Sue B

Well things are starting to move forward (in my head at least). We have spoken to Build Store about mortgages and my fears have been confirmed - we are going to have to get a move on and get started ASAP to get a mortgage that is affordable because of the length of repayment allowed. We will also have to cut costs. Originally we were intending a very hands off build using SIPS. The budget constraints now mean that we will have to do a lot of work ourselves. That has prompted us to look seriously at ICF builds again. We saw the Durisol product at the HB&R show in Bath recently and really like the product. We have since looked at Velox and I think I may prefer it. We are going to look at a property very local to us tomorrow who have built a summer house themselves using Durisol and are now in the process of building a house in it, using day rate labour to actually get the shell up. They are at first floor height without a concrete pour yet so very excited to have a look at it and see how the blocks are standing up to the weather we are suffering from at the moment. Not sure if the owners are on this forum but will find out tomorrow. We are also looking for anyone who is using Velox in the local area for us to visit, I'll be asking the question on the ICF area shortly as I think I have seen someone based in Hampshire using it - Hampshire is pretty much at the end of our plot and over the common land and river Avon so not too far away at all. Finally, I have been reading lots of interesting posts on here - the VAT one is excellent and very helpful. The mention of a blog by @JSHarris by a few people, led me to read that over the space of the last week. First off, I am in awe of your single-minded tenacity and abiltiy to solve problems and come up with creative and innovative solutions. Most of it went totally and completely over my head but I couldn't help reading bits out to OH everynow and again with us both giggling at someone having bits from a deep sea scuba dive 30 years ago in the workshop - "as you do" that are waiting to be used for an entirely different purpose. My Dad would have been hero worshipping you. He could never throw anything away "that may come in useful one day". Excellent blog and well worth the read - thank you for taking the time to write it.

When it comes to the actual design, I have a personal dislike of corridors - they take up space for no gain. It is one of the reasons I struggle with bungalows. I would put the room at the end of the corridor run, across the whole width of the building and reduce the length of the corridor. It does mean you don't have an exit door at the end but you can do that in the corridor wall and walk around the outside of the house. I have to say if either house was up for sale, I would look at the floor plans and walk away without viewing as the layouts would never work for me. If they work for you and your family, then that is what you need to build but you have asked for our views - sorry.

My view on en-suites come from the cleaning angle. Our first house was a normal small 3 bed semi when we bought it. We did a large two storey side and rear extention and ended up with a family bathroom for our two children and we had en-suite shower room. I realised within months that I never went into the family bathroom, I only ever visited it to clean it after the kids had been in there and when we knew a visit from family or friends was iminent - it was filthy! Move on 10 years and we moved to our first self build. The children were then 16 and 18 and I designed the house ( yes, myself without an architect) with four bedrooms, all with en-suites plus a downstairs cloakroom for visitors. My whole reason for making each room en-suite was so that I DIDN'T have to clean up after the kids. Their bathrooms were in their rooms, I just made sure their bedroom doors were kept shut, tightly shut to keep any escaping germs, bugs and other unpleasant items in there rather than in my air. When my son moved out and we were getting ready to sell up, I went into his shower room for the first time in 7 years. It was VILE. It took me a day to clean the smallest shower room in the world, but I had lived happily without worrying about how bad the room was for each of those 7 years. I gave them en-suites to avoid me doing the cleaning. When I design the next house (just starting thinking about it now) there will be en-suites again in each bedroom and there are only the two of us now.

Music Time - as a young child. 10 programmes made in the BBC at the White City Studios. We were next to the Blue Peter studio and they piped the rehearsals into our studio one day when we were there. It made the day of many 9 year olds I can tell you. This was in the days of John Noakes, Peter Purvis and Valerie Singleton. We got to eat in the BBC canteen as well - that was a big highlight. Then after we were allowed to watch it on the TV in school when it was broadcast, on one of the TVs with the lockable doors on a very tall wheely stand (with the shaded blackout curtain that stopped glare if the TV was in the sun! Oh the memories!

Hi everyone We are new to this but have a large kitchen garden to water during the summer months. We therefore need a large water container or possible smaller connected ones. We don’t particularly want a basement and the house is going to be about 50ft from the kitchen garden. I would want at least 10,000L for the watering. Not looking at using any of the rainwater in the house (at the moment at least). Have read the whole thread and realise I haven’t decided the language yet. Any advice please?

Hi everyone. We are just in the initial planning stages of building our new home. We have built once before and never intended to do it again. Then we decided to downsize and go mortgage free. A move from Denham to Christchurch happened and we now live on a beautiful plot of 1.5 acres, near the sea, in peace and quiet. The dwelling on the plot at the moment is classified as a temporary structure and is not mortgageable. However, it is very comfortable to live in and we can continue to live in this while the new house is being built. We are looking to build in SIPS but also interested in ICF. One of our big problems is going to be a mortgage, we are currently mortgage free but will need a mortgage to build. I am 55 and working, my OH is 57 and looking for a job but finding that difficult down here. We will contact BuildStore nearer the time but I can foresee issues with length of time for repayment. We know we will not be living here for the rest of our lives - 1.5 acres will be too much for us to deal with in future years and we are hoping for 10, maybe 15 years here. Planners are a bit “tricky” of course and added to that is the re-organisation of the local authority - Christchurch is going to become part of Bournemouth next year which I suspect will improve the situation. Finally, we are on green belt and within 400m of an SSSI - just to add to the fun. We are one of the few plots on this lane to have got planning permission so we are very lucky. Look forward to seeing everyone’s progress Sue