G and J

It’s a personal preference, but I’d always choose to hear ‘new house? Really?’ from a passer by than ‘wow, that looks space age’. A good few of the grand designs buildings remind me of the front of Asdas. 😞

SIPs just couldn’t cost in, now trying to hone my understanding re standard(ish) timber frame. I’ve finally worked out how to start to use the ubakus thingy and playing with that has been fascinating. Vertical larch cladding is important to us aesthetically, so whilst I understand the advantage of non combustible materials it’s not what we want. I’ve posted our plans on our first blog entry in case they’re of interest. So we’ve got the challenge of construction phase fire resistance (hence cement board sheathing) and resistance to external fire source (treated larch cladding). I do like a challenge!

That does sound onerous. I’m guessing the very updraft one builds in to keep the wood dry is effectively a chimney which will encourage fire to grow quickly. Scary.

We are due to commence detailed planning soon. So not yet. Thank you for doing all that, that’s lovely of you. I will admit I’m becoming apprehensive about the required build up due to fire resistance requirements, but that aside….. some questions: Is the extra batten width to give greater fire resistance or are you recommending that for stiffness? (Or both?) I’m assuming strapping is another name for the horizontal battens we will need to clad to. I was under the impression that I could sheath our frame directly in cement board, so not needing OSB as well. Is that correct? Is there a reason I’m not aware of that both are needed?

Hang on ProDave, if you did that where would the spiders live? We should be wildlife friendly you know. 😉

Sort of on topic, sobering stuff from the news today for big solar PV plans. I know it’s sunnier in Spain but if the rush to solar pv is as intense as I think it is then maybe this is a possible scenario here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czkkgnp1d2xo.amp

Beware though, over analysis of the cost of different building options boils your head. :-0

Years ago I ran Ethernet cable around our house, connected just about everything that had an Ethernet connection. Didn’t really improve things but I like a project. Wi-Fi was still patchy and that’s the thing that mattered most to day to day life. A few years later I bought some of these BT disc things. Turn off router Wi-Fi and plug a disc via Ethernet into my router and the discs connect to each other wirelessly. Brilliant. Ended up disconnecting all the Ethernet apart from hive hub and one BT disc which sit next to the router. So forgive me being dumb, but I think the only other thing I’ll need in the new pad is Ethernet to my man cave at the bottom of the garden (mainly for the TV). So why, apart from remote buildings, would one need cat whatever the latest number is in my house?

Back in ‘91 we self built the house we now live in. Block, render and pantiles. We were both working full time in those days and we did as much as we could, but that doesn’t include groundwork, blockwork, structural carpentry or plastering. Rural location, fields front and back, nice big garden. A third of a century later, at the end of September ‘23, we found ourselves in the back garden of a small, run down 1920s or 1930s timber framed bungalow. It’s in easy walking distance of the centre of a small market town, even closer is a lovely riverside walk, on a quiet-ish road, near a park, and the long, narrow, over run back garden in a quiet little oasis made of half a dozen other long back gardens. For us it’s the location to die for. Especially with our first floor bedroom overlooking the back garden. But the dark and sad and unmortgageable bungalow is not to our taste and crucially, it doesn’t have a first floor. Yet. On one side is another bungalow (a matching pair to ours) but fortunately on the other side is a two storey house (phew!). So we bought it, and put in a pre app during the buying process. The feedback came in (with some gentle, respectful encouragement) just before exchange and that feedback was generally very positive. Between exchange and completion we worked out what we wanted to live in and we met a couple of architects on site, one of which we were happy to work with so we engaged them. As soon as we completed in mid January we submitted our planning app, and we felled some trees and cleared lots of shrubs so we could start to see the garden. I quickly got to know the guys at the tip and I got much better at reversing Trevor the trailer. Our planning design is v close to the pre app design save changes hinted at by the planners, and in early May it was permitted without modification. Woo hoo. A few conditions (e.g. can’t start till September) but nothing too onerous. So, that means lots of time to research, plan, analyse and generally overthink just about everything! Now all we need to do is sell our house….

I bleedin wish. We have highly polished granite. When clean it looks lovely. However, after cleaning one has to wait at least 4 minutes before realising that some dust has settled and some finger marks have appeared. It doesn’t help that our kitchen chairs, on which we spend hours most days drinking coffee and generally avoiding chores, are such that one’s eyeline is just perfect for seeing all said crumbs, dust, et al. Shiny worktops. Just say NO!

The cost of my shiny granite worktop is constant polishing. Never again. I like it to work on but boy is it high maintenance.

Some things like MVHR just get in due to how nice it is to live with it there, like nice sanitary wear or cladding that looks right for the location and design. The latter two do not have a payback financially, except perhaps sale value and I don’t much care how much our executors sell for. MVHR requires airtight therefore that’s in too.

I took best bang for your buck to mean final heating requirement vs total build cost. Sounds easy when it’s in a list like that but I’m finding out that there’s soooooo many factors.

How noisy, dusty, and unpleasant fir the neighbours was the crusher?

We’ve budgeted rather more than that. Did peeps have the timber for firewood? I’d worry about the chemicals they used 100 years ago.

Ummm, why don’t you have choice of installer?

I used to use a pair of petrol huskies, but having gone battery I’ll never go back to petrol again. The little one (see above) being one handed is like a light sabre, it’s brilliant. But I do need the bigger, double battery one for much bigger things. Re the skips etc. it upsets me that there’s every incentive not to bother to try and reuse. Apparently it’ll work out cheaper to cart all the hardcore away from our demolition and then buy hard ore back in, than it will be do reuse on site. Depressing.

(Maybe a teensy bit off topic, but….) We will be building in an urban environment, replacing a bungalow with a combined system. We believe we are on very well draining sandy soil, and the one time I’ve dug down so far I hit pebbles and orange sand at 20”. Yet everyone in the trade I’ve talked to so far have said something like “save yourself aggro, just stay combined”. Anglia Water reduce your bills by virtually nothing for spending extra and dealing with surface water locally. There’s simply no incentive not to dump the problem on them. Sigh.

Are ewe joking? 😉

May I recommend this sort of thing (I don’t think the 18+ is a reference to higher voltages!). Keep it sharp and it’s fantastically productive. Even if 50% of the time you are waiting for your only battery to charge (obsessives like me have several, thus avoiding said problem) you’ll cut through more than with a reciprocating saw. Charger will run off a cheap 300w inverter off of your car. I’m sure all the 18v tool companies have a version of it. https://www.toolstation.com/makita-18v-25cm-top-handle-brushless-cordless-chainsaw/p94170?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&mkwid=_dc&pcrid=null&pkw=null&pmt=null&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq8emmPPfhgMVUJpQBh3KNgO9EAQYAiABEgKLcfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds (But don’t buy if from toolstation as there’s always cheaper online even with next day delivery).

I noticed that, but I figured that maybe building control might need to be a bit less directive in a country where lots of peeps carry firearms in case anyone annoys them.

We’re likely to end up with trendy thin metal switches and sockets so they won’t hide what is in effect a surface mount rim on the dry lining box, so I think plastered in is definitively the best way for me.

Those protectors are great, thank you. I’d not be confident about stretching the membrane - I’d worry that thermal cycling would maybe wear holes, but I think the plan works without that.

Do peeps generally fit the backboxes before plastering like with solid walls? I’ve only ever retrofitted to plastered stud walls….

Ah. So I have to oversize the hole in the OSB/ply. I think.