Rearranging my rooms

Doldaly

Hi , i want to knock a wall between 2 rooms open the space up etc and put wall to wall glass windows or doors . Do I need an architect, interior designer or an engineer ? Where do I start could someone lead me the right way. Thks

antoinolachtnai

It really depends. These are three different skill sets. If you don't know which one you need then I suppose of the three the architect is the best choice to begin with because he will have an overall vision for what you are doing but he will also likely need the help of an engineer and possibly an interior designer.

Really it depends on the scale and the ambition. If you genuinely want to replace a load bearing wall with wall-to-wall windows or doors, your ambition is big. You need to figure out how to support the structure above and this will be tricky and expensive.

If what you want to do is quite standard, I e make an opening in the wall and put a large door in, and you understand clearly what you want to achieve and you can deal with picking furniture and colours, then a well recommended builder might be the best port of call.

1874

I was thinking of the same thing, but altering the upstairs to make better use of the wasted space created by the poor existing layout.
From what I can see, the stud walls were put up after the ceiling plaster board was nailed up, so it doesn't look like they are supporting the prefabricate truss roof above. As the plaster board was on before the stud walls, Im sure the weight of the felt and roof tiles was also already on, so any weight these added seems to have been fully supported by the trusses.
I though the stud walls may even have been propping or giving support to the trusses to prevent them moving

It appears there would be no load issues, the upstairs walls are not even mostly above the load bearing walls below, some that are directly above a block wall I would leave in place, others I was thinking of replacing with the new layout for support and then take down the old walls.

antoinolachtnai

Rearranging all the walls on a floor is a whole other bag o'cats. The problem with it is that it requires a tremendous amount of work. Basically all the furnishings have to be replaced and all the electrics and plumbing worked on. It also requires vacating the house for quite a while. Is this really worth it? You need to add it all up and be sure it is the right thing to do.

In pure financial terms, it is unlikely to give you much uplift in the value of the property compared to others on the same street.

1874

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Rearranging all the walls on a floor is a whole other bag o'cats. The problem with it is that it requires a tremendous amount of work. Basically all the furnishings have to be replaced and all the electrics and plumbing worked on. It also requires vacating the house for quite a while. Is this really worth it? You need to add it all up and be sure it is the right thing to do.

In pure financial terms, it is unlikely to give you much uplift in the value of the property compared to others on the same street.

It might not bring added value, but it might bring better use of space, that was my own intention, what qualification should a structural engineer have? At a later point Im considering converting the attic as moving is not possible.
I not convinced an architect is needed in my case as its just stud walls going up, but I want to make sure everything will be structurally ok, even though I know the internal upstairs walls went in after the pre made roof trusses. Most of what I plan to alter doesnt have wiring on it, I wanted to put up a new wall to extend the bathroom into a bedroom, when the wall is up, then take down the original and get a plasterer after that to do as much in one go as possible.
I do want to move the hot water tank, and I want to make sure that is supported as it is resting over a block wall now, if moved it would be beside the point where joists cross another block wall wall. Im more concerned about that as I'll probably increase the size of the tank when I do that.

antoinolachtnai

This might give you an idea of the qualifications: http://www.dit.ie/civilengineering/

Really, in your situation I would ask your builder if he can recommend an engineer.

If you are going to do the attic, now is the time to figure out how that will be done.

It might turn out to be cheaper to do the attic first when you take all the extra costs of redecorating, etc into account. It will give you extra rooms. Changing the size of the bathroom might make the house a bit more comfortable, but it might not give you that much extra.

Your budget is limited, and that is ok, but you need to make sure you get maximum value for every penny you spend.

'Small' projects, like redoing a bathroom can use up your savings very quickly and may not give you much in return.

1874

I dont have a builder yet, and thats another thing, not sure how to go about getting a good one, plus I want work done to a certain standard, not just based solely on the opinion of experience, eg, Id probably get the attic made airtight, there a re a lot of attic conversions around me, and from what I can see whenever there is snow or even frost, they mostly appear to leak heat.

I thought about just getting the attic done, but any one job might use up what could be available to spend not leaving enough for everything, getting the attic done means the pipes for water supply and central heating have to be coming down in the right place, meaning the hotwater tank has to be moved, just thinking about it now, I could get away with just doing that, although it seems worth the while to do the remaining things I have in mind at that point.
Getting an attic conversion would mean we could camp out there and the main bedroom as once done, they wouldnt be affected.

Id rather get an engineer to recommend me a builder than the other way, Im sure there are great builders who do a great job, but it could be more hit and miss and by the time you find out they arent good would be too late, Im wondering how rather than relying on estimates and quotes it would be worth paying someone to confirm the work pricing/timescale? is a house renovation to small a task to get a QS or is that what they do?

antoinolachtnai

Airtightness doesn't really have anything to do with the roof leaking heat. It's more a matter of the insulation.

I wouldn't think an engineer would be that interested in recommending you a builder. It is too much of a reputation risk for him. But who knows?

If you want another professional to manage or advise on the project, you are veering back toward an architect.

Have you looked at plans (say plans for planning permission) for what your neighbours have done? That might be a useful starting point for you to get an idea of what was involved.

Make no mistake, what you want to do is quite expensive. You need a lot of money. The main thing is to make sure you get the most critical things done as a priority, and leave the niceties to late on.

Also, you need to be reasonably sure that the work you do will add at least some value to your property. It is fine for Bono to put a glass roof on his bedroom (or whatever) even though these will add no resale value whatsoever. Regular people are not in that position. Your life savings are probably going to be tied up in that house and in whatever work you do.

1874

I know airtightness isnt the only consideration of heat loss. In one example of conversion I can see, from the patterns showing on the roof, you can make out where the insulation clearly isn't well installed as its possible to see the lines where different sections join, but I do believe airtightness is a very important consideration right up there with insulation, but that comes with other costs of mechanical ventilation when the rest of the house isn't up to that standard.

I wouldnt plan on anything strange, or out of the ordinary, and as much as they must add space, I hate how those extended dormers look, it would really have to be velux style windows, so no alteration to the roof shape.

Thinking about it while writing, makes me think of getting a company in to do all the work really, rather than hiring all the seperate trades, so long as the integrity of the work is good, as you say the niceties can be added later.
Ive also my neighbour to consider, they got their attic converted, but it dragged on for ages, while Ive heard of others that get done quite quickly, Im not convinced they have any idea where anything is, just doesnt seem that way, if Im to ad steel I beams myself Im thinking I might be limited based on where theirs are?

what might I be looking at price range for a standard semi detached house? I suppose its a matter of how long a piece of string is, and really I depends on whats fitted and the quality of the fittings and finish, Im trying to get an idea before making enquiries as the whole thing is a way off.

antoinolachtnai

You really need some sort of main contractor, at least for the structural works if you ask me. I don't really know about price. Not less than 20k I suppose, not more than 50k (probably). But maybe look around the construction and planning forum, you might get a better idea.

BryanF

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Airtightness doesn't really have anything to do with the roof leaking heat. It's more a matter of the insulation. .

no true. If you've 500mm of insulation and air (& therfore) heat pissing out through it, you have an air-tightness problem..

antoinolachtnai

That is certainly true.

f1f2

i have just put double door from kitchen to sitting room about five foot great job for light as kitchen was dark, got the glass doors from the doras brochure and it ended up lovely, and the job was not too messy about a weeks work.the doors have the oak surround