Rod72

Hi... Hahahaha… Like the Tardis and pole comments. @ProDave Yes that's correct. They went too all the trouble and expense of building a villa and didn't include linking up the buildings. I think it all came down to the initial planning, hence it was down as a "Garden storage room", not living. Anyway, it made it a great find for us. We've spent the last 4 years just making it livable after 20 years of neglect before starting on downstairs. Upstairs is actually quite simple. It's timber frame, stud wall construction. So the small changes we're planning will be quite simple. I'll post another picture I think you'll all like later. The lady who lived here had quite an interesting life ;). We think she made (what we call the bulge!) a lap dancing pole area just outside the kitchen ?

Hi Tennentslager! Here are some pictures I took a moment ago. pic1: View of the house from the drive way. The house is side on when you come up the drive. pic2: Taken from the garden showing the building extension done in front of the property. The roof is made into the sundeck shown in pic4. pic3: This is the area we're converting into bedrooms, plus a TV / playroom in the middle as you come down the stairs pic4: Taken from the sundeck. You can see the glass box on top of the sundeck. This is where the stairs will go down to connect the two buildings. The groundworks have already been done building up the retaining walls that the stairs will drop into. Just in the process of getting quotes for the next phase as detailed in my intro. Plus need to make a decision on the UFH. The architect specified Nu Heat Low Pro10. I think initially we're going to link with the boiler upstairs, but eventually we'll go ground source. Cheers, Rod

Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to the forum, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce myself. I'm working on a renovation project with my wife which is great fun and frustrating at the same time :). A little background on the project. The house started out as a bungalow built on a hill with great views. In the early 80's it was renovated and extended. The front of the property has the earth dug away to make space for a separate building (The same width as the bungalow upstairs) with a sundeck built on top of it overlooking an amazing rolling country side. At the time to gain planning they put this down as a garden storage room (They must have had a lot of garden equipment!) and therefore didn't join the 2 buildings together. In terms of finish, think of white Spanish villa with concrete balustrades. Stage 1: Last 4 years... Make it habitable as we have a young family (you know things like toilets / taps working and hot water / heating) The garden was overgrown and hadn't been maintained for about 10 years. Roll out the petrol powered tools! Decide what to do with the renovation while living here. Step 2: Start initial renovation So that's things like new roof as we had snow in the loft last year A glass box built above where the joining staircase will go down eventually including groundworks ready to house the stairs. Windows / doors across the front as the old wooden ones were about to fall out So now we're at the next stage, which is get the stairs in, stud walling up, first fix electrical, make a final decision on heating (air source / underfloor), VIP insultation as we're restricted on room height and all that lovely finishing stuff (flooring and Tech :)) After that's done we can move downstairs and start sorting out the top. I look forward to being involved in forum and meeting you all. No doubt I'll have a few posts about some of the items / decisions along the way as I'm sure you all have valuable advice :). Regards, Rod