Demolish and Rebuild – New Home Means New Start
Even though it probably sounds a bit intimidating and even heartbreaking, demolishing your old home and building a new one indeed has a lot of amazing advantages. Truth be told, a new home marks a new start, so embrace those changes and don’t be afraid of new beginnings. Here’s everything you need to know about the processes of demolition and rebuilding, so check out our tips and guidelines and get it done like a true pro!
Be very clear about what’s staying and what’s going
Needless to say, demolishing a home doesn’t have to mean that you need to completely clear the entire block. If there’s an old tree you want to keep, a pool that needs to stay, a shed or any other building you want to retain – remember that it’s completely fine as long as you make it clear from the very beginning. If you fail to do so, it’ll take only one unfortunate event during the demolition and these will be forever gone in the blink of an eye. This means that you need to be very specific about the things you want to keep and those that are free to go, so speak with your contractors and come up with a well-defined scope of services you require.
What to consider before demolition?
Once you’ve made the decision to demolish, you must remember that there are a lot of things you should take into consideration before you call for the wrecking ball. First of all, you should definitely hire an architect to help you with the design, as it’s highly likely that you can’t do it on your own. Apart from that, you should also apply for planning permission to demolish and replace, and to check if your home is in a conservation area. You should find out if your home is of significant historical interest, too. If it’s in a specially designated area, the permission may not be granted unless you can prove that the replacement will, in fact, be an improvement.
How to get planning approval?
The planning department is more likely to accept plans which correspond to the entire neighborhood, so make sure to be sensible with your application for a replacement dwelling. For example, if your street is full of Victorian houses, you’ll be more likely to get the approval if you design something similar to these. Of course, it doesn’t mean that a contemporary house won’t get an approval – but it’ll certainly be a more difficult task. If you live in a conservation area, you may get planning permission but with a restriction on types of materials, such as bricks and roof tiles. In those cases, you can hire companies such as Konnect Building that will plan your new home and build it according to your special requests.
Demolish a home safely
Another important thing you must bear in mind is the fact that you, as the landowner, are the only one liable for health and safety on the site. The first thing you’ll need is obviously demolition permission. You won’t have to apply for it in some cases – for example, when you want to knock down a smaller residential building of up to 50 cubic meters (measured externally, including the walls). Obviously, demolishing an old house is a specialist job, which is why you should hire contractors. There may be potential risks from hazardous materials such as asbestos, as well as potential issues with the support and protection of adjoining structures, and the contractors are the only ones who can deal with these properly.
As you can see, there are a lot of things you should bear in mind when planning to demolish your old home and build a new one, and the aforementioned ones are of the utmost importance if you ask us. All you have to do is to stick to our tips and guidelines and you’ll eventually end up with a new home and a fresh start. That’s exactly what matters most, right?