"brugnospamsia" wrote
| thanks mate - my intention was to fit a permanent wall if I ever had to
| sell or rent out the house.
| I handnt thought about building regs - I was half planning to fit fire
| doors in any case

You probably do not require fire doors in a two-storey property which is not
a House of Multiple Occupation. However you must consider building regs.
Your property, if done up, will probably appeal to first time buyers who
will be frightened off by any irregularities in permissions.

| Formal dining for me is a very low priority.

And for most prospective purchasers/renters in this type of property, which
is why I suggested a kitchen-diner.

| I currently plan to move most
| of the kitchen functions into the front room.

That will mean however that your staircase (escape route from upper floor)
passes through a kitchen, which may be unacceptable.

| Coming up with a worthwhile kitchen for resale purposes will be a real
| challenge with the existing one being only 6 ft x 8 ft 6" internally.
| I can see I'll have to have to plan for a future "selling layout".

Hence knocking through and making kitchen-diner, otherwise it will feel like
a scullery. On the upside, because it's a small kitchen you can use nicer
units and tiles for that 'wow' factor without it costing as much as it would
in a bigger room.

| Sample rough-up diagram is at (5.3kB)
| http://www.stirlingcity.co.uk/ofc1/houselayout.png
| thanks mate ! - looks great but it's a bit more rad than I had in mind -
| the house is a centre valley

buggers any hope of a loft con then.

| so I can see structural engineers and tonnes
| of steel involved here !

I kept the bedroom centre walls where they were :-) A couple of hours of an
engineer's time on site giving you verbal advice of what could be moved
where and what couldn't might be invaluable.

| ... single brick party walls

That might be where your soundproofing problems lie.

The decision you have to make is are you doing the work to make a home for
you, or as an investment. If it's as an investment you must do what appeals
to the widest market, and not get personal.

Owain