saveasteading

And even then they have to ask Highways for permission.

I wonder how much heat escapes from the centre of the room in reality. If the UFH is kept away from the wall, and a thermal break is inserted there then the direct bridge is closed. Better still if it is on the skirting line and an insulated wall as Iceverge suggests. The reality then is that the slab heat then all goes into the room, and some passes through that thermal bridge...but not a lot in the scheme of things.

Have now looked up Pear Tree. Again this is not onerous. I think your design depths are wrong. And therefore I am still with traditional footings 1.1 m deep, perhaps slightly wider footings than average, up to 1.5m deep looking for the optimum ground and narrower footings . Then either ground bearing slab or beam and block. Then any builder can do it which is another big advantage in price and progress. my way x Gus: add £3,000 Your original way add another £3,000 screw piles ditto. to which add for extra SE time.

Not necessarily. If the mains are on your side then that is good and relatively cheap. If they are across the road then there may be trenches and traffic lights....if it is a busy trunk road...ouch. It is easy to get quotes and they will attach drawings showing where the mains are.

Now that is unanimous and decided...what is the logic for front and back but not side? Me first. The front and back 'get a grant' but you have to pay for the gable and the secret gutters and the window reveals. timhotep, how did they get in touch with you? Was it the council, or a commercial approach?

There is such a lot of, let's say inaccuracy, at those shows. I challenge as appropriate and usually find that the rep's know very little. IR example is not cheap to run, but I do recommend it at work stations.

I hope and expect that this offer (if genuine and not a con), would be withdrawn once an expert sees your lovely house. And I agree with everyone else: it would be a terrible mistake in many ways.

Want to summarise your brief to us first?

Night storage heaters have zero value. However for gardeners with a greenhouse, my tip of the week is this. Salvage the thermal bricks and use them as plant supports. They absorb heat during thd day and release it in the evening, keeping the plants warmer. Yesterday at about 5pm, they were about 5° warmer than normal masonry. The principle may apply to other circumstances too. Excuse being slightly off topic. On topic again. I have known very clever people be conned into buying these exprnsive new heaters for the wrong reason. I checked out the adverts and they imply better efficiency through being scientific, but the actual explanation is quick acting, with timers so they are on only when needed.

That is very good ground for construction. That should be plenty of info. Relax.

Window blinds? External is best.

You should see my patio here. I may post a photo. Not by me but groundworkers we used once only. Water runs through it, then it moves, and rocks and more water gets in. But speaking as an expert crazy paver ( why I don't know) total mortar bed is the way. I've even done some as steps into the sea that survived a storm with a name. Did it for a builder friend and even he was impressed.

Agreed. Mortar better for the bed, or a sand cement mix, and an edging.

I have learnt that slabs need to be bedded solid, and that the dot and dab method (which prevails) will fail. Being one who looks in excavations and watches roadworks when on holiday... I have noticed that Spanish paving is laid on a thin layer of sharp sand to get the levels dead on, but beneath that is reinforced concrete. Even in domestic situations. It doesn't budge of course. That may be excessive, but I would suggest running a vibrating plate over the exposed sub base, adding at least 50mm more and compacting it, then laying the slabs on a 100% bed of mortar, as if tiling.

I don't think so...it is a single entity of a company and they can offer to sell these blocks, gravel, construction services, whatever.

I bear good news. Hornbeam are low water demand trees. At 7m you only need 1.1m depth of foundations. Your SE should have known this. Or perhaps they based the design on simplicity rather than materials required. Foundations can be stepped. Now is the time to brief your new SE with whether you prefer the screw method or conventional. Guessing £2k to £3k difference but I have not analysed it. More difference if you can use foundations at 1.1 ish for a lot of it.

Just a thought. Would it be effective for those involved to set up a Whatsapp group. I think it remains totally private so any tactics etc and discussions of names and incidents would not be visible to the other side.

I would do some simple strength tests while there. These are acknowledged by NHBC and come from technical papers. How far can you push a steel rod into the ground? How far can you hammer a non-pointed 2 x 2 into the ground. If of any interest I can find the details. We did this on our project and proved that the ground was hard, not medium as the SE had allowed, saving lots of concrete.

Can you show us that statement please? I'm hoping for your sake that this is a misunderstanding. It is unfortunately common for a ground report to summarise the worst part. They aren't designers. Then the SE works to that. I made my living partly from finding such overdesigns. These shrubs are zero risk. How far away is the hornbeam? It says on a drawing "clear trees", so that seems to be wrong.

If you look at nearby applications (on-line) you should find what they did, and yours is very likely to be similar. It bothers me that a cosultant is asked what is required, and to quote for any study they themselves decide. I once had a £2,000 report for looking in the trenches we had dug. Standard introduction, what we might find, we looked in the hole, we found nothing. Summary: we looked in a hole and found nothing. Stretched over 8 pages, then back and front covers and a binder. 1 page was enough. Since then i was much firmer and argued against excessive cost. Also required them to look in our trenches pre concrete, not in special ones. I guess i have had this 10 times. It really depends what they are looking for. Usually just field margins for the record. Once roman detritus...which they don't keep, once any sign of a Roman road (no). All sensible apart from the cost level. Once though looking for footings for a Victorian brickworks, which i challenged the need for and they reluctantly withdrew the requirement. So back to sentence 1. And report back and perhaps we can help more.

OK. Understood. So often in the bh questions the whole scenario isn't clear, and perhaps we imagine what the real problem is. Keep us posted on the proposals please, and I will turn "follow" on again.

Another thought. Is the pool heater an ashp? If not why not? If so, again divide by about 4 for the power input, and heat on off-peak.

On Christmas day when all the cookers might be on briefly, you surely won't have the pool heating. I am assuming the ashp rating is output, so the input is about 2. BTW I hope you have a pool cover. I think they repay themselves in a season indoors, and a few months outdoors. Cold swimming is healthier anyway.

These piles would be encased in concrete at the top, then very tight within the clay beneath. Rust needs oxygen, so these should last a very long time.

Sorry. I have re-read and it seemed to me to be entirely on topic. I wll duck out of this discussion.