Russell griffiths

TBH that house in Holland looks very good, if you can achieve that then I’m happy to eat some humble pie, as I was probably the first to say it was a silly idea. Keep the pics coming.

Whereabouts is your racking strength coming from? Inner skin or outer, you would need to check with your frame designer as I don’t believe it will give you the racking strength you need in those small sizes.

I see no reason why not.

I think you can get a thermal imaging app for your phone.

Depends what this building needs to be, screw piles and a raised steel/ timber floor timber wall panels, lightweight, standing seam metal roof,lightweight. Just depend what your trying to build.

Just did this as it may be easier to see, depends on my poor drawing skills. Lots of details missing but it might point you in the right direction.

You can render below dpc no problem, but you must show that this render is completely separate from the render above dpc. So the bit below will need to finish level with the dpc and you need to show a detail of separation as I’m sitting here having a cuppa I found you a couple of pics First pic is the sort of detail you need to achieve, ignore the external insulation as it’s the first pic I could find, second pic shows what it would look like very roughly just to give you some ideas.

I was just going to say the same, two answers and two different opinions. I have been and and still am involved in lots of committees where 10 people all have a view, it generally leads to nothing getting done. What i I have done all my life is talk to one guy and get his opinions, then talk to another and get his, but at the end of the day you have to paddle your own canoe in life. So get a couple of opinions and then make your own decision. What i I would say to @nod is what blocks did you use to build your house from and why.

@Crofter wake up....

Do not use aerated blocks externally, they are really crap, I personally would not use them inside either. Dense concrete under damp proof course, light weight aggregate block above dpc. If you are building this yourself and dont have much brickwork experience, have you thought about ICF.

Well done bud, another step forward talking of steps, do yourself a favour and chuck those shit aluminium things in the skip and go and get a trade pair before you have an accident well done again, you are putting me under pressure.

I would think that would be a major PITA, every reveal or stop area up against windows and doors will be a real hash up to get it right, window cills would need replacing. The front elevation you show is originally how they where built, nice soft red brick front cheaper fletton brick at the side.

Thanks everyone i think I have opened up a big can of pain for myself, I originally looked at this idea on an Australian tv show, then I looked on that Houzz site and bloody hell my whole kitchen layout is going to change. Im glad I don’t have a builder as he would want to kill us. Cheers russ.

Have a look at what your local quarry has. Mine recently had a few thousand tonnes of pipe bedding sand, it was basically sharp sand but the quality was poor so they sold it off cheap as cable laying sand I think it was about £4 tonne.

The name I suppose might mean a few different things. What we are thinking as our house is very open plan, is a little are off the side of the kitchen to chuck dirty pots and pans as you are cooking. If you imagine having a couple of friends over for dinner, the unpleasant bit about open plan kitchens is having to look at dirty pans while you are eating. we have a separate utility room for washing machine and things.

Anybody got one, anybody got any views on layout or other stuff. Just trying to get some ideas going at the moment. Cheers russ.

I can spend a good 5 minutes trying to prise a rusty melted nail out, does my nut in.

Hi. You are missing some vital ingredients in your description 1. Location 2. Picture front and back of house. 3. Acces you say basic, but the building will still have to comply with building regs, insulation quantity, fire escape window etc etc.

I’m not keen on properties right on the boundary you cannot get a good roof overhang, so the side wall catches a lot of weather hard to maintain if you can set it 300mm back you can use standard footings and get an overhang on the roof.

I have stopped burning second hand wood as the nails do my nut in, not just cutting it up, but they fall through the grate and lock the ash pan in place as the nail heads seem to be a perfect fit for the gaps in the grate. Be cautious with a 40yrd skip unless you have a big machine on site, they are very tall and hard to load, we used to use 20-30 yard instead.

Can you explain the risk with ICF not really with you, and what is the risk on your site ? if I look at the Lego blocks you are talking about I can think of so many reasons NOT to use them, and that is without trying. What are you going to do regarding block length? Will you be limited to building to block sizes, if you cut a block will the next row lock on top or not. How can icf be 3 times more expensive are you really adding up all the elements correctly lets say you have built your block structure with no problems, then what? you then need to add insulation to the outside to the whole structure, how?? you then need to cover the insulation, again how by the time you have brought your insulation and fixed it on you will be wishing you had never started. Not as far as I’m concerned you will need a structural engineer willing to sign off on it to design the lintels. What about foundation design, how heavy will it be. What about gable walls how will you cut them.

Im really not seeing why you are looking at this what you and @scottishjohn are talking about is in principle already in use. You want, a concrete core with insulation stuck on the outside you want it easy to erect without many skilled trades its ICF blocks, has been around for years and used by many on this forum whatever make you choose there basically the same stack the blocks up using very simple principles ( no forklift needed) fill with concrete. Job done full BBA approval fully mortgageable im completely for thinking outside the box, but come on leave those blocks for building retaining walls.

Insuring your digger is down to how you view risk. My excavator is worth around 7k and it’s never been insured on my site, until I started the new build, for a few quid it’s on my policy as a named piece of plant. The reason for this is 1. It cost bugger all. 2. The risk in my opinion got a lot more severe, lots of different people appearing on site every day, and a big blob of a house springing up attracting lots of attention. So the chance of a theft increased in my opinion.

Do you have a budget for the renovation at least if we know this we can tell you if your in the ballpark, and a picture would be handy. Why not a picture of the whole plot frontage as we might be able to give you a clue regarding planning.

If there’s an expansion gap, then why do you want to fill it ??? surely your floor covering and skirting will cover this or am I missing something. So many questions, so little time.