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If you have to replace the floor joists, is there any merit in using steel? You can get the strength you need in a much smaller thickness. A nearby pub is doing this where they need to lower the floor level of a bar they are renovating to enable wheelchair access. Lowering it and keeping wooden joists would result in insufficient headroom in the cellar. So instead they are installing a set of steel floor joists that lower the floor level while still keeping enough headroom in the cellar. I take it the second picture shows a single storey rear extension to your house that takes up all but 6" of your back garden?

As some of you may know, we have been looking to build for several years but are finding it very hard to get a plot near here within our price range. We have been waiting for Graven Hill since early 2013 but after more than half a dozen deadlines came and went, with never an explanation or apology, I wouldn't touch the plots with a barge pole now. But I don't want to get too disillusioned so while we wait to find the 'ideal' plot, we were offered the chance to buy a nearby small rundown Victorian end terrace for a very reasonable price. It looks just right as there isn't much structural stuff to be done so we hope to be able to do most of it ourselves. The OH retires in November so I have to have something to keep him busy. I have attached the building survey and here is the front of the house. It's a bit of a strange location as our row of 7 cottages are set behind a row of another houses which are on the main road. We have to walk down a narrow alley behind the other row, to get to the front of ours. Its about 60m from the road and there is no way of getting a vehicle any closer. Initially this did put us off; however, it is clear that people manage quite well. Most of the houses have had extensions built so it is possible to do most jobs but extra time and effort will be needed to remove and get things to site. Skips can be put onto the road and everything will have to be wheel barrowed onto site; so not the easiest location for a fairly major renovation. As you can see there is a small alley between ours and the house on the left. That takes us to the rear of the properties where we have a narrow path behind the house, leading to the back of the house to the right, to their back door. There is no back garden, just a wall (which is leaning quite badly) then a raised garden belonging to a house on another road, which runs the whole length of the row of cottages. It is quite strange as the chap can be gardening while looking straight into the kitchen window. Not ideal I know. However, he is old and there is talk of all the cottages buying the land to the back, which we have said we'd be happy to do too. But I don't think it will be very straight forward to waiting to see about that. The wall belongs to this chap too and he knows it is leaning and needs work so I am hoping that will give him an incentive to sell. There is room to get alongside the back, that's our lovely wooden back door, leading to the yellow house/extention of the neighbour. The house in the distance behind the huge holly, is the owner of the gardens. Its a long, long garden. So, about the house. We believe it was built around the mid 1800's, as church cottages to the nearby church building, dated 1836. We are the end of three with a row of four next to us. The front of the house faces south so the garden gets plenty of light. On the ground floor is a front room, stairs, a bathroom, middle room with the kitchen in a newish extension at the back. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, one large at the back with two smaller ones at the front. I plan to create a post for each room with lots of photographs and what we think we need to do for each room. And to add plenty of excitement - we have a cellar - an old fashioned coal cellar the full size of the house. It's a bit rickety and the bottom step is missing. There are Akro props holding up some of the beams under the front room and the surveyor says we need to replace them all. Unfortunately there is not sufficient height to stand upright although I can manage it with my head between the beams. That's the coal store and the board to the left was the shaft which went up to the front garden, under the front window. The previous owners had it blocked up and the front wall waterproofed down to cellar level, rendered and painted. No mention of insulation in the document. What to do with the cellar is one of the many questions we are looking at. The idea is to renovate with the intention of selling and hopefully making a profit or, if the economic situation is not favourable, then we can rent it out. But this will be a slow renovation and we have no intention of being in by Christmas and I certainly have no intention of getting pregnant! We are using it as a learning experience as this is far more than we have done in the past. We have a builder lined up for some of the work but the rest we plan to do ourselves. I am sure there will be lots of questions for our fellow buildhubbers in the months ahead and I hope you enjoy reading about our progress. Advice and tips always welcome. Building Survey Report Blank.pdf

It may well be asbestos-free if it dates from the 80's, as I have a feeling that it's only the older stuff, before we became as aware of the risks from asbestos, that had fibres in. Probably best to just get back to a sound surface (removing the dodgy tapes and any loose stuff) and then just get it skimmed, I think.

I reckon that when first done they may have used the old 2" brown tape on the joints. I bet they placed the DRY tape against the boards and then tried to PVA over the top hoping it'd soak through i.e they didn't PVA the joint first, SOAK then stick the tape on THEN PVA over the lot. I've similar but not so bad on the 4 upstairs ceilings in the dormer. Mine's circa 1988. HOT water will soften Artex up to scrape it off but it's messy. Also likely won't work if it's been gloss painted.

From the picture it looks like you have taken a picture of my bathroom ceiling!

Nah! I was proper careful. I know exactly where the envelope of the bath sits. It's even less now I'm tapering the sides!

That's very similar to the house we are updating. Will be interested to hear what is the best way to sort out the artexed ceilings.

From my railway coach building days, 6.4mm was the standard thickness of laminated glass (two 3mm sheets either side of a 0.4mm interlayer). As far as I know toughened glass comes in thicknesses to the exact millimetre, 3,4 and 6mm being the most common sizes. If your glass is 6.4mm then it's almost certainly laminated, which to be honest is preferable to toughened in a domestic situation.

If this is old artex, then take care, as the old stuff used asbestos fibres for added strength, so don't sand it, or if you have to, wet sand it and use protective gear. I've not tried, but have heard that artex can be steamed off, and, if it works, then this might be the cleanest way of getting back to a good surface to then repair. Skimming over the artex won't be as easy as skimming over a smooth surface with scrim tape over the joints, I think.

Only way out of not digging out at least 40-50mm is to use less insulation in the floor. How much had you planned to use?? How much have you left from the top of the hardcore to the bottom of your door frame?? I am removing wood chip off my sister's walls so digging hardcore out would be music to my ears. Only thing left to try and remove it is petrol and a match.

We have gone with a traditional roller based mist and base coat as the decorator offering that option was 3-4k cheaper including supplying all paint and platforms etc.