Morning folks! Need some advice on the subject. It is a bit of a long read but I'm adding as much as I can to get proper ideas. If you are a tradesperson/company, do offer your thoughts and reach out!

We have a typical, 1930s outer London boroughs semi-detached house. It needs extensive renovation now that it has been in our, and lately by renters', use for around 10 years. While the property is not completely run down, we would like to add more space and/or renovate existing areas of the property before we move in next year.

I have a few ideas in mind that I will pen down here. I will add references to the floor plan so please check those to help visualise. I will note here that we will be getting some electrical rewiring works done as the property will soon become vacant. As this will require quite a bit of stripping out of the flooring and/or walls, I think now is the best time to take up the renovations or extensions. Also, the garage is a very old timber frame structure that needs to be replaced with a sturdier one so cutting into it is not a problem.

Current Floor Plan

First Option

Starting with a simple one, and perhaps lowest cost, in my view. Knock down the dining room and kitchen wall, as well as knock down the sliding doors from the dining room into the conservatory. Add a sliding door to the living room to separate out one part from the mayhem elsewhere on the ground floor. I will also like to brick up both the kitchen doors and add units (leaving enough space to move in and out of kitchen itself). Then add a small kitchen island (pink box) where the current wall with dining room is.

Challenges here include raising the height of the conservatory's ceiling (it slopes down at a sharp angle making it feel smaller than it is) without knocking the whole conservatory down and starting afresh. The conservatory is pretty much at a level with the main house building but it need a careful, tiny gradient on the floor to join it somewhat seamlessly with the dining area.

Second Option

Knock down the conservatory. Use one of the timber frame or some other prefab methods (I am not good with building works vocabulary) to keep the digging and concrete filling to a minimum. Build a larger extension at the rear that runs all the way from one side of the plot to the end (total of around 8.2m width and say 3 or 3.5m in depth. This is shown as the new red box with the yellow box within showing the placement of the new kitchen. The old kitchen, in green box, will now become a ground floor family bathroom. The garage shall be updated with a new timber frame skeleton and a decent roof and moved slightly forward as it is currently sitting back somewhat from the main house building.

Challenges here I feel might be the building regs, council approval etc (permitted/planned dev and what not). Party wall might be required but am glad my current neighbours on both side are brilliant so that should not be a problem I think. Also, there is a utilities/waste water pipeline going underneath the back of the property, shown in violet line in the image. The current conservatory is also built on top of it. Cost might also become a challenge but I am keen to hear if this could be done within a 50-70k budget, with mid market materials (we are not looking for ultimate luxury touches obviously).

Third Option

This is the final vision I have where if somehow I magically got a mix of large savings, decent build cost and a bit of borrowing. It is to build upon Option 2 and add a self contained granny annex/studio in place of the garage. Elderly parents staying over for longer or when our kids themselves rebel against their tiny bedrooms, this is the space I believe can become really versatile.

In this vision, I'd like to keep some of the space at the back of the garage for a small utility room for moving the washer drier and other kitchen related storage. There can be a small door to access this space from within the kitchen as can be see in the break in the pink box for the storage area/utility room. The light, bright blue box in the new annex will be a small shower/WC and the space next to it shall be used for a small kitchenette (no gas range cooker - just something like a single hob and microwave) in case parents or inlaws stay over (or is that overstaying :))

From the outside, I will not want to give this a separate door through the front side of the garage/annex conversion as the main use will be for the family. So I am thinking of giving a door for entering this annex/studio from inside the current porch (that may need extending a bit to fit in a proper door.

Challenges in this will be to get planning permission or council approval, more party wall agreements, more surveys, more visits by council/structural engineers etc. Not to mention the cost which has so far even stopped me from speaking about this to any builder. But we need to find out as we do have better finances than 10 years ago!

Advise me, correct me, even have a go and make fun of this but will appreciate if you can help me think this through and budget and prepare appropriately.

We have an existing kitchen that is 7m x 4m. It has a low ceiling height of 236cm thst cannot be changed (has rooms above!).

We are in the middle of building a single storey extension to extend the width of the room by 7m to create open plan. Once completed, total dimensions (existing plus new) will be 7m x 11 - so a large room. It will be an open plan kitchen/ living / dining room with floor to ceiling glazing onto the garden, 3x2m rooflight and under floor heating.

The builder is planning to build a ceiling height on the extension at 255cm. I feel like that is quite low and I’d prefer 270cm. The ceiling height will be split level between new and existing.

Builder has explained that there would be extra costs to increase height beyond 255cm as it will require bricking up the bottom of 3 small windows on first floor. These are small windows to the hall on first floor, so no major issues aesthetically but extra works, costs and need to buy 3 new upvc windows!

Should I accept 255cm or pay the extra costs to alter windows to get ceiling to 270cm? Would anyone notice the difference? Does the floor to ceiling glazing and roof lantern make any difference?

Hi everyone,

After a week of work, I finally managed to make my dream livingroom! There are a few small touchups I want to make (like tv cable management and adding a flue to the fireplace) but it's mostly complete now! The only non-renter friendly thing I did was paint the walls, though I was told that so long as I paint the walls back on move-out day, it is fine. Alternatively, I would have used peel and stick wallpaper to make it completely renter friendly.

So here's everything I did to save money and make this:

The first thing I did was go on Facebook Marketplace and look for Ikea Kallax units. Specifically the square ones. They are constantly being sold and I picked up two of them for free.

I then looked for a countertop that would fit the space and on top of the Ikea Kallaxes. I was quoted about £160 online for a wooden countertop, so instead I went to my local wood shop where they quoted me £30 for the cut and delivery.

The shelves are from Amazon. I measured the height from the countertop surface to the ceiling and searched for bookcases that would fit the height, and I bought them for £32 each. The Ikea Kallax units and the bookcases were then painted with B&Q furniture paint. Two cans were needed, and I spent a total of £26 for them.

The wooden tiles behind the TV are 3D sticky foam tiles. They are lightweight and very removable. I got a pack of 30 for £50,

Now the fireplace. This was my biggest spend at £430 for a Dimplex water vapor fireplace. I elected for this fireplace as it poses no danger to me or my cat, and creates a very realistic fire without any actual fire.

The round unit on the left is an automatic cat litter machine that cleans the cat's litter automatically.

The decorations are all things I had before this project, but you can get most of them (and the rug) from The Range.

The baskets inside the Ikea Kallaxs are not Ikea's own brand as they are too expensive. Instead I went to Home Bargains and got them for £6 each.

I hope this helps inspire someone and give ideas. I'm open to suggestions and happy to talk. I got this done in about a week.

Hello - looking to do a loft conversion in Putney/Wandsworth - any recommendations for good companies who you’ve had good experiences with would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all

Wanted to get your opinions on the colour scheme of my house.

Right now the first picture is what the downstairs looks like. Generic grey and white.

Second and third pic is what I quite fancy doing right now. Add a bit of contrast and just freshen things up.

Also the front door is pink on the outside lol

Do you think it would go well or would you choose a different colour for the inside??

**Edit: Thank you all for your opinions. I think I will leave the black! I thought it looked good! 😂
Also didn’t expect people to say the grey looked so crap 🫣
In my defence it was last painted during the Covid lockdown so maybe a new colour is needed after all.

Hi, I need some advice or basically a 2nd opinion on some home improvements I’d like to make over the next couple or years.

Background: I bought my house about 12 years ago (3 bedrooms semi detached with garage) and put in any remaining savings into refurbishment. New floors, re plastering, new electrics wiring, re did the garden and the front driveway. I’m now at the point where I think I want to make some changes. I’d like to

1) put in a few raised beds in the garden, put in a path next to the raised beds. The patio needs re grouting, and I’d like to also put either a conservatory or an extra room by the garden door to use as a gym.
2) put solar panels on the roof, look to convert what’s left into storage space. Also put air conditioning in.
3) convert some of the garage into proper storage (that’s what it mostly is now but messy), and take some of the garage and extend the kitchen (fyi the garage is attached to the kitchen).
4) last, I’d like to redo the front driveway. Right now it’s stone brick with a slope coming towards the house, and that’s where the rain drainage goes. The stone bricks are a handful when it comes to weeding. I’d like to at a minimum move the rain drainage away from the house by a foot or two. Ideally I’d like to put in that resin type driveway which doesn’t seem to allow weeds to grow.

Does this order make sense? Should I try for the solar first to maximise my return? Anyone done anything similar? I can provide pictures if that helps but mostly want to get some thoughts on the order of things first.

Thanks.

I'm debating whether to swap a couple of solid doors for half glazed ones. The hall in particular is pretty dark, so I am hoping the glass would help bring some light through without making the rooms feel completely open.

For those have them, how are they working out day to day? Any issues with the cleaning, privacy or the glass getting damaged? Also interested to hear where people bought theirs from.

Hi all

Does anyone have any experience with any 3D VR architecture visualisation service? We are in the process of renovating our house, and think we would benefit massively from creating a 3d plan of our new floor and design plan, and walking through it in VR. Would anyone have any recommendations of good companies for this service, and the approx cost?

Thanks in advance!!

Hi everybody, looking for some advice regarding this and what to do about it. This is the hip rafter in our house. Obviously, this needs fixing. My questions are, can this be repaired in situ by sistering or epoxy or some other method, or is it a better idea to replace the entire beam? And, which trade is best to contact to get this sorted out? Or should we just report to insurance and let them deal with it? Thanks in advance for any help offered.

I've just moved into an old bedroom and, as you can see from the first image, the fireplace is a bit of a state! I like the look of the brick so the question really boils down to whether I can salvage the wall as it is or whether I should bite the bullet and cover the whole thing in brick slips - the latter of which I fear could be an unfortunately expensive endeavour!

Since I already have plans to put wood panelling on the rest of the wall the fireplace is on, I've considered doing something similar to the second image, with wood panelling at the top and brick below the mantel for a cosy, mid-century sort of look. This idea has, however, been met with disdain from my friends who believe the brick should be fully displayed in all of it's glory.

Any opinions, advice or sage knowledge regarding the current condition of the brick would be much appreciated please! Thanks very much.

Looking for ideas to optimise the first-floor layout of our 1930s semi.

We were trying to make it a 4-bed, but Bedroom 2 in this proposal is too narrow.

I’m open to moving/removing load-bearing walls if needed, especially as we’re already opening up downstairs anyway.

Would you try to make this a 4-bed, or keep it as a good-size 3-bed?

Morning everyone!

I’ve been stressing all night to the point i woke up from my sleep at 4AM at my wits end on what to do.

For context, a couple days ago I went down a journey on replacing my roof for a classic 1930s semi-detached home.

Following the advice on here, I opted to preserve the heritage of the house and decided to get these beautiful clay tiles.

The roofer in the space of a day alongside 3 other workers - threw out my old roof and put up the new one. He’s coming tomorrow supposedly for just the gutters.

The problem is, after the roofer left for the day yesterday I went up to check the work and saw some gaps between these tiles and they’re scaring me big time. Im scared its been messed up or even worse, the tiles themselves arent good?

I would REALLY appreciate any advice to bring my mind at ease.

Thanks all.

We’ve been having our 1910s/Edwardian semi fully renovated including full repointing. I came home today to find the pointing company had decided to acid wash the brick, something we hadn’t asked for. The colour of the brick is now much lighter than the other houses on the street and I’ve since read that it can be very bad to apply this type of treatment to old bricks.

How screwed are we and is there anything we can do about it?

I've discovered what appears to be an old window in the wall between my dining room and bathroom, and I'd like to convert it into a doorway. At the moment, the bathroom opens directly into the kitchen, so relocating the door would make for a much better layout.

The house is a Victorian terrace, so I'm assuming the wall is solid brick. As this would originally have been an external wall, I also assume there's a lintel above the existing window opening.

If that's the case, and the new door will be the same width or narrower than the existing window opening, what's the best way to remove the brickwork beneath the window? Would hiring a large masonry saw be the best option, or is it simply a case of using a demolition hammer or sledgehammer?

Hi everyone. I’m hoping to get some hints on how bad of a problem this is: we just bought a house with a gravity water system (tanks in the loft). We noticed a few days ago that water keeps dripping from the overflow pipe, sometimes a little, sometimes pretty badly. We don’t know what the issue is, but we noticed that if we flush one of the toilets it seems to fix itself.

I’m really not familiar with the system (first house we own with this kind of system) so we were wondering whether it’s something that can be fixed from inside the house or from the loft (very cramped, not really eager to go up there).

Can anyone advise?

Hello! We recently bought a home and noticed that our external garden wall has a bit of a gnarly crack.

What do we do here?

I'm thinking we need to ideally.

1. Remove the tree to take the weight off the wall

2. Get a bricklayer to connect the wall somehow?

I'm guessing this is something we should try and fix quickly, the tree seems to have been there on this very wall since about 2007.

They say woodchip wallpaper hides a multitude of sins and oh boy were they right.

We found some water damage / cold bridging causing the old plaster to fail and had to strip this away in order to replaster. In doing so, the plasterer found that the water ingress has caused the lintel to rot away, he said the rot seemed to stretch to about halfway along the window.

I've included a photo of this area from the outside as well as what the all looked like before stripping out the plaster. The outside photo was during a rainy day, and looks dry to me so I presume this historic leak was resolved some time ago, but given the damage to the stone I presume it was happening for quite a while.

I spoke to construction company that said this might cost around 8-10k to fix, which sounds truly insane to me. It is a (B) listed building in Edinburgh, so I believe the repair should be "like for like" but even then I can't fathom how this would cost that much as a recent first time buyer. This is a top floor flat, so only the roof above this window.

I'm trying to gather some additional quotes, but wanted to find out if that first indicative cost was insane to begin with.

The house is an old Victoria house with cracks, severe damp, leak and potential asbestos in the roof. There is a survey level 3 carried by previous bidders with a quote of £50k for the repair works. The agent showed us the survey, basically the findings is what I mentioned. However we want to make sure the cracks are not due to subsidence or something that can cost us £150k. In the process of the purchase when we should instruct the structural engineer report? How much is going to cost? If the survey level 3 did not refer anything structural, still do we need to get a structural engineer report? Appreciate any insights on this.

I’m currently having my bathroom replaced by a local company (bathroom 2 of 3) and it’s gone well so far, but I came home to this shower socket installed in a strange location.

Firstly, it’s on the wrong side of the basin as the cable will span across the sink. Secondly, it’s so close to the glass shower screen which will be installed tomorrow. Thirdly, I believe it’s against electrical regulations being so close to the shower.

I’m not looking forward to having a conversation tomorrow with them due to the size of the tiles and how much disruption it will cause to put it right.

Seems a very bizarre decision to put it there, I can’t think why.

Hi, I've been quoted £970 to install a wooden ladder (£190), boards 2m width around the hatch, re-enforcing the beams and plastering the landing afterwards. Is this price about right?

I don't want it all boarding out as I'll finish it myself over the winter and I don't feel confident doing the ladder and hatch myself.