TheMitchells

It looks fantastic Mike - well done and if we ever produce something as good as yours, I'll be very happy!

Perfect timing of the question as I was asked just that by a lady whose garden I have just done. She is one of the many new homes in Bicester and her garage is soooo dusty. I shall pass on the advice though i bet she will be asking me to get it done. A woman of many talents, I keep telling the OH......

As the OH has had a week off work, we have been at the house everyday so things are disappearing quite quickly. Most of the woodwork has been removed from the bedrooms and the dining room ceiling has gone, as well as the taped downlighters. Most of the electrical cables have been removed apart from those needed. The plan is to completely renew all the electrics but till then, we are leaving one simple power circuit to plug lights into and work from. It was quite funny in that most of the cables ran over the walls and along skirting, not behnd, just in front. So once disconnected, we just had to pull and up they came. So here is the guided tour. First downstairs. The front room faces south and we are thinking of changing the window for french doors. The porch is hidious but does create a space for coats, just. With new front door and paintwork, it may look acceptable. As you can see this is an excellent example of a typical Victorian lounge! The carpet is now residing in the local refuse skip and the stonework should follow soon. We hope to restore the room with a classic surround and fireplace as well as some cornice and ceiling rose. (Similar to a house on George Clarke's TV programme on last night - Old House, New Home) To the right of the fireplace, something has been removed, possibly a unit which has left a cblack stone plinth. Strangely the wooden floor was cut to the plinth - its all a bit strange. Moving from the front room, we pass the stairs and arrive at the bathroom. Its not far. Our aim is to move the bathroom upstairs as I think most people will want that. I certainly would not want to have to climb downstairs everytime I needed the loo during the night. Although as pointed out by OH, we use the loo more during the day then night time. so he thinks its better downstairs. If we take out the bath and rearrrange things, we could have a small cloakroom and add a couple of feet to the middle room, which is small and quite dark. That alcove on the right leads to the stairs to the cellar. The fire is an old woodburning stove with a back boiler. It does not look like it has been used for many years and I cannot even open the door. I think it will be going soon. To the left of the teddy is part of the origonal back wall which is about 50cm thick and solid stone. Its certainly not something we'll be moving, which is a shame as it would be lovely to open up the space between the middle room and the small kitchen. thats it - its a small room and with the Rangemaster filling up one side, there isnt much room for anything. There is a fridge and freezer under the sink unit so goodness knows where they put all their stuff. there is hardly any cupboard space. So plenty of thinking to do to improve the layout and create a spacious kitchen/diner in the two rooms. Next time - upstairs!

Maybe not as much fun as making your own though. We still plan to have a go making our own scale building, using your instructions. Thanks Jeremy.

The Rangemaster has cleaned up very well. There is also a large Rangemaster hood, though I am not trying to clean that. Whoever wants it can do that. Though I may try the white spirits. the demolition has continued in the rear bedroom. But should the beam not be attached to the wall? And here is the underside of the bedroom ceiling, with the 'unusual' technique of holding up the downlighters with ducktape.

Dont quite know how to follow that, OnOff! I am going to have to watch what I say....... I am obviously an innocent, compared to you, it never entered my mind.

While we have been popping in to the house to have a look at things, today was the first day when we went intending to start pulling things to pieces. tool boxes and hammers were taken in and OH went to work in the upstairs bedroom. It's the whole width of the house at the rear with a delightful wooden cupboard housing part of the chimney breaast from the dining room and the newish boiler and pipes. As well as antique wallpaper which you may have seen in the V&A interior design section - not. Here is the boiler and shelving in the bedroom. I am not sure about the safety aspect of having a gas boiler in the bedroom. Isnt there rules about that? The door leads to the landing. Note the architrave; or lack of it.That is really how it looked. The skirting was easy to remove - the planks of wood only had a couple of small dabs of something. We didnt even need any tools, they just pulled off. (This is something which is happening lots). So the carpet came up, the shelving came out of the cupboard and before long we had a lovely pile of wood. As well as the door, which is quite nice. That went down to the cellar together with any wood he thought we may be able to use elsewhere. The broken/useless stuff is being piled up in the garden ready to go for a nice cheering bonfire in a friends field. And the cupboard is now almost gone. Lovely wallpaper! The pipes were presumably not needed when the boiler was fitted so they just cut them off! And there's a couple going down to the room beneath too. While the plan has always been to completely renew all the electrics, running new cabling before plastering; we didnt really plan to re-do the plumbing, but we are now considering it. The radiators in the house are pretty dire and it would be nice to move the boiler to a more suitable position. So when the floorboards are up and plasterboard is off the walls, it may be best to strip out the plumbing and start over again. especially as we would like to create a bathroom upstairs in part of the front bedroom. And it will be good experience for us. And look what we found hiding in the attic...... He's rather large! Our poor dog was terrified when he came face to face downstairs. He needs a name - any suggestions? Keep it clean please - my parents are reading this blog! And while all that demolition upstairs was going on, I was cleaning the oven - anyone want a second hand Rangemaster?? It was caked in grease but its gradually coming off. Was quoted £90 to get it professionally cleaned so am doing it myself with lots of elbow grease and Ajax cream (other brands are available). Not bad for the first days work. Many more to go!

Very good effect - I often take photographs of places we stay. One i really liked was a bathroom with a large door that swung round to create a separate loo if someone was in the shower. ideal for couples who need to go but are sharing a bathroom.

Here is a plan of the ground floor to give an idea of what is where. And a map of the local area to show where the house is in relation to the road. You can see the alley to the right of the church, which then runs along the back of the houses in the road. Ours is marked in red.

I dont know why but the thought of having a cellar gives me great excitment! It has that particular smell that I remember from a student house I lived in at Crewe many years ago. It too had a cellar and smelt just the same. However, it did get very damp and everything put down there rotted or came up covered in mould - so not an ideal comparison. As I mentioned in the first blog post, these cottages all had them and they had a coal shute from the front garden. Ours has now been blocked off and the wall made good. But there is quite a lot of work to do down here. OH is quite excited by it as most of the wiring and plumbing runs under the floorboards so are easy enoght to get at and be easily accessable when he starts changing it all around and updating it. There are storage cupboards at the end. The rubbish bags have now gone. You can see the waste pipes from the bathroom which is above this corner of the cellar. This is looking towarads the back of the house, left hand side. This is the bottom of the stairs at the front and to the rear. You can clearly see the damp in the big post. And the missing step at the bottom. The handrail is wobbly and the treads are quite small. A mishmash of supports. Strangely, the beams across the back half of the house are all much larger than the front and seem in good order. Those at the front are smaller and most have had their ends added to, to give support. These all need replacing. The next problem is that there is water leaking in at the front corner to the right of the coal store. When we had the heavy rain last week, it was running down the walls and it is quite wet on the floor. But as it is a dirt floor, it is soaking away. The rest of the cellar and walls are suprisingly dry and seem fine. We think the first job will be to sort out the beams and see if we can prevent the water entering from outside. One builder has quoted Front room - Take up existing floor and joists and dispose of waste; - Install new 195mm x 47mm treated joists (a Structural Engineer may be needed to establish what size joists to use, I have got this size from a building regs guide); - Lay 24mm chipboard flooring to complete floor; It is likely that the skirting board will need to be removed to take the existing floor up. Care would be taken in doing this, but damage may still occur to plastered walls. Any obstructing services in the existing floor are to be removed by the customer. £2600.00 But we are thinking that we should be able to do this ourselves once we know what to do (obviously) and we are looking to get the OH's ex-brother in law down who is a very experienced builder and specialises in building bridges. He will hopefully help wth what to do and what sizes to use and at what distances. It would be nice to be able to remove the props. Another thing to decide is whether to dig the floor out or not. If we do, the time to do it will be when the front floor is up as we could then lift up the material through the front room, rather than the long carry, up the rickety stairs, round the corner into middle room, through to the front and out the front door. However, there is still the issue of getting rid of all the removed soil which will have to be done by wheelbarrow to a skip on the road, about 100m away. And will it realy add value to the finished house? More investigating to do with maybe a couple of companies coming round to give some quotes. We also hope to be able to visit the other houses in our row and see what they have all done. Cinema room/Wine cellar/kids play area? We dont want to get into the problems of making it into a habitable room as that brings issues of how to escape should there be a fire and complying with all the building regs. So we are leaning towards making it dry and tidying it up and just using it for storage.

Yes, it does look like 6 inches but its actually about 2 foot and if the wall was back where it should be, it would be about 3 ft (thats 90cm for the youngsters reading this). We will consider steel but there is the issue of access - I thought wood would be lighter and cheaper. although steel could be brought in in sections and bolted together. Will have a good think about that as we had not considered it to help with head height. Will get a post done today about the cellar and put more photo's in.

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

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.

That's pretty much as I have found - never had any problems of condensation and it goes through a cold attic. However, we too have a timber framed house, built by the Americans in the 1980, we think, for personnel at the local RAF station. They (the Americans) are still there and half the estate was sold off 20 years ago, when I bought it. We never have any problems with condensation and half an hour after a shower, the room is completely dry and there isn't a fan anywhere. Our clothes dry overnight, without any heating and again no condensation. We assume the house has a vapour barrier that allows the moisture to escape. Its a great system and hence part of the reason we want to build in timber.

That sounds great - I am not sure where I'm going as I am going with three others and we haven't decided where we will go yet - more likely around north/hampstead/regents park area. But will take your number just in case we get anywhere near there.

Did anyone see the Build the Dream programme from a couple of weeks ago. It was the one where she built a huge house over the stables. But what surprised me was the house she was sent to see which was built I think in 2008 and was the first Passivhaus in Scotland. They had two sunpipes into the dressing room to give extra light. But I didn't think you would be able to use Sunpipes in a Passivhaus? Am I wrong? We have one fitted into our upstairs hall and it works very well, giving us as much light as quite a large window. We have wrapped insulation around the pipe within the cold attic, but I would not have thought it was airtight. Any ideas?

quite agree with Jeremy, the website is excellent for explaining everything to do with building. I have learnt much from there, as well as here of course!

Enjoy the gardens! I'll be there on Sunday. Well done on the sale - here's to the future.

As ever, thanks Jeremy - will probably be very useful when we get to do our house. Though I may need help filling it in.

Can I ask what size is your plot approximately? It's useful to have an idea so when looking at ones to buy, it gives me an idea of what can be fitted on. There was one for sale near us a few years ago in a garden which I looked at and thought 'ridiculous - it's tiny!' but then they build a four bed house and it looked okay. Didn't have much of a garden but showed I was completely wrong about what can and can't be built. Thanks.

thanks - will try to remember that. I obviously wasnt listening properly in the science class.

Sorry Terry, you've lost me - Temperature delta.... is that the difference between upstairs and downstairs. its a new term for me so may be for others. Anyway - thanks for the simplified picture (words) - that makes it a lot clearer Jeremy. will add that to my talk!

But didn't I read somewhere that one builder had been taken to court and found guilty as they advertised the homes as Passivhaus and they weren't. They were prosecuted under the new Consumer Rights Act 2015. As the Money Saving Expert says, And if it's not, then we aught to start taking the builders to court. I think this legislation will start to make a difference. Here's the case I was talking about. It's not a huge fine but its a start. From the Bournemouth Daily Echo - 24th January 2016. A BOURNEMOUTH property developing company which made false advertising claims has been ordered to pay more than £15,000 in fines and costs. Lomand Homes, based in Glenferness Avenue, pleaded guilty to five offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations at Bournemouth Magistrates Court this week. Dorset County Council’s trading standards service investigated allegations that the company had falsely claimed that properties at Pennsylvania Heights, Portland, were built to “certified Passivhaus standards”. These industry standards show that buildings are constructed in a way that reduces the need to heat or cool them. However, after failing to reach this standard, Lomand Homes continued to advertise the properties as if they had. District Judge Stephen Nicholls said that the company had been “negligent in the way it handled the advertising”. Lomand Homes was fined £3,400, ordered to pay prosecution costs of £12,000 and a victim surcharge of £120. Richard Herringshaw, principal trading standards officer, said: “Once it became clear to the company that the properties were struggling to meet the standard they had two options, either invest in achieving the claimed standard or amend the claims. It seems that they chose neither.” The council’s cabinet member for economy and growth, Cllr Colin Jamieson, added: “Buying a house is the largest purchasing decision most consumers will make. “It is vital that all of those involved in marketing properties ensure that the claims they make are true and that buyers can rely on them. Allowing decision to be made carefully, based on real evidence. This gives confidence in property sales businesses in this area. “Our trading standards team works with businesses to help ensure fair trading but enforcement action including prosecution is appropriate in some cases.”

Peter W said in another post; UK building regs are appalling - full stop ! They are a minimum standard and don't encourage anything. Add to that the well known reports that volume house builders are cutting corners even with the minimum standards then it's not surprising the masses don't understand. Take this as an argument - "Yes Mr Smith, our Balmoral new build has lots of energy saving features with uValues 10% better than most modern houses , annual bills 15% lower than the average property..." So Joe Public (aka Mr Smith) thinks that's fab.! But it's not what it "could" be ..! Average energy bill for a 4 bed, let's say £1800 pa. This new house is only £1530. What if you said to Mr Smith that for £2k more insulation you could have 40% lower ..? Payback of 3-4 years ..?? You are then talking in numbers people understand, yet the masses sometimes don't get that anyway. The Green Deal is a classic example of this - saving energy just isn't exciting ! On a similar note, I have been thinking for a long time that the majority of the general public have not a clue about energy efficiencies in homes while they probably could tell you lots about their car's efficiencies and choose accordingly. Having been researching how to build for about 4 years now, including lots on Ebuild, several books front to back, courses and the podcasts from houseplanninghelp, I sometimes feel I could lecture on the subject, particularly on the benefits of building well (Fabric First). In an earlier life, I used to go round to WI groups and give talks about another subject and it occurred to me that I may be able to help spread the word in the same way. After all, younger folk will probably use the internet but those of a similar age and older, are less likely to find out this way so I have been looking to create a talk which I will take to local WI's and other groups who may be interested. I found it thrilling to learn abut these things and I enjoy sharing that knowledge as it can save people money and make their lives that much better to live in a 'good' home. I was thinking of concentrating on what can be done to homes to create a better living environment; airtight to avoid draughts, insulation to keep heating bills low, and the benefits of MVHR's for health and comfort as well as efficiencies in heating bills. Nothing too in depth but just an overview of what we should be expecting from our developers. I want to get as many people as possible asking about airtightness and insulation levels. if enough ask, then eventually they will start realising it matters. And if we push for thermal images of homes, then they cannot hide! Any thoughts? what would you include?

definitely too boxy !! Don't you guys have any taste...... (only joking).