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Blogs

South coast ICF build

Getting started again- MVHR, first fix

After a summer spent cruising the canals we arrived back on site with a little trepidation and a lot of enthusiasm.   When we left the build we had just got the scaffold down and had a lockable water tight shell,. Well almost water tight, we still have two leaks. One where our roof lights join and another on a roof seam that abuts the wall on the house gable. Fortunately neither were bad enough to have caused any damage over what has been a pretty dry summer.   The internals
Kentish RenoExtension

Temporary heat source for UFH: Willis heaters

After various delays, the time has come to get some heat into the house, and as there have been a few on BH that have gone down the route of Willis, thought I would give it a go as well. Hopefully others will find the blog entry also.   Background: Renovated (3G passiv-rated windows, 120mm EPS EWI, 400mm loft insul, MVHR - not tested air leakiness yet) / extended (175mm SIPs) south facing detached house, East Kent 156sqm of wet UFH in 100mm concrete (with circa 300-375mm
Recoveringbuilder

A second Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope all your dreams of self build come true. This is our second Christmas in the new house although I think it’s more liveable now! The last few months have been spent getting it that way, it now resembles a home, all rooms are more or less finished although we will be revisiting the dining room  next year and trying to get something done with the staircase whether it be moving it to the position it should have originally been in had it not been short of around 40
Druim nan Darach

Treatment Tank/Landscaping

Hello,   Another post and another year of self building.   Since my last entry we have made some progress in a few areas.   I previously mentioned some trouble that I had with the treatment tank.     We choose a Tricel model as it is widely installed on Skye and the local merchants all suggested it. The alternative was a rotating one with moving parts which I was keen to avoid. Other models were getting costly to be delivered and would require some f
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 12 & 13 - External Tanking

Progress on site has been a bit slow so we have combined the last two weeks together, and also the guys packed up early on Friday for their long and well earned  Christmas break. Over the last two weeks you can see them taking down the last of the shuttering and getting it off site. So that is the end of the poured concrete for us which is a big milestone and you can now see the full extent of the basement / foundations. The next step was to put a fillet of mortar all around the outside of the k
The Larch House

First Blog Post

It's a bit overdue but this is the first post of our build. The start was a long time coming, the idea to do a self-build struck in May 2017 when I spotted a plot on Rightmove which happened to be exactly equidistant between my family and my wife's family. With a young child and ageing grandparents the idea of relocating to be nearer to family appealed, as did the idea of building a house.   Purchasing the plot was not without challenges and the legal side took about 9 months. Most of
  • Andrew
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 11 - The last pour for the walls

The weather was really cold this week but the guys cracked on and removed the shuttering from the first pour of the walls and moved it ready for the second pour. Luckily the weather warmed up and they were able to pour the final structural walls on Friday so this should be the last of the  waterproof concrete. As you can see where the shuttering has come off we are left with really neat concrete with just the shutter panel marks. The waterproofing guy inspected these and was really happy: in his
Building in a woodland on the Isle of Wight

Site Clearance and Planning Conditions

One of the more onerous (read expensive) planning conditions related to the driveway design and protection of tree roots. We were required to install a "no dig" foundation layer using Core geocells (or similar) after the planners were happy with the site fencing, but before the old bungalow was demolished. Typically the planners said "no" the first time we applied for discharge for no readily apparent reason. I re-applied having done more work for an unrelated condition and they said "yes".
  • dnb
Building in a woodland on the Isle of Wight

The site as purchased

Here are a few pictures of the site from the time we took posession and started to clear the undergrowth and satisfy the planning conditions.   The driveway to be. It makes Range Rovers look small. Only a few bits of tree and detritus to remove!   The boss hard at work during some tree removal work.   The back garden being fenced off after felling a very large diseased eucalyptus.   Another planning condition: Social housing for bats!
  • dnb
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 10 - Shuttered Walls

As you can see in the video this week they built up the shuttering in layers; first the outside, then the steel in the middle of the sandwich and finally the internal shutter.       Also along the bottom they cleaned out the kicker and laid in a waterbar / waterstop (that brown bar in one of the photos) in a pre-formed channel, this forms a seal and prevents any water coming through the joint between the walls and the floor.     They bolt the two ha
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 9 - The Big Pour

Actually it didn't pour and it was really great weather on Monday for the main slab pour which was a real help for the guys. They poured the 300mm thick slab - all 79m3 of it - all in one go, so it was a long day and the kicker took a lot of time as it was levelled with a trowel. It caused a few traffic problems when the first lorry was a long 8 wheeler and blocked the road, but after that 6 wheelers meant that cars could get past. As it is waterproof concrete and is covered by a 20 year warrant
Mr and Mrs Triassics New Home

Bathroom Choices

We’re at the bathroom design stage and being a bloke i don't have a clue!     If it were left to me I’d buy a perfectly serviceable white bathroom suite from the local builders merchants. Luckily my wife has more idea about what is really required, so yesterday we set off round the local bathroom showrooms, of which there are four,  a large one which is part of the local family owned builders merchants, a middle range and two high end showrooms.  Having sat in, tapped and operated the var
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 8

Week 8 was a short week on site as they finished all the prep for the slab pour on Thursday and went off to another job - or to hide from the weather. The big pour for the main slab is all set for Monday and because of the quantity of concrete and the waterproofing they booked it a week in advance. The slab gets poured in one go so its going to be a busy and exciting day!   If you look (sorry the video is not very exciting this week) you can see them tying in the last of the L-bar / st
Druim nan Darach

Stairs and balustrade

Starting to put in the exciting stuff.   The stairs measurements were taken back in August and we then had to have a good think about what type of timber and finish we wanted.   The vaulted ceiling had a bit more structural work and being the most interesting feature in the house and we decided that this would be good place to invest in a high finish and we decided go with a solid oak stairs and balustrade with toughened glass panels.    Like many self builders we h
The Fun Irish (House)

Renovation Required....!

So, my house build has fallen through but that releases some money to go about making my current house (2 storey semi detached) more comfortable. I got a Solar PV system installed recently and am waiting on the grant to come back for that. It's a 4.2Kw system with a 6Kw battery. IT cost €8K after the grant and it has an Eddi diverter for hot water from any excess. I'm surprised they fitted 13 panels on my roof which exceeds the max 12m2 planning laws but a woman in Limerick won a court case wher
Self Building two in North Wiltshire

Week 7 - It's a steel!

The video shows the black plastic membrane going down this week, followed by an enormous quantity of steel. What you dont see is that with all the rain the pump has been running continuously to try and keep the rainwater at bay - getting lots of water on the slab at this point is a bad thing as the membrane floats up which is a 'bad thing', its a bit better now because of the tons of steel on it!   The black membrane goes down in three layer - first the sealed flexible which is heat se
Wedding Cake Re-build

And... we're off - Demolition Time

Wow - time goes fast! I guess I'll say that again....and again!   We submitted the revised planning app - free as within a year - and that was approved with no comments. The revised design removed a couple of windows which has pleased the neighbours. Engineer co has been working with the architect so we have made a lot of progress in design terms while we did the planning app so had building regs design approval ahead of revised planning approval!   In prep for the demolition
  • Adam2
Under the Chestnut Tree

Tree matters…

As I mentioned in my last post, as one of my very first actions I feel that I need to talk to my arboriculturalist. I think that many subsequent decisions depend on his answers.   My small plot (20m x 20m) has a chesntnut tree on its border and its roots are to be preserved. Those roots spread under about half my plot. And it is the half between my access gate and where the dwelling will be so exactly in the wrong place. Everything will travel across the roots. And the root zone is alm

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