sheelg

Hello, I am in search for a solution to do flat roof as well. Our's has a outside deck as well. I know two systems but so far but I am sure others will have more products to suggest : https://thermohouse.co.uk/thermoroof/ https://www.cdi-icm.co.uk/system/op-deck/ I

Bins would be a pain to carry and drag out to the collection point. We live in a terrace house at the moment so we are used to carrying food/laundry basket up and down two floors. I am worried about overheating as well. I will have to look at a combination of roller blinds + trees on GF + Brise soleil to tackle the overheating. build budget estimation vs finish value assessment is taking all my spare time at this moment 🙂

Good suggestion - I will look at adding one.

😄 No you are not. 1. The one in basement patio is for fire exit. I believe that is required if the basement has to be used for kitchen ? 2. The one connecting Mezzanine to GF will likely get used most by us. 3. it was required to connect the three floors. We could stop the stairs at GF level but the lift would go to the basement and leave a void around it. 4. This one is added as part of design but it is really "nice to have" and may be put to hold if budget doesn't allow. I am thinking of putting cantilever stairs hanging from the ICF wall.

West wall and the double height South glazing are the two complex aspect of this build. I am leaning on using ICF (Nadura) and I did review the design with a consultant and he was seemed not to concerned with the west wall. Southern wall double height glazing worries me a bit for overheating and for the cost of so much glazing.

I am yet to obtain the approval for my first 'forever home' yet and I daydream for the next one to be on some slope site with a walkout basement 😄

Yes - and the council has put a condition for landsacpe plan so I am adding white birch trees near the south fence. I learn from some thread here that I can claim VAT on purchase of the trees that were listed and approved in the landscape plan ?

Thank you - using ICF, I calculated that putting a basement of whole footprint of the house was cost effecient and gave us lot more space than we need

Yes, while the wifey is very excited about the high ceilings and double height glazing, I am very worried about over heating in summer. I do plan Brise soleil to bring shade - I don't have much idea what else to do. How did you manage to prevent over heating ?

thanks for your feedback @Bozza . Yes, I do agree that we have designed the bedrooms to be a bit larger than standard - this was one of the features that my misses was not ready to budge on 🙂 In terms of house features and needs : 1. We are a family of two with no kids. We hope to bring dog to this house some time in future as this will be our house for life. 2. Upstairs bedrooms are kept larger and an external access is proposed with an option that when we retire or if life circumstances ever change then the top floor bedrooms could be let out as self contained studio/Airbnb. 3. We needed two working spaces becuse there are days when we both WFH. We have kept one of the space in the living area is only for illustration. It was kept to keep the person working from home stay connected with the living space and have awareness of the front door. 4. Two kitchens - One as show kitchen at the basement level and another kitechenette on the GF for actual contained cooking. Indian food cooking demands an airtight kitchen with industrial exhaust 😄 5. We do cherish doing Yoga and the gym space is for that. 6. Individual bathrooms because when we go to work, it's rush hour to get ready at the same time. 7. Large bedrooms, double garage, mezzanine floor, walk in wardrobes and an east facing terrace are all wishful features that we thought we will never get a chance to have in our house so when this opportunity presented it self, we put all that in the design. We don't have much needs other than ones listed above - we started self-build journey when me and my wife were looking at an American style fridge freezer and my wife cracked a joke that we would need to build a new house to fit a fridge of our choice (we live in a 9 year old new build btw). So most of our requirements are a collection of features that didn't worked for us in our current house or are features that we fancied when watching grand design on tele 😄 Thanks for all your inputs.

Hello Everyone, I am a first time self-builder who has never built anything before. We have obtained a planning permission to demolish an exsiting timber bungalow and rebuild a traditional style bungalow with basement and patio. However, we have applied another application with design for a contemporary a house with basement. The plot is a backland and it has a 25m drive in with two neighbour to the front and no neighbours on all other side. We hope that, while this is a contrast to the local scene, we are roughly 35m away from the stree and snuck behind two neighbours to the front so the design will be acceptable to council. Please can I have some valuable inputs based on your experiences - mostly around how we have designed the internal floor design (please note that basement gym/Store is for depiction only - we may use it as cinema room) Thank you all in advance. Cheers, G.

Hello good people here, I am a software programmer who has no prior experience of building anything. I was lucky to have found a ruined bungalow plot in Uxbridge that met 90% of the requirements for our ideal house. Planning has been slow and painful but we did get permission to demolish and rebuild last March. My SO wanted a basement and some changes to the designs and here I am, still waiting for Hillingdon council to approve me to build. I have been a long-time lurker here but, now that I am close to starting to build, I felt this is the right time to introduce myself and to thank everyone here who has been so helpful and takes out their time to help the newer self-builders. The wealth of information here is unparalleled. I will be sharing the floor plans in the other thread – any inputs will be much appreciated. I would like to thank @Jenki and @ETC who have shared a wealth of information and ideas through DM’s We have a saying in IT: Beware of programmers who carry screw drivers with them. Well, this programmer has finally decided to pick a screw driver (and many other tools) and build something good with it. Cheers, G.

Fantastic progress @Jenki 🙂 .I am still at planning stage but I have been following your progress through these months and I feel more confident that I will be able to do some of the work myself (whenever I am able to get through the never ending planning process)