canalsiderenovation

I was at the build it show yesterday in Manchester and was just lazily reading through the brochures and saw some round rooflights. I would love one of these in our entrance hall (we have two other rooflights in our house where I wouldn't want t these) but they are eye watering expensive! Anyone have round rooflights?

Yes that's my concern, as we are making so many improvements to the bungalow if they do an EPC based on our plans (we are extending 3 sides of the bungalow so pretty much the whole thing), new windows, roof, insulation in walls, floor etc it will end up being completely different to our current EPC. Perhaps we just ask our builder to quote for it instead.

So do I get an EPC now based on our bungalow as it is or get an EPC based on the plans for the bungalow with extension. We won't be starting work til at least June (builder availability).

We know we are having ASHP and will make use of the RHI and now I'm in receipt of dimensioned drawings I can start to look into companies, prices and what the RHI will be. Obviously we want to try and get as much RHI as possible. Now I know we need an EPC for RHI. We have one from when we purchased the house but that is dated October 2019. It gives the space heating kWh as 13,640 and the water heating as kWh as 2,915 on our dwelling which is 100m2. Nothing has changed since then and we would still have a D rating - we have oil heating, a large proportion of uninsulated flat roof and double glazing. Ideally we would want to get the maximum RHI as possible. So do I now get an EPC done based on our drawings/plans? We will be be significantly increasing the size, replacing all windows, roof, insulation etc and getting rid of the oil. I'm really confused.

Unfortunately not, we have a Clearview Stove place local to us and have been in and asked. It's fixed on. Can't justify the expense of buying another when the guy in the shop made a point of saying how good ours is and the OH was there. I have no argument ?

@Thedreamer I like that how it just sits inside and no red bricks to be seen. I guess we could raise it up, depending on what it sits on. Love to see pictures of other people's set up, helps me visualise things better.

@joe90 looks far nicer! Wonder if our stone could be sprayed. I've seen red and blue colour spray ? I Idefinitely don't want red brick though. The best thing currently is here are nails in the bricks from the previous owner and I can hang washing on them to dry. In the absence of heating in any other room, getting out of the shower and yelling for the warm towel is one of the nicest treats in our current situation!

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....