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Omnibuswoman

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  1. Omnibuswoman
    After three visits to our plot (two ten day trips and one long weekend) we have made quite a lot of progress with building the workshop - in no small part thanks to this site and the generosity of members in sharing wisdom and advice. I've learned a huge amount, and am delighted with what we have achieved so far. Below are some photos of the work in progress which largely speak for themselves.
     
    We had help in the first tranche from my son and his friend who had finished Uni for the summer, as well as from my parents who live nearby. The second and third visits were just us with my parents, when they were not playing bowls. We have a new-found admiration for builders and others who have manual jobs - the stamina needed to perform physical work continuously over an 8 hour day was a shock for us desk-jockeys. And the weather gods were not always kind - the first visit saw torrential rain and high winds for the first five days, and our most recent trip was during the heatwave where we were working in 34C heat for much of the day. Noah's Ark to Raging Inferno. Spending time on the plot has been useful from the point of view of considering the design of the house, and how life might be for us living there. We realised that the south-facing aspect means fierce and unmitigated sunshine, so we will need to ensure we have sun-shading in some form over the balcony to stop us from frying in the middle of the day, and to reduce solar gain through the bifold doors. Having seen the distant views towards Dartmoor from the roof of the workshop (the equivalent of our first floor of the house), we have amended the window in the second floor from a velux to a dormer in order to create a corner where we can sit and take in the views. This will be part of the minor amendment application that goes in shortly.
     
    Here are the photos of the work in progress... (many of the photos I have are in HIEC format, so I wasn't able to upload)
     


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    WhatsApp_Video_2021-06-10_at_21_54_37.mp4
  2. Omnibuswoman

    Baby steps

    By Omnibuswoman,

    We have been increasingly anxious about the approaching deadline for the existing planning consent to expire - mid March 2021 - but today, at last, Dan our builder has made a start on the foundations for our workshop/garage/temporary site office and storage space. A large amount of hardcore arrived, the fencing around the protected oak trees was erected, and a digger and dumper arrived. 
    Dan suggested making a start by scraping the mud off the driveway which was turning into a quagmire - an excellent idea. The hardcore is in place ready for levelling, and on Friday the concrete foundation slab will be cast. 
     
    Plans are afoot for disposing of all of the topsoil that we had scraped off back in October. This is one of our planning conditions: to remove soil imbibed with arsenic compounds and replace with 'clean' topsoil. We have engaged a fantastic remediation company, Remediation UK, to do this. They sent us two brilliant guys to do the scraping, and piling it all up in an enormous 60 ton heap. Hopefully next week (council permit processing permitting) they will be back with an enormous skip to load up and take it all away to their disposal site down beyond Truro.
     
    Of course, I am 250 miles away, locked down at home, and am only able to supervise via phone calls with Dan, and his photos (attached). But one thing I was able to do today was to meet with a company specialising in passive house engineering (Greengauge) to start talking about the PHPP spreadsheet and whether or not our window plans might cause overheating. We chose this company because they have made some really radical commitments as an organisation to only work on enerphit and passive house projects, and they are committed to climate crisis action. So far so good - second meeting in two weeks to review the results of their calculations... 
     
    I'm now wondering when the right time is to dig a utilities trench. Anybody have any advice about that...?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     




  3. Omnibuswoman
    We only agreed that we would explore the possibility of building our own home in January, and now somehow seem to be well and truly on our way to seeing that happen in the coming year. Very exciting, but also quite daunting. Like most self-builders, I watch episode after episode of Grand Designs, Build the Dream etc, wondering why people fall into the same financial pitfalls almost every time, and more importantly, how we might avoid doing the same.
     
    Having found a plot with planning consent pretty much straightaway, we are now making great strides with our potential builder, Dan, who is a passivhaus enthusiast and all round eco-builder. We think we have arrived at the actual design, and will be in touch with the planning department shortly to see if we can have the changes to the original planning consent considered as material minor amendments rather than making a fresh full planning application. We have copied the scale and footprint of the design that won the original planning consent - a rectangular box that is both generously proportioned and an efficient use of space - and are designing in efficiencies where possible to make the best use of our budget. 
     
    Three weeks ago we went down to the plot for the first time since having completed the purchase to began clearing debris and strimming the long grass. My parents, who live 10 minutes away, just over the border in Devon, gave us a hand. After four days of physical labour we were all absolutely exhausted, but very satisfied with our handiwork (see photos).
     
    We also met several of our future neighbours who almost all were absolutely lovely.  
     
    We had a remote meeting with eco-builder Dan yesterday to discuss timescales and the build method. He proposed that we consider a stick build due to our very tight access (a 50m long driveway to the plot with only 2.2m width and restricted height in places), and to begin next Spring. With the likelihood of a second wave of Covid striking in the winter, and with me working for the NHS, we think that planning the build for the spring is probably sensible. It gives us plenty of time to deal with planning and do some thorough research on the various options for AHSPs, MVHRs, windows, external finishes etc. 
     
    Below are photos of me, my parents, and my husband Darren, all hard at work.
     
     
     
     




     

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