ProDave

Post a picture if you can. The bit coming off the bracket down into the house will definitely be insulated. The bit from the bracket to the pole if it's old may well be two uninsulated cables. Can you replace a bit of the rotten soffit (and clad it with UPVC) right up to the rotten bit so when they come, there is a new sound bit of soffit to re attach the bracket to. Then you can replace the final rotten bit where the bracket used to be. I don't think it has to be hanging loose, just look like failure is iminent so you can report it as being in a dangerous condition. My cable mentioned earlier merely had cracks in the insulation where is could fail at any moment.

I'll say no more than a repair on the distribution side should be free. So if the cable came free from the rotten board and was hanging down........ Are they bare wires or insulated coming off the bracket? (the ones that go across to the pole) I had a similar dilemma at a previous house, I wanted to replace the back door but the cable entered through the door frame. When I pointed out to them that the cable was damaged they replaced it free of charge, and routed te new cable through a hole in the wall I had drilled prior to their visit.

You will get a visit from a surveyor who will measure the external area of the property and base the CT band on that. You then have a few months to appeal the banding. Building control completion is quite separate. In out last house it was well over a year before we got BC completion as that was waiting on the garage being completed and that didn't even get started until we had moved in.

Why block at all if rendering? I am achieving a U value of 0.14 in a well insulated timber frame with wood fibre board for external insulation and render applied to that. Overall wall thickness inside to out of 360mm including a service void on the inside for cables then plasterboard.

Personally I would have cut out a square of PB, inserted a new square with the correct sized hole in it.

I thought the issue with 1:80 was it is the absolute minimum allowed, so you have to be really careful that nothing happens to allow a bit of pipe to sag. Some say when doing 1:80 under the ground you should concrete it in for that reason. If you have enough room I would go as close to 1:40 as you can. It's not one or the other, it's anywhere in between.

looks alright to me, but a plumber will be along shortly to advise properly. The next electrician who wants to take that socket front off will swear at you.

Why are you set on LPG? Of all the "non mains gas" options it is probably the most expensive. What does the price work out at per kWh (I have no idea how much a "unit" is that you mention)? Don't discount air source heat pumps just because you can't get any RHI payment. To get the RHI it has to be installed by an MCS registered installer and that seems to add a big premium to the price. I have just bought my heat pump for a shade over £500 as an ebay bargain. I will self install it but any self respecting plumber could install it. Assuming it gives a COP of 3.5 when heating the low temperature UFH that's a price per kWh of under 4p per kWh. Not far off mains gas prices and I am sure less than LPG prices? Likewise don't rule out solar PV with no FIT. I am resigned to the fact that by time I am able to fit solar PV there will be no FIT or it will be so low as not worth bothering. Again, no FIT means no need for an MCS installer and you can DIY it, or any electrician can. You need to make sure you can use most of what you generate, which means use the big appliances (washing machine etc) only in the daytime, and have a hot water tank to dump excess power into hot water. I am also keeping an eye on battery storage for self usage but it is not "there" yet in terms of cost, particularly battery life and replacement cost. Oh and welcome to the new forum.

If you are talking of 3KW generation, I would hardly call that "Pico Hydro" My own scheme I am thinking of would probably generate 100W, that certainly is Pico and I won't worry where to dump excess generation. Surely in your situation you would close of the water and shut it down if the dump load has shut off? Even better would be to modulate the water flow so generation = usage?

We built an extension to our previous 1930's house nearly doubling it's size under a building notice. The only complication it caused was some builders would not take the job on without a full detailed set of drawings, but we found one that was happy, and he did a good job.

The normal tapers just put filler over the joint spread 100mm or so either side so it can be sanded to a barely perceivable "bump" Plastering will give a better finish and that's what we want (if we can afford it)

Domestic testing only seems to be done upon sale of a house at the moment, and then only if the lender asks for it. Private rental properties have to be tested every 2 years or on change of tenancy, but not council or HA properties. PA testing is every 5 years on a rental property. The thing that would change that would be if insurers started demanding it? Funny how people get upset though when you find faults and refuse to give it a satisfactory without remedial work. Totally agree about nobody knowing how to wire a plug now, or change the fuse wire in an old style fuse. Kitchen fitters are the worst for electrical (and probably plumbing / gas) bodges, as bad as anything the worst DIYer does in many cases.

I would have just listed them on Air BNB and said nothing. Using a slight "adaptation" of the rule that allows you to let 2 rooms in a house as B and B without needing formal permission to so so.

Slightly related. Several years ago I wired the electric hookups for someone that had imported two American Airstream caravans to let as holiday lets. I went back there last week, and asked how it was going. It wasn't. He had made the "mistake" of asking for permission form the council, who said yes, BUT they must be made suitable for disabled access. That killled that idea and they have sat empty since.

We had a shed broken into when we were in Oxfordshire. They found 2 motorbikes in there and left empty handed. I guess they were looking for lawnmowers etc.

Today's lesson (and for all those reading as well) is TEST FOR DEAD before working on a circuit. In fact when I was an apprentice, the mantra drummed into us, was Test your tester, test circuit for dead, test your tester again. Only then do you touch it. Personally I am a huge fan of the humble neon screwdriver, something which some other electricians think are dangerous things never to be used. I don't use one as my primary means of testing for dead, but I am a fan of "don't touch anything my neon screwdriver has not touched first"

Yes. Mine is a true warm roof. 195mm rafters fully filled with insulation, no gaps. 100mm wood fibre board over the rafters acting as the sarking board and extra insulation. Breathable membrane over that, no gaps anywhere, lapped over the ridge. Counter battens down following the rafters, then horizontal tile battens over that, the counter battens ensure a gap under the tile battens. Dry vented ridge and eaves vents ensure the gap between the membrane and the tiles is ventilated.

Is this a static caravan or a touring caravan? A static usually has a normal porcelain flushing toilet like any house and is plumbed into the drains and the taps are plumbed into the mains and you just turn them on. It sounds like you are describing a touring caravan where the water is pumped from a container outside that you refill when empty. If it is a touring 'van a lot of them are built with a bonded sandwich floor of insulation material and plywood. They can fail and become saggy over time. I wonder if the dowels are a repair done to fix that?

@Stones makes a valid point. If using slate rather than tiles, we use a thinker planked sarking board and the slates nail direct to that no need for battens.

With a sarked roof, you fit a non tenting membrane direct to the sarking board, counter battens that run down following the line of each rafter, then your normal tile battens across. The insulation can then go right up to the OSB inside between the rafters. Altogether a much better roof construction. Less to go wrong (e.g with a non sarked roof, insulation pushes membrane up against tile batten, water pools and eventually leaks through membrane into insulation)

So the membrane will sag onto, or squash the insulation? I really don't like this droopy system. The Scottish system of using a solid sarking board (OSB or ply) is so much better, and I believe although not required in England, you are allowed to use that method.

Can I just tell you a cautionary tale about a steading. A guy near here bought one for "conversion." It looked okay apart from the roof, but only had an earth floor inside. When he started digging to put a concrete floor in,. he found there were no foundations at all for the walls, they were literally build on the ground and digging to lay a concrete floor would undermine the earth they were sitting on. He ended up doing a knock down and rebuild instead. I think what I am saying is some steadings are sound and suitable for conversion, some are not. Perhaps you need some form of survey?

I like that, and I can see the logic. It would also hide an imperfect wall to ceiling joint. I will have to suggest it when we get to decorating. I wonder how it would look if you also did the same at the corner?

The heat pump looks to be much closer to the house than I have seen elsewhere. Do you think that in any way affects its performance?

I suspect you are in Scotland? I would say you would need a new planning application. I suspect it would be granted. I would make an offer to buy it subject to planning being granted and get a planning application in.