Combining two flats in to one.

daninmanchester

I'm looking at buying a Victorian era house that has been divided in to two flats, but want to restore it to a house.

My main concern is the utilities.

All the utilities seem to run through the hall with their own meters etc. They might have their own breakers on each floor im not sure.

Short term jobs are :

• Get the gas supply on a single meter.
• "Bridge" the two heating systems.
• Merge the electrics on to the same meter.
• Possibly swap out the breaker boards if they need updating.
• Not sure what the water situation is, but a single un-metered supply seems likely.

If it turns out the boiler cant run the whole house is it possible to run two boilers on a single meter for a while?

Obviously other wiring and plumbing issues will need addressing, but are these like a day or two of labour and basic wires and pipes or something more fundamental? Do I need gas and electricity boards?

Just looking for broad-brush figures. i.e. is it a couple of days work with some basic parts (wires and plumbing) or likely to be something more fundamental?

edit ** for the jobs listed. obviously a rewire etc is a big job

katejo

daninmanchester wrote: »

I'm looking at buying a Victorian era house that has been divided in to two flats, but want to restore it to a house.

My main concern is the utilities.

All the utilities seem to run through the hall with their own meters etc. They might have their own breakers on each floor im not sure.

Short term jobs are :

• Get the gas supply on a single meter.
• "Bridge" the two heating systems.
• Merge the electrics on to the same meter.
• Possibly swap out the breaker boards if they need updating.
• Not sure what the water situation is, but a single un-metered supply seems likely.

If it turns out the boiler cant run the whole house is it possible to run two boilers on a single meter for a while?

Obviously other wiring and plumbing issues will need addressing, but are these like a day or two of labour and basic wires and pipes or something more fundamental? Do I need gas and electricity boards?

Just looking for broad-brush figures. i.e. is it a couple of days work with some basic parts (wires and plumbing) or likely to be something more fundamental?

edit ** for the jobs listed. obviously a rewire etc is a big job

Can't advise you on your questions but is is leasehold? Won't you need planning permission to change it?

daninmanchester

I'll get the freehold.

Planning permission not 100% sure.

To subdivide a single dwelling house it is required. It may be required to reverse the process, but I would expect it to be more straightforward.

Internally there are no substantial changes required other than removing a partition wall in the hall way.

The front porch is an ugly diagonal 2 door affair and I will be restoring it, putting in a reclaimed door etc.

Ectophile

You will definitely need to get the gas and electricity companies involved at some point. At the moment, you will be paying two sets of bills, with two sets of standing charges. What you will need is to have one gas and one electricity supply disconnected.

daninmanchester

Yes I had that conversation already. They said no real problem with that, but even if I combine the supplies I will be paying standing charges until they remove the second meters.

I'm guessing it's like half a day to a day for an electrician / gas fitter to do the combining. I can't think why it would be more but then I'm no expert.

baldelectrician

daninmanchester wrote: »

I'm guessing it's like half a day to a day for an electrician / gas fitter to do the combining.

You are probably needing to combine 2 consumer units in to one new unit- well more than half a day.
You are looking at 2-3 days including testing and adding a smoke detector system (building standards usually require it in Scotland - you may not be required to be as safe in other parts of the UK; for example private rentals in Scotland have to have MANDATORY mains smoke detector provision but battery is OK in England / Wales)

Make sure you use a registered electrical company who can sign off their own work.

Ectophile

You don't necessarily have to replace the two consumer units with one. There's no reason why you couldn't run a submain from the supply you are keeping to the other consumer unit, which then becomes a distribution board.

This is common in big houses to keep the wiring manageable.

But if you get a qualified electrician in, they will probably find a number of issues that need fixing. A half day is going to be a bit optimistic.

MX5huggy

On the gas it depends on the size (kW rating) of each boiler and the distance they are from the proposed boiler. 2 12kW boilers within 3 meters I would expect you to be fine, 2 30kW boilers 20 meters away I would expect you to have problems. You need a RGI to work out what is possible. I would not spend much on temporary measures the only cost of the 2 meters is a standing charge of about £100 per year, not much plumbers time.