I have been using some layout software to layout my barn conversion to see how to layout my rooms.
I have been doing this gradually for weeks now without finishing as furnishing and moving in is probably years away.
But, today I went back to my original plans showing the barn dimensions and realised that I have been doing the external size totally wrong in my layout.
The architects proposed layout didn't have any dimensions for the individual rooms and we changed those anyw
I'll start with the GRP roof but I'll dedicate this whole blog entry to which I will deem the God-awful Rubbish Period. This probably seems like I'm over exaggerating but there's just been a lot of things combined with work, personal etc and I have really been feeling the pressure.
Intially, as they started laying the fabric the GRP looked OK but, despite what I would say is perfect conditions for the GRP going on from what I know through reading on here we, were appalled by the qual
Over the last week, although we can't start building, I have been starting to clear the site of brambles, nettles and other growth that we don't want.
Cutting it all down and burning is fairly easy, stopping it all coming back is not.
I checked with CIL and planning that I could do this as I don't want to fall foul of anything whilst the phase 2 is being carried out.
I'm also starting to try and get my head around building regulations as I need to understand what is being s
A lot has happened on site in the last month. But nothing really seems to look different yet.
We start with the soffit and fascia. A 15.1 metre run, in 4 pieces. Why the house grew that extra 100mm I don't know. I blame the boss and the architect! It can't possibly be anything to do with me!
What a pain this was to get straight - the process was to cut the splines down to the right size, both at the edge and bottom (the 'alien' was good for this) and then insert some reinforceme
We had our final inspection yesterday and building control were happy with the house. Just awaiting on an EPC certificate and we should have our completion certificate next week. We had a little tidy up before the inspector arrived so probably the ideal time to upload a few pictures.
It's been a while since we obtained planning permission and my last blog entry but we've not been idle. it seems that the last 3 months or so have been a constant stream of decisions that need to be made to get this project started. It's also been a period where money seems to be going out but we don't have much to show for it!
The majority of the decisions have stemmed from the architects needing to get the detailed BC drawings finished. here's a nice summary of our decisions so far
Hello,
It’s been around two months since we moved in. After a brief period of enjoying the summer and the new house we have made a push towards getting our completion certificate.
We got our air test which came back as 3.33.
We got the property registered for Council tax, pleased the assessor rated the property as a band D.
The last bit of major building work has been the construction of the ramp and decking. We always knew that because of the grou
This blog post is just to note the possibility of using Blackthorn (also known as sloe) as a hedge - which was not one I had thought about.
Blackthorn will grow into a small tree, but can also be made into a hedge; personally I think it might be attractive as one species in an informal hedge. The fruit can be made into jams, jellies or flavoured gin. Unlike many gin flavourings, it is far more than a tinge - you *know* that it has sloes in it.
It also has whi
After demolition was completed in March, nothing happened again until late June. If you want a good worker, you have to wait. And that's my friend of 10 year plus, Noel. So I was happy to wait a few months to get him to do the extensive ground works, an experienced plant operator with a team of solid workers at his disposal.
As we're building a basement, we knew excavation would be extensive. Once we'd leveled the site, dug out the founds, the drainage and main basement excavation wo
Ever since we moved in we have always been asked "is it two bungalows or one?" Weirdly it was designed exactly like the main picture (which was the start of our build as they were doing the footings).
I think it was all a bit of a ploy. Roll back to early 70s when it was some sort of large vegetable patch. Planning permission was refused for two bungalows, various amendments and someone designed the bungalow as it is today, one bungalow suspiciously looking like two bungalows separat
Not sure but I couldn't add any more images to the other blog post so this is a continuation.....
The interesting plot has 2 downhill aspects 🙂 One is the main garden and the other is to the left/front of the house where we will have an elevated parking area - there is an earlier entry describing the build of the metal structure and helical piles etc. This pic is after the beam & block & rebar just before the concrete went in.
Back in the garden w finished the law
Seeing as we were going to be using the whole plot width and the overgrown garden would then be impossible to access (sensibly) with machinery we bit the bullet on a big clear-out. Getting our soakaway in also meant this was a good thing to tackle before the house so we've spent a few months of stripping things out so we could create the soakaway area, building a lot of gabion walls and laying artificial grass. Oh and we built a shed - a very fine shed indeed 🙂
The soakaway is deep u
This covers the past few weekends of family effort. My friendly builder Jeff is finishing off another job for my electrician (the Island is a small place) so we're been plodding along on our own.
First, we needed to screw down the 50x38 counter battens at 300mm centres. The first pair in place with me balancing on the north side with my new roof ladder.
The battens themselves are to be spaced at 600mm centres, but because we were worried about high winds that weeken
My daughter thought I needed a bit more help with the roof, so came up with this pair of critters. The double act that is Griff and Raffe. What could possibly go wrong?
They can saw the counterbattens...
They can saw the battens...
They can load the nail gun - when they aren't sleeping in the hammock
And they even tried nailing the battening - but to the scaffolding.
Milling cladding for the workshop and barn today £10 a log =6 m2 of 20mm by 125 and 100mm and sell the off cuts for £25 a bag. And need 400m2 +
VID-20200814-WA0002.mp4
At the start of lockdown in March 2020 I decided to try to see how well I could grow what are termed Microgreens.
What are microgreens? At a simple level, these are a posh version of “mustard and cress” that we all grew at school, and comprise several dozen different crops that can be grown indoors at eaten very young – usually when the cotyledons have grown, and sometimes when a few leaves have also developed. Typically these are nutritious and flavoursome, and perhaps colourful, sm
I wish this was a food related post! Nope, actually the less we can cook the better. The minute the gas goes in it turns from a 36 degree caravan to an actual steam room complete with scents of tea tree and lavender from what we have applied to our arms and legs from the critters are attacking us in here through open windows and vents.
Meanwhile our dry storage in one of the outbuildings, formerly a shop the previous owner had selling canal associated tat has mice! Discovered when l
No blog in a year and then two in one week !
Having finished and moved in, I would like to pass on my sincere thanks to my fellow forum members for their help and inspiration. Whilst the decision to follow a fabric first / passivhaus approach had been made before I discovered the forum, the information in the blogs and posts was a huge help. Some of the areas where the forum had a direct influence on my decisions included:
Inspiration - Many of the blogs
- Warranty
First all my apologies as this blog entry is about about a year late given that we moved in August 2019, but better late than never as they say !
Moving on from finishing the shell, we moved onto completing the inside. We knew from previous experience this would be the most intensive part of the build and had tried to make as many decisions up front as we could regarding bathrooms, kitchens and flooring, nevertheless there were still a lot of decisions to make.
Everythin
I have a somewhat vigorous mature Clematis and Wisteria, rambling over a frame dividing the leisure garden from the kitchen garden.
This is an exchange from during lock-down with a friend, but I would welcome any further comments before I tackle this.
These are a few "high summer" dripping wet piccies from this morning:
o
This is the type of frame that is under all that greenery; a 2m tall horse fence.
We only agreed that we would explore the possibility of building our own home in January, and now somehow seem to be well and truly on our way to seeing that happen in the coming year. Very exciting, but also quite daunting. Like most self-builders, I watch episode after episode of Grand Designs, Build the Dream etc, wondering why people fall into the same financial pitfalls almost every time, and more importantly, how we might avoid doing the same.
Having found a plot with planning
After around 18 months of planning things have finally been moving a lot faster over the last couple of weeks which is great! I'll try to summarise the interesting bits:
Type 2 vs. Type 3
Our EPS was installed on a sub-base of 150mm MOT Type 2 and 50mm sharp sand for blinding. Structurally this is absolutely fine, but there was an awful lot of and fro with the foundation designers about if permeable type 3 + grit should actually have been used as specified in the system certif
