Those are wise words Karen! am so glad it worked out for you. Love to see a photo, what colour or shade did you choose? Jools, The bitumen is a right pig, best way we found is to make it cold, so it becomes brittle, then you can scrape /chip it off. We used a window scraper, coarse wire wool and various sandpaper. We left the window open on a cold night, turned heating off in there, and you could try a cooler fan on it. Putting ice bags on it didn't work as well as we hoped. we used a round sander, but it can cause swirls, it's really awkward ! To be honest a few dips and scratches on an old floor are okay in the end, don't be too afraid of it, they are only pieces of wood stuck down on the floor, not bone china, as long as you try not to break them, or set fire to them, otherwise you can't possibly do more damage than I did, and they recovered!

If you scroll through this link you will see my photos. I ordered this for my kitchen. My completely inexperienced contractor installed the floors over existing 50 year old asbestos vinyl. We used the Atrafloor cold weld. The seam is almost invisible and the product is water tight. Your installers are using old technology and old methods. It is very usable for a home installation. Mine have been down about 3 months old and look great. My installer also made a small measuring mistake and I ended up with a 2nd seam, but it is not noticeable at all. You cannot use the type of adhesive sold in USA it is old fashioned and old technology. Mine was not stiff at all, but I did keep it inside the house to acclimatize before installation. It is soft a pliable. Atrafloor answered all my emails.

I have had time to digest what you all said. Yes, that's a hallway. ... I caved! haha ... but at least it's not a pointless one at 1.8m we currently bear. We like our open central living area, and dining at the back of it, and will do so while ever there is no "upstairs". I have drawn in where a bedroom used to be in the living room. I've slimmed the bathrooms right back, to one with a bath, one with a shower, distributed the sizes to not interfere with the laundry door being opened up if the second bathroom was removed, and lined up the "supporting" walls between the bathroom and "our room". The hallway will offer the privacy for the end room that opens onto the garden, and at the same time it can be seen as the master with en-suite... not that we will use it for that. The location of the bathroom is and has always been awkward to get to, requiring a long walk... but at least there will be TWO... but I may very well continue to place the door off the living room and not the hall due to wishing to make the access easier for guests and the 3 bedrooms it serves. All this does bear resemblance to the original layout, but should stick with what works and not fight this awkward house too much. The additional bonus is it is the minimum building cost and effort entailed. I believe it scratches some itches in regards to better bedroom sizes, segregating the placement of bathrooms a little more, and the future flexibility of moving the living area towards the garden end of the house.

Cracks in Joists is just at a knot in the timber Probably drying out, if you encounter a more worrying split just nail an additional joist to either side of the existing timber with plenty of a lap Notches for services should ideally be 2 inches below top of Joists as stops pipes and gables getting screwed or nailed through Could be an in situ concrete lintel , check with spirit level for any obvious deflection and tap with hammer to assess structural integrity Easy job to replace but can be costly, from your pics It would appear ok Small hairline cracks is normally just settlement Long wide vertical cracks are an indicator of subsidence in the foundations Best wishes