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Assuming the steels are only spanning a garage width (2.5m?) they won't be heavily-loaded and cutting away the 5 layers won't be an issue.

Slightly O/T question: is your house a back-to-back by chance?

If you overboard the existing ceiling, make sure its the Kingspan insulated plasterboard, not polystyrene-insulated plasterboard. The former has its own 'built-in' vapour control barrier, while polystyrene doesn't.

There will be vertical timber hangers further back, supporting the ceiling joists off the higher main roof purlins, rafters or ridge board. There won't actually be much weight at the end each joist where they rest on the plaster, but agree not good practice!

That would not be adviseable, even if you could cut the brick without it cracking. Suggest taking the whole brick out (+ the mortar below) and bed your padstone on new 1:3 mortar on the two bricks below. If your padstone is 140 mm high (?) fill in the gap between the top of the padstone and...

It's your call regarding the inspector, but he may well comment on it when he checks the foundation trench. Google 'NHBC Foundations: Building near Trees' which might make you think again, depending on the type of soil you have, and other factors. @jeds - you beat me to it!

If that's the case, its not going to be a problem. The load distributes downwards as an ever-widening triangle due to the bonding of the brickwork and by the time it gets to the level of the pipe, it will be so 'spread out' as to be minimal.

is this what you mean, or is the drain to the right of the bearing, rather than on the left as I've shown it?

That depth of notching won't be an issue, particularly with them being near a vertical support.

If there's already plasticiser in Mastercrete, could it be that you've added too much additional plasticiser, which weakens the mortar? If so, you seem to have included a yellow/ochre additive?

To me, it looks as though the mortar has dried out too quickly, even though you wet the bricks first; they may have been particularly thirsty. Did you add any plasticiser? This helps retain water within the mortar so that it does not get absorbed by the brick too quickly. It also makes the...

You need to get the 2100 long wall checked as a panel wall, bonded at one end, and simply-supported top and bottom, with one free edge. If it was shown not to work, a coated steel post within the cavity might be necessary, with a plate bolted to the concrete foundation, and fixed to a wall...

If it has a roof it will provide a degree of stability, but might a narrow brick pier work lose over time with a wide, heavy door banging shut? Your diagram isn't very clear, some dimensions would help.

They are mistaken. Current guidance is to top up the ceiling insulation to 250mm glass wool if the insulation is not already to that standard.

If you are replacing the roof covering of a pitched roof (even if using same tiles), Part L1b comes into play. This states that, at the same time, any loft insulation should be topped up to 250mm, if not already that thickness. This requirement appears in my old 2010 copy of L1b, and is the...

Looks like normal plaster-shrinkage cracks.

I know you've now (sensibly) discounted I-joists, but how would they have been more 'energy efficient'?

Extruded clay blocks - hard and brittle. Is it possible to cut 50mm wide vertical chases in the plasterwork (marking the lines with an angle grinder) at - say - 500 spacings so that you can see the mortar joints, and then screw vertical 50 x 50 battens to the joints. Then fix your resilient...

If its a normal one-brick (225mm) party wall, drilling for plugs would not cause that pattern of cracking - as above, more likely to be shrinkage of her plasterwork.

There was some research done by Arups some time ago, which found that even in offices, floors were not often loaded up to the domestic loading of 1.5kN/m2. I suspect there is a case for the regs to be changed to accept slightly lower loadings in loft conversions (say 1.0 - 1.25 overall) on the...