New Build, Probably

[Paul_F]

I noticed the bedroom/shower room downstairs. Handy if you break you leg or become ill.

When I was about 17 my dad had a bad car crash, smashed his pelvis and was unable to climb the stairs for a couple of months. That's the sort of experience you don't forget, and I also really want a separate study downstairs. Tweaking the design to give us a shower downstairs and make the study big enough to act as a guest room/bedroom if needed really didn't have very much of an impact on the design as a whole, and gives that confidence.

I’d be tempted to lose the roof light in favour of more solar, and seriously consider solar on the NW facing roof.

Roof-light is non-negotiable for us - it makes a big difference to the internal lighting/feel, and doesn't seem likely to cause overheating going by PHPP. What we're thinking of tweaking in the design is to use one of the triple-glazed rooflights which are compatible with the GSE system (Velux and Fakro do these). We then only lose one panel, compared to the 6 lost in the current layout. We're waiting until after permission is granted then apply to make the changes at the same time as we submit the detailed materials, etc.
NE facing roof is up for grabs - it gives us about 600 kWh/kWp, and doesn't need any changes to the inverter, etc. We've got quite a lot of generation (~10 MWh/year) from the SW facing roof and the NE direction doesn't give us very much in winter, so it's both relatively cheap and somewhat questionable how much benefit we would actually get.
Similarly with a battery - we would effectively be using summer exports to the grid to subsidise winter consumption, and given that we're cost limited then a battery is looking more like a retrofit a few years down the line. Plan is to have all the electrics up in the loft, along a partition wall behind the doors. That means changing over would just require swapping for a hybrid inverter and fitting a battery. It is up for grabs though - if budget allows I'm very tempted to go for a hybrid inverter to give mains backup and get myself a suitable battery off Alibaba once the dust has settled and have a go at fitting it.

[Oldgreybeard]

Good idea to think ahead, in my view. My father ended up in a wheelchair for the last decade of his life and living in a house with narrow doorways and no facilities downstairs was a nightmare, it meant he was was reliant on someone to push him from room to room, as the doors were too narrow for him to propel his chair through them. The cost of modifying the house, widening doors, adding a downstairs shower and bedroom was more than they paid for the house.

I learned from that and designed our house with level floors throughout, with no thresholds and wide doors. I also made sure there were wheelchair turning spaces and easy access to the toilet and shower, making sure all the doors open in a sensible direction for someone that is a wheelchair user. Having doors that open the wrong way can make the difference between being able to get through them and not. It's not much fun skinning your knuckles on door jambs either.

We are all going to get old, and some of us may get infirm, so it makes a great deal of sense to design for that, so that there is a minimal need for later major alterations. I also designed in hard mounting points, with thick plywood behind the plasterboard, to enable handles and supports to be fitted easily if need be. This includes an inset plank in the wall beside the stairs, and a gap at the bottom of the stairs, so that a stair lift can be fitted if either of us need it.

All told, none of this stuff cost much at all, it was down in the noise as far as the build costs went, but I'm sure it will be a boon if anyone ever needs to fit things to aid living in the house in the future. Most important thing was to document everything, take loads of pictures and build a file of all the stuff in the house. Also make sure there are spare cables going anywhere that you may think that power might be needed. I've lost count of the number of times I've consulted the photos I took to confirm where something really is.

[spread-tee]

Couldn't agree more with the last two posts regarding future proofing the house when planning a big renovation. We were advised to allow for a bedroom downstairs that has reasonable access for carers with medical equipment, wheelchairs etc or alternatively a through the floor lift when planning the accommodation for Mrs Desps mum, who now lives here.

My mum spent the last 18 months of her life in a care home not far from us which to be fair did have some advantages but was not ideal and cost a fortune, people are looking for houses that can accommodate an elderly relative now as an option and around here is reflected in the price.

We are all going to get old and derelict one day it's a no- brainer.......... happy days

Desp

[Paul_F]

We've got a 2x1m zone that we could use for a lift shaft if needed, between the staircase and the outside wall. It's needed to get stair access to the loft (not enough headroom if the stairs are by the wall), but also gives a nice light-well plus room for coats, shoes, etc.

[Paul_F]

Minor updates - had the ecology survey today which found some evidence of mice but no other wildlife, and the chap from the Parish Council dropped by to let me know they're considering their response to it tomorrow night, to see what the neighbours think and to invite me along to their meeting tomorrow night where it will be discussed.

[Joeboy]

Minor updates - had the ecology survey today which found some evidence of mice but no other wildlife, and the chap from the Parish Council dropped by to let me know they're considering their response to it tomorrow night, to see what the neighbours think and to invite me along to their meeting tomorrow night where it will be discussed.

Be nice! Best of fortune to you.

[Paul_F]

Be nice! Best of fortune to you.

They're going to object, but it's a bit of a weak one - they think the front of the house is a bit big. I'm not sure it carries much weight though as it's pretty subjective. In better news, following some LinkedIn stalking our planning officer apparently has a strong interest in the environment and ecology...

[Joeboy]

Be nice! Best of fortune to you.

They're going to object, but it's a bit of a weak one - they think the front of the house is a bit big. I'm not sure it carries much weight though as it's pretty subjective. In better news, following some LinkedIn stalking our planning officer apparently has a strong interest in the environment and ecology...

Not bad for a 1st pass then. Honey vs vinegar etc. I truly hope you negate their objections with minimal impact on the build.

[Paul_F]

Not bad for a 1st pass then. Honey vs vinegar etc. I truly hope you negate their objections with minimal impact on the build.

Pretty much. Verbal feedback was that they thought the front was a bit slab-sided and would have supported it if it was either a bit lower ridge-line (we're 1.2m above the neighbours on one side and the other is a bungalow) or if the front was a bit more interesting - bay windows got mentioned. A lot of the discussion was along the lines that they were worried about being stopped in the street by people who didn't like it, rather than that it was objectively bad. They supported one (very minor) application, eventually said they had no objection to one they really hated because someone else had previously got permission to do the same thing, and objected to everything else on the agenda, so I think we actually did pretty well.

Plan is to let things ride for now and see what the planners think, then if they object take both sets of feedback into account. This particular issue has been a known one from day 1 - the architect started out with something with horrible square bulges in the side to get the ridge-line down to that of next door which we really didn't like. We pushed them to go the other way so at the moment it's a bit tall but with 100% functionality, so we've got quite a bit of leeway to tweak the design. Main feature at risk if we do is the stairway going up to the loft, which I'd prefer not to sacrifice. We can save at least 150mm without any significant impact (200mm SIP panels for the roof rather than 350mm Warmcel), more than that starts to compromise things so maybe we do that then look at bay windows.

[Paul_F]

Update on this - we finally got a refusal at the end of September, 10 1/2 months after we put in our application with no apology for how long they took.
Reason for refusal was given as "The proposed development, by reason of its height, bulk and mass, would appear overly dominant and incongruous in the street scene which would have a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area and the street scene."

Plan is to move the staircase around internally in order to bring the ridge height down by about 1m and keep the staircase access to the loft feasible with minimum other changes to the design, maybe playing around with the frontal elevation to break it up a bit as well.

Not entirely sure what will happen if we do get planning this time - I've had a couple of fairly major personal issues over the past year, so at the very least there would be some sort of delay between planning being granted and work starting.