ProDave

I think it is a myth that buildings "settle" Yes timber will shrink and warp. Screw pops are usually the result of poor workmanship. Plasterboard needs to be flat onto what it is screwed to. If the joists are not level then some boards will not be touching the joist and the screw will be trying to bend the plasterboard to touch, and it's just wound up like a spring and screws will pop. But most definitely the builders problem to fix. Hint: any that are not visible from 2M just give the loose plaster / filler / paint that is covering it a little encouragement to fall off so it is visible from 2M.

For that small height change, I would not build a retaining wall, but cut the turf back a bit a re profile it so it slopes down to the slabs without a step.

Heat your domestic hot water is the easy and obvious one. It will reduce your HW bills to close to £nil for much of the summer. The next obvious one is use all your big domestic appliances like washing machine, dishwasher etc one at a time at around mid day.

A 100A leisure battery would have a theoretical storage of 1.2kWh, but in reality less than 1kWh as you can't discharge it to 0. So you could run a 1kW element for less than an hour or a 3 kW element for less than 20 minutes. In the middle of a power cut that is not going to warm your house up much. Save the battery for lighting and other useful things. On the other hand my WBS can deliver 5kW for as long as I keep adding logs to it. The one in our static caravan ran nearly non stop from November to March the winter we spent in it.

I would say it needs the same rail. Otherwise BC will say nothing to stop you walking onto the green roof then falling off that. Of course if that bit of handrail were to fall down after completion......

Before you dismiss alternatives like timber frame as "not solid" perhaps you should have a look at some that other buildhubbers have built. Unless larger plot = more £££ there is no reason not to put a small house on a large plot. Our plot is about 1/3 of an acre.

"Silent" will not be "best" I have fitted several of these recently for Landlords who report them as very effective for dealing with problems in bathrooms, but they are good because they are versatile and very powerful fans, which makes them neither cheap nor silent. https://www.nuaire.co.uk/product-list-page/cyfan You can adjust the idle speed so could end up with a quiet (but not silent) idle speed.

I thought that was a joke. I have not seen those on sale for years, let alone one with a matching fireplace. Interesting point though, a prolonged power cut in an air tight house with mvhr would probably require a couple of windows cracked open a little, so it would then not retain it's heat as well as normal..... So I would light the stove.

And if you do go to appeal, it sounds like your case officer has already written the basis of your appeal claim for you. Make it CLEAR to your planning officer that if it is refused you WILL be appealing.

The original joiner should have realised that, and fitted the original 2 hinges literally as far apart as possible. When adding a third hinge, putting it in the middle has added nothing That is the point it will pivot about if the first 2 hinges are straining.. You might, just might fit another hinge above the top hinge, if so that would have been a good place to add it, and if one would fit a 4th hinge squeezed in below the existing bottom hinge. There is a good reason why you see heavy doors hung with 3 hinges, but 2 near the top, not in the middle. He might be a good joiner, but he is a poor engineer.

Can you rig up a camera inside the cabinet recording video (A phone should do that) so you can look at how the hinges, top and bottom particularly flex as you close the door. If you can see how they are flexing it will give you an idea how to strengthen them.

Perhaps for the average person, an easier, and potentially more accurate measure of how "good" a house is, would be to simply publish the annual heating cost. Problems with that are separating heating from other energy use (I fitted an old electricity meter specifically to measure heat pump consumption) and of course those prepared to live in a freezing house over winter would get a "good" score.

We got an A94 on the as built sap that I am happy with. BC told me it was the first A he had seen. I have often speculated if we want to sell in the future it will be almost impossible to replicate the same EPC. but no plans to sell.

In normal use an ASHP is not noisy. No more noisy than say the roar of an outdoor oil boiler burning away. I do have a problem with mine at the moment, the fan motor has a failed bearing that is whining whenever it is running. That is a fault and is on my "to do" list to try and replace the bearing. EDIT: there is a common theme here. Why do people complain about the noise of an ASHP, but not the roar of an oil boiler burning (and the smell of those)?

I think this has been discussed before. To work, it has to be some exotic pipe coated with something like silver. Any normal pipe used for that is likely to get cold, condensation and mould then all sorts of horror stories about what it draws into your house and people have had to cap it off and abandon it.

If you want best insulation for a given thickness, then do as we did, make all the elements of your wall, insulation (which brick and block does not) So we have 200mm timber frame full fill with insulation and on the outside, 100mm thick wood fibre (more insulation) and rendered on the outside. Inside a 25mm service void for cables and pipes then plasterboard and skim. Total thickness 380mm.

If you do your insulation and air tightness well enough, you won't need upstairs heating unless you like a really hot bedroom. Like many on here, I put UFH in the bathrooms upstairs, but not the bedrooms. I put electric points in the bedrooms for a panel heater if it turned out some heating was needed, but they have never been used. Nearer the time when you have a plot and are designing the house talk us through the design and we can advise on what you need.

Thank you survey now completed. I am happy to complete a survey but could not be bothered to be a detective first to find the damned thing.

Please provide a proper URL so I can do the survey on a proper computer. Only providing a QR code means you can only do it on a phone and I hate pretending a phone is a proper computer. I wonder how many others won't do the survey because there is no URL to enable them do complete it on a real computer?

Definitely go back to your solicitor. 2 possibilities. You do have a legal right over the the track for access and the neighbour is just being cheeky as he would prefer you to have your own access. Or the solicitor slipped up and did not realise or did not point out to you that you do not have a legal right of access and you should cut your own track. Then the conversation gets awkward......

Some while ago I bought a large rotovator from a farm auction. There were 3 of them on auction and pre auction I had a look at them. All 3 refused to start. It became clear there was another bidder wanted them all, he got the first 2 but I won the third. When I got it home I found the mixture screw was missing from the carb. I found a replacement and then it worked. I strongly suspect the other bidder removed the mixture screw from all 3 before the auction so if anybody tried them, they would not start.

Have you ever showered in an 8kW instant electric shower? Many regard that as adequate but compared to the shower I get from our UVC with at least twice the flow rate, I regard them as pathetic. You won't get much better than that from an instant heater.

A simple macerator would be a lot cheaper and simpler, typically they sit behind the WC pan. Whatever you choose I would regard this shed loo as being for No 1's only. Take a walk to the house if you need a No 2. Trust me you don't want to be fishing a failed pump out of a raw sewage pumping station that has been used for "all functions" In all cases the output pipe is a smaller bore and it goes uphill under pressure from the pump. It would typically discharge into an inspection chamber in your case close to the road so the final bit can drain by gravity to the sewer.

I remember fly ash from coal power stations being used to make "insulated" lightweight blocks in the 80's often used as the inner leaf as my first house was. Horrible things to fix anything to they were so soft even when new. I wonder how they are bearing up?

I am not happy with the draconian socialist ambitions of the Scottish government and will be doing my part at every chance to vote for an alternative.