Nov 11th - Let's not forget
I have huge respect and admiration for those who have gone before us, including members of my own family, for what they did in any war to protect us.
At times I think they were conned as much as any of us, but they were there in good faith putting their lives at risk.
Thank you one and all.
But, back to this blog, this is also so I don't forget.
I'm going to try and update weekly on what I've achieved, or failed at, in the previous week and hopefully on plans for the next.
It's great when others read this and comment, makes me feel less lonely on this long journey.
As I have said previously, I'm looking at costs at the moment and as we are on a tight budget (most are) I'm looking at how to save money.
There are always the big cost items, roof (40k), windows (30k) amongst many others and I wonder how others have managed.
This week I'm trying to look into changing how we are building our cavity wall.
Our build is a class Q barn conversion where we have to keep the existing walls, except for necessary new openings, it's 240m2 single story, so there is a lot of roof, twice that of a 2 story one. It also has to be metal, hence the very expensive estimate of 40k, or is it just me that thinks this sounds like a lot.
The existing walls are on 80% of the barn and are block built, but single skin. We have permission to build the cavity wall outside the existing wall, but my calculations have shown this to be over 5,000 blocks. This turns out to be a lot of money, and as DIY self builders we are also concerned about how long it will take as we are not able to work full time on this.
So, I have been considering other options, but not getting on very well, should we use ICF or timber frame or just bought in labour. It's easy to see how blocks will work, but I'm not so sure about building a 2nd wall outside using a different method.
I can just about see how ICF would work, like big lego, but that is still expensive.
The structure is not that important as it is partially clad and partially render, so whatever we use will be covered up.
Apart from this I'm trying to get hold of BC re foundations, originally as we are converting they said that they don't need to see any, but as we will have to have new foundations for the 2nd skin, and damp course etc. I need to know how this works. I guess by their lack of reply that they are not available during L2.
A week of questions and not many answers.
I must remain optimistic that things will become clear, but it's not easy.
Here's wishing good luck to everyone else taking the same journey, particularly in these difficult times.
In the next week I am hoping to continue with my manual estimating and getting the internal costs down to then start of the external elements.
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