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Hi, I am planning a project to make a concrete shed into a live-able room. The walls are made of concrete and the roof is made of wood, I plan on insulating the roof but I'm not sure weather I need to insulate the concrete walls or just the concrete will be enough to keep it warm all year round. I've never done a project like this so if anyone has any pointers or ideas that would be great! Thanks!

Hi all, Only my second thread so apologies if my knowledge is slim on things. We have pretty much secured our first house and the sale is moving through very quickly (first time buyers, no chain and a friendship with the owner). We have opted for a bungalow which was on a generous plot size in comparison to the house. a little different for a 21 year old but I see the potential to make this a very nice home. I would like some of your experienced opinions on where and how best to utilise the available space. My first thought for real change is that I feel it needs an extension. It isn't a big bungalow by any means but its adequate for me and my partner for now so we have time on our hands to search around for the best option. My thoughts are to extend out the full width of the house back as far as possible and open the current back kitchen wall to create an 'L' shaped open plan kitchen, diner and new living room (the rear of the house is south facing). This would free up the current living room as a new bedroom, making it a 3 bedroom bungalow which will add value, right? I need your help on how to best go about this. How would the roof design affect the extension, would it have to be a flat roof? My other thought is to extend out the back and leave the 'loft' space above the extension open for a possible loft conversion in the future but again, I don't know if it would be possible because of the roof without it looking out of shape. Also, the current 'sun porch is coming down ASAP. I am open to timber frame extensions etc and I have a lot of family and friends in the building trade which will hopefully bring the cost down. I don't know if its worth noting but we are the end bungalow, the house next door is a 2 storey building. Pictures attached. Thanks for taking the time to read and help.

Well those of you who read my introduction may well know that I am planning on building a new garage and converting a sun room into a proper room for a new kitchen. Anyway, I have started the garage, although I still have no planning permission I have started the ground works, even if there are changes in the proposed garage much of what I have done so far still needs to be done - even if we were outright denied planning I would still pave this area for parking - hence works not a waste. I have not fully exposed the site to keep the garden secure for now but I have cut in most of the shear key for the concrete and then dug the trench for the rear found - it needs squared off etc. but that was the first dig to get it all into rough shape. I will have a 1.5ton excavator soon so I can scrape the rest of the site, I am also building up the lawn/dropping the patio as part of these works so the current lawn will be dug up, then a deeper hole or trench dug that the gravel from the garage site can be dropped into a good few feet down (if it was cleaner I would have used it for the first layer before hardcore for the concrete - I guess I still could), then working carefully I will then scrape the good topsoil off and that can go into the lawn. Then I will lift a big patio, scrape the sand and whatever else is down there off, if good sand I will work that into the soil for the lawn, then basically pull the whole patio area down into the current lawn, I will then basically accept whatever level that leaves me with, but it will be the same level throughout with a very slight incline to the garage. I will keep this posted as stuff happens. This will be a true build thread and it will be slow as I am doing it after work and weekends as well as other projects and interests.