Renovating an old farmhouse

[Beau]

Hi all.

Back in the day on the other place I shared our conversion of an old barn into our home. It's been great but circumstances have changed and it looks like we will be moving into the main farmhouse. I have made improvements to it over the years to help keep my dad warm but it's still in quite a state. He has sadly passed so this is the moment to at least bring it into the 20th century if not the 21st

The good bits.

I have slate hung the south and west sides with 60mm celotex behind.
In a round of grants, I got Dad to get EWI on the east and west sides. Think this is 90mm EPS
We don't have to live in it while renovating

Now the bad bits.

No DPC but the water table gets near the floor level
Suspected rising damp in places
No roof insulation (easy fix)
No heating system just an AGA and some wood burners
Steps up and down from almost every room, different roof heights, and no interconnected lofts.
600mm-800mm thick granite walls (suppose that could be a good thing in some ways haha)
We live on Dartmoor so even when the walls, floor, and roof aren't leaking the air is still moisture-laden.
Electrics date back to lord knows when with some light switches made of bakelite haha


So we are just working out a plan of attack but as always everything is intertwined. We are looking to install an ASHP but do we add any UFH that we can do first or just chuck in some rads for the time being? If so then how to approach the rising damp when doing the floors? Knowing our climate here I would love MVHR but ducting the whole place to a centralised place would be horrific. Maybe decentralised MVHR? The only thing sorted is some new DG windows which will be in shortly. I will try and share our journey and undoubtedly be looking for advice from the wise. Like last time I will be looking to do almost all the trades myself so this is going to take a while

Beau

[richbee]

Sounds challenging / exciting in equal measure - good luck and look forward to seeing progress

[Thebeeman]

Hi from 3 miles north of the moor.
Have you room for a Ground Source pump especially if you're over granite, it will be a consistent heat input and may even be higher than air temp most of the year?

Afterthought: We have a neighbour who recently built a bungalow on Dad's farm and he went Ground Source and is very happy with it's output We're probably on 'colder' ground than you as we're on Shellit (SP??) and not granite. Also if you're on granite you'll get involved with Radon issues on your ground floors.
Good Luck.

[Beau]

Hi from 3 miles north of the moor.
Have you room for a Ground Source pump especially if you're over granite, it will be a consistent heat input and may even be higher than air temp most of the year?

Afterthought: We have a neighbour who recently built a bungalow on Dad's farm and he went Ground Source and is very happy with it's output We're probably on 'colder' ground than you as we're on Shellit (SP??) and not granite. Also if you're on granite you'll get involved with Radon issues on your ground floors.
Good Luck.

Hi just north of the moor

We installed a GSHP in the barn which is right next to the farmhouse. It has been great and was remarkably simple so self-installed. there is land to do a loop for the farmhouse but it would need a long run out to the manifold right through the garden and working yard which is somewhat offputting. I have just extended the loops on the barns GSHP as it always was undersized but we were aware enough to know when to use the wood burner to avoid over-cooling the loops. Future residents might not be so aware so felt extending the loops was necessary. I had forgotten what a mess putting loops in makes! With the way grants are at present self-install makes no sense and we are still being told GSHP will cost more than ASHP even if I do all the groundwork so leaning to ASHP. Been quoted SCOPs of over 4 so be pretty happy with that for ASHP with rads. We are just off the granite and also on shillet (near Yelverton). Radon To be fair the house was tested years ago and had pretty low levels thankfully

[Thebeeman]

We had to have Block and Beam floor and air vents all around or a sump with a fan to keep the council happy, and we're we're well clear of the granite.

[Beau]

We had to have Block and Beam floor and air vents all around or a sump with a fan to keep the council happy, and we're we're well clear of the granite.

We had to install a radon sump in the barn not that anyone then tested to see if we needed to use it. I don't think we are doing any work where BC will need to get involved so should be able to steer clear of that malarky this time around.

[Thebeeman]

That should save a few £000's then.

[AE-NMidlands]

If you are aware of a high water table and associated issues anyway, is it worth trying to fit in some sort of shallow underfloor space and a suspended insulated floor slab? (The underfloor could drain to one corner and be put in to complement a drained / aired trench around the outside.)
A

[Thebeeman]

(The underfloor could drain to one corner and be put in to complement a drained / aired trench around the outside.)
A

If the south of the moor is the same as here the water table is sometimes at ground level, if you dig a trench or hole it fills to the surrounding surface level. Maybe a block and beam floor above the existing with DPC and insulation. Around here, particularly on the moor the higher you go the wetter the ground gets, the top of our land grows the best rushes, we've a stream at the bottom 3/4 mile away and 200 feet lower but the top is still soggy.

[Countrypaul]

(The underfloor could drain to one corner and be put in to complement a drained / aired trench around the outside.)
A

If the south of the moor is the same as here the water table is sometimes at ground level, if you dig a trench or hole it fills to the surrounding surface level. Maybe a block and beam floor above the existing with DPC and insulation. Around here, particularly on the moor the higher you go the wetter the ground gets, the top of our land grows the best rushes, we've a stream at the bottom 3/4 mile away and 200 feet lower but the top is still soggy.

In his first post Beau did mention there is no DPC. Is the floor level the same as the outside ground level, I ask as several of the farm houses in the Yorkshire and Durham dales I have been in have that feature. The stone flags for the floor also laid diectly on the earth with no dpm and no dpc in the walls, lime mortar used throughout originally.