1950s bungalow for renovation

[tetris]

Hi All,

 

Excited to join the forum – I hope you don’t mind renovation projects as opposed to a proper self-build.

Mrs and I are in the final stages of buying our dream home (1950s bungalow) & just waiting for the paperwork to be finalised by the solicitors – they seem to be taking 5 weeks to do what AI can do in 5 minutes. Good news, the house was so run down, it was within our budget. Even better news – the home report is mainly “2”s, so there’s several years of fun work for me to do to get it into top condition. Bad news – while I have extensive fine woodworking skills, and can do some basic electrics & plumbing, I’m pretty much a newcomer to major home repairs. We’re still in a bit of “what have we done” phase.

As a matter of priority for phase 1, I’ll be looking to fix the pitched roofs and repair & replace a couple small flat roofs (porch and bay windows). Trace any leaks & moisture spots. Then consider insulation & window replacement and radiators replacement – so I’m prepared for winter.

Any internal decoration works will have to wait for phase 2 I guess, but there’s a major re-wiring on the cards, with a view of getting a modern consumer unit installed within a couple years of moving in. There’s also a (likely) single skin extension that the Mrs wants to eventually turn into a bedroom and there's a garden to overhaul.

Phase 3 would include a garden room (I’ve built one from a kit before but will likely do a scratch build this time) and maybe even a garage roof terrace if things are going well.

 

Apologies in advance for daft questions.

[Redbeard]

Welcome. Think about air-tightness (henceforth A/T) and high-standard insulation as the 1st thing you do, and then worry about the rest (unless doing the insulation would preclude structural work!).

 

I assume 1950s = clear-ish 50mm-ish cavity (the general assumption being that 20's/30s+ = cavity) but, for example no-one told the builders of entire estates in Nottingham that! So inspect; don't assume). Either way, seriously consider external wall insulation (henceforth EWI) rather than internal insulation of the external walls (IWI).

 

*Design* your elecs and pipe runs so that they don't make insulation and A/T difficult.

 

And most of all, have fun!!

 

 

Edited July 4 by Redbeard

[tetris]

Thank you. External wall insulation would ruin the old cottage look & feel, so that's out of the question unless we're talking single skin extension upgrade, but I haven't even thought about that.

 

On this note, is it worth investing ~£200 into a thermal camera? Probably on of those phone clip-on jobbies. From what I read online, it's the go-to tool for finding drafts, insulation gaps, tracing roof and pipe leaks and can help check hot electrics. Which seems to cover all of my phase 1.

Toll budget is very tight, but if it saves time and improves result quality, it's worth having.

 

Also any tips on living in the house that's being renovated are very welcome. Kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom (will have to be the kids' one for now) are in decent condition to move in, everything else needs to have the interior ripped out.

Edited July 4 by tetris

[Redbeard]

OK, thanks for confirmation. I do not know how much you know about IWI. Is the house cavity walled? If so, get a quote for bonded polystyrene beads (usually subj to min 50mm cavity and no cr*p in it, and other caveats). I would then get someone to do a WUFI (dynamic interstitial condensation -IC-  risk analysis) calc to see how much IWI (if any) you could add without falling foul of IC risk. If it is 50mm cavity, un-filled, existing U value will be circa 1.5W/m2K. With poly bead fill, circa 0.45-0.5, and with 50mm rigid wood-fibre IWI approx 0.3W/m2K (again, importantly, subject to a condensation risk analysis)

[Square Feet]

Welcome Tetris.

Have you considered getting an air source heat pump?  Your comment about replacing radiators made me think of it. There's a guy on YouTube called Glyn Hudson that puts them into the sort of buildings that they aren't supposed to work in and actually they do. He's a nice guy who genuinely cares about the environment, rather than a content-creating grifter.

Have a look at this video for example - there's also a later follow-up one on his channel where he goes over the stats after the first winter.

 

He also installed one into his friend's cottage renovation project. You might be interested in that one and also the vids from the guy who renovated the cottage. I think his link is at the end of this vid.

 

 

There's also a follow-up video for that project showing a year's worth of stats I think.

Edited July 4 by Square Feet

[Redbeard]

2 hours ago, tetris said:

On this note, is it worth investing ~£200 into a thermal camera? Probably on of those phone clip-on jobbies. From what I read online, it's the go-to tool for finding drafts, insulation gaps, tracing roof and pipe leaks and can help check hot electrics. Which seems to cover all of my phase 1.

Toll budget is very tight, but if it saves time and improves result quality, it's worth having.

 

Also any tips on living in the house that's being renovated are very welcome. Kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom (will have to be the kids' one for now) are in decent condition to move in, everything else needs to have the interior ripped out.

Re: IR camera: Yes.

 

Re: Living in it...

Seriously, sheet/seal off each room as you work on it and (it being a bungalow) access each room externally. I would use DPM (Clear if you want to save on elec for lighting!) and good-quality 'Gaffa' tape. Probably don't be tempted to use air-tightness tape as you'll struggle to get it off. Remember to seal also any entries/exits such as pipe and wiring runs. If I were doing it again I would have a basic shower 'room' (shed??) so that I did not bring filth back into the clean areas. (Probably requires more discipline than I have, though!).

[Nickfromwales]

3 hours ago, tetris said:

Also any tips on living in the house that's being renovated are very welcome. Kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom (will have to be the kids' one for now) are in decent condition to move in, everything else needs to have the interior ripped out.

Just beware, making a house uninhabitable can cause foreclosure on your mortgage, as it’s secured against a saleable asset. Once you remove electrics and plumbing, and rip out the kitchen, it is no longer habitable and no longer saleable as a residential dwelling.  
 

Stage the works around a jerry rigged kitchen sink, WC / basin / and some sockets still in operation, so the minimum criteria is upheld.

 

Read the small print of your mortgage agreement twice over.  

[tetris]

5 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Read the small print of your mortgage agreement twice over.

Thank you. That's good to know and I'm not intending to make the house uninhabitable at any point, so I'm safe.

 

I'll be skint until winter, so no heatpump for a while. 

Also, I've done some reading on IWI - a completely new topic to me, but I won't be keen on making any non-reversible changes unless necessary. I was thinking more about closing off drafts, installing better windows and improving attic insulation/closing gaps.

[Square Feet]

@tetris Have you checked for ASHP grants in your area?

[Redbeard]

18 minutes ago, tetris said:

Also, I've done some reading on IWI - a completely new topic to me, but I won't be keen on making any non-reversible changes unless necessary. I was thinking more about closing off drafts, installing better windows and improving attic insulation/closing gaps.

 

Yes, 'tightening' the envelope makes sense, but we cannot comment too much further on the walls (and floors) till we have more details. Are the walls cavity walls? Are they already insulated? If not, while a 'base case' U value of 1.5W/m2K is not quite as bad as a 225mm solid brick wall at 1.7, it is not exciting, when 50mm of insulation can cut heat loss through much of the walls to a third of that.

 

 

[saveasteading]

welcome and we look forward to your company over the next couple of years.

 

1. Living with it. You will be short of at least one room at a time so you need space. Putting stuff into storage gets it out of the way but the cost adds up.

A shipping container would cost £1,000 but will have a value at the end.  Or it could be your workshop.

2. Plan everything in principle as the priority. Insulation, draughts, heating system eventually.

3. Insulation . a) I'd avoid EWI as it is complicated (too complicated for many installers) and it requires the roof to be extended over the width of it.   eps beads is prob a good option and doesn't reduce room size ( and it can be done at any time.. But others are more expert than I. 

b) loft easy to insulate? If it has any it is likely very thin. This is the easiest place to get a good value increase and before winter.

c)  what is the floor construction? There's no point in ufh on a draughty or otherwise cold floor.

d) making a service void over the walls will make services much easier, and help the insulation a bit.

 

some photos would be good. Not showing the whole property unless you don't mind the world knowing your business. but a bit of wall/ floor/ roof/ loft. 

Or describe.

 

I wonder if anyone knows of an old  textbook on how the bungalows were built? I have some  old books (MacKay etc) that provide great info, and came from second hand shops.

 

 

 

[tetris]

Thanks. 

Mix of different floors - there's the original cottage and several extensions.

 

Will share more details as & when.

 

Re service voids: I currently have peeling lining paper on the inside of external walls. Am I correct to understand that instead of stripping & skimming, I can screw in 30-40mm battens, then put plasterboard on top? Assuming no beads injection, leave empty voids or insulate? I lose some room volume, but hide the heating pipes running along that wall & can run electrics along that wall if I want.

I guess the windowsills will become 50-60mm deeper, so I'll need to re-frame & I lose a bit of light (window frame becoming more of a tunnel?

[saveasteading]

Yes, batten the walls leaving gaps for cables, sockets and pipes. You could provide some insulation using plasterboard with eps backing and perhaps more where there are  no services, but the void itself has some benefit.

Yes the window sills and surround would be deeper but perhaps they could be stepped to avoid a tunnel effect.

[SteamyTea]

On 04/07/2026 at 08:43, tetris said:

worth investing ~£200 into a thermal camera

Better off getting an air blower to test for leaks as you go along.

You can make one with a large fan and a manometer.

A simple IR thermometer will tell you most of what you need to know about cold bridges.

[SteamyTea]

On 04/07/2026 at 21:19, tetris said:

Am I correct to understand that instead of stripping & skimming, I can screw in 30-40mm battens, then put plasterboard on top

You need to consider your vapour control layer (VCL) at this stage.

[tetris]

After a few months of delays I'm heading toward finally getting the keys to the new house.

 

In the meantime I've been trying to unpick the house extension history and I think I finally got there.

 

Green is the original cottage. Two (or 3 very small) bedrooms to the left, bathroom & kitchen in the middle, living room at the bottom. 

I suspect this pre-dates 1950s.

Livingroom has raised flooring - probably about 20cm higher than the rest. The ceiling has been raised accordingly and the rafters are visible between the ceiling panels as a feature. I wonder if this was done to retrofit floor insulation at some point... Weird.

Wall construction unknown, but from memory, it might be ~10cm thinner than the cavity wall of the top extension, which makes me wonder if it's a solid wall. Will need a closer inspection.

 

Blue extensions were added probably around 1950-60s.

Top extension turned the bedroom wing into 3 bedrooms + 1 study.

Wheelchair-accessible toilet & wetroom was bolted on to the side of the bedroom wing.

 

Bottom-right blue section is a single-skin flat-roof garage. Right above it is a potential garage conversion into a bedroom/dining room/study. From memory, Flat roof is raised above the garage roof, and walls were quite thick. Will need investigation.

 

Top right pink bit is a single skin utility room.

 

Looks like this is going to be my hobby for the next 10 years. God knows what horrors I'm going to uncover on close inspection.

 

 

[tetris]

A mixture of construction styles.

The majority of the house is uninsulated cavity walls with so far unknown type of DPC (assuming DPC is present at all). External ground levels might have been raised through the decades.

 

House has been unoccupied for about 8 months and has been neglected for several years prior to that. For the first week we've been waking up to 75% humidity, but I've cleaned & fixed all the gutters, fixed two obvious roof leaks, started clearing overgrown plants from the external walls and have been keeping the windows open every chance I got - we're now waking up to 65% RH. Still very high in my books, but it's moving in the right direction. I only have 2 dehumidifiers and I'm thinking of investing in 2 more (suggestions welcome).

 

Kitchen and 3 bedrooms appear to have solid concrete flooring, while living room, 2 extended bedrooms and utility room seem to be suspended flooring - initial spot inspections suggest that at least part of that flooring is over plain ground without any vapour barrier.

 

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on modern ways to manage suspended flooring in particular. I'm not planning to go for the nuclear option of pouring concrete everywhere & would rather work with what I have & improve it where I can.

Edited Monday at 06:53 by tetris

[saveasteading]

25 minutes ago, tetris said:

to manage suspended flooring in particular

For all duch questions we need more info.

 So for this one. What is  the construction? Timber buards on joists?

What distance to the ground?

Have you a hatch or have you taken a board up? What do you see?

 

To tell you  where my instinct is heading, I'd be thinking of spreading a polythene sheet over the ground to keep the moisture below it.

 

There will be a severe limit to what you can do and the sensible improvement.

 You can test the dampness of the concrete floors or for £100 hire a boring machine so you see, snd show us, the construction and if there is a dpm.

Or assume there isn't, and apply a liquid dpm.

[tetris]

Thank you - yes, I agree it all needs further investigation, but since we're living in the house and just moved in, I can't just rip up the living room floorboards after my morning coffee - it will require a bit of planning and step-by-step investigation.

 

Wouldn't drilling a hole in concrete breach the DPC if it's there?🤔

 

Anyway, living room appears to be solid mahogany flooring over joists. That's it. I can stick a probe camera into the void through one of the old unfilled holes from old plumbing or wiring and it looks like there's nothing else to the set-up. So I infer that currently the outside air is free to come in via the breather blocks and flow straight into the living room.🫣

 

 

 

[Iceverge]

Congrats, 

 

Pics always welcome. 

 

As ever my advice is simple. 

 

Knock it down and rebuild. 

[saveasteading]

On 23/09/2026 at 20:59, tetris said:

Wouldn't drilling a hole in concrete breach the DPC if it's there?🤔

Yes it would. But you will find out the vital piece of info: is there a dpm? If there isn't you know you need one on top. If there is, yet its still damp then you know you have to find another source.

If the concrete is dense and hard then you will get very little damp coming up the infilled area, but it can be sealed in several ways.

 

On 23/09/2026 at 20:59, tetris said:

solid mahogany flooring over joists. 

OK, don't want to spoil that then. However if you want to leave it expised then you have to live with the limitations.

 

8 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

my advice is simple. 

 

Knock it down and rebuild. 

No, that's for wimps or developers.

Most of us have a budget limit and presumably you like the house or wouldn't be there. 

[tetris]

9 hours ago, Iceverge said:

Knock it down and rebuild. 

Yep. I wouldn't stop at just houses though. I'm a firm believer the planet would be much better off if we just nuked ourselves and let new, better species inhabit it.🤐

 

It's a prime plot in a prime location, but large part of the appeal is the vintage cottage feel & current garden grounds. Redeveloping into something modern would be a crime.

Also, like most of the country at the moment, I'm broke, at least for the foreseeable. In my neck of the woods, real salaries are less than half of what they used to be 20 years ago while property prices have doubled and building materials are 3x-4x times more expensive. I'll keep my mouth shut about food, fuel and taxes because this is a forum about homes & houses, not about failing economies😇.

 

Concrete floors I'll just leave for the time being (I've just read that one can get suspended concrete, which I suspect is the case here) and, once I've sorted out the rotten wooden windows around the house, I'd like to focus on the suspended flooring while I rip out the living room (only lifting 49.99% of the floorboards at any given time to make sure I'm on the right side of the building regs
😉).

 

My thinking about the mahog was to potentially, lift it, re-finish while it's off, then use it as a top layer once the floor is rebuilt. Assuming it's not too damaged after being lifted. 32sq m of Cuban mahogany is not a common sight these days. Would be a shame to scrap it.

 

I found this post on this forum and it seems to align with what floor insulation businesses are doing. Only difference being that here the suggestion is to use breather membrane on the bottom, while a more common approach is to use debris netting?

 

I'll need to confirm the air is free to flow under it once this is installed once the boards are lifted, but I'm 90% confident it's not an issue after poking around with a camera probe - there should be plenty of space.

Target state would be:

Membrane stapled to joists - mineral wool - membrane on top - new floorboards - underlay - mahog/laminate

Anything else I need to consider here? Looks like a job for one weekend (famous last words), as long as there's no joist rot.

 

 

 

Pics will follow eventually.

Edited 10 hours ago by tetris

[saveasteading]

15 minutes ago, tetris said:

I've just read that one can get suspended concrete, 

Beam and block probably. 

Keep posting and keep learning.

 

There is a lot more to sustainability than insulation and heat recovery.  You'll save much more money (and carbon) by skillfully renovating.

 

I'd be looking at the differences between ground levels and finished floor, what the walls are made of , air bricks. 

[tetris]

A lot of learning indeed. About the house and about buildings in general.

 

Air bricks everywhere, floor levels all over the place - there's 4 of them with about 10cm steps in between.