jack

Friends don't behave like he's behaving.

Possibly more expensive, but what about foamglass?

You need to know how long it's been like this. On the face of it, and depending on timing and evidence, the rear property may well have a claim to adverse possession of the Title 2 property. Perhaps worth looking into the adverse possession question, but if I were the vendor I doubt I'd be paying for a survey in relation to this. The value of the Title 2 strip of land isn't very high, so even arguing that it probably isn't likely to under the control of the registered owner any more is unlikely to result in much if any price difference. How long does it look the fence between Title 1 and 2 look like it's been there? I'd be more inclined to look into this if it were new than if it looked like it'd been there a while.

Hi Antony I'm having a little trouble following this. Is the existing fence a straight(ish) line along the back of your properties and the properties either side of it? If so, it's probably gone one of two ways: - The neighbours either side have already grabbed the unregistered land; or - The rear neighbour has taken over the Title 2 property. The latter seems a little unlikely - I can't imagine the existing owner of the property you're buying being okay with having the back of their garden stolen like this, although if it was never fenced properly to include it within the fenced area of Title 1, it could have been lost through adverse possession (the "12 year" thing you're talking about above). More info needed to be sure. Can you ask the neighbours of the Title 1 property if they know anything?

Start with the less visible/used doors!

Welcome to BuildHub. In what part f the country are you building?

ExCEPtional

Welcome to Buildhub! Sounds an interesting approach to building. Have you looked into cross laminated timber construction?

That's odd. Aren't they Canadian? I've never seen one used in the UK.

Bit shy about posting them on the forum, but I'll PM you some shortly. To be fair, the house layout was largely designed by an architect, but I couldn't get on with the external looks he was coming up with (just a matter of personal taste), so the exterior design is mine.

+1

Why didn't you join earlier? Maybe Buildhub might have been able to alleviate some stress (or at least allow you to vent it). Anyway, sounds like you're well on your way. It must be rewarding to have done so much yourself.

Welcome to Buildhub - looks an interesting project.

Wow, what a fantastic sounding (and looking!) project! That view is gobsmacking. I love the fact that you have evidence of some of the people who've lived there before. I had the same with the little garage workshop at the place we bought. I assume you'll hang onto the odd salvageable piece to keep a link to the history of the place?

If it's just based on SAP points, you can achieve it with less solar. We have 8.5kW of solar and achieved an as-built SAP score of 100. Take a look at waste water heat recovery connected across one or two or the showers. Even one of those is worth a few SAP points, I believe.

Interesting, thanks. Sounds like a lot of faff!

Given some of the frank feedback we had from random passers-by about our modern but not crazily so house, I can imagine that they're more than used to defending themselves. Most really liked it (surprisingly, even a lot of elderly people were happy to see someone building something different), but the odd one was happy to say that they hate modern buildings and don't know why the council allows them to be built. Can't imagine the comments these people must have had over the course of the build! Good on them for building what they want. I vastly prefer this house to a Barrett box covered in hung tile, in an estate of Barrett boxes covered in hung tile. It's shame how little there appears to be in the middle for people who just want to buy a house to live in. It does look a bit ropey in places, for sure. Some of the ceilings look like failing concrete in a very old building. I doubt that's what they were specifically after, but I do like their attitude of allowing the house to tell the story of its building. I need to make time to watch the episode this weekend. I'm intrigued to know how they insulated, in particular.

There's a pedestrian door at the back, and sockets on the left and right walls. I also think no-one had actually moved in when this photo was taken - there's zero furniture in the other pics in the photoshoot. But I take your general point.

To be fair, you aren't the target market. Modern house are funny things. They exclude a large portion of the population, but those they don't exclude are often willing to pay a premium. Whether this is the case here isn't clear - I love modern houses, and even concrete houses, but this is missing a little something for me. It could be that adding in another texture might take it over the line.

Well the inside of my house regularly looks like a bomb's gone off, so maybe you're onto something.

Mike, if you don't mind, I might merge this with the main Grand Designs thread so it's all in one place.

Exactly this, in my opinion. As it happens, my wife and I were talking just last week about what we'd do if we were ever to build again, and one of the things I said I wanted was cast concrete. The problem with what they've done here (I've only seen photos, not the show) is that the design itself isn't special enough for it to get away with such a bleak material, and it's used without any sort of break. It's just brutalist without more. Concrete houses can look spectacular in my opinion: Part of my love of concrete is driven by the South Bank. I used to walk over Waterloo Bridge on the way to and from work and got a bit obsessed with the Royal National Theatre and the way it catches the sun at different times of the day and year. I have far too many photos like this on my phone from around that time: In fact, the external design for our house was very much inspired by that building (not that they look at all similar!)

It does look generous. Take a look here @recoveringacademic

I draw it where I feel comfortable, based on my own experiences, research, risk tolerance, knowledge of my children's skills and abilities, and (of course) significant personal biases.

Yes, a great way of learning, as long as you survive! Personally, I know I have a very low tolerance for risk, especially if I don't perceive an adequate reward. For example, I'd love to get into hang gliding (genuinely), but the risk to reward ratio just doesn't work for me.