Sequence of updating a 1963 House

Mumha

Background :

Bought a 3 bedroom, 1963 Semi-detached house, which is a bit dated, poorly insulated (cavity blocks), currently uses Oil heating, and there are still 2 pin plugs in the skirting boards ! It does have double glazing but I will probably be replacing them. All skirting boards, architraves, and doors will be replaced.

I will also probably block up the back kitchen door, knock through to the TV room (to create a kitchen/diner) and add patio doors in the TV to compensate for the removal of the Kitchen door. We will also either extend the Kitchen Lean to, out another 12 feet, extending the kitchen but also adding a corridor followed by a toilet, or just add a toilet under the stairs in the hallway.

Upstairs the landing is quite big, so we will do some internal readjustment to maximise the space. We will also reduce the bathroom and take a bit out of the adjoining bedroom to add an ensuite for that bedroom.

Question :

Seeing as the list of things to do is

1. Compete Rewiring inc TV/Cat 6 cabling
2. Pipework to bring Gas from Road to House.
3. Complete new pipework/boiler/rads for Gas fire in TV room and Heating
4. Insulated Slab on all External Walls.
5. New Double Glazed windows throughout
6. Probable Skim throughout
7. New Doors, skirting and Architraves throughout
8. New kitchen, bathrooms, toilets

What order should I be looking to do these in ? It has been suggested, for example, that the windows should be done first, so that the internal slab can be installed correctly.

Gas Networks Ireland: Bernice

Hi Mumha,

If you would like more information on getting your property connected to the natural gas network, pop over to our 'Talk To' page where we can also provide you with a quotation for connecting to the gas network.

Thanks,
Bernice

bigronnie9

I'll be interested in seeing responses on this, as I'm currently looking at a house that would need most of this work done and was going to start a similar thread so see what should be done first/last etc!

SC024

Airtightness?

Attic insulation?

What is Ground floor make up? If adding a new downstairs toilet it may have to come up in parts for sewerage depending on runs / falls etc.

Wardrobes?

If altering the upstairs landing will the staircase be affected? same if stairs is on an external wall & your adding insulated boards to that wall they will generally bring the wall out past the string of staircase. Either leave insulation off of that wall or alter the stairs?

They are just a couple off the top of my head.

Mumha

SC024 wrote: »

Airtightness?

Attic insulation?

What is Ground floor make up? If adding a new downstairs toilet it may have to come up in parts for sewerage depending on runs / falls etc.

Wardrobes?

If altering the upstairs landing will the staircase be affected? same if stairs is on an external wall & your adding insulated boards to that wall they will generally bring the wall out past the string of staircase. Either leave insulation off of that wall or alter the stairs?

They are just a couple off the top of my head.

I've received excellent professional advice as regards airtightness and Attic insulation, which was money very well spent as far as I'm concerned, especially for peace of mind. I screwed up when we upgraded our original house, so I didn't want the same happening this time.

Suspended floors apart from the concrete floor in the kitchen. If we can add the downstairs toilet under the stairs, it would be perfect because the downpipe from the upstairs toilet is just outside the external wall where the stairs is.

There is a built-in wardrobe which will have to come out to allow for insulated slab to be added.

Funny you should mention the stairs, I may have gotten lucky here. Currently there is a gap between the right hand handrail and the floor of the landing, so when the stairs is replaced, we can place the new stairs so that the right hand rail is touching the floor of the landing, and will give just enough room to add insulated slab on the external wall.

Victor

Mumha wrote: »

Bought a 3 bedroom, 1963 Semi-detached house

1963 or a "pre-1963" (1963 is when the first planning act was passed)?

The first objective is to plan everything carefully. With that much work, you really need to do scale drawings, so everything goes and fits where it is meant to be. You also need to do a specification to determine what you need to do to achieve your required result, e.g. do calculations for what insulation thicknesses you need. If you are extending or altering hte exterior, will you need planning permission?

Are you going to (a) employ a main contractor or (b) fight with each of the trades separately?

Mumha

Following advice received, I'm going to juggle (and add to) the order of that list above

1. Pipework to bring Gas from Road to House.
2. Complete Rewiring inc TV/Cat 6 cabling
3. Complete new pipework/boiler/rads for Gas fire in TV room and Heating
4. Compete new pipework for toilets and sinks/shower/bath
5. New Double or Triple Glazed windows throughout
6. Add Siga membrane to floors with Ins tape to walls
7. New stairs
8. Insulated Slab on all External Walls.
9. Probable Skim throughout
10. New Doors, skirting and Architraves throughout
11. New kitchen, bathrooms, toilets

Charles Babbage

I had some similar works, the builder chose to remove and replace the downstairs ceilings to get access to wires and pipes, the whole lot was then skimmed at the end. This allows you consider recessed lights and the like. I had actually replaced the windows the previous year, as the simplest thing to do to ensure that I didn't freeze in the previous winter.

SC024

I'd allow for replacing existing ceiling throughout & skimming all new ceilings & walls.

Mumha

I'm planning for them to take the upstairs floor boards up where necessary, but I do have money set aside for skimming.

I currently have plans to use conduit to pass TV cables down in chased walls, and skim over. With wifi so effective, I'm wondering is there any need to use the like of cat 6 cable at all ? The one thing I will insist on is that there is one non-looped double socket in each room, because when they loop it, and both plugs are used, it causes noise on powerline adapters etc.

Charles Babbage

Mumha wrote: »

I'm planning for them to take the upstairs floor boards up where necessary, but I do have money set aside for skimming.

I currently have plans to use conduit to pass TV cables down in chased walls, and skim over. With wifi so effective, I'm wondering is there any need to use the like of cat 6 cable at all ? The one thing I will insist on is that there is one non-looped double socket in each room, because when they loop it, and both plugs are used, it causes noise on powerline adapters etc.

It makes no sense to be thinking of powerline adaptors,, put in some Cat 6 now.

Mumha

Charles Babbage wrote: »

It makes no sense to be thinking of powerline adaptors,, put in some Cat 6 now.

Maybe I'm overthinking obsolete cables over time, but I suppose knowing Ireland, that'll be a fair while off yet. Thanks.

Mumha

As the plan is to knock through to form a Kitchen diner, it has been suggested to fill in the current suspended floor of the Diner part, so the kitchen/diner floor would be concrete. Anyone have an idea what a 12 x 12 x 2 foot infill of cement would cost ?

Victor

Mumha wrote: »

As the plan is to knock through to form a Kitchen diner, it has been suggested to fill in the current suspended floor of the Diner part, so the kitchen/diner floor would be concrete. Anyone have an idea what a 12 x 12 x 2 foot infill of cement would cost ?

Low thousands - may be quite dependent on how accessible it is. Make sure you get drainage, compacted fill, insulation, damp proofing,radon vents and vents to rest of house right. Make sure floor is level. Not really a DIY job unless you've done it before.

Mumha

Victor wrote: »

Low thousands - may be quite dependent on how accessible it is. Make sure you get drainage, compacted fill, insulation, damp proofing,radon vents and vents to rest of house right. Make sure floor is level. Not really a DIY job unless you've done it before.

Thanks, no I wouldn't touch it myself, I will be getting a builder for other stuff anyway. The current floorboards in that room wouldn't be much of a loss either.

db

Have you considered external rather than internal insulation?

Mumha

db wrote: »

Have you considered external rather than internal insulation?

I would have loved to get external insulation but at €20,000 less the €4,000 grant, it is beyond my budget when I have so much else to do in the house, and the practical alternative of insulated slab is around €4,000. Following professional advice, I'm a lot clearer on what I need to do to insulate but also make the house airtight, so hopefully when I'm dealing with the builder, I can be precise in what I want done.