Gina_Violet

My partner pulled up the carpet and ply and discovered it appears to have been added later, so held up by the post in the stud wall that was removed. It seems it was added to accommodate a radiator. Wouldn't a builder usually check all this before removing walls and posts? You can see in the pic the old boards, which matches the original ceiling under it.

Hi, We have an early 1900's house in London, which was two flats and we are converting back to one house. The stud wall has been removed Itin the hall and a plasterboard removed from part of the ceiling, revealing the badly damaged original ceiling above. It's a bit of a mess with some of the ceiling still plasterboard and some the original. One idea is to remove the whole ceiling but after a google I see that lime plaster should be used. Is that correct? As said part of the ceiling has been plasterboard and skim since the 80's and then badly joined to the original lime plaster ceiling, the bad join hidden by the stud wall (shown in photo) Ideally I wouldn't have to replace the whole thing, as it also means we have to get the cornice all replicated. We are trying to restore rather than remove. Any advice would be appreciated.

Yes, thats how I look at it. The problem I think we have is working out what was changed and was original. So it's a bit of a puzzle at times. I go by original architrave and cornice for the most part. They did a good with changing it into flats that sometimes it hard to see what was added, but also exciting. It's rather genius how that 'floats' there without anything under it. Hopefully we are not the first people in 120 years to fall through it.

Thank you. Yes we are lucky the original floor is still there, we were fortunate that despite turning it into flats they left most of the original features. Yes the triangle fill is not original, part might be, but they brought it forward to align with the stud wall. I was worried about that landing so great to know it's self supporting, which I thought it must be. I have seen one neighbours house and originally it looked like ours where you can see all the spindles. I think my builder is being careful.

Apologies if this is a really obvious question but we have a 1900's house which was two flats and we are turning it back into one. The upstairs was one flat and down the other. We have removed the hallway stud wall but originally you would also see the stair rails going up the turn. In the pic you can see the wooden frame from the studd wall, they also extended the sloped ceiling part under the stairs, that should be further back. The wooden post making up the frame of the stud wall obviously wasn't there originally, so what holds up the small landing jutting out on the turn on the left of the stair rail? I hope that makes sense.

Thanks, apparently the chimney is fine as we had it swept today. Although some insulation roll came out the chimney which I thought was a bit concerning.

Hi, I am looking at replacing my log burner which uses the house chimney with a pellet stove. I have explored online and I'm rather confused by it all. Can pellet burner just use the existing chimney? I just wondered what was involved and needed. It would be one without a boiler, so just a stove. Thank you.

Thanks, no I'm in London. I have found a company that will do it for £40.00. Much better. But I was talking to someone and have now discovered that the issue may well have been the fitters. As a 1200 x 900 board was supplied and should have been cut and turned on it's side so the cut side was flush with the floor. But they cut it up and used it at the other end (which is a different size) instead leaving an unsightly join.

Thanks I am just not very good at doing it myself. I have been quoted £250 for it but that was more than I thought.

Thanks, as per the suggestion I found a company near by that spray paints kitchens and colour matches, so I will see what they quote.

Thanks, maybe that is an option. It is quite cheap to buy a printable 900x900 end panel online. The company who supply the kitchen gave me a tiny pot of touch up paint but they label it in their own brand, I assume they don't make their own paint so it's probably a well known brand. Thanks. Someone else suggested a waterfall island, so as the top is oak I just carry it over to the end panels. That might work.

This did cross my mind as it doesn't look painted so I wasn't sure how they did it. I'm not sure what to do now. I have two 600 end panels but they cut two together on the other end but there is an obvious join. The end panel I want to replace can be seen as soon as you walk in so I wanted one piece 900x900. I wish they had told me this when it was planned. If I get one of these online bespoke door companies to make it do they normally just paint them rather than the process you mentioned?

Hi, I need to source a 900x900mm end panel for an island, but can only find them online in that size. I believe the supplier sourced the kitchen from Uform , the colour is down as Marine. https://www.uform.co.uk/doors/strada-matte-marine I assume they are using well known brands of paint but don't way who. Anyone have an idea what it could be? I did think of colour matching but in the past I have found the colours to be off. Thanks

Thanks there is a list on the left, when I untick them they disappear from the plan for example Furniture or windows. We sent it to the architect and he said if we get the original files it would be substantially cheaper, as in the CAD files, so I assume from that, they can't convert the PDF themselves. I wish I had just used him in the first place, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, so Im trying to save some costs as I have already paid out for one set of drawings.

Thank you, I zoomed in as much as I could (500%) and it doesn't get blurry, the lines get thicker as you zoom in closer but isn't that because I have zoomed in? If I convert this then, would that be okay for an architect to work from or would they need to do extra work to get it right? They will want to be able to edit this plan.

Hi, We are having our house plans revised by a different architect, the plans are currently in PDF but if we have them in the original CAD version the cost of the revision will be much cheaper. I cant get them off the original architect, so wondered if there was a way to convert the PDF or a cheap way to get them converted. Thanks

Thanks. Would that look ok? I have googled and everything I see is from floor to floor. I will look again. The doors were installed in January, the builder mentioned they were wrong at the time but I didn't really understand the consequences of that until now, as everything was slowed down due to Covid. How do I prove it? The builder drew a line at the 25mm and I was here on my own when they fitted them and they left saying they have got them as high as they possibly could. Maybe I should call them on Tuesday as I really didn't realise the consequences of this.

Hi, We had an extension built on the back of our house, knocked through to the existing, so floor is part original floor boards and part concrete on the new part. The issue is that the large patio doors were supposed to have a threshold of 25mm but the window company measured it incorrectly and we have been left with a threshold of 11mm. I really wanted engineered wood or real wood flooring but with the floor prep etc it would all come above the 11mm threshold. Is there a solution to this? I have seen some at 10mm but doesnt leave much wriggle room and the best ones seem to be 14mm or over. Some have suggested a matt well (which looks horrible). Is there anything that can be done that looks decent? Can the floor go down straight on the concrete area without any underlay and kind of go down at a slight angle from the area with the original wooden floors? Otherwise I'm left with LVT which after looking at a zillion samples I really don't want. Thanks

Thank you. I had one other question, as we have been given full planning permission , should we just do a Non-Material Amendment instead of the lawful certificate? I was reluctant as it seems so ambiguous, it states changes that do not materially alter the size and scale of the building, when I explored further the definition of this is down to the LA.

Thank you. My partner spoke to a local architect who says unless we go though the council's permitted development process we have an illegal building. He said he felt it was ok to continue with the work but he could revise the plans and submit them. @MrMagic you mentioned a simple sketch, so so I need to pay 100's of pounds for a professional CAD drawing or can I just revise the above floorplan myself in something like photoshop? Thank you

Thank you. Who do I seek to confirm it's permitted development? The architect is awol. I have a neighbour who reports everything, so I want to ensure I have something concrete.

@DevilDamo Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated.

Hi, Thanks @Temp and @DevilDamo The black line I have added is is the original back of the house, no idea if room 1 was done under permitted development as it was so long ago I can't find a trace of it on the planning site. The rest of the right side is a garage conversion (as in room 2 and the bathroom part) done long ago,

Hi, We have detached chalet bungalow and about to start work on a single story back extension. In the plans signed off by the council the architect has stated its width is approx 2meters and I would like to go 2.6 now. There are no neighbours with 10meters either side of the work. I sent an email to the council and received a generic email about ammendment submissions. But doesn't this come under permitted development? We applied for full planning permission as we were doing work on the front and roof of the house, but those are not happening yet as we focus on the rear extension instead. Below is the plan f, with the 2000mm back extension (Room 1 was extended 4 meters by the previous owners). Is that an issue going any further back that requires full permission? Thanks