flanagaj

Are the results in 'Chinglish' ?

Consensus does seem to be that you should run them internally.

We are purchasing a property that needs to be extended and modernised. The appearance it pretty much already agreed, as we are going to mirror the next door property. Basically after a service for the following. 1) Drawings and ideas for room layouts 2) Get planning application in and then provide structural drawings 3) Maybe manage the build to plate height, but if this is expensive we might just get a single contractor for groundworks / super structure to plate height It's a two storey extension and a single storey extension of ~ 120m2 total floor space. Any advice as to potential costs / other options that might be worth exploring.

This is my summation of the situation as well. The fact that you can dispose it at your local recycling centre indicates to me that asbestos cement roof sheets are no where as deadly as these companies portray in their marketing spin. I have a job like this shortly, and I am going to suit up and do it myself. From sites I have looked at, it would appear that you will pay around £1000 to have the roofing removed from a single storey extension.

So I have just had a look at a 3 tonne machine with a pecker and also a 1 tonne dumper and seems I can hire that for < £500 for three days. I was then thinking of simply dumping it in the front driveway and get it collected with a grab truck. Maybe three days to demolish a single storey extension and a garage is way too long, and you could do it in a day? I understand that the most cost effective way of disposing of rubble is with via a local farmer, but how much can you expect to pay for a full grab lorry load?

When breaking the slab, would you cut through with a stone saw near to the main structure so as to risk any damage to the house?

We are having an extension done, but the property already has a 1970s single storey extension attached to the house, which is in poor condition. I am thinking that rather than trying to salvage anything from the existing extension, it would be better to demolish it and break up the concrete floor. Questions I have 1) Can you do this yourself and apart from a stone saw, would you need any heavy machinery, or would it take an age and someone with a jcb could do it in a day? 2) What is the best way to get rid of the waste. Would you get a concrete crusher in to crush the bricks / concrete for use as hardcore in the proposed extension? 3) Do you need to notify the council or could this be part of the planning application for the house extension? The extension is shown below.

I think that is very rare

Thanks Kelvin

I have read that the waste from a water softener is very saline and not suitable for disposal into a septic / domestic sewage treatment. I doubt this can be disposed off via a rain water soakaway, does it effectively rule out having a water softener?

Ok, so it is more for aesthetic reasons? The bathrooms on the property are all on the side of the property and won't really be visible.

I am trying to understand why soil pipes are run internally these days. When I renovated a property in 2006, I ran the pipes externally and never had any problems. Plus, I didn't have any boxing in to do internally. So is there a reason why this is done, or is it simply for aesthetics?

I have subsequently written a letter to one of the neighbours who used to also route their waste to the shared septic tank, but for whatever reason decided to install their own sewage treatment plant. They hopefully, might be able to give me an unbiased view (agent / vendor) of the system and whether it has had any issues in the past.

So the property deeds of the neighbouring properties do state that they have provision to route their waste to the septic tank in the garden of the house we are ear marked to purchase. The tank does not drain to a water course and goes to a drainage field outside the property boundary. Given the house was constructed in 1920 and it does not look like it has been modernised for at least 50 years, I suspect the system is very old. This then has the inherent risk of it being in a poor state with most likely a drainage field that could be heavily silted up. Whilst we are within our rights to install our own system and leave the existing system for the neighbours, you still have the hassle of what options you have should the system start to smell ..... Such a shame, as we were smitten with the property before we discovered this ball ache.

So basically, it's rather subjective?

2000/m2 to just get the shell done seems astronomical. That basically means that self-build is pointless, unless you are fortunate to have either been gifted the land or got lucky with planning permission. I am hoping that due to inflation and high mortgage interest rates, the building sector will quiet down and trades will naturally become cheaper again. It was only a few years ago that a full self-build (fully completed) was £1000 - £1750 m/2 and the upper figure was a high end finish.

I am hoping to do a fair amount of an upcoming conversion myself, but I need to understand where I can view the various regs for different aspects of the trades, eg, regs for waste pipe runs, plumbing regs ... Are there any useful sites that might provide help with these matters, or is it a case of just posting on the forum?

Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks for the reply, but you didn't answer my question. Is the 350k simply for the shell, or is the house complete internally and you are able to move in?

Is 350k your total spend for the 410m2, eg including all second fix?

I am looking at extending a property by an additional 120m2. My aim is to use individual trades to carry out the build and we only want the contractors to provide me with a first fix shell. I can then go in and second fix, hang doors, skirting, tile floors, plumb bathrooms and manufacture the kitchen (use to be a cabinet maker), but I am confused at to what the figure of £1500 to £2000 m2 actually means and whether given what my intentions are, whether I would still expect to pay this amount, or whether the figure would be reduced. The main aim is to ensure that we have enough budget (currently 160k) to enable us to get everything done, move in and then use proceeds each month from wages to finish out the property. I have renovated a property before, and I am conscious that for less than 1k you can easily fit out an ensuite bathroom and make it look really tidy. Blowing mega dollar is a false economy, as the most important point is how well the job is done. Thanks

Some really interesting points here. The tank is located at the bottom of the garden and there does not appear to be a stream, so it must just soak into the ground. Am I in my legal rights to purchase the property and mandate that they have to move the tank into their own property so that I can install a sewage treatment plant that services just the one property?

I have found a property that we really like, that has great potential for extension and renovation. The only sticking point, is that we have just found out from the survey that whilst we knew it had a septic tank, we have just discovered that the tank is also shared by two neighbouring properties. This has left me rather concerned and just wondering if anyone can offer any guidance as to what I should be doing next before making a decision as to whether to purchase or to walk away. Thanks

Sadly, there is nothing that has been done recently and the properties on the main road frontage are a mixed bag of design awfulness.

So the plot we are in the process of trying to secure has planning permission for a 4 bed property. I personally, think the design and interior layout is pretty naff. There is a 1960s chalet bungalow property next door and on the other side of a pedestrian walkway is a 1970s style development. Just wondering whether you could potentially get away with something more aesthetically pleasing on the eye and what basis the planners could refuse the revised application on? Ideally, we'd like something a little more contemporary than what has been granted.