SurreySelfBuilder

@3Dwarves hi there! We are in Surrey, I think most councils in Surrey have public planning portals. This is the one for Waverley… https://www.waverley.gov.uk/Services/Planning-and-building/View-and-comment-on-planning-applications/Search-planning-applications you can search by postcode and road name for pretty good results. When we bought our cottage it had damp, we did a lot of research and found that poor ventilation and no insulation were amongst the reasons for it. We ripped everything back to the outside tiles, spent a lot of time researching the best insulation for an old cottage (we went with sheeps wool and celotex in the end) and repainted the exposed brick areas with lime plaster. We also installed a log burner. I would suggest that you narrow down where you want to live, for schools etc and then call up the local estate agents and explain your needs. You may find that a previous owner has carried out some insulation improvements…but I wouldn’t worry about that until you have found some options and seen what’s on the market. I hope that helps

I look forward to hearing your progress Rishard! Hopefully we can coin each ideas off each other! When do you hope to start building?

Interesting question @Bitpipe we are actually in the process of changing architects. PP has taken nearly 9 months and in that time we have had the chance to watch far too many Grand Designs (!!) but we also realised that we want a modern design which considers energy efficiency more. Our current design does not. We are looking at an air source heat pump to move away from gas and contribute to complying with the new June building regs. Haven't decided on solar panels/glazing yet, but looking at changing the angles of the house. In essence, we are planning to be as energy efficient as we can afford to be (probably not Passivhaus standards). I'll take a read to see what other people are doing. Two years ago we renovated an old cottage and amongst other things to improve the house, we insulated the walls and roof with sheeps wool, celotex and taped the edges. We [obviously] noticed massive difference! We also sounded proofed the walls with our neighbours which was very effective. We did a lot of work ourselves so maybe that is where I can share our experiences!

Thanks all, I had tried “detaching a semi” so will give the others a go!

Hi all, Complete novices here! We bought our semi-detached house a year ago and have PP in to knock down and rebuild a detached house (the other house is my mother-in-law’s, her wall is external already as it was part of our house originally). Planning a contemporary style house - made slightly more difficult/expensive due to access (steep&narrow) and on a hillside. Completed the self build PM course at the national self build centre in Swindon on the weekend as I am planning to quit work PM it myself. Would love to hear if others have knocked down a semi -> detached. Mostly looking forward to reading and learning from you all, will try to add value if I can! Lou