canalsiderenovation

We currently have a stove in our bungalow and want to keep the stove itself. The wall will come out and be completely rebuilt as the room will be seperate, e.g. where our bed it you won't see as the kitchen will be the other side. We definitely like the raised hearth, so much easier to clean and for heat distribution but we are looking at ideas for the hearth itself. Do we go for an exposed flue or not (we currently have a chimney but the whole roof, chimney etc needs replacing). Of course I don't want the naff red bricks and tiles but any suggestions. Ideally I'd prefer a flat top stove but as there is absolutely nothing up with our Clearview we are saving money and keeping it, just updating it.

When I adjusted the thermostat on the shower in the hotel when I was in a hotel this week it was somehere over 40 degrees but under 50, and I normally have my baths hotter! I blame living in a cold house for so long and I'm nesh. Well that puts my mind at rest. The builder we really are hoping to use has just installed a 4.5kw in roof system so is familiar with this which is bonus and working from home means I could make use of the solar PV running appliances etc.

This is one of my worries re hot water. In our previous house I use to have a bath every night (gas). At the moment I crave working away from home in the hope I get a hotel with a bath (and heating)!

I'm really liking the look of in roof solar for our bungalow and as we need to have all new tiles on the existing roof as well as the new extension roof it seems to make sense for an in roof system. Our plans don't have this on it for planning permission but do we need to specify this for building regs? Our slowest-architects-in-the-world are working on them currently and I've been reading about in roof solar with interest. We will have an ASHP (around 220m2 bungalow) with UFH which I've not explored yet makes, models etc but early conversations with builders we have noted insulation a priority (will post specs) and I'm thinking the in roof solar would be good for our own electrical use (work from home) and potentially divert some of this to a immersion heater. We would have a shower room and bath and another shower in a bedroom which would be frequently occupied by family. I love hot steamy baths as does my wife and long hot showers. Does anyone else have this set up? ASHP and in roof solar which diverts to immersion?

They are both a zinc effect.

I have just had two samples. These are the click tiles as oppose to the glue down ones (which are a bit larger). I'm in love with them both.

Granted I've not had prices for fitting, but the gluedown product itself (Kardean, Berryalloc) in the colours we like I'm getting online prices sub £25m2 and that's with no real haggling or negotiation. We do need over 200m2 so seem to benefit from cheaper prices. I will have to check fitting costs and then price up against resin.

Previously.had under mounted Franke sink with quartz worktops and despite not having a dishwasher washing up daily I found the grooves in the quartz would always appear dirty/hard water stains. The quartz was black though. That said the stainless steel sink was hard wearing and 12 years after fitting the kitchen it was still fine. My only criticism was that it had started to leak as the sealer used between the worktop and sink was beginning to perish. I'd definitely look at stainless steel again but I won't be washing up as much as for the first time ever I'll be getting a dishwasher which I'm super excited about!

Our letter says 'we have now assessed your claim and have granted self build residential exemption for the chargeable development in question for the reason stated below' and it then goes on to give reasons blah blah and it talks about residential extension and that form 6 Commencement notice needs to be conpleted.

Same, initially we were advised of a £16k cost but it seems our architects did all the forms as we had confirmation of an exemption - we just need to sort the Form 6.

Thanks @joe90 and @vivienz for explaining in a clearer way than me. Definitely seems glue down is the better choice then if new concrete pads are being laid, insulation and underfloor heating. One thing with the gluedown that I think may be easier is to go for one which has larger tiles as oppose to planks perhaps (more common if you're going for the stone over the wood). The tiles we are looking at are 650*650 but some of the Kardean are 915*915.

LVT is vinyl tiles like Kardean, Amtico, Berryalloc, Moduleo and many others and some do matching skirting. https://www.moduleo.co.uk/products/accessories/standard-skirting/standard-skirting https://www.berryalloc.com/global/en/accessories/vinyl-planks/click-vinyl-planks So if you are having moduelo or any other brand of LVT flooring like those I mentioned you can have skirting to match the floor. Great if you're having wood effect LVT but as we are not this doesn't work for us so although I hate skirting we have resounded ourselves just finding one we don't hate as much!

I found an interesting article https://floorcritics.com/glue-down-vs-floating-vinyl-plank/ I think if you are doing it DIY and don't have brilliant subfloors and are looking for an easier fit it's a preferred option. Both showrooms (for different brands) suggested gluedown (which was cheaper) for us and I think gluedown is also recommended more for high traffic/movement and moisture areas and it's thickness which is smaller which may work better with underfloor heating.. Someone more knowledgeable may have some better info than me though... I'm just repeating back what I was told.

Had some really good samples from Skirting World. We really like this one....

Thanks @joe90 and @Mr Punter that's good to know. Is it the click stuff or the gluedown? Does it scratch or mark easily?

Hi At the weekend we ended up looking at flooring for ideas as we were asked by our builder what we were hoing to use. Our renovation will be a bungalow and all new flooring, insulation, screed and underfloor heating will be put down and I'm hoping the floor will be even (builder assures me it will be)! I really like the feel of the LVT vinyl flooring and as I understand glue down is the best option rather than the click floating type (and slightly cheaper to buy but may be a bit more expensive to fit). The issue is we don't want wood effect, nor tiles that look like tiles, e.g. grouted (if that makes sense) and we would rather have the same colour throughout the bungalow... I'd love resin or concrete but that's out of budget. We have come across some that are large tiles that gluedown that have a more rustic appearance. These for example (not the click version but gluedown). https://www.floormonster.co.uk/berryalloc-pure-click-zinc-373d https://www.floormonster.co.uk/berryalloc-pure-click-zinc-679m Has anyone heard of this make - Berry Alloc and also Tarkett.' I've got samples from Amtico and Kardean but these seem more commonly talked about on here. Anyone who has had vinyl LVTs care to share experience, good and bad.....

We are lucky in that we have an outbuilding which was used as a 'shop' that the previous owner sold nick knacks from. It needs knocking down and it's where our double garage will eventually go, but it is watertight with power and we are planning to do as you say and store pretty much everything in there and as well as clothes rails. We want to keep it on a budget but we can start to explore it as a potential option....

Ah ok thanks. To be honest we would use as much of the facilities in the house as we could get away with as long as they were functional in between descending on my parents/in laws....

We are alongside a canal, rural but a popular spot so there would be no avoiding it but we could site it where it was a bit more secluded. The neighbours wouldn't have an issue, CRT may complain but they complain about everything!

That's what I was thinking, largest we can get over the bridge. Sticking up an awning on the side would probably be a giveaway we were living in it so perhaps avoid that! It just keeps things easy being on site and not having to shift everything miles away.

I'm having a bit of an argument with my mum. Our build we believe will be about 4-5 months (let's say 6 months worse case). As a large proportion of this is an extension to our existing bungalow the builder has indicated for two to three months at least we could continue to live in the existing bungalow without any issue or impact on them and even when we move out some parts would still be liveable but we probably wouldn't want to dust etc. For the remaining 3 months we need to find somewhere to live. Between family members, working away etc we could manage but really want some base rather than being nomads for 3 months. There are limited options to rent close by although a neighbour has a very basic studio we could possibly rent but when I say basic I mean basic with no cooking facilities, literally a small shower room, a bed and a kitchen sink and cupboard not to mention part of it being her utility with washer/dryer which she needs access too and a noisy dos neighbours attached to her have warned us about. It's not cheap and although being on site is appealing it seems a sacrifice too far. We can't get a static over the canal bridge down our lane but we could get a touring caravan over. If we were to put it next to one of our outbuildings we would be using for storage we would have power and could keep things like our freezer in there and things we couldn't fit in the caravan etc and it seems far more appealing than the studio option. I'm just having a debate with my parents on if you need planning permission for this if it was in our garden... I know we do for a static but do you for a touring caravan?

We had the same argument re extraction which I think we kind of won but to even look at it further they wanted application fees, work to be done by their own engineers etc and potentially a fee for us using their water to generate energy. They have contested both our original planning application which was approved, then when we amended it to keep it as a bungalow and applied for PP again a second time they contested it again even though the design was what they said they wanted when they contested the first application ?. Comments received literally on the final day they could have commented both times. When a builder we are hoping to use mentioned our septic tank and sewage treatment plant and potentially discharging to a watercourse it was another ? moment as I'd already asked this which was a resounding no from CRT. With the amount of red tape I can see why water source isn't used more. Shame really....

We looked into a water source heat pump and using blades (can be used in flowing water). The name of the company I can't remember but they actually cam and visited our site and were incredible helpful. This was about 12 months ago even before we got pp approved (just approved a week ago). It was slightly different as we have a by wash from the canal and whilst the technology itself may have been an option, the stumbling block for us was the Canal and River Trust. Anything to do with using 'their' water means all sorts of applications, fees and red tape, things like extraction licences etc etc. They weren't the most approachable people. Instead we are now going down the ASHP route. Edit, these were the blades https://www.nuenta.com/viewproduct.asp?pid=109

We are in Shropshire too!

We got planning permission approved and our architects have had correspondence re the exemption. Finally, we can proceed now with a view to getting a builder booked..... If we are still in a house with no heating or hot water by the end of the year kill me... Oh and did I mention bubble wrap on the windows is my latest attempt to keep us warm...