Triassic

All I can contribute is some rebar!

Part of my problem is that we will be two people living in a large four double bedroomed house. So DHW has to range from two people for 80% of the time, to 8 people for 20% of the time!

You asked about the view, he’s one looking east towards Ingleborough and Yorkshire. This was taken from the garden, below you can just see the chimney of our closest neighbours house.

You could also go for a detailed blog such as the one written by Paul, https://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ He lives off grid and details every aspect of living off grid. His blog is one of those go to blogs.

I recently did an ICF wall pour and luckly a local building company leant me their home made props. Might be worth seeing if it’s cheaper to make your own.

The shed on the left is our utility shed and contains our washing machine and dryer. It’s also my workware changing room, I’m not allowed inside the cabin with my dirty cloths on!

Like all Self builders we found we had a limited number of options for living accommodation during the build, given that we needed to demolish the bungalow to clear the plot for the build. The options were, rent locally or a caravan on site. Renting locally wasn’t an option due to the high rental costs, so we looked at the caravan option. The main problem was access, an 8 feet wide drive with a hairpin bend half way up, a dry stone wall, 80 feet tall trees and limestone outcrop put paid to that idea. A local crane company visited the site to look at the feasibility of craning the caravan over the trees, the narrowness of the road, a road closure and 4 mile diversionary routes for vehicles, a licence from the local authority soon put paid to that idea. Then a brief conversation with a neighbour and a lightbulb moment, we can up with the idea of a timber framed tiny house built in an orchard that formed part of the plot. The day before submission of the planning application a sketch of a small 7 x 5m cabin was added to one of the drawings. Thankfully we got planning approval. The construction of the cabin allowed us to practice our woodworking, insulation and other construction and trade skills. This is where we currently live. This what it looks like on a wet autumn day. Not the power cable over sailing the cabin. Happily the DNO installed taller poles to increase the clearance.

Having done a large renovation project and turned an old 1770s vintage wreek into a fantastic Home we decided that living in Cheshire was no longer for us, so we sold up and moved, to be closer to family in the Southern Lake District. However the journey was far far from straightforward, we really had no idea what we were looking for, was it to be another renovation project or a self Build? Having viewed around fifty ‘oportunities’ ranging from dilapidated houses, to an old pub, to a closed garden centre, we gave up!! Then about six weeks after ‘giving up’ Debbie had to come clean, she’d not actually given up, but had been searching online and she thought she’d found what we were looking for. So we arranged to view a rather sad looking dormer bungalow on a very wet, cold and overcast March day. Once into the property we both realised this was the one! So we bought it and moved in. Having lived in the property for a year it was clear that this wasn’t a renovation job, so the bungalow had to go. The next step was to decide what to replace it with. Although we had it in mind to downsize we missed the larger rooms of our previous home and. According to my interior designer (Debbie) we needed larger rooms so our furniture would fit.... Living in the old bungalow made it obvious it was the wrong way round, the two bathrooms and the bedrooms had the best views. Also because of the shape of the plot, an L shaped house would make the best of the space and the views. Once we had our requirements clear, a design brief was produced and a local Architect appointed. A series of design options were produced and after some tweaking, final plans drawn and planning permission sought. Prior to the submission of the planning application we walked round our neighbours with the plans, this gave us an opportunity to gauge their response, in most cases it was ‘interest’ and nothing more. Thankfully the planning application went through without any opposition. So here is the design.

The good thing is that this isn’t ‘social media’, its a small niche in the vast world of the internet. Also we do tend to look out for each other, hence my comment about names and addres on your plans. A blog is a great idea, you can keep it a simple as you like, it’s also a great aid memoir of photos and text for future reference.

Probably best to remove your name and address from the plans.

I keep hearing about problems with the heat losses from large thermal stores, so had in mind something similar to J C Harris current setbup. I also have around 500m of UFH pipe buried in my ground floor insulated slab. Could you explain dump loads? I suppose I have two options, immersion heaters in a large body of stored water and the immersion’s in the Sunamp unit.

I’m still trying to get my head round the optimum design for my DHW and UFH system. My current thought is to have an ASHP providing heat into a 70l buffer, connected to the UFH, and to use the heat within the buffer to preheat the DHW going to a Sunamp unit (still not sure what size I need, is there a size guide when using preheat?). I’m also planning to install 4Kw of solar PV and use the energy produced in the above set up. So which would be more efficient, to heat the Sunamp unit or to heat an immersion within the buffer tank, I have a feeling I’m asking a silly question here!

Don’t open the door! It’ll be a true s*** storm in there! Call the supplier, blame it on the builder and a dodgy kebab !

Yes, and you should turn the pumps down one notch and see what affect that has.

They should be OK once they’ve opened and closed a few times. They are stiff when manually opening them, your pushing against some tight seals and a return spring.

Have you tried speeding up The pump, it looks like it’s on the lowest setting!

Is it air locked, is the automatic air vent operating. It’s the silver thing next to the gauge. Loosen the little knurled valve at the top.

@pdf27 You said Passive House to the architect, that immediately added 15% to the fees and the build cost, particularly if your going for a turnkey option. You should read some of the blogs on here and look at the low energy, fabric first option.

Hi and welcome to the Forum. Regarding the group approach, I’m not sure I’d want my retirement project to be tied to the whims of others, you could be waiting a long time to get anywhere. If I were you, I’d be looking for my own plot and be the master of my own destiny. You did not say where you were in the country, might be worth mentioning as someone here might know of a plot etc.

Just install the extract duct as planned, you could box it in with fire rated plaster board if your concern about the fire rating.

Very blustery with intermitant heavy rain here in South Cumbria. It’s bringing down a lot of leaves and dead branches.

Sold for £1,210

Looks like this one is going to sell for around £1100 with only ten minutes to go!

It’s so easy to lose sight of your customers when you're expanding a business. Let’s hope the MD, Andrew Bissell, picks up on this problem soon and appoints a replacement for AndyT.

The seagulls will love that stuff, nice warm nests!