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Its a standard alternative, but they should do as per the spec, and not change it without telling you. If they have used standard rockwool its a disaster, but batts are coated with water repellent and formed in layers so water should not track through, even through the joins. The reason celotex...

It doesn't matter. If you look at a diagram, you can see that everything above and inside the DPM and DPC (which should be continuous) is in the "dry" zone. You are not bridging anything, since the wet inner leaf below the DPC is separated from the screed by the vertical part of the DPM. Its is...

I'm not an expert on the raft idea, not done one myself, hopefully someone else can help you there. You'd have to fill in what you have dug and compact properly, BCO is usually fussy over made up ground. Sounds like moving the manhole is too tricky. You could lintel over it, with concrete...

Hum, rather a problem there, don't think you could easily lintel over that. I'd be looking at relocating the pipe, so it goes under the footings at an angle a lot closer to 90 degrees. Probably need a new manhole / access chamber where it changes direction. Or build on a concrete raft. Simon.

Since at that point its just access for rodding, and not carrying waste, the requirements are not much. You could use a flexible rubber connector or a concertina style toilet pan connector and encase the rodding eye and flexible section in concrete to set it solid. That should do it ! Simon.

Its a bungalow, so you can put the new support above the joists in the loft, and hang them from it. No need to hide an RSJ within the joist space. Simon.

I see around a lot of arrangements where there appears to be just a french door in the side of an upstairs wall that you could fall out of ! There must be a railing on the inside. I imagined this has a bearing on what planning permission is required. They must open the doors into thin air...

Noseall, what do you mean by frost cover ? Do you mean to cover the concrete whilst it is curing in winter ? Simon.

Thats what I did, 3 courses / 1 block up to ground level. Note what noseall said about allowing for drainage gullies etc, I had to chisel out a bit of the foundation edge (ie. the 150mm outside the walls) in order to get a gully close enough to the wall. Not really a problem, but had I...

Its fine to have the loo straight off the kitchen. The requirement for a lobby was removed from regs years ago, provided a wash basin is included in the loo. Anyway, I'm doing a similar extension, but the orignal kitchen leads straight off the hall. I've relayed the floor to include drainage so...

You really need to do this with your neighbour. It sounds like the whole wall needs fixing. You could pull of the lath and plaster your side but there is a risk of damaging the decoration on his side if the wall is in very poor condition. A party wall agreement may be advisable. Or you could...

You create the fall with a cement screed. You will take up to 3 inches of height with the screed. If minimum depth is below about 40mm, and for extra waterproofing, use an SBR mix. Put in battens to create the required fall and scrape off the mix level with the top of the battens, remove...

There should be a drawing showing the neighbour's chimney breasts and the wall, with dimensions indicated, and then its up to the planners to choose which dimension to use. Could you appeal it they used the chimney breast measurement ? Not sure, but you cannot try to get one over them - that...

Presumably you have the gable in line with the wall of the house, so along that side you have effectively removed the eaves box volume. So you cannot just use an "increase in volume" formula - there is added volume in one area and removal from from another. It is not relevent how the internals...

This seems a little confused / confusing. There should be seperate before and after drawings produced and the volume taken. The volume includes the eaves and all parts of the roof. The volumes should be subtracted to work out additional volume. Also its not clear which eaves is being...

I got some slips cut by a local brick cutter (in Rugby). They have a large saw with very large and expensive diamond blade. Price was reasonable, can't remember what though. Price for brick cutting does seem to vary a lot so get many quotes ! No idea about the feasibility of hiring the kit and...

You need to be aware that if you knock the wall down, you no longer have a "conservatory" according to the regs, you have an extension. This has much stricter insulation requirements and will be unlikely to pass. Many folks take out an external door, but this is easy to put back when selling the...

The insulation is due to the trapped air, so if you squash insulation down, it will be worse than the same size non-squashed. You can cut if down a bit if needed, but can be messy / itchy ! Simon.

Not quite sure what you are asking. Theres lots of little knacks to most building tasks. What bricklaying experience have you had before ? As usual raise the corners, string a line and fill in. Lots of openings ? Don't forget the extra ties around openings, one every block height. And try not...

It is basically clay underneath, but not that subject to heave I believe. The BCO did not require any compressible material around the foundations for example. Simon.