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True ! That does pose a problem.

Why not?

Why can’t you just build the bottom section so it sits 75mm proud of the top section?

What sort of ground is it - clay or sandy? if clay then it is sometimes not recommended to have the membrane as the membrane itself can become silted up.

No membrane in clay. Membrane if sandy.

Maybe it’s time we started outsourcing public services so that private equity can do the siphoning! Oh wait - most of them have already.

Is any of this work done yet? why bother with the studs for a service void? You can embed electric cables into the wood fibre board. then finish with a number of different breathable renders (I just used sand/nhl lime). Would save a lot of time.

Is the mould on both fans or just the extract? Presumably just the extract. not ideal but at least that is going in the right direction!

Tricky to do without affecting the plaster but I have managed to do it by cutting around where the box meets the plaster and then unscrewing the box. I think if it doesn’t come out easily I had to tap the edges of the box in with a chisel enough to get pliers to pull them out. But careful for the corners damaging the plaster on the way out!

Shouldn’t do. You could always make sure that when you are testing the tap there is no chance of the boiler calling for heat by turning down thermostat/not getting in the shower!

I’d just go with 3.5 nhl (not hydrated) at 3:1 ration sharp sand/nhl doesn't want to be done if there is any danger of freezing and needs to be done by somebody who can work at the right pace (not like cement where you can have a section finished in a day - definitely be brushing off a section a day after the mortar has gone in).

I’m no expert but if mine I would like to know how much overlap the lead soakers have. There are little gaps where wind driven rain could get in but the overlap should cope. Also the section right at the top where there is no lead over the ridge tile looks a weak point to me. I appreciate that your leak seems to be further down but maybe it is tracking down from higher up. You might be able to test this by sending a hose right where the ridge tile meets the stack and see if any is getting inside.

Can’t you just cut out the stud wall section? Just use 60mm or 80mm wood fibre board fixed directly to the walls with plastic pins, render/plaster on top. I just used sand/lime for the render with mesh. as to paint why not lime wash - you can buy large tubs of white and some powders for colour. Maybe a little restrictive in colour options but it’s pretty straight forward to apply so long as you wet the walls down before and as a bit after it has been applied.

Fair enough. whats the best way to waterproof the duct? A bit of expanding foam as a backing and then a bunch of bathroom sealant ? Any advice on the best type?

So I have a brick built manhole (engineering bricks on a concrete pad base) where the water supply is split into three and when it rains heavily it fills with water (very high water table). I presume water is getting in through the joints in the brickwork. Water is then getting into the duct and reappearing where it comes up in a barn (which is lower than the manhole level) causing a minor spillage. two questions: 1. Best way to waterproof the manhole itself ? 2. Best way to waterproof where the duct starts (as in the blue pipe and the blue duct in the picture)? any suggestions? I do see some blocks where the ducts exit so don’t suppose those are waterproof but I presume some water is getting in through the joints.

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that if you are including cooling with the ashp you can’t get the grant

Correct. Though it was a little more tricky because the bricks had a slight arch to them

You might want to do a test dig to see what your walls sit on. 650mm is a lot to dig out.

Can you not cut a slot in the back of the stone lintel to fully cover the catnic? pretty sure that was what we did for our French doors (though we had an external steel beam not a catnic and were using bricks to finish)

Why? The plasterboard isn’t the airtight layer is it?

I would say that what your joiner has suggested is reasonable. It’s basically what I did on mine. I didn’t use dpc but can’t see any harm in it. mine sat on existing cills that fell off immediately from where they were sat. Lime mortar to finish. i spent some time getting the inside details right for my setup as I was installing wood fibre board insulation internally. So got full layer of insulation on reveals and under the internal cill (wood on the inside) before rendering. expanding foam can probably do the fixing job on its own (make sure you get low expansion stuff designed for windows) but straps for belt and braces.

Rockwool r45 (I think it is called) will friction fit if cut right

Looks a little sketchy to me. For example, what is in place for the water supply? A sub meter on your bit? What’s to stop the main house from cutting the supply to yours without some legal details in place?

I’m surprised they suggested an ashp based on what you said initially. first thing I had to do was send over room details/insulation levels. think I sent room volumes and insulation levels. You could always under size the rooms a bit or over sell the insulation if you are confident your house is being well detailed/built.

I had an alto design/install which I am very happy with. my design had three different flow temperatures depending on the size of rads I used upstairs (Ufh down). The 50 degree figure seems very high for Ufh throughout. I know for a fact that they do over spec on the (generally correct?) assumption that insulation/air tightness design levels can underperform in real world. And they clearly want to avoid the problem of under specification that has caused many problems in the ashp market in the past. Self builds are I would think much more likely to perform as specified so you can make a case to them that their calcs can be adjusted for that. How many m2 is the property and what air tightness level is it ? who was your main contact at Alto?