New here... I posted once for advice but never introduced myself or got involved and it would be nice for bits of advice along my journey...
Some context, I live in the the Northwest of the UK. Have owned our 1970s bungalow since 2020 we never intended to move in, but due to ongoing ( even to this day, flooding, fire issues ) in our flat we moved to let work commence there. We had always planned to refurbish and extend this when we bought it but a number of challenges meant it never started primarily with bad architects.
Anyway fast forward to 2024 we have now a great architect and are in the process of planning things, we have incorrect planning permission and was going to apply for a modification then sadly in January 2025 our house was flooded
This meant we had to move out whilst it was being dried out, we decided to fast forward our building plans and applied for amended permissions.
The plans are to extend and completely gut the existing bungalow, leaving only the outside walls. New roof, windows, floor, add a bunch of rooflights ( 9 total ) to get light into the property. Then finish with MHVR, heatpump and underfloor heating. We will also be getting triple glazed alu-clad ( Norrsken / Fakro ) windows both on the roof and all round and having to take sensible flood prevention measures.
Many have asked why we didn't knock it down and re-build but ultimately that was just one step too far, we had so many decisions to make and keeping the footprint of the original building to work with just made one less major decision.
Plans are broadly as follows, we will finish with around 115 square meters of house and will be looking to get external wall insulation. We are going to move the entrance to the side and our foundations need to be piled due to surrounding protected trees.
Foundations were finished around the end of April and we have been building / stripping for around 2 weeks now.
A few pictures of the ongoing stuff, we started out removing a large tree.
Then I got a piling firm to build my foundations whilst I waited on amended permissions, I did this with the older planning permission
Sadly during this they managed to puncture the water mains which caused me a lot of stress....
Then I finally chose my builder and a few weeks later we got started with the drains
Then whilst we were waiting for signoff we started stripping the inside, roof ceiling etc
Then after we got the drains signed off, we backfilled. The beams arrived and the flooring built up in the new section:
Which largely brings me to where we were on Friday see this quick video:
Obviously a lot going on, and I am completely unexperienced at this. I have been trying to get numerous things changed in respect of thermal bridging, MHVR, external finishes, beams, getting electrics and water moved, gas capped off etc.
Right now I just paid for a Heatgeek to do a heatloss survey for my ASHP and underfloor heating based on my plans and intended build, my local guy seemed incredibly knowledgeable rather than the other people I have spoken to who feel more like salesman. Sadly they only seem to install Valliant ASHP.
I am also trying to get a full sensible design for MHVR so it works well within my property.
So right now I would appreciate any thoughts or input
- Is there anything sensible I should be doing in respect of extra measures in regards to flooding? ( We have raised the floor level and are concrete infilling existing property ) I will also be using things like anti-flood air bricks so any particular brand of that would be appreciated
- Anything worth doing in respect of the property in general, I keep hearing things like tanking being thrown around. Insurance is covering some general improvement works around the area and the flats so if I can bring anything up extra which may help me that would be useful.
- Any brand of ASHP I should be pushing for or looking at?
- Whilst I am at this stage, anything I should be considering to include or modify on my build I may have overlooked?
