Hello All,
I'm not a regular, but looking for advice, am an engineer by trade and a suffering DIY'er over 30 years with a fair few kitchens / bathrooms / fireplaces to my name
So here's the situation.
We've been in our family home for 25 yrs, it's on a large plot approx 100yrs old & near the south coast and we love it here. The garden has been a labour of love and loads of great times with kids etc...
Unfortunately, my missus was diagnosed a while ago with a Parkinsons (early onset) and mobility is going to be an issue. We really don't want to move but I need to consider making the place easier to move around.
Basically we have a large room attached (here when we moved in) to the longest side of the house (8mx4m), its kind of a conservatory with a lean to poly-carbonate roof supported on timbers but all of the walls are cavity and sat on strip foundations approx 200mm deep.
There are three windows and a large sliding set of doors along its length.
The room is accessed by two doors to the lounge and the kitchen, they're not exterior grade doors.
None of the ground floor has insulation underneath.
The room is heated by 2 radiators (i know this isn't right)
The roof is water tight but i've thrown up some sheets of painted PLY some time ago that reduces glare and heat in summer.
We also burn a fair amount of fossil fuel with additional fan heaters in winter when it's too cold. We use the room all year and its a great room.
The plan is to knock the kitchen through to this room, bring all floor levels up to the same level, and insulate the entire GF. Replace the poly-carb roof with tile and Velux windows, replace existing windows & sliding doors which are crap and leak heat.
Because of the developing situation, our attention is very much on the short/medium term, and I really don't want to spend extra time working to pay off a mortgage extension. We'd like to spend our reducing valuable time on better things!
The things I know (I think)...
1- the footings on the room are theoretically not deep enough to support a traditional tile & timber roof structure.
2- opening up the kitchen will contravene BC rules on the conservatory use, with the heating system now being compromised.
3 - the opening will certainly need a structural survey
4- we have at least one developer every couple of years ask if we wan to sell so they can put up a2-3 places on our plot, so the next person to buy this house will develop the plot and not care about a 'non-spec' extension.
Finally the question!
Assuming I take a risk and choose to put up a newer timber roof structure,
what would people recommend I put up to cover it?....I am conscious that a lighter weight material maybe better, and I've seen some kind of plastic tile effect sheets...are they any good?
Can I use Velux with them?
...or is a composite tile better, even if it's heavier?
Any advice welcome.
Cheers
I'm not a regular, but looking for advice, am an engineer by trade and a suffering DIY'er over 30 years with a fair few kitchens / bathrooms / fireplaces to my name
So here's the situation.
We've been in our family home for 25 yrs, it's on a large plot approx 100yrs old & near the south coast and we love it here. The garden has been a labour of love and loads of great times with kids etc...
Unfortunately, my missus was diagnosed a while ago with a Parkinsons (early onset) and mobility is going to be an issue. We really don't want to move but I need to consider making the place easier to move around.
Basically we have a large room attached (here when we moved in) to the longest side of the house (8mx4m), its kind of a conservatory with a lean to poly-carbonate roof supported on timbers but all of the walls are cavity and sat on strip foundations approx 200mm deep.
There are three windows and a large sliding set of doors along its length.
The room is accessed by two doors to the lounge and the kitchen, they're not exterior grade doors.
None of the ground floor has insulation underneath.
The room is heated by 2 radiators (i know this isn't right)
The roof is water tight but i've thrown up some sheets of painted PLY some time ago that reduces glare and heat in summer.
We also burn a fair amount of fossil fuel with additional fan heaters in winter when it's too cold. We use the room all year and its a great room.
The plan is to knock the kitchen through to this room, bring all floor levels up to the same level, and insulate the entire GF. Replace the poly-carb roof with tile and Velux windows, replace existing windows & sliding doors which are crap and leak heat.
Because of the developing situation, our attention is very much on the short/medium term, and I really don't want to spend extra time working to pay off a mortgage extension. We'd like to spend our reducing valuable time on better things!
The things I know (I think)...
1- the footings on the room are theoretically not deep enough to support a traditional tile & timber roof structure.
2- opening up the kitchen will contravene BC rules on the conservatory use, with the heating system now being compromised.
3 - the opening will certainly need a structural survey
4- we have at least one developer every couple of years ask if we wan to sell so they can put up a2-3 places on our plot, so the next person to buy this house will develop the plot and not care about a 'non-spec' extension.
Finally the question!
Assuming I take a risk and choose to put up a newer timber roof structure,
what would people recommend I put up to cover it?....I am conscious that a lighter weight material maybe better, and I've seen some kind of plastic tile effect sheets...are they any good?
Can I use Velux with them?
...or is a composite tile better, even if it's heavier?
Any advice welcome.
Cheers
