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
Douglas Adams, in "Life, the Universe and Everything", that Arthur Dent expressed a need for "a strong drink and a peer group".
That is what this Gardening Blog is for - my need for the same thing because my knowledge about gardening is patchy, just like my garden. Buildhub cannot supply a strong drink, but I am hoping that the peer group can help me get to grips with the garden I inherited last year. The idea has been around for a couple of months, and is now in a position start.
This is only a short update because we've been taking it easy on the house so the boss and I can get some (paid) work done. Will be the school holidays soon - so slave labour will be available!
I have ordered some plain and simple white UPVC soffits and facia from a local company so time to start measuring up and cutting the splines level. More work for the Alien and some string. The plumb line is made from a Lotus Elise crank pulley bolt! Hopefully the soffits and facia will be inst
Bit back to front this, will take some photos of first half when I’ve done this bit, at minute it’s chockablock with kingspan boards.
ive turfed all of the insulation out, binned the very old collapsed stuff, shook all the crap off the remainder, hoovered everything.
at the minute I’m just working on uncovering the rather dangerous looking electrics, but putting kingspan boards in where I can just to get them done and out the way.
this is one for the electrici
So, progress has continued and after months of walking round looking at drawings I can actually see proper rooms which is all very exciting. My necessity of carrying lip gloss everywhere has been replaced with a tape measure which is now a handbag essential! I've become almost obsessive checking sizes of rooms, window openings and that potential bathroom purchases will fit. My tape measure had that much use it finally broke!
One stand out moment was the steels for the 5.5 metre Inter
Now we have planning in place, and a design we are happy with, time to get started. We are certain we cannot employ a main contractor to do the build - at 280m2, the MC estimates are in the £400k range. We need to keep it closer to £250k.
Demolishing the existing was the first challenge. After a few calls, it soon became apparent that this would not be cheap. £10-£20k from the main demo companies. Lowest offer was £4 for a reclamation company to come in, demolish by hand and take al
There was not much in the way of progress from the last entry as we were already close to moving in.
The plumbing was completed in the last entry and connecting some final electrical fittings was done soon after.
After a decade since putting in outline planning it was time.
Our furniture delivery has taken longer than anticipated and we are living with a bean bag for the living room seating and a mattress on the floor for our bed. But we are here.
The fir
I think we are done with going up, so it's time to put a roof on the house. It's fully made from SIPS panels, approximately a foot thick so very little internal structure is needed. We had a little bit of argument on site today unfortunately between the SIPS people and scaffolders, but it was resolved and progress was made. It comes down to differing cultures and a lack of experience of the speed of this sort of build locally.
The front as seen from the driveway approach. It has beco
We have seen huge changes on site in the last couple of days. The SIPS team have worked very hard to keep things on track. I can't fault anything they have done. All the walls are in place now and we're waiting for the scaffolding to have the last lift built so the roof lift can happen, planned for early afternoon on Monday.
Craning the roof panels into the assembly area.
The small part of the L shape roof that goes over the master bedroom sitting waiting to be lift
Demolition, site clearance, reduce dig and installation of pre-insulated pipes for ASHP and potential future garden room. The pre-insulated pipe we used in the end was "REHAU RAUTHERMEX 25mm+25mm/111mm DUO PIPE".
The ground was luckily fantastic, apart from one area with some roots and a couple of soft spots left over from the demolition. So we managed to avoid the extra 800mm reduced dig that had been specified based on 2 trial holes in the old front garden. At over 200m2, that w
There have been a few delays along the way, but now the largest work package is well and truly under way. The last 24 hours has seen the house go from 300mm out of the ground to 2.7 metres.
The front door and stairwell on the left and family room doors on the right.
Unloading the second trailer load of parts. Running out of space on site now!
First floor joists going in. With another view of the stairwell window
Inside the loung
We're back at work. The SIPS team are on the Island and have satisfactory accomodation, and the first load of house is unloaded on site. But before the photos of this, there are the last stages of getting out of the ground and interfacing with the SIPS superstructure.
The site foreman early last week doing the final checks of plinth flatness. To the best of our measurement ability all is good - within 3mm in height and 5mm laterally.
First to arrive: A new toy! I us
So now the new kitchen is in, it was time to renovate the room which was the old kitchen in to the first part of the dining room (I say first part, as the second part is going to be in an extension which i'm hoping to build next year).
And then the real messy work begins
This is the house that keeps on giving! Found two redundant (but live) gas pipes buried in the plaster on the wall I knew nothing about, to go wit
I've not been on site for much of the week because I had plenty of paid work to do, so I left my scaffolders alone. They're getting there. One more morning and we should be good for the first stages of the SIPS installation.
Finally the boss has acknowledged the house might not be tiny.
This side stays open for the first few days of SIPS installation to allow acccess for the panels.
Hoping for some reasonable weather for the weekend to get the last few bi
Things seem to be happening very quickly and progress has gone really well.
The block and beam of the huge extension is coming together now and the focus has been outside, although with the occasional downpour the inside is now half empty with our 1970s bathroom suite finally gone.
In the interim I've sold everything inside, the kitchen, boiler, naff internal doors and even the crappy floor tiles we took off. All copper and rads ready for my dad to weigh in. Have now run
For PC
Get irfanview from here.
https://www.irfanview.com/
Get a window grab of the view from Streetview (using Ctrl-Printscreen for current window or Printscreen for whole screen). Or use a photo.
Trim it using the cursor and CTRL-Y (crop selection)
Do an Edge Detect from Image > Effects >Edge Detect menu.
That gives you the edges in white on black.
Invert the image (CRTL-SHIFT-N) to get black on white.
... may have been well summarised in a quote on the Radio 4 programme "You and Yours" this lunchtime by a gentleman from the Swimming Pools Association about the current boom in swimming pools.
"What about Hot Tubs?"
"Hot tubs are the devil's own swimming pool."
This was known, in almost all its features, to Hieronymous Bosch the artist - 500 years ago.
This is "Tondal's Vision".
(No, I don't like hot tubs very much.)
It's been a while since anyone was on site but family. We've done a few jobs in the last couple of months but obviously made nothing like the progress we originally planned. (Management speak would be "rebaselining the programme"!)
All the beam and block is installed and grouted.
All the plinth blocks are installed and pointed, placed to an accuracy of 3mm in height and 5mm in the other directions. Hopefully... Waiting now for the SIPS people to mark my homework!
All the bu
The kitchen has a 10.5 metre steel ridge which protrudes into the vaulted ceiling by 50cm. I also attached the ventilation 75mm pipework along the side of the steel to supply the living room at the opposite end.
So a curved ceiling to run underneath the inside of the ridge. A simple explanation is imagining a skateboard halfpipe upside down. I built a frame out of ply with cutouts for batten to run the entire length of the ceiling. I then fitted a layer of 6mm red faced ply to create a curv
Seemed to spend most of the winter and spring fitting plasterboard. At times I struggled to keep motivated. About 275 sheets later and still a bathroom and living room to board out even now. The plasterer did a great job, I have great admiration for the skill.
Did some drainage and fitted the Vortex treatment plant and rainwater harvesting tank aswell as the. mains supply to the house as the ASHP arrived ready to be plumbed in.
My dear Father bu
In response to @Russell griffiths post about blogs, here goes. It is still 2018.
I finished the Tata Colorcoat Urban roof, tricky around the Velux windows and fitting the ridge trying not to get sealant everywhere. No leaks 2 years later. Kwikstage very useful, heavy but a worthy purchase on a long self build.
I made up one of the roof trusses for the garage and thats where it sat for another year.
Back inside and started to put down 150 Celotex
