First self build in Surrey

[SurreySelfBuilder]

Hi all, 

 

Complete novices here! We bought our semi-detached house a year ago and have PP in to knock down and rebuild a detached house (the other house is my mother-in-law’s, her wall is external already as it was part of our house originally).
 

Planning a contemporary style house - made slightly more difficult/expensive due to access (steep&narrow) and on a hillside. 
 

Completed the self build PM course at the national self build centre in Swindon on the weekend as I am planning to quit work PM it myself.
 

Would love to hear if others have knocked down a semi -> detached. Mostly looking forward to reading and learning from you all, will try to add value if I can!

 

Lou

[MikeSharp01]

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Sounds like a great project but not without its challenges, good luck.

[freshy]

Welcome & Good luck!

 

What did you think of the PM course?

[ToughButterCup]

Mornin' I see you've brought the sunshine with ya..... Thanks.

Just in case you haven't found it, this site has a brilliant search section. Here's an example of what it can do - click the link. Apologies if you already know about it.

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/search/?&q="knocked down" semi&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

 

I just pasted the term " knocked down" into the search box  . I then refined  that search further by adding the term semi 

Could you keep the sun shining for a few days please.... ? Ta!

Ian

[jack]

Google search is even better - just add "site:buildhub.org.uk" to your search term. It's more flexible than the site search engine.

[SurreySelfBuilder]

Thanks all, I had tried “detaching a semi” so will give the others a go! 

[Thorfun]

1 hour ago, SurreySelfBuilder said:

Thanks all, I had tried “detaching a semi” so will give the others a go! 

Careful, you’ll get @pocster involved with searches like that. ?

[Bitpipe]

Welcome - knocked down detached -> detached so yours sounds like a first for BH!

 

What energy standard is your new build to? That's what get's us all interested here

 

We have lots to give but you get more when you give more !

[SurreySelfBuilder]

Interesting question @Bitpipe we are actually in the process of changing architects.  PP has taken nearly 9 months and in that time we have had the chance to watch far too many Grand Designs (!!) but we also realised that we want a modern design which considers energy efficiency more. Our current design does not.  We are looking at an air source heat pump to move away from gas and contribute to complying with the new June building regs.  Haven't decided on solar panels/glazing yet, but looking at changing the angles of the house.  In essence, we are planning to be as energy efficient as we can afford to be (probably not Passivhaus standards). I'll take a read to see what other people are doing.

 

Two years ago we renovated an old cottage and amongst other things to improve the house, we insulated the walls and roof with sheeps wool, celotex and taped the edges.  We [obviously] noticed massive difference!  We also sounded proofed the walls with our neighbours which was very effective.  We did a lot of work ourselves so maybe that is where I can share our experiences!

 

[Iceverge]

Our passive house (no central heating) was cheaper than a building regs one with an ASHP. A simple design makes all the difference mind you. 

 

 

 

[Rishard]

I’m in the same boat. Pp to knockdown a semi detached house to rebuild a detached house. Just working on the details around tidying up the neighbours exposed gable and other boundary work as our house is built as part of a garden boundary wall. Look forward to hearing your progress. 

[SurreySelfBuilder]

I look forward to hearing your progress Rishard! Hopefully we can coin each ideas off each other! When do you hope to start building? 

[Rishard]

We’re in the process of contacting all our mains gas,electric,water& telephone connections. They all seem to start with scared figures but after finding alternative competent sub contractors we have managed to slash costs by 50%. We have a list of planning conditions we need to finalise as part of our planning agreement too. Once these paper tasks are done we will start on the demo of the old building to clear the site. 

[Thorfun]

1 hour ago, Rishard said:

We’re in the process of contacting all our mains gas,electric,water& telephone connections. They all seem to start with scared figures but after finding alternative competent sub contractors we have managed to slash costs by 50%. We have a list of planning conditions we need to finalise as part of our planning agreement too. Once these paper tasks are done we will start on the demo of the old building to clear the site. 

Make sure your CIL documents and exemptions are in order as well before you start! 

[Rishard]

@Thorfun- your right. My architect was quick to fill these out having suffered some hefty fines in the past for previous clients. Ours are already applied for, saying that we had to put a ‘start date’ on the form. The start date arrived and the local planner came to site to check we hadn’t started! Thankfully we hadn’t as were still arranging our planning conditions. Keen is an understatement.