SimonCo

Thanks all for the advice - definitely more to think about. I came here for a reality check and definitely got one! I suspect we're going to end up passing on this house. There are always others...

Yep, part of the point of this exercise for me is to work out how much to take off the asking price... 😀

It's not a big old vicarage! So... House is an 1880s three storey with six bedrooms. Single brick construction; no insulation. Like, nothing. Double glazed at least though. Downstairs has (new) boiler and (old) rads. 1st floor, three beds and a bathroom, no CH in bedrooms ("there's a fireplace in each bedroom that they use for heating", says the agent) but rads in bathroom; 2nd floor identical. I'm thinking: Insulate: Insulate roof to 300mm, sheepswool for breathability. Can do this myself. 70m^2, so 50 rolls of 150mm Thermafleece, ~£3k? For the walls though, this is where it starts to get fuzzy for me. The outside is hanging tile cladding on the 1st and 2nd floors. Presumably they're nailed on batons, but I don't know if I can insulate between the tiles and the wall? I'm assuming not worth it, better to go internal to keep the outside character. From what I've read, lime parge coat on top of existing plaster + 100mm of wood fibre + lime plaster would be the most moisture-friendly way to do this, but I guess it depends on the state of the existing walls. I would need to get someone in to do this. Can only guess at outlay, wood fibre is expensive, there's a lot of perimeter to cover and high walls in each room - guesstimate £15-25k? Heat the upstairs: Pull up floorboards and insulate underneath (do this before wall insulation), also run wet UFH on aluminium spreader boards (Wunda Joist) in the bedrooms. I'd get someone in to pull up the boards and notch the joists, then fit the insulation/UFH/floorboards myself. Plumber to install pipework to the bedrooms and connect up UFH. Again pulling a number out of the air, £10-15k for this part. Be more efficient: down the road, if we're using UFH for upstairs heating, an ASHP starts to be more compelling, but it'll need to be a big 'un, so let's say £10k after the grant. Refit the bathrooms: They're horrible. One basic one, one nice one, call it £15-20k the pair. If my numbers are anything close to reality, then I'm looking at £75k of improvements - not including any "surprises". Gulp...

Hello all! I'm Simon from Gloucestershire. We're looking to move house and I've fallen for a gorgeous, massive Victorian detached which could either be a brilliant idea or a really stupid one. (I mean it could be both...) We haven't put in an offer yet because I'm still trying to work out whether it's achievable, so I'm hoping to get some advice to check over potential retrofit plans and budget. I've done the usual DIY but no big projects like this, I've done a fair bit of research and reading but am basically pretty inexperienced. Happy to share more about plans if anyone's interested!