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About this blog

This is a blog following the renovation/upgrade of a 1960's ish semi-detached bungalow.  We bought it in 2017 for my elderly parents and are now planning for a complete new extension to the rear and side, as well as improving the insulation and air-tightness of the whole building.  While the majority of the large scale work is not going to take place till they no longer need the place, I do want to improve the energy efficiency and comfort. 

 

So instead of jumping in with some things which later need altering, I am looking to come up with a staged plan of works, employing a local company to help. They specialise in 'Eco' design for 'Ethical, inspiring and green' builds.  

 

I am also hoping for advice from here on many matters.  It will take some years to finish but i wanted to start recording the adventure😄.

Entries in this blog

Renovation

The ASHP install. Lots of heating on/heating off then fingers crossed.

After removing the old heating system a couple of weeks ago, the engineers arrived at 10am Monday morning last week - waiting for the delivery of all the 'bits'!  We'd installed a couple of electric oil filled radiators for mum and dad and luckily the weekend was mild.   The lorry arrived around 11am, things were unloaded and taken into the back garden, then the guys all disappeared to go and get the pipework..... So after lunch, back the 2 chaps came and installed the ASHP into the ba
Renovation

The Plans, version 2.

How things can change on a six pence!  After deciding to go for the ASHP, I had a couple of local firms in to quote.  CVC did come back with a quote of around 20K but without a site visit, I was worried things could add up and that seemed too much.  see the whole ASHP saga here; So next week, the new ASHP is being installed.  And the unit is going in the back garden, under the kitchen window.  This is not where I wanted it to go but the company were adamant that we could not have it a
Renovation

The plans. version 1.

After building the shower room, we had a free shot at planning so I put in for an extension down the side of the bungalow, to create a utility room and this was granted.  But we did not think my parents could cope with the building work so it was never implimented.  And, as they do little cooking, the current kitchen is enough for them.  See origional and permitted plans. However, now that we are planning to move into the bungalow ourselves in the future, we would be  looking to remove the
Renovation

ASHP and radiators.

Life has been busy since I started the blog so apologies for the lack of posts.  However, the hot water went off in the bungalow on Monday so this has become an issue again.  In April, the hot water also stopped working.  I called Worcester then as the hot water cylinder was still under warranty. When the engineer arrived, he replaced the immersion but he did say that the installed hotwater cylinder, a GreenStore SC 120l indirect unvented cylinder, should have a boiler to heat the water.  We don
Renovation

Architect advice. Do we need this or not?

After my OH's reluctance to go for PV  soon, I needed a plan.  We had already talked and visited a local Eco Architect company when researching for our planned Passivhaus for the time we thought we had a plot.  I therefore got in touch to see what they offered.  We had a zoom meeting when i explained my plans.  Basically i wanted someone to help me plan the stages we could do now to help improve the parents comfort, with the intention to do the whole extension renovation when they don't need the
Renovation

The story so far.

We bought the bungalow in 2018 to move my elderly parents closer to us following Mum's stroke.  While she recovered, they needed help most days, i was spending a lot of time travelling back and forward so it made sense to move them closer.  As they lived in Windsor, we could not afford to move that way and I was very suprised when they agreed to our suggestion to move closesr to us.  But it has proved very valuable in the years since.    I think we were very lucky in that when we start
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