Hi
I read the contributions on these forums with great interest.
So I am hoping you can help me decide what to do next. Here’s the background.
We have a cold 4 bed 1970s house.
We had the attic insulated recently.
We have two bedrooms internally insulated and we can feel a real difference in these rooms.
We had a blower test last year and an infrared survey (verbal not a professional report). As a result, we had our window seals and hinges replaced, and sealed up our chimney. We also installed a gas combi boiler, but radiators are 5-15 years old. We have seen benefits this winter.
We are retired and we have decided we do not want to move home. So now we are ready to undertake more significant renovations to the house.
Here’s some more details of the house.
We want to have good air quality.
We want to upgrade the structure of our home so that we can enjoy it for the remainder of our retirement.
We are looking for someone to guide us through what upgrades would work on our home, project manage the work and ensure that these are done to a quality standard.
For example we looked at new windows but backed off when we realised we could not assess ourselves whether there were installed properly or not.
I have spent considerable time researching this, but I’m not sure what ‘professional’ I need or how best to start. I find the different types of surveyors/engineers confusing. I can only liken it to my recent hospital experiences where you have to understand which specialist can fix your problem.
I read the contributions on these forums with great interest.
So I am hoping you can help me decide what to do next. Here’s the background.
We have a cold 4 bed 1970s house.
We had the attic insulated recently.
We have two bedrooms internally insulated and we can feel a real difference in these rooms.
We had a blower test last year and an infrared survey (verbal not a professional report). As a result, we had our window seals and hinges replaced, and sealed up our chimney. We also installed a gas combi boiler, but radiators are 5-15 years old. We have seen benefits this winter.
We are retired and we have decided we do not want to move home. So now we are ready to undertake more significant renovations to the house.
Here’s some more details of the house.
- 4 bed two storey detached one side, other side original garage attaches to double height side of next door.
- Two storey extension added to back of house late 1970s.
- Garage flat roof converted late 1970s and now part of an open plan kitchen/diner.
- Windows are double glazed PVC 15-25 years old.
- House sits long and narrow on the site, back east facing, front west.
- Both long sides are red brick. Front back mix of red brick/white walls.
- Suspended timber floors.
- House heats up but looses heat very quickly.
- More recently experienced some condensation, mould problems in open plan kitchen area.
We want to have good air quality.
We want to upgrade the structure of our home so that we can enjoy it for the remainder of our retirement.
We are looking for someone to guide us through what upgrades would work on our home, project manage the work and ensure that these are done to a quality standard.
For example we looked at new windows but backed off when we realised we could not assess ourselves whether there were installed properly or not.
I have spent considerable time researching this, but I’m not sure what ‘professional’ I need or how best to start. I find the different types of surveyors/engineers confusing. I can only liken it to my recent hospital experiences where you have to understand which specialist can fix your problem.