Hello everyone, I have been viewing this forum with interest for a while. And I wish to introduce myself, as me, my wife and our 6 month old undertake the renovation of our new home.

We purchased a bungalow last year and have since obtained planning to convert to a 2.5 storey dwelling.

The design of the building has snowballed from a standard building regs renovation to a (near as possible) uncertified passive house. This came about as the place suffers from severe damp, condensation and mould (to the extent that our furniture is now going mouldy in the house). So I considered EWI to prevent penetrating damp and a MVHR to control humidity, and since then after loads of research etc I have really got into the idea of constructing a passive house.

We will be building most of the new structure off the existing 9” solid walls and footings, all that will be left of the existing building is the 4 external walls (slab and internal walls are being replaced) unfortunately our budget is extremely tight so a new build was out of the question.

Just a quick hello for now and I look forward to speaking to you soon

Ricky

I'd echo what SteveZ says - I'm not sure those 4 wall are going to save the budget. IMHO your more likely save money and have a better end result from starting with a clear site. At least cost it up before you set off.

Because "walls" are big it's easy to imagine they are a bigger part of any build budget than they actually are. In my experience it's the myriad small bits and bobs, and things like decent doors and windows, that take up the budget. (I'm thinking about both materials and labour when I say this).

Good luck with your project and welcome to the forum, lots of people here to help!

RobinB

I have and I will confirm that my shell costs contributed around 20% of the whole project. Electrics, plumbing, carpentry, bathrooms, kitchen etc. They are the killers.....