oldkettle

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I can easily imagine (and vividly remember) a situation where one is trying to find a "hiding place". Hopefully in our case there is enough usable space. The family is on board but there are too many questions where we look at each other and honestly say: "we don't know!" :-) We are looking for all help we can get but ultimately it will be either our often uninformed guesswork or our architect's professional advice.

Hi caliwag, Please don't interpret my questions as a dig - I genuinely want to understand the points made here with respect to a residential house only, as it is not too late to change our own design. Is the above mainly applicable to thin houses? I mean, thinking about a square house with sufficiently spacious rooms, would it make sense to make a corridor 300mm wider only to use these 300mm for shelves? I do understand it is useful when the space against walls inside the rooms is limited. Also, having a choice, I would much rather sit in a room then in a corridor. Is the advice (seating etc.) directed at those who don't really have such luxury?

Hi @webmaster786, Thank you for your comment. We have agreed we could shorten them by 20mm but not more. To be honest we were not concerned about the obstacle as a wardrobe could be easily set on top anyway. But we could not find a good use for downstairs space and didn't like the loss of light and this is why we are trying to work with version 3 now or rather with its variation. I will post proper plans for review soon.

@recoveringacademic, sorry to hear the news, I thought you had enough of those already. Somehow I am sure you will find a way as the two of you are simply too smart not to. Just take care of yourselves please and it will come together.

Hi @ProDave, Thank you for your advice. It may well be many many years living in apartment blocks and working in office buildings (and running up and down the stairs) or just the way I walk or an experience carrying kids or stuff but I just feel comfortable with 300mm run. I will ask my friends, may be somebody around has 270mm and I could have a go. The thing is 30mm per thread saves me 480mm overall. It is something but does it make a significant difference in our case?

First of all and again, thank you for your reply and suggestions. It is important to me to run my wild ideas past more than just my family and the architect - and you provided just this kind of an input. I did not spell it out in the first post but here is why I went the way of several option. We started with a very short set of requirements: 2 large bedrooms upstairs for kids, one with on-suite, a family bathroom upstairs, convenient staircase. We had suggestions from our architect. It was immediately obvious the staircase position was the sticking point due to the existing layout. He advised - and I trust him - that rebuilding internal walls would not be fast and would not be cheap, hence we tried to fit the stairs around the walls we had. I promise nothing in my plans came from Pinterest or Houzz :-) I did not try to use all the space in a perfect way, just attempted to make sure it works overall, fulfilling the minimum requirements. I was not of course planning to leave a 20m2 empty landing in options 1/2, rather wanted to see we could put in stairs to the second floor should we choose to have it. This space would be used either for storage or as a walk-in wardrobe until then. We simply don't need another bedroom :-) 2 bedrooms + a guest bedroom + an office as a bonus - more than enough for us. In a same way as I have left some details upstairs incomplete, I have only changed bare minimum on the ground floor, just to see what must be done to get the stairs in (mainly to get an idea of the costs involved). For example, for option three we need to move the living room door. We will probably be merging downstairs bathroom and the toilet and putting a washing machine and a drier in there, but this is a kind of stage 2. I also fully understand the kitchen size is far from perfect as 5m is too wide for a U-shape. Not sure what to do about it apart from an expensive option with extra drainage run - see below. I happened to consider at least some of the questions you have raised - either because I read this forum or because our architect pointed them out. I have dug out a trial hole and BCO confirmed our foundation is good enough to take the load so no extra costs there. Our existing drains are on the right of the house and AFAIK not under the slab, hence the decision to put all the bathrooms to the right side. The architect mentioned that it would cost quite a bit of money to create another drain run to the left of the house, especially as there is a garage there, probably between 5 and 10K. I found another potentially good configuration with the bathroom on the left side - thanks to your idea with the stairs over the downstairs bathroom. May be there is going to be option 4 after all. Funnily enough I read the original staircase thread and it made me think about the one we'd want. I have measured the stairs in a couple of public places :-) I did the same when I found stair manufacturers presenting at Homebuilding and Renovation show and chose based on that. I ended up using 300mm going with 180mm rise. It is important to have no overhang as the main risk is going down the stairs, especially as we both usually wear slippers: they are not fixed on a foot. My foot is 26cm, my slipper is 28. I may decide to cut the going to 280 or 290 but only if it brings a significant advantage. Oh, and I also used 2850mm as a difference between floor levels: 2450 ceiling + 300mm web-joists + 100mm ceiling + floor structure. There may be some leeway in it. Do we need 2.5 floors... indeed after kids leave - which is hopefully in more than 10 years - we will not need pretty much anything on the first floor: our bedroom stays downstairs, we like it this way. Yet there are 3 reasons why we ended up with this plan having started with hip to gable. 1) Again, the staircase. I could not find a configuration that would let us create these 2 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms based on hip to gable conversion. By the way, we started working on it with an AT a year and a half ago and their suggestions weren't particularly attractive either. 2) The marginal costs. If we were buying one already converted we would be happy with the one you have - it is indeed beautifully done and sufficiently large. But as we have to do it ourselves the picture is different. Our current plan includes significant improvements to the ground floor - and they cost a lot if one hires professionals to do the job! We would also have to strip the existing roof and make good in any case. The quotes for hip to gable only - without ground floor works - were well above 50K as it involved building a completely new roof (not even close to passive standard). Add ground floor improvements, ground floor extension, new staircase, rebuilding the slab - and we are already in a 100K region. We chose to add more and build a proper first floor. Which at least makes it a possibility to get MBC to work on it. 3) The long run : I think a larger house gives a better resale value if we choose to sell eventually. These are our rationales, I may well be wrong on my calculations, again, would appreciate comments here. My main task in the next few weeks is to agree the outer box / openings so that we could apply for planning, otherwise we will likely lose another year. While the application is considered we can finalise the internal layout. Could you possibly link/describe an example of "double height longitudinal open-plan lounge" ? I tried to search for it but could not find an example and have not seen anything like that myself. I just can't figure out how double-height could work with our layout - at least without losing quite a bit of space as well.

I am sure you are right about it. I have only seen it laid down as simple click lock in apartments in Germany. It did not last more than 10 years. It didn't feel unstable or moving under my feet though. I wouldn't use it in high traffic areas but a bedroom is rarely one of those.

One option which is not as hard wearing as bamboo but feels very comfortable is cork. Warm to touch, don't think a rug would be required. And it is quiet.

We have winder steps now and hate them as everyone has had a near miss on these already :-( Hence the conscientious decision to go with very comfortable and hopefully future proof stairs.

Bump North is on the left. There is a slope from back to front - about a meter for the length of the house. Please let me know in case my questions are badly worded.

Hi, We've been working with an architect towards planning application for our bungalow to a house conversion. Due to the way we are charged (no complaint, just a statement of facts) it turned out cheaper for me to play with options myself before the architect puts it all into an application - so sorry the drawings are not perfect :-) No windows shown. They will all be at the front and back only upstairs - the only side windows will be in the bathrooms / en-suite. Extension and the first floor are planned as timber frame. The intention is to have two good bedrooms upstairs towards the back for the kids and whatever else can be carved out of the remaining space is a bonus. The main difficulty seems to be finding a good position for new stairs which require quite a lot of space and are limited somewhat by the existing internal wall separating the living room. I am trying to use 300mm going with 180mm rise and work on the basis of 2850mm between floors (2450mm ceiling). If 2750 proves to be enough eventually I will lower the rise a bit. So here are the three options I came up with. In options 1 and 2 you can see where the existing external wall at the back is. I have not worked much on using the resulting ground floor space as it does not really affect planning. We will probably eventually join the bathroom and the toilet and move washing machine and dryer in there. I started with "option 3" (you can see it is much more primitive :-) ) and it is not bad, but all bedrooms upstairs are quirky. Also there is no easy way to add the stairs to the second floor. We can't have these straight away due to community infrastructure levy and TBH don't really need so much space now but I am sure the time will come in hopefully 20+ years when we want to sell and extra space may come in handy. Also for this option we would have to move the living room door by about 900mm towards the front of the house. Options 1/2 let us keep this door and allow for nice kids bedrooms at the expense of the living room and 2 other upstairs rooms. So - any opinions WRT which one to prefer or any other suggestions please? Edit: oops, didn't realise file names will not be shown. Adding... Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

:-) Got it. I did try to turn it before I started this topic. The valve and the left large nut (as opposed to the right one on the internal side of the tank) are turning together, nothing happens. Fortunately, it did not start leaking after that.

Thank you, @Triassic, nice video. I have filled the tank now using a hose connected to the outside tap :-) Still have no idea where to turn the water off though. I traced the feeding pipe twice both times to the side of the house where the kitchen is. How does it get shut is a mystery to me. If I can separate the valve from the connector that goes through the wall of the tank I probably don't have to turn the water off, in the worst case scenario it will go to overflow. And there is always this outside switch in the water meter chamber.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97587014@N08/shares/5191wy The other two are to show the only valves I can see - on the pipes that exit the tank. There is also a third exit that is a flexible pipe. I suspect it may be shower pump feed.

Thanks, @ProDave, of course it is vented. Yeah, I tried to take the ballcock off, but it has probably been there for many years and I am a but wary of applying WD40 that can drip into the water. Although the tank looks so dirty that it will likely not matter. Oh, and to make matters even better, I can not find the internal mains stop cock. The one exposed in the kitchen only stops the tap and appliances.

Hi, As usual, as though we have not enough on our plate, got a new problem. Somebody digging the road nearby for the umpteen time has damaged the mains. The whole neighbourhood was without water for about 10 hours on Saturday, but as we have un vented system and some bottled water we survived. So when I finally heard the familiar sound of water going through the pipes I opened the kitchen tap and let all the dirty water out - mixed with plenty of air. So far so good. Then somebody needed to use the shower. We have a pumped one as the gravity pressure is not enough - bungalow and the HWC is downstairs - and it quickly stopped. OK, went to check the tank and it was empty with just a slow drip of water coming in. Kitchen gets good full pressure, toilet seems to be filling up as usual. Over the last 18 hours we got about half the tank filled. Hot water seems to be flowing, although did cut off in 3 minutes when we tried to use it. Shower does not operate at all, even though I turned off the pump for a while to reset the protection. Anything I can do myself before calling in professionals? Please?

Thank you, I got the idea. I won't be doing it myself so most likely will have to pay more but overall seems to be 5K to 10K project. Payback time is not important here - it is the comfort that counts. I am not enjoying how cold the floor currently is - even with carpets.

Thank you, no worries. The slab - have you dug deeper to insulate under the new slab? Any indication of the cost of this part at all?

Congratulations!

Hi, If what you are after are the drawers and you can get 2*500mm instead of a single 1000mm wide ones, systems like Elfa may be useful. They can be put inside a cabinet as well. We bought it here http://www.theholdingcompany.co.uk/elfa/elfa-drawer-system.html - platinum colour although white is cheaper. They have good sales a few times a year where prices are lower AND there is a discount on the first order. We ended up paying just over 1K for 2m*2m area for our built in wardrobe and we are very happy as it does exactly what we need.

Thank you, gentlemen. I certainly understand "made for the office modular ceiling" view. I personally care not too much about appearance (unless it is quite ugly) and a lot about utility and want to figure out what makes them so unsuitable for the domestic use, say, for a kitchen/diner or a bathroom (the latter subject to usual zone restrictions). One of the main reasons I have seen people do not recommend downlights in a living room is it may be uncomfortable when lying on the sofa but that would equally be a problem with the small round ones. In the kitchen one rarely looks up so this should be less of an issue. Certainly our current GU10 LED replacements in a spotlight are a pain to look at anyway. So - is it only the aesthetics? Just realised that I can have it both ways - as Nick says, buy to see how it works and if it does not I can always put it in the garage. Problem solved :-)

Out of interest Has anybody installed or saw installed powerful panels like these https://www.lightrabbit.co.uk/60w-ultra-slim-led-panel-light-1195mm-x-595mm.html ? It gives way more light than 12x6W and it is much easier to install one than 12 but... ?

I can't see all the way up - it makes a turn after about 50cm+. I don't know how the lined one should look like TBH. To my eye it is simply a thick metal. It seems to get to say 25cm diameter before it turns but the turn is wide. There is a lot of soot there. I can see the flame of the lighter getting much taller as I bring it closer to the flue. Was the same when I tried to burn the paper a couple if years ago as a test. I can try part of the process from here http://www.bfcma.co.uk/smoketesting.aspx sometime, but there is no way I am going on the roof - it is not that high (bungalow) but I don't want to take any risk with the old slates. It least I should see whether the smoke gets all the way out.

Hi, I have finally got an engineer to disconnect gas from the fireplace we have. Since we are planning to remove fireplace completely when we build the first floor I wanted to "enjoy it while it lasts" and burn wood on some particularly cold and damp weekends. So yesterday I removed artificial logs and proudly put on a self-lighting log. https://www.flickr.com/gp/97587014@N08/S15j61 It was all going well. https://www.flickr.com/gp/97587014@N08/919W27 And then I added a proper log. Within 5 minutes the room was not a great place to be in. It was not full of smoke but there was enough to feel uncomfortable. The flue was definitely open - I have only figured out how to close it today Even now, after keeping windows open for well over 5 hours, I still feel the smell. So I removed the damper rod and had a closer look. Judging by the name I have managed to read - New Marathon - there is an unused back boiler behind the fireplace. One of the pipes is cut, I guess intentionally, to prevent it from blowing up. https://www.flickr.com/gp/97587014@N08/i85w8V https://www.flickr.com/photos/97587014@N08/30988319822/in/album-72157675531126370/ Since my experience with fireplaces is non-existent, can somebody please tell me why did it go wrong so spectacularly after I added wood? OK, the first log is "no-smell, no smoke" but still it was not like all smoke was going in. Is it still safe to keep using it with these special logs?

I just realised that Graphics: Shared graphics. Intel HD Graphics . may not be so great for gaming PC. Actually, unlikely it is gonna be enough. I have integrated in mine and it is OK for development / web but no good for modern gaming. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=which+graphics+card+for+1080p+gaming May well make sense to have it assembled for you. Standard builds tend to use (some) cheap parts that compromise overall performance.