Accessible Bungalow Renovation

[Valo]

Overdue Update....

It's been all go over the past two weeks and I haven't had time to upload the progress on the build, but everything is really beginning to come together.

My new prefinished oak doors, door frames and skirting boards have all been hung and installed, after my Hall received it's second coat of paint.



I'm real happy with the internal doors, they look fantastic and really finish the Hall of perfectly. The doors for the Livingroom and Kitchen/Dining Room (pictured above) have an added glass panel.

The new LED down lighters in my Master Bedroom have also been installed, along with my Kitchen/Diner. The new paddle rocker style light switches have also started to be installed throughout the house.



This past week my Wet Room has been been constructed and installed by a local specialist company.




The shower and bathroom cabinet still need to be installed, and the tiles need a final wash down but we are 95% finished. I'm really happy with it. I think it looks fantastic!

The building work has also started outside for my mono block ramp. The progress has been a bit slow due to the good old scottish weather, but I'm sure it'll be finished in a few weeks.



I've also agreed the purchase of a new custom built Composite Front Door with Automated Lock and Swing Arm Opening System. This has been a major headache tho organise due to the fact I'm using an electric lock and swing arm system. Unfortunately I can't progress the order until the new ramp is complete as they need to take accurate measurements and check levels.

I've also bought the new storage system for my Livingroom from IKEA, which has been built and test fitted to the wall to get the correct clearances and height for my needs.

 

[Valo]

Love the tiles in your bathroom. Solid oak doors, skirts, and door frames? Nice!

How much funding did you get for all of this, if you don't mind divulging? I'm guessing it wasn't from a private accident policy?

The doors are actually of an engineered construction and are an oak veneer finish

Since you and R.O.S.S.I have asked a similar question about funding I've answered it below.

Sorry I've not completely read through the entire thread (will do shortly) but have these works come from a council grant? If so how does one qualify for it?

My mother is looking at downsizing into a bungalow as my Father is getting progressively less and less mobile and stairs she feels are going to become an absolute no-no soon enough. He's currently in receipt of higher allowance DLA. If she was to move into a bungalow, a grant and some work like this would make their life a hell of a lot easier.

Decent bungalows in our area are pretty much on par (valuewise) with what I assume she'd get for the 3 bed semi she currently lives in.

Every local authority is different with regards to disability adaption grants for properties. The system my local authority uses is means tested. They also have a budget and a standard specification for these types of jobs. I then have the opportunity to add funds to that particular jobs budget to get a better finish if I want to.

For example the Wet Room specification:

Tiling: The standard specification includes a budget for 7sqm for tiling of standard basic white tiles. That equals about £55.00 and would cover the wall around my shower area. I have decided to tile the entire wet room. The council will pay £55.00 towards that cost and I will make up the difference.

There are certain jobs such as painting/plastering, lighting, flooring, back door access and some internal doors I have financed myself entirely as they don't fall in to the remit of the adaption grant.

I hope this helps

 

[Valo]

Door widening internally and external front and rear where covered under our DFG.

Starting to take shape now and I am very happy for you

Thanks very much

Door widening is included for most of my doors, the ones that aren't are for rooms I don't need to access according to them, so I need to make up the difference and pay to adapt them myself.
It's a similar story for the external door, they provide funding for a single adapted entrance and exit point from the house. I've obviously chosen to replace my Front Door with the funding and I'm paying to replace my back door with a set of low threshold french doors.

 

[Valo]

We have the widen front door and the new back door was also wide ( new cut in side of house) also the door coming off my daughters bedroom is a wide one also

The widened doors really makes a difference when using a chair, before I had the doors altered my chair barely fitted through the existing door.

 

[Valo]

Update Time....

Work has continued at a great pace over the last week. My Livingroom is now finished with the exception of a light fitting. I've gone with a Besta storage system from Ikea, the units have been wall mounted and all the doors and drawers have poppers fitted, so I just need to press the door/drawer to open them.



My wet room has also been completed with the shower and bathroom cabinet being installed. The sliding door has also been fitted. Due to the nature of the wet room my joiner was concerned that the door could eventually suffer water damage. To help prevent this he contacted one of his mates who is a panel beater and got him to dip the door in lacquer to give it extra protection against water



Work is continuing on the mono block ramp, but this is obviously weather dependent. It's beginning to look the part though
I also ordered and received the components for the backbone of my new home network. My Fibre Broadband was installed today so once the network cabinet has been fitted in the garage, my friend can come in and carryout the patch panel punchdown and terminate the CAT6 points. To finish the install off I picked up this beauty on 'the bay' for a steal!



All being well tomorrow the new french doors should be delivered and installed. The frame arrived last week to the suppliers but they've been sent to a local company to have the glazed panels fitted. My flooring is also due to be installed on the 22nd April.

I've also purchased these lovely bits of kit. I was all set to install Hive Active Heating but when I saw the news that Nest had launched their learning thermostat in the UK I decided to go with them. I had already purchased the Nest Protect a few weeks prior to it being withdrawn from sale due to the bug with the Wave to Cancel feature, which I'm sure will be resolved in due course. The ability to control my heating and monitor the house through my phone really appeals and makes it a lot easier for me as well with my limited hand function and dexterity.



It's all beginning to come together.....

 

[Valo]

Hp switch is excellent - i have the 16 port version and it's never missed a beat.

House looking good.

I've got the 8 Port this now and it's been great. Picked up the 24 port for £33

 

[Valo]

It's been another busy a few days but the major building and joinery works are now finished!
One of the last big jobs was the installation of the new french doors, which will eventually open out onto a raised deck. Unfortunately the deck has had to be put on hold until Phase 2. The doors have a low freshold so there will be a smooth transition from the inside to the deck when it's built.

The photos below are: Before - Prep Work (Once the door and dividing wall was removed) - Finished French Doors.



The difference is amazing! With the dividing wall taken away the amount of extra light flooding into the kitchen is superb!
The new mono block ramp at the front of the house has also been completed, but I forgot to take photos of it!

Remaining Jobs
Flooring: Work starts on Wednesday 23rd April
New Automated Front Door: Final measurements will be taken on Wednesday 23rd April....hopefully
Boiler Inhibitor: Will be added Friday 25th April
CAT6 Network Point & Rack Termination: My mate is starting it on Monday 21st April
Burglar Alarm and Front Door Camera Install: Being installed tomorrow, Sunday 20th April
Nest Thermostat Installation: Thursday 1st May
Existing Equipment Transfer (Ceiling Track Hoist & Electric Profiling Bed): TBA

 

[Valo]

Update Time....

It's been a really busy ten days or so, but the end results look fantastic. The house now has flooring down throughout. The Hall, Livingroom, Study and Bedrooms all have Karndean Opus - Weathered Elm



While the Kitchen Diner has Polyflor - Quarried Millstone



My permanent mono blocked ramp at the front of the house has also been completed. I'm just awaiting the railings which are being made by a blacksmith friend of my joiner who has carried out the work in the house.



A good friend and ex-work colleague kindly gave up two nights of his time to terminate my network wall sockets around the house and punchdown and install my network rack in my garage. I just need to install my NAS on the shelve in the rack when I move in.



I've also picked up an LG Direct Drive Steam Washing Machine.



My Worcester Bosch Boiler install has been completed as well with the boiler receiving it's inhibitor liquid now that all the radiators are now fitted and my Nest Thermostat has also been installed in my Hall.



The last big job still to be carried out is the installation of my new Automated Front Door. This should hopefully be down within the next 10 days all being well

 

[Valo]

lookin good! =)

Thanks very much

Quality work! Awesome

Cheers

Cool project! Looking really good. Well thought out and tasteful mods - love the wetroom! Good luck with the rest.

Thanks very much. The wet room turned out even better than I was hoping, can't wait to start using it!

 

[Valo]

Mate, your place is looking amazing!!

Thanks!

I'm really happy with it. I think it's turned out even better than I originally thought it would.
There are still one or two things to get sorted out but I'm hopeful of setting a moving date next week, once I've agreed a suitable date with two companies responsible to move my Track Hoist and Profiling Bed from my flat to the new house.

 

[Valo]

Looking great Valo, really coming along well. Looks like it will be a truly comfortable place to live

Thanks. I'm really looking forward to getting in now, it feels very comfortable already just want to begin to enjoy it properly now.

Looking damn good! WHat is a steam washing machine??? google...

Thanks

The LG TrueSteam Technology uses less water and gives a deeper clean.

 

[Valo]

brilliant job all round, looks fantastic

Thanks very much

 

[Valo]

Looks nice Valo, i hope it suits your needs and you are happy

You've done a cracking job with this mate

Cheers guys. Looking forward to getting moved in, there are still a few jobs to get done before then but the list is getting smaller by the day.

 

[Valo]

Fantastic transformation, I especially like your lounge. Those besta cabinets can look fantastic when positioned correctly. How did you attach them to the wall? On MDF battons?

Cheers I'm chuffed with the besta units as well. The doors and drawers are all on push to open 'poppers' so they are really easy to open.
You are right, the units are attached to batons. To cover the gap between the units and the wall we've fitted an aluminium breathing strip along the top. The backboard of the units have also been cut to allow power cables to be plugged in and for cables be run between units.

 

[Valo]

Well today is Part I of moving day! Fingers crossed it everything goes smoothly

 

[Valo]

Sorry for the lack of updates post move. I've been a bit under the weather, busy getting unpacked and actually enjoying my new home

I will get some final photos taken including the new fully automated front door in due course.

 

[Valo]

A bit of a long overdue update!

Since I last posted I've just been enjoying living in my new home. I also had the small job of selling my old flat, which thankfully was very straight forward and painless process.

I thought I'd share some photos of the completed mono blocked ramp with it's railings and my fully automated composite front door. My front door to the bungalow can be simply be opened by using a remote control button fob or by the wall mounted door release switch in my hall. When the door is triggered to open automatically, two large anti-pushback hook latches retract into the body of the door, the door then swings open and remains open for 15 seconds. The door will then swing closed and the hook latches will re-engage giving instant security. There is also a traditional deadbolt lock on the door as well for an extra layer of security when needed. The door also has a sensor bar along the top of the outside, this will detect if anything or anyone is causing an obstruction while the door is closing. If anything is detected the door will swing back to the fully open position.

 

[Valo]

loving the bungalow, internal doors are stunning.

Cheers! Thanks very much I'm really happy how they've turned out.

Like the ballustrading, makes a change from keyclamp

Thanks. They where done by metal worker mate of my joiner that did the work to the house. He did a great job on them, I was considering using a railing system from aalco but these worked out a fair bit cheaper.

Regarding the elephant in the room...what on earth happened to the front path?! That is an almighty **** up!

Great home though.

Yeah a little mistake there! I was hoping no one would notice The retaining walls for the ramp where built before the new wider front door was fitted. When the new front door was put in the ramp wasn't quite wide enough! This was the quickest and easier fix, rather than destroying the whole thing and rebuilding it. Don't think it's that bad!

 

[Valo]

New Kitchen

With the start of 2015 it was again time to start up and finish the work to the bungalow. The first of these jobs is to replace the Kitchen.

The existing kitchen when I purchased the property was the original, installed by the builders at the time of construction - around the year 2000. It was beginning to show it's age and had a bit of damage to the units, caused by heat damage from the oven and hob.
I would've ideally liked to have had this done before I moved in but it wasn't financially viable due to the costs involved. The last thing I wanted to do was to rush it and end up with a kitchen no better than what I started with.

Existing Kitchen (With added Pugs!)



With removing the stud walls between the Kitchen, Dining Room and Utility Room I've been left with a great open plan space which I was keen to utilise to its maximum. I've went with a local kitchen design company who specialise with German Kitchens manufactured by Pronorm.

New Kitchen




The main Kitchen keeps a very similar layout to the previous but will be extended down to the main kitchen door. The units are a high gloss cream on the top with a light taupe on the bottom to tie in with the existing flooring which was newly laid last year. The units by the door will house an integrated Fridge/Freezer and directly beside it the main fan oven, secondary oven/microwave and a warming drawer. Since these renderings where done the position of the warming drawer has been moved, so it now sits between both ovens. The existing gas hob will be removed and replaced with an induction hob, the extractor hood remains integrated directly above the hob and has an integrated spice rack behind the two doors.

I have gone with a small integrated pull out larder cupboard, integrated dishwasher and waste system. The main section of worktop is a composite with the splash backs and worktop at the utility end being a laminate. All of the drawer and cupboards have soft close as well.
The new appliances are all Siemens with the exception of my washing machine and soon to be purchased tumble dryer which are LG direct drive units as recommended on here The new wall storage unit features a Wine/Beer fridge and plenty of additional storage.

The work started today so I'll post progress photos as work gets going!

 

[Valo]

Looking brilliant fella!!

Thanks for keeping us updated and glad your enjoying it.

Cheers! Just a few jobs left to get sorted then it'll be finished. The Kitchen being the biggest out of all of them. The rest is mainly the Front/Back Gardens and the raised deck at the French Doors.