Hi, refurbishing a semi-detached house in Oxford

[Jan_Kropf]

Hi all,
We are just about to complete the purchase of a 2 story 3 bedroom semi-detached house in Oxford. It was built in 1961 and owned by the same owners since there.
It needs quite a lot of work. We plan to use a combination of contractors and DIY.

Here our plan in short, more or less in the correct temporal order (This is of course just the overview, I will ask detailed questions in the relevant forums.):
- general refurbishment, investigate wiring and plumbing, replace if necessary
- build a downstairs cloakroom (at the moment there is only a bathroom in the first floor)
- insulate the floor and loft
- replace windows with new double glazed windows, replace the front door
- change the heating system from electric heaters to ASHP (the house is not connected to gas at the moment)
- insulate floor and attic
- investigate the wall (supposedly filled cavity wall), potentially upgrade filling
- install MVHR system
- install underfloor heating
- put in click LVT panels in the whole house, tiles in the bathroom
- install kitchen and bathroom
- plaster and paint

As I said, I will ask all detailed questions in the subforums, but please let me know if some part of the plan souns stupid.
We may install solar panels at some point, but we have to be considerate about the budget here...
I attached two pictures of the house.

Thanks a lot for everyone posting here, I already read a lot of valuable advice!
 

[Marvin]

My three are

 

Demolition

Alteration

Installation.

[Marvin]

Oh and the plan: Start out with the end in mind.

 

Good luck

 

M

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome.

 

Pretty standard house for the era in a city I know well.  Let us know what you find when you move it.

 

I am almost certain the part of the wall with hanging tiles won't even have a cavity, clocks on the inside, battens and tiles and probably not a lot else.

 

Wiring could be anything from perfect just needing a new consumer unit and earthing upgrades to a diabolical mess.  Even if perfect there won't be enough sockets in the right places so rewire is probably sensible.

 

ASHP really needs under floor heating that will tie in with insulating the floors.

 

MVHR may not be worth it unless as part of your refurbishment you vastly improve the air tightness.

[Jan_Kropf]

Thanks everyone for the input already.

Here a short update from our side:
We now have the keys and could do a few investigations. We were very pleased to hear that there is no asbestos inside the house, only the soffits have asbestos and they are supposedly in a good state with no immediate action necessary.
Concerning the timeline: We will be in my wife's homecountry for 12 weeks (we're expecting a daughther, family support is very much appreciated here). A good friend of ours is an architect. He is helping us with the planning and will oversee the works while we are away.
Once we are back (mid June), we can move into a friend's place for a while. We hope to finish the works by end of July and move in then. We have accomodation sorted unti mid August.

Here the list from my first post and the individual updates. I added numbers to make it easier to reply.

1. general refurbishment, investigate wiring and plumbing, replace if necessary --> Our architect and his building crew (including electrician and plumber) are ready for this.
2. build a downstairs cloakroom (at the moment there is only a bathroom in the first floor) --> Same as above.
3. insulate the floor and loft --> The loft is surprisingly well insulated already, we will potentially upgrade later this year. The floor is a different issue, I will ask in the relevant subfolder.
4. replace windows with new double glazed windows, replace the front door --> We found a window installer that did great work at a friend's place. Their quote is also reasonable, even a bit cheaper than the quotes from the big companies. And they were more knowledgeable than other window installers we talked to.
5. change the heating system from electric heaters to ASHP (the house is not connected to gas at the moment) --> We talked with a heatpump installer, obtained quotes and checked whether it would work in the house. It seems all fine besides the location of the heatpump. We would have an ideal spot for it, however it's closer to the boundary of the property than 1m.... Supposedly the law will change this year (as soon as parliament finds time to discuss this). Does anyone have a closer insight into this?
6. investigate the wall (supposedly filled cavity wall), potentially upgrade filling --> it is filled. We don't know how well. Investigating and maybe upgrading this is planned for the future.
7. install MVHR system --> Our builder has one in his home and is very happy with it. We are happy for him to install one, especially as the new windows will require either a ventilation system or trickle vents (We don't want those, for both draft and aesthetic reasons). I will open a separate thread for this.
8. install underfloor heating -->We plan to install a wunda rapid response system, mostly DIY.
9. put in click LVT panels in the whole house, tiles in the bathroom --> Planned for July, we have already a good idea what we want. At the moment, I would rather use a glue system instead of a click system as there is less height build up and individual tiles are potentially easier to replace.
10. install kitchen and bathroom --> Planned for July, we have already a good idea what we want.
11. plaster and paint --> Once everything else is done.


Looking forward to your input! Again, please let me know if something sounds really stupid.