SHughesNI

Thank you all for responding to my query. Speial thanks to Gus Potter who went above and beyond what I asked for. Plenty of food for thought and has helped me tremendously in steering me in the right direction.

Thanks for reply. Yes planning was given over 2 years ago. SE calcs done though by you saying that I am assuming you think the plans should include what foundation type? I have added the plan for you to have a look. No way it is not going to be ICF. As I said we built a log cabin ourselves, no help from anyone except You Tube videos. Fairly competent DIYer, father was a builder and first job after leaving school was working on a building site (just 6 months though) so have some background in the trade. I know the easiest route is find a SE but like I said the decent ones just like builders are unavailable. So far not tended to go the traditional route. Car tyres under the driveway. Car tyres, concrete piers as the foundation for the log cabin. Did the roofing, insulation, electrics, tiling, made the lights, everything myself and so far so good. Living off solar and propane- not connected to grid at all. As you can see from the screenshot of my bookmarks I have researched for the last 2 years - Just thought there might be some bright spark on here who would emphatically say YOU NEED THIS 🙃

Hi Russell & Thorfun No design for the insulated slab. the house is ICF. The only builder with any experience in this field in the whole country has been away to England for the last 2 months. There is a forum on Facebuild selfbuilders NI and no one has stepped up to recommend anyone else. ICF is still seen as a mythical beast and even the banks here won't offer a mortgage as it's not been proven over here yet as a reliable building product. Mad but true. My SE was ill for 3 months and has a huge backlog. I did ask him the same question but hasn't responded to my last 2 emails hence why I came here. For the moment I just want to fill the void and thought it might be an easy answer to the experts on here. I have 3 young children and just don't want them falling into the void. As we have to walk 50 yards to the outside toilet this is a distinct possibilty 🤫 the attached was pretty much a summary of what I was hoping to do. Thanks for your advice though.

Any / all advice would be welcomed. Ok a bit of background. Bought a small bit of land few years back in the hope of building an eco house. Unfortunately we had watched too many episodes of 'How to build a house for under £100k' and actually thought it could be done. Then Covid kicked in. I lived in a caravan for a year. Found electricity cable on the land (not in plans, drawings and NIE did not know it existed - they turned up one day cut the cable and knocked on the nearest neighbour 200 yards away asking 'Is your electricity on?) as digging and when NIE finally removed it 9 months later prices had skyrocketed. So we built a log cabin instead and decided to build the house as and when we have the money. There are 5 of us living in the log cabin. It's a bit tight to say the least but so far so good. So we have the money we think for foundations but can't find a builder. Been let down 3 times already. All the best builders are booked up to at least 6 months. Plans are for an ICF house. When we bought the land there was a strip foundation in place. Over the last few years of building the garage and cabin topsoil, car tyres (another story) and all manner of debris has fallen in so spent the last few days digging it all out hence the pile of earth in the background. See photos. Question - Going for a slab on grade foundation. What do I fill up the space with? Gravel? Better soil such as loam if I can even buy that? Sand and gravel? Clean stone? the soil excavated is clay and very porous in these parts hence the need for a raft foundation. I initially thought I'd be able to refill the excavated clay soil with a more stable soil such as loam, then 6 inch crushed stone/ gravel followed by rigid foam panels EPS, vapour barrier then the concrete. Apologies for sounding amateurish.

To be fair after having been let down by at least 3 builders in the last 3 months (post covid) I am grateful he is here at all but know what you are saying.

Thanks. Will put this to the builder. Having a bit of a problem getting shuttering at the minute. I had to travel 40 miles to get 6 x 3 today.

any clue as to what you would suggest? I have added clearer photos and I have attached here what currently has been done.

Not sure how you can nail the 40mm timber to the shuttering. See image

I said that to him and he said that wouldn't work. He said the concrete would flow back . I am going to try it anyways. Whats the worse that can happen? (noy going to tempt fate here but check back in 2 days and you might just find out ?)

Apologies. I uploaded the pdf of the image> See attached

hi The builder has turned up on site and isn't able to complete the foundations as in the drawing mainly due to the concrete being delivered tomorrow and feels too late to figure it out now. As I have had numerous let downs this is the first builder who has turned up when they said they would so my happy face is staying on no matter what happens. Question - Instead of doing the 40mm drop as in the pics he's going for a straight 9m x 9m foundation. How is this going to affect the overhang? Does anyone know of any clever way to enable the 40mm reduction before the pour tomorrow (Thursday) morning? If no one does is there any way after the pour I can reduce by 40mm both in the porch and the roller door? Any help would be appreciated. 445 Base.pdf 445 Elevations.pdf

Thanks Gus. I appreciate the effort you have made to encourage me to take on the project. The name is Sean by the way You are right about the measuring twice. If I hadn't done so using a 15m water level and string the piers would never have lined up. Trying something new such as the concrete tyre piers was a combination of the concrete tyre pier and a method used primarily by a church in tulse hill. These guys had virtually no experience but they came together and built a church based on straw bales with tractor tyres as foundations https://wecanbuildourchurch.org.uk/ I guess the title says it all. I am frustrated at being let down again and again. As you can see from previous replies some people think it is ok to break a promise to a customer if a bigger and better project comes along. That simply isn't the way I work. I have been given another phone number of a builder who is a friend of a friend so am going to explore that avenue and who knows the foundations may just get built

No point in arguing. Thats not why i posted on this site. I was looking for help. Not criticism. I wouldn't treat a client that way no matter how much money I was offered to replace another job. If that's how you treat your customers and are capable of breaking a promise then that is your way. just not mine. I have a family of 3 young children and all I know is we are now back at square 1 looking for someone who doesn't break their promises. So my search continues. Anyone with anything positive to say is welcome.

So thats why he went on holiday at the same time he should have been doing the job? I am self employed. If I can't do a job I tell a client that I can't but unless I am on an operating table I won't let any clients down. He never even informed me he couldn't do it. I had to text him twice just for him to reply and tell me. Plus he only said 'He maybe would be able to do it at the end of August'. I started work on building sites with mates from the age of 16 (left at 19) and most of my mates still are builders unfortunately across the water. When I told one of them of what had happened he was angry saying 'Bloody cowboy giving decent builders a bad name'. No way did they ever treat customers like this.. It sounds to me like he got a better offer and rather than keeping to his word took that offer. What makes it worse is he promised he wouldn't let us down because he knew we had been let down before. So how you think he is being honest or there are any positive aspects to letting us down is beyond me.