Personal story:

We are both retired [mostly] Barbara was a rehabilitation officer for the visually impaired and I was a chartered building surveyor.

Motivations:

We had converted a barn and erected a green oak extension in Cumbria were we lived for a number of years.

We however decided due to pending old age and infirmity to down size and move closer to the family. We found this house which was in a great location in a Cotswold village but need some work to adapt to out way of life. [That being a Kitchen/Dinning/Lounge area with a high ceiling to give the impression of space.] Having viewed the property I put in a bid before Barbara my wife had seen it and set about developing plans to meet our requirements. This took 18 month for planning permission to be obtained and the work carried completed before we moved in.

Property background:

The property was constructed in 1968; no further work appeared to have been carried out to the property since construction apart from the addition of a car port and a conservatory.

Key changes made:

The house has been completely remodeled, both internal and externally.

Externally–

The work included replacing the concrete roof tiles with clay tiles and a modern breathable felt. The cavity walls were insulated with 75mm full fill blown Rockwool cavity insulation and clad externally with 50mm insulation and rendered. New oak Argon filled; double glazed windows were installed through out. Roof lights were installed over the lounge and first floor gallery.

Internally–

The Electrical system was completely renewed with separate circuits for each room and separately switched 2a lamp circuit for the principal rooms.

The plumbing system was completely renewed with dual pipe system for the hot water to reduce water wastage.

On the ground floor all internal walls were re aligned [apart from bedroom 1] to form a larger bedroom with on suite.

All ground floor doors were renewed and increased in width to provide disabled access.

The kitchen was moved to the front of the property from the rear and the wall removed thus forming an open plan kitchen, dinning and lounge area.

A front two storey extension was constructed to give space for a larger hall, toilet cloakroom, stairway and first floor landing.

The garage was rebuilt and extended to provide a utility and plant room with a bedroom over. The conservatory was rebuilt to provide and office leading of from the Utility room

The original first floor bedroom over the kitchen and lounge was opened up to form a first floor gallery with long views through the new roof lights over the village and towards the Cotswold Edge, with new bedroom leading off the gallery. The first floor shower room was extended to provide more space. The roof glazing also provides solar heat gain to the solid side walls of the lounge/dinning area during the mornings of the winter months.

Measures installed in detail:

• Air source Pump
• Double glazing
• Floor insulation
• Loft insulation
• Low energy appliances
• Low energy lighting
• Roof insulation
• Water saving devices
• Whole House Ventilation and Heat Recovery system
• Wood burner; 8Kw

Benefits of work carried out:

Provided comfortable living accommodation with low maintenance and running costs

Favourite feature:

ASHP which runs itself and the HRVS which keeps the whole house ventilated and aired even when we are away.

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