Whole House Renovation in Sunningdale — 1930s Detached, Full Refurbishment

The Brief

A substantial 1930s detached property in Sunningdale, purchased by a family relocating from London. The property had not been updated since the 1980s — original 1930s layout throughout, single-glazed wooden windows, artex ceilings, and a kitchen that had been bodged rather than built. The brief was a full interior renovation: reconfigure the ground floor into an open-plan kitchen/dining/reception, modernise all bathrooms, replace all internal joinery (doors, skirtings, architraves), replaster throughout, and prepare for decoration.

Our Approach

No planning permission was required — all works were internal. Building regulation applications were submitted for the structural alterations (removal of two loadbearing walls on the ground floor) and for the new drainage runs to the extended kitchen waste. Structural engineer designed the steel requirements: a 305x165 UC section spanning 5.4m for the main ground floor wall removal, and a 203x133 UC for a secondary partition removal.

The Build

Strip-out of the entire ground floor took two weeks — plaster hacked off all walls (original lime plaster, too cracked for patching), artex ceilings removed, all internal doors and skirtings stripped. Both loadbearing walls were taken out under temporary Acrow props, steels installed, and props removed. Damp investigation found rising damp to the base of the rear wall — a chemical injection DPC was applied and the affected plasterwork cut back. All walls were re-plastered in two-coat Thistle (hardwall base, finish coat). New kitchen drainage: 110mm solvent-weld run from new sink position to existing stack. First fix electrics fully rewired throughout (NICEIC certified sub-contractor). New internal oak veneer doors throughout. New torus skirting and ogee architrave throughout to match the period of the property. Master bathroom completely gutted and rebuilt. Family bathroom gutted and rebuilt. Downstairs cloakroom rebuilt.

Materials & Specification

Structural steels: 305x165 UC (main span) and 203x133 UC (secondary). Plaster: British Gypsum Thistle Hardwall and Finish. Internal doors: Oak veneer with brushed satin ironmongery. Skirtings/architraves: Torus and ogee profile MDF primed. DPC: Wykamol chemical injection system.

The Result

The ground floor was transformed from a four-room Victorian-layout house into an open 65 square metre kitchen/dining/reception. All six rooms on the first floor were replastered, re-doored, and re-skirted. Three bathrooms were rebuilt to a high specification shell ready for tiling. The property was ready for decoration and fit-out at handover after 22 weeks on site.

Project Photos

Photos from this project will be added shortly. View our project gallery for completed work examples.

Project FAQs