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willbish

By willbish
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willbish Regular Member

willbish

Posted
Posted

Good evening all,

I’ve been lurking around this forum for a while digesting all the great information that exists. There really are some knowledgeable and eloquent people posting here, a refreshing change to some other sites!

My project is slowly getting started and I will endeavour to keep a blog or at least a photo diary of the progress.

The property is a stone semi detached cottage from around 1850. Twice extended early 1900’s located on the outskirts of Dundry village, 4 miles south of Bristol city centre. House has been empty for 6 years and is need of deep renovation.

Extension number 1 at the rear of the building increased the footprint by nearly 100% and added two additional rooms upstairs but with pitched ceilings and head height of only 1.0m at the extreme.

Extension 2 was a barn joining the side of the house. Structurally unsound this has already been demolished.

Attached elevations and floor plans are almost ready to be submitted for PP. The finished property will be 3 bed house with roof terrace taking in the amazing views. Plus 1 bed self contained annexe.

The property is not listed or in a conservation area, however it is greenbelt land.

Lesser horseshoe bats have occupied the roofspace and although almost completely gone the property is regarded as a roost and we will be requiring a licence from Natural England prior to any roof works take place.

Like many of you I have an amateur interest in low energy homes and as this is my second fixer upper  I will be doing it ‘properly’ and much more thoroughly this time. (Last time was a terrace house, I was 5 years younger with less knowledge, a tight budget and limited time)

As there is opportunity for such a deep renovation I have considered working towards EnerPhit standards but I feel that is too large a step. More realistically and attainable would be AECB Silver certification.

The only parts of the existing building to be kept are the 3 external stone walls and possibly first floor joists to the front of the house. (Perhaps I should have bought a plot!)

Wishlist, in no particular order

EWI Woodfibre board such as Warmshell to existing walls

Windows –Aluclad sash. Fixed sliders where possible

Aerated glass foam for ground floor insulation in existing house

Warm roof construction. Although provision has to be made for letterbox bat access into loft space so loft insulation will also be necessary

ICF for new extension. Limited on wall thickness due to proximity of road.

MHRV – Situated in loft space unfortunately

ASHP – For DWH and UFH. Hopefully modelling will confirm space heating unnecessary upstairs. However if there is any doubt provisions will be made!

Clay plaster used internally including tadelakt in main bathroom

Loxone home automation for controlling lighting, ufh thermostats, access security and audio

PV array on ESE roof

Rainwater harvesting on WNW rear roof

 

Any initial thoughts, pointers very much appreciated.

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jack Advanced Member

jack

Posted
Posted

Welcome!

 

Some brief comments based on things I've done or read while building our house:

 

13 hours ago, willbish said:

Aerated glass foam for ground floor insulation in existing house

 

Is that Foamglas? If so, isn't it quite an expensive solution?  Are there specific limitations in your situation that require the use of something like this?

 

13 hours ago, willbish said:

MHRV – Situated in loft space unfortunately

 

Not the end of the world, although a little extra planning is needed. As you probably know, it needs to be insulated. I believe @Stones has his in the loft. Check out his blog to see what he did. You also want to sure you have easy access for servicing, and especially for cleaning/replacing filters a few times a year. You'll also need to allow for a condensate drain.

 

13 hours ago, willbish said:

ASHP – For DWH and UFH. Hopefully modelling will confirm space heating unnecessary upstairs. However if there is any doubt provisions will be made!

 

Our house has Passivhaus levels of insulation and airtightness, and we have no heating upstairs. Bedrooms are fine all year round, but we made a mistake not putting UFH in the bathrooms. It would definitely be more comfortable if we'd put in UFH for the coldest months. I'd certainly consider including some sort of heating for anywhere you'll be wet and naked (oo er).

 

13 hours ago, willbish said:

Loxone home automation for controlling lighting, ufh thermostats, access security and audio

 

I have a Loxone installation that I did myself (well, electrician did the dangerous stuff, I did the design and programming). If you've having a pro do the installation, cool, but if you're planning on doing anything yourself, feel free to get in contact via PM and I'd be happy to share some bits and pieces I've learned along the way.

 

13 hours ago, willbish said:

Rainwater harvesting on WNW rear roof

 

If you're doing this for watering the garden, great. See what @Bitpipe did with buried containers as one cheap way of proceeding. However, if you plan to use the water inside the house, be aware that it's a very expensive option relative to the returns. Water is cheap (possible too cheap), so it's hard to make any sort of economic case for rainwater recycling. Unless you live in a dry area, there's an argument that there's little or no environmental advantage either - as I understand it, the water companies use less power filtering, treating and pumping water to your house than you'll use doing it locally. Might be worth some research, at least.

 

If you want to continue any of the conversations above, it's best to start new threads in the relevant forums. That way others can find them in the future and learn from the discussions.

 

Again, welcome to BuildHub! :)

 

 

 

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Nickfromwales Advanced Member

Nickfromwales

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome. :). 

Dont be shy of asking daft questions ( as I can then read the answers stealthily and look more cleverererer ;) ). 

 

9 minutes ago, jack said:

if you're planning on doing anything yourself, feel free to get in contact via PM and I'd be happy to share some bits and pieces I've learned along the way.

Naughty boy @jack. Gold dust like that needs to be ON the forum ( never know if I may need some of that juicy information :ph34r: ). 

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jack Advanced Member

jack

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Naughty boy @jack. Gold dust like that needs to be ON the forum (never know if I may need some of that juicy information :ph34r: ). 

 

It's stuff I've largely already said. Happy to summarise if and when it comes to that.

 

And I'm not a naughty boy, I'm the messiah! 

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  • 2 years later...
Zurg New Member

Zurg

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 12/09/2017 at 20:19, willbish said:

 

Clay plaster used internally including tadelakt in main bathroom

 

We're hoping to use tadelakt in our (small) bathroom.  Will you be applying it yourself or using a plasterer? 

 

Ideally we want to use it for walls and floor but a bit nervous about water and the floor...! 

 

 

Edit: just noticed how old this post is! I swear it was on page one of the Introductions... hmm!

 

Anyway - hopefully OP, you see this and have lots to share about tadelakt! 

 

Otherwise, moderator, my apologies for posting on a 2 year old thread! 

 

 

Edited by Zurg
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willbish Regular Member

willbish

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Posted

Hi @Zurg

 

Unfortunately nothing to share about tadelakt yet. I'm currently getting the roof structure up and have some way to go before bathroom finishes but tadelakt is still on my list of definitely maybes.

 

Please let us know how you get on as there isn't much info on here about tadelakt and other plasters

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