Kevan Marshall

Blue line is where outline off building shall be, the square at front of new house is outline of old shack, the planners want the new build to be in same line as next door but their garden is twice the size, the shack has been there since the 40’s and next door built there houses in the 80’s, it’s not my fault they put their houses further back and planning guidelines say that a house must not be brought forward from existing dwelling on my plot, problem is neighbours objected and mentioned privacy, one side has 7ft high wall, other side has 8ft high hedge, the side with hedge is double story and one small living room window looking onto ours and we are only building single story at this stage, the other neighbours are single story so no issues with privacy…

Budget has to be kept to an absolute minimum so trying to make the outlay as simple as possible and trying to make two bathrooms serve three bedrooms plus day visitors, the house is only for me and my wife and having occasional guests staying, the bedroom and snug are south facing, the plot size is 20 meters x 40 meters and I also need to incorporate a 9 meter x 7 meter workshop into the plot, I have neighbours either side and their plots are twice the size, planning have put a restriction on how far I can come forward with the house so this would only leave a 3 meter wide south facing back garden but we are appealing this, there is an existing wooden shack at front of plot which shall be taken down and we want to keep the new build behind it so we have 8 meters garden at back and 12 meters at front of house

We are trying to keep it simple and uncomplicated, only have two bathrooms to serve all bedrooms and utilise one bathroom as visitor/disabled toilet, we have to try and not waste any space and have everything in proportion

This may be better, slightly wider entrance hall, slightly bigger en-suite and small airing cupboard at end of entrance hall

What I have proposed

Second design from architect, we need bathroom for guests so jack and Jill is ok from hallway but architect has visitors going through bedrooms…

This was his first design, utility too big, en-suite with crazy sliding shower, stairs coming off main entrance, we have a restricted plot and at this stage can only build a certain size…

Trying to design a bungalow, I gave my architect a sketch and I am now on rev 3, every time I mention something he tries to put his own spin on it, my mates an experienced builder and he advised me to spend a couple of grand more putting heavier ceiling joists, waste pipes, heating pipes and provision for stairs up into loft space so that at a later date I could convert loft for 20k myself and add 100k on property value, aside what my mate said I’ll show you what I proposed and what the architect has drawn up!

Thank you Nick, just looking for a simple solution with reasonable U-valued about 1.2,and only the middle two sections with one sliding door for pedestrian access!

I have been looking at glazing and went to look at Internorm windows, the salesman seemed a little arrogant and said they only sell windows to passive house standards, I showed him what I wanted and explained the house would be timber/sips and he said they only install into steel or concrete and windows do not hold the roof up, I told him I know that but house manufacturer have structural engineers to design the front of house so it can support windows, he then said you’ll need this style of window/sliding doors and it would cost 30k, he showed me electric doors that open with fingerprint and he could not get it to work, I am trying to get U-Values to a sensible level but 0.6 is not what I am looking for, does anyone have any experience with installing a similar type of window in Northern Ireland and who did you use, the overall width shall be about 6mtrs and height of about 5.5mtrs, has anyone used Fenbro windows from Poland as they have a distributor in the South of Ireland? Kind regards, Kevan.

Hi, Did you find any SIP’s suppliers, I am in Antrim and Clays SIps seem to be the best but in Yorkshire

How much more expensive is asphalt compared to Bitmac?

Hi, What type of metal cladding are you going to use please? Kind regards, Kevan

Looking into ideas for driveway, I like exposed concrete but is going to be too expensive, probably Tarmac or Asphalt, Asphalt looks nicer in my opinion as it’s not as open and less prone to moss growing in it, how much more expensive is it compared to tarmac, I also have an old tractor so needs to stand up to heavier traffic? kind regards kevan.

I am going to self build, hopefully I’ll clear most of the site myself, the foundations, drainage and installing utilities my mate shall do that, I shall erect my workshop myself, help erect the SIP’s kit, clad the roof with Standings seam, install the MVHR and also the underfloor heating, paint the interior, install kitchens and bathrooms, install fencing and fabricate gates, possibly cattle grid if I cannot find a good secondhand one and fabricate the estate fencing for the front of plot, hopefully this should save me a few quid…

It shall be at a latter stage, I’ll get everything finished and passed by building control and the house finished and do it at a latter stage, as it shall only be 8ft by width of shed it shall need some upright columns, I’m a welder to trade so all this isn’t an issue…

I shall probably still go down the route of the portal steel frame as at a later stage I want to install a mezzanine floor inside, I can install 40mm insulated roofing sheets on the roof and I can get 40mm side sheets that are flat so not like box profile, I may attach cement board the insulated cladding on the front of the garage and silicone render, I shall erect and clad the shed myself and I am going to try and do the whole lot for around the 10k mark

Hi Mark, I was trying to avoid block walls to keep foundations to a minimum and it’s only one wall to be rendered, I can speak to my architect so just trying to get ideas at this stage! thank you

Hi, I am going to erect a steel framed garage which shall be approximately 10 metres long and 7.2 meters wide, I am going to clad the roof, sides and rear of building with 40mm insulated cladding, for the front that faces the road I want it to have a render finish to match the house (silicone render), my question is does anyone know of a insulated board that can be attached to purlins that can be rendered over, other option may be cladding with sheet wood, putting membrane on, then battens, then attach cement boards and render? As mentioned shed shall be 7.2 metres wide, about 3 metres to the eaves and probably have 22.5 degree roof angle with a 3 metre x 3 metre roller door installed! Shed shall be similar as image. Kind regards, Kevan.

Thanks Dave, It feeds two houses and a small wooden holiday shack and the shack I am tearing down used to be connected to it, I’ll have to contact NIE to see what they say!

Northern Ireland mate!

I am fortunate to have Electricity at hand on the edge of my plot, I presume that I can install three phase (single phase to house and three phrase to workshop), I want three phase for Solar panel capacity and for some of my workshop equipment, please find attached pictures of how electricity is run, hopefully three phase is available as I see four wire on the pole at the edge of plot and hope there are no issues, the power is fed from a main line via a transformer and comes back up the smaller pole which runs to my plot, after that it drops down to possibly two phase to feed another couple of houses!