Looking for some advice.

KFiddles

Looking to purchase a home that needs some interior changes. Single story. Half the house is perfect. The other half needs to be gutted as it makes no sense. New bedrooms and bathrooms. Is planning permission required to do that kind of work?

Also, the house has underfloor heating and I'd like to change the tiles. Can we just remove the old and re-install new ones? Would like to do the rip out ourselves to save money.

DOCARCH

KFiddles wrote: »

Single story. Half the house is perfect. The other half needs to be gutted as it makes no sense. New bedrooms and bathrooms. Is planning permission required to do that kind of work?

Assuming when you say 'gutted' you mean internally? If so, no planning permission required (for internal alterations). If you propose external changes to the existing house you my need planning permission.

KFiddles wrote: »

Also, the house has underfloor heating and I'd like to change the tiles. Can we just remove the old and re-install new ones.

Yes.

KFiddles

Thank you! Not planning any changes to the exterior, so your answers were exactly what I was hoping for!

sky6

Yes is the Answer. However care needs to be taken before removing any Walls that there not load bearing in other words carrying the Roof. You should get someone qualified to point out which walls are and are not load bearing.
If you want to remove a load bearing wall you will need to uses Acro's to support the roof before doing so.

KFiddles

Noted. Would liase with architect anyway to draw up new plans.

cerastes

sky6 wrote: »

Yes is the Answer. However care needs to be taken before removing any Walls that there not load bearing in other words carrying the Roof. You should get someone qualified to point out which walls are and are not load bearing.
If you want to remove a load bearing wall you will need to uses Acro's to support the roof before doing so.

Something similar to ask, but not as significant as above. might take a bit to describe. Musings Ive considered due to the upstairs layout which I think wastes space and makes some bedrooms smaller than they could be.
Altering the layout upstairs in the future by moving the stud walls would increase the available room size for a lot cheaper than say moving house or even doing an attic conversion.
Ive a bigger than needed landing area/layout which is wasteful of area. I consider the layout of the upstairs poor, the floor space at the top of the stairs is too deep with a narrow perpendicular corridor as the bath room is on one side of the house in the middle, which partly causes the start of the bad layout.
Ive measured up what the change in bedroom area would be if I altered things, it'd cut down on mostly unused area in the landing and would turn the two back single bedrooms into two rooms that could very realistically be used as doubles or just larger single rooms (I dont know who chose the layout design but its very wasteful).
I could further increase the available area at the top of the stairs and subsequently the back of the house upstairs, if I moved the stairs closer to the front of the house but this would involve more work and cost, eating into the tiny boxroom above doesnt bother me to reduce other than the extra work.

IS there a minimum area allowed at the top of a stairs? mostly Ive seen an area there equal only to the square of the stair width or slightly larger.
Same question for the bottom of the stairs?

To do this I need to reposition the hotpress to make a new access to the bathroom (Along with moving the bath to an opposite wall), and then move the upstairs stud walls so I can widen the back bedrooms by almost the width of the existing perpendicular corridor. A taller thinner tank would help, making any new hotpress smaller, and it would be an ideal time to pull uop and replace the squeaky in places chipboard flooring, seperate the upstairs downstairs heating into two zones and replace with wooden flooring.

It doesnt all sound like it would add much, but I measured it and it adds a lot more than you'd think.

The house is just post mid nineties build, with a stud wall construction upstairs, it looks like the walls upstairs dont support the ceilings above as it looks like the ceiling was slabbed completely first and then the upstairs/bedroom walls were put up and slabbed, so it seems they provide no support to the attic/roof trusses above that. I am considering though that although the stud walls upstairs may not support any weight above them, maybe they prop?/prevent movement in the trusses in the roof or at least increase rigidity? although I dont know for sure. It's clear the trusses went up first and must have been unsupported during construction, before the upstairs ceilings were put up and before the upstairs stud walls were fitted. One section of stud wall does appear to be above a block wall below that crosses the house side to side and which must have plinths due to door/hallway downstairs, but this could be replaced by the widened bedroom wall.

My main concern would be moving the small/medium sized HW tank (about 1m high) it seems to be above a block wall but it would be moved to above another block wall.

Aside from the plumbing work required, If I consider moving the upstairs walls around, who'd I best approach to determine whats ok or could I just get someone in to move them around to alter the layout?

MarkAnthony

I know very little about building but I've heard of Combi boilers being used more and more (loved mine back in my first flat) might that help with the tank issue?

Just thinking out loud.

BryanF

Speak to a local architect/ arch tech

cerastes

Will they be able to give me an idea/outline of costs to carry out work or just tell me what should and shouldnt be done?/what is and isnt possible/allowed?
Specific qualifications/experience/affiliations to formal body I should be seeking?

KFiddles

I have another question. I asked for and received the original plans for the house we're proposing to purchase in Cork. It turns out that while the exterior shell has been built as originally approved, the interior is completely different.

Is this something I should bring to the attention of the surveyor and our solicitor? Does it matter? I was already planning to make interior changes of my own, but after reading these boards, I'm a little skittish about the fact that was what approved, wasn't built.

Bracken81

cerastes wrote: »

Will they be able to give me an idea/outline of costs to carry out work or just tell me what should and shouldnt be done?/what is and isnt possible/allowed?
Specific qualifications/experience/affiliations to formal body I should be seeking?

Every house should be built or refurbished to a decent standard and SHOULD comply with Building & Planning regulations
Certain Dimensions left in and around stairs for Safety, etc...
The Professional you Engage should help you out with this and be able to provide a Rough Costs on your project

An Architect/Arch Technician/Building Surveyor/Engineer should all be able to complete this for you no problem, if you happened to know 1

Bracken81

KFiddles wrote: »

I have another question. I asked for and received the original plans for the house we're proposing to purchase in Cork. It turns out that while the exterior shell has been built as originally approved, the interior is completely different.

Is this something I should bring to the attention of the surveyor and our solicitor? Does it matter? I was already planning to make interior changes of my own, but after reading these boards, I'm a little skittish about the fact that was what approved, wasn't built.

It could be a case of the last owner should've went in for a Retention Planning Permission if any Exterior changes where different from the Planning App signed off by a Professional

But it would be hard to tell without seeing the House first hand & Original Plans