saveasteading

No. They are very different. e.g. A skim of silicone can make a gap airtight but won't stop much sound transfer. Airtightness is flow of air, whereas noise is sound waves....vibration of air rather than flow.

Heat loss would be greater unless using the horrendously expensive pipes made for the purpose. Even then, indoors would be less wasteful of the heat. We used 2 layers of insulation and cut them into the lower one.

I find I have this, which someone else recorded. VID-20260921-WA0000.mp4

If your water supply pipes are highly insulated, including the benefit of being underground, then they are unlikely to freeze. My outdoor pipes (4) all survived the winter. One froze at the tap but that was due to 1m of exposed pipe and a brass tap. Depends on how cold and for how long of course. BUT I'm not guaranteeing it for you!

It's not as difficult as you seem to think, and AI seems to be telling rubbish. No 90°corners: it easily curves 90 or 180. Fitting with insulation above it is just wrong. You can set it on top then screed it, or put it in special floorboards. Or painstakingly depress it into the pir. Or use eps as a top layer as I think you could tread it in. What floor finish will you have? Ducts are not only unnecessary but counterproductive. The 'highways' as they seem to be called are both flow and return, so it is not all at peak temperature. Norwich is too far, but anyone in SSE is welcome to some of the huge amount of oversupply of pipes we were specified, I think 40 to 60m long. Not insulated, as they should not be except your short run from heat pump to manifolds.

It is covered with paint protection paper. You'll have to wait.

We all like an end of process report so here it is on the oak veneered engineered flooring. It went very well. We applied unibond sealer. Took away the hygrometer so that it wasn't a matter of discussion. The floor fitters turned up and fitted the floor. All looks good to me and the few small +/-5mm spots (under 3m straightedge) are not apparent so I think disappeared with the flexibility of the adhesive. Wastage was pretty bad. Fortunately the supplier still had some left) One en-suite is now timber instead of tiles....that's OK fortunately. The real wastage was partly the expected cuts at walls, but forensics (skip examination) showed a large number of mis-cuts. In diy we would have scraped off the adhesive and made use of it. Instead they stuck 2 fails back to back and buried it. That's despite site orders that wood and cardboard go to bonfire, but that is constantly ignored, and I think they wanted these hidden. I'm happy though. The timber came from Barham and Sons, and I recommend asking what bargains they might have. The regular full price stuff is very lovely but priced accordingly.

Permission to be outspoken? That's because they don't know much*. Plumbers dont generally know much about it. The ones who do claim to be expert mostly get the designs done via their merchant who in turn go to their supplier. The ones who rightly don't say they are skilled in it.... are too busy plumbing to go on courses. That leaves the ones who fancy the work and the grants, and can still charge a lot in an overheated market. * I have discussed with plenty. Some bluff and perhaps exaggerate the little they do know, but some honestly say what they know and what they don't. But others talk the buzz words without actually understanding. In such discussions they generally assume I am an ignorant punter, and so I let them do their thing for a while. What I want is them to be able to join the pipes up and commission it. A large part of the builder population also think that Engineers, Architects, Building Inspectors ....and so on.... don't know what they are doing and over/ wrongly design. (ditto me being the ignorant client)

Yes. No reason why not when the slope is shallow.

You were lucky , or your merchant is unusual in keeping treated timber covered. It's a good point. Due to receiving 60 large and wet joists which bent so much in drying that 60% were rejected, I looked into the storage. All the merchants keep their treated timber outside and uncovered "because it is treated for outdoor use". This is contrary to their industry guidance but saves warehousing. So do tell your supplier that it is important that it is dry and straight. Maybe get them to set it aside under cover, to bend there rather than on your site. At this time of year they should all be dry. On a positive note, I haven't checked numbers, but most timbers are critical for acceptable deflection before strength. It would be worth reminding the designer of this. Nobody is going to be nervous because your timber is moving up and down a few mm in wind or under snow.

Not "chartered"? I'm one of them. MICE or FICE. And CEng comes with it. 4 years uni and 4 years min real world training. I'd never use the word 'registered'. A huge element of gaining that professional status is communication and collaboration. That's why it seems strange to me that you say that is lacking. It's possible they are a technician rather than Chartered. Nothing wrong with that, but their experience may be limited, as may be their insurance. Unfortunately the term civil engineer is not protected, as witness the white vans. But would you? Probably 3 or 4 x the cost at minimum brief. It's all learning. Glad to hear it's moving along.

If it is listed then that is the case. Even if not lusted, it is heritage, and you are the current custodian. I have seen this disputed vehemently "my house, my decision", but it is the case. Or an axe.

That depends what you've asked for and they have offered. E.g there is a big difference if you ask simply what size of lintel or please visit site and design the lintel and draw up all working details with specification, as this may well be carried out by a highly competent contractor. Did you find out their stated qualifications. I'm not especially doubting it but interested.

Even more so. What do they call themselves? Change the name of course. Be precise with capitalisation. Then we can advise better without assumptions. Eg J. Bloggs, Structural Engineer and Building Technician, BSc MIStructE. It is a question their insurer must have asked.

Would you credit it? Facebook has been following this and I had an advert about shot-blasting.... no mention of course of listed buildings, AONB, planning or building reg's. But of course they will leave that to the survey, won't they?