is often known as a pug mix, It's a sand / cement screed laid dry. It has little strength, it is there as a heat distribution medium. Use structural floor boards that are supported on the battens not actually supported by the screed. Don't forget to size the joists to allow for the extra dead load of the screed.

I did not contact anybody about the covenant. I just sought planing permission and then building regulations from the council. It was only some years later when selling that the issue arose and the solicitor put the indemnity policy in place to satisfy the buyer.

The covenant is separate to planning permission, It just so happens that it is "the council" in both cases that need to give permission. We had the same issue extending an ex council semi detached house, I naively thought getting planning permission had satisfied the covenant, but when we later sold that house it turned out it had not. That was solved by buying an indemnity policy to cover the covenant issue.

You need a different salesman.

The only real way is to cut a hole in the plasterboard ceiling to have a proper look and then put a small loft hatch in to close the hole. If any work needs doing the hatch will need to be big enough to at least get your head and shoulders through, though there probably won't be enough room to actually climb up there.

I tried a new source of multitool blades, these ones https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-10Pcs-Universal-Oscillating-Saw-Blade-34mm-Multi-Tool-Blades-Wood-Metal-Cutter/383890454134?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=652230171936&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 £11.37 for 10 blades They fit my Parkside (Lidl) multitool and seem to be lasting well.

We just had an old scrap pine interior door, with just a bolt and hasp and staple with padlock on the outside. Police do take some break ins seriously. During our frame erection, the builders had 2 of their vans broken into outside their houses one night and a load of power tools stolen. CID came to our site later that morning to examine the vans. I was under strict instructions not to touch any part of their vans or any of their tools until CID had done their stuff.

Relying only on plasterboard and skim for air tightness is a very bad idea. It is a "normal" occurance for me when I unscrew a light switch or a socket I am greetid with a howling gale of icy cold air. Air tightness should be a planned well detailed layer before plasterboard and finishes go on. And don't rely on solid insulation fitted between joists or rafters being a tight fit. Experience from what I see suggests in a great many cases it is anything but well fitted. This is where a self builder can make a difference, by ensuring the detail is done properly and carefully.

What makes you think a heat pump heating DHW only in the summer will only have a COP of 1? Most of us use our heat pumps all year including DHW only in the summer. When the air is warmer it should run at a better COP than when doing the same in sub zero winter temperatures.

The above comments are the reason NOBODY wants to volunteer for the job of replacing a failed macerator. And the only people that think they are a good idea are those that know or think they can find such a volunteer so they never have to touch them.

The drop in temperature from flow to return occurs because the heat input coil has transferred the heat into the stored hot water. It is not a function of heat losses in the short or long flow and return pipes. An ASHP usually has a temperature probe inserted in a pocket in the HW tank. If this senses the tank is up to the set temperature the ASHP will stop heating it. Typically the flow temperature would be about 5 degrees above the tank temperature. I suspect your salesman might not be the best system designer.

DON'T employ this plumber: 40mm waste coming up from the floor, is the outflow from a macerator about 4 metres away that goes down, along under the floor, then back up here. Small waste into the top is the condensing boilers condensate drain. The middle of the tee branches off sideways into a strap on boss on the soil stack. Even I know this is not going to work as planned.........

If the flow and return to the HW cylinder is "the same" then something is wrong, like the HW is already up to temperature and the system should have turned off. You have got a proper "heat pump" HW cylinder with a large area input coil?

This is a new build. Take the chance to insulate it properly, detail it well to make it air tight, fit mvhr, so you will end up with a house that does not need much heat input. Heat the whole house with UFH so it only needs to run at a low temperature, and then an ASHP will admirably heat the house well. Fit solar PV as well and that will gain you SAP points and reduce your real running costs.

Before the build started I dug three 2M deep trial pits for the structural engineer to asses the ground conditions. I left one of them open just covered with a board. I frequently looked down this hole over the winter and found anything from a 2M deep empty hole, to a hole full of water within 6 inches of the surface.

The requirement to concrete it in is dependant on your ground water levels. You don't want the empty tank (when it is pumped out) floating up out of the ground because the water table is high. Check with each of the manufacturers, some make risers to allow the unit to be buried deeper in the ground.

The I would seriously consider External insulation above the rafters, turning it into a warm roof, rather than the extra insulation under the rafters. The External insulation will double as a sarking board. Then you can full fill the gap between the rafters without need to consider any ventilation. Over the external insulation you need a "non tenting" breathable membrane and the gap between that and the tiles needs ventilating with eaves vents and a vented ridge. I found Frametherm 35 was a good option. A lot more solid than the yellow fluffy loft insulation and a lot less nasty to handle. It is stiff enough to cut slightly over width and it will push in between the rafters and stay there.