bradders3109

I did. Left Manchester and eventually found a nice derelict property which will eventually god willing be an excellent home. How far from Yarmouth are you Buzz. ZacP Keep your chin up mate. I know it's difficult at times like this. I have been close to four properties before I finally got one. Each one was the development of my dreams and on each occasion that I lost out I was distraught. You'll get there.

Hi AE1 Good luck with the lung cancer. Regarding your renovation and MVHR particularly. From reading around the forum I would suggest that the investment would not be worth it unless you can get the building airtight. Since your dealing with an older property this isn't the easiest of tasks. I'm renovating a solid wall detached ex fisherman's cottage in Norfolk and have taken everything back to bare brick and removed all the floors in order to help me fit an airtight membrane seamlessly throughout the property. I'll also be having a new roof. Others on here are much better placed than me to comment on this, it's just what I've picked up reading the forum which is a very useful source of information.

Hi Peter Now that the suspended floor has been lifted in one room we are walking on sand. It will be a while before we're ready to install the UFH and once the concrete is down I can get on with the rest of the house. There is an extension to build which will also have UFH. The added complication that we have is that we are living in a caravan on the plot and all our worldy goods are stored in the house. I have to keep moving stuff around in order to work on the next room/phase. Once I've got a concrete floor in one room I can use this as storage and move stuff out of the next room which currently has a suspended floor in order to replace that with concrete. I'm trying to work towards getting a dry shell with all concrete floors in place in the original part of the house. This will allow us to move into this and get rid of the caravan whilst the extension is built.

Following lots of reading on this and other forums I have decided on the following construction for my floors and walls. Floor construction 150mm type 1 50mm sand blinding 1200g DPM 100mm Concrete (not sure whether to add A142 rebar) 150mm Celetox or similar 65mm screed (UFH embedded) Wall construction (inside to out) 12mm plaster board Airtight membrane (not decide which yet) 30mm battens (to take plasterboard) 30mm celotex between battens 9 inch solid wall (existing) 100mm XPS external wall insulation (to extend down to foundations and meet roof insulation) EWI to be clad with brick slips or silicone render (Cost will be determining factor, I could do the slips myself but not the render) I intend to tank the walls upto the first meter as I am lost as to how I can fold the DPM from the floor into existing walls. The floors are replacing suspended timber floors and will be a little higher than the original. I will install a new damp course in the walls and intend using dryrod which I saw on skill builder. https://www.safeguardeurope.com/products/dryzone-system/dryrod-damp-proofing-rods I look forward to you comment/feedback. Regards

True grit. it's all part of the adventure or that's what I keep telling them. ?

Luxury.... bloody luxury... How I dream of a 40 ft caravan experience. ? We are currently living in a two bed touring caravan on the plot. Me, the ministry of fun and our twelve year old daughter. We have also took the approach to gobble up an existing property with a substantial extension and I'm at the very beginning of the journey. Good luck with your plot search Andy.

Hi Iceverge, Thanks for your comments. There are no plans to ever change the garage at any point. It will be effectively my workshop. I think you are right on this and I'm nearing the point of do so. This would involve having to move the drain and probably dig a new inspection chamber. I wanted the stove in the big room but have been questioning myself as I'm not sure that I'd use it that much in a well insulated house. It may be too hot. I will be doing this myself therefore the extra work I don't see as a problem. I retired to renovate and extend this house. Time is one of the few commodities that I think I have enough of (god willing). I really appreciate you looking at the plans and your feedback. Keep the hopes up

Thanks for the link Jonathan. Very good read. Currently I've had the building plans passed and my architect is working on the building regs drawings but as mentioned earlier it appears that he is used to dealing with conventional builds and doesn't appear to be thinking about EWI or MVHR in his regs drawings. We are currently living in two touring caravans on the plot and it isn't the best experience so I'm keen to get the two downstairs and two upstairs rooms at the front of the house up to a habitable state before starting the extension. This involves replacing the suspended timber floors with concrete slabs which I'm underway with. Now awaiting structural engineers calcs to inform me of the depth of the foundations for the internal walls (7nm block). These will also provide a break between the different floor slabs. We are 400 meters from the sea and having lifted the suspended floor what was beneath can only be described as a beach. So we are building on sand. I'm enjoying myself though and so pleased that I found this forum at such an early stage.

Thanks Gents, Just found this http://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Technical Papers/ROT/How to build a Passivhaus_Chapters 1 to 4.pdf a little light reading before santa comes I think.

Thanks Gav My thoughts entirely. I think my first mistake and the one that I'm now dealing with is that I chose an architect without asking if he'd dealt with MVHR before. : (

Thanks Peter, I've spent the last two hours surfing the site to find out how our intended MVHR affects building regs. Architect is stating trickle vents for the windows in his drawings. This looks to be counter intuitive to me. Interested to read about issues with noise which I hadn't thought about. I really am starting from scratch here and whilst I do need a good structural engineer, I think I also needed an architect who has worked with MVHR before and trying to create an airtight (as possible) property.

Thanks Joe really appreciate your comments especially on Christmas eve. I'm really pleased that you agree with my approach regarding the cavity. People have been looking at me like I've got two heads when I talk about not building a cavity wall. I have employed an architectural technician so perhaps I'm getting what I'm paying for and it's much cheaper than an architect. I didn't put that across properly. I won't be airing my dirty washing on here except to say that I have felt a little on my own and had to correct things at various stages. What I'm really looking for is someone to sign of the building regs and provide advice and guidance along the way. I'm now looking at a company called Stroma, have you heard of then or had any dealings?

Thanks guys There won't be any walls longer than 7m without corners. The ridge height will be 9.5m do you think this extra half meter would be ok as it's on the gables not full walls? Joe, I'm a little frustrated with the architect, I've looked over his first draft of the BR drawings and it talks about securing rafters to the cavity wall. I've clearly told him that I would like a solid wall as I don't see any point in the cavity with external insulation, I may be wrong. happy to be corrected. Plans.pdf

Thanks Joe The laid flat block would be for external walls which will carry steels and floors and will be tied into the original building. Internal ground floor walls I'll lay in the normal manner. the first floor and dormer will be studwork. Do you know if a 140mm external solid wall would be acceptable to building control? I can an will ask when I am dealing with them. At the minute the architect is drafting the building regs drawings. Cheers

Hi Peter Thanks for the response. The original house is 9 inch solid wall and laying the blocks flat would get me close to this. I also thought that laying flat would increase wall stability. I worked in Gibraltar about ten years ago on a build that was done in this manner. I'm an electrician by trade but will be doing as much of this build as I can on my own. Tight budget so any savings on blocks would be welcome if it doesn't compromise structural integrity. cheers Mark

Hi All I am about to embark on a renovation and extension self build for the first time. Very daunting. The property is a 1920s solid wall construction and I hope to build the extension using 7nm block laid flat to provide a 220mm solid wall. The whole building will then be wrapped in external wall insulation and faced with brick slips. A MVHR system will control the air exchanges in the completed property. I'm sure that I will have lots of questions along the way so look forward to receiving you feedback both positive and negative but all hopefully constructive. Existing and proposed plans attached. Regards Mark Plans.pdf