Selfbuildnewbie

Our ground investigation have been completed. Report says ground is clay with a bearing pressure of 140kN/m2 and recommends strip footings with a suspended beam and block floor. Foundation strips wouldn't need to be too wide given the good bearing pressure. However, looking through this forum, I get the impression that insulated raft foundations are most commonly used for ICF properties (is that correct?). Please could someone enlighten me on the reason for that and whether insulated raft or strip foundations are generally preferable?

I also gather that it's not uncommon to use a SIPS roof with an ICF build. Would welcome any opinions on whether that's a better route than a traditional cut/trussed roof for an ICF build? Plenty of info online but much of it is from manufacturers and therefore biased so we're unsure which is preferable in our case. And whether a SIPS roof would reduce the need for so much steel.

Our roof has ended up being quite complex. The solution that our SE has come up with so far for supporting the roof structure is to use steel beams spanning between the perimeter walls. The trusses will sit on top of the steel beams and rafters will span between the perimeter ICF walls to the steels (I've attached cross-sections below). To my untrained eye, that looks like a lot of steel and I'm guessing it will be quite expensive? The two large beams spanning from one side of the house to the other side would each be around 11m in length. Perhaps this is the best (or only) solution but reaching out here in case there are any other options we should look into before we go ahead with this design?

To move the gable to the right hand side, it looks do-able downstairs by moving dining area over and then flipping the kitchen and island 90 degrees so the kitchen units back onto the stairs. Upstairs, I think it would be a case of moving the bed over to the right hand side, and walking through the dressing area to get to the bedroom. Keeping the gable central would probably mean reducing the living room to 4m wide and then shifting everything over. Is 4m too narrow?

@ETC, thanks! There's an awful lot to like about this. The kitchen/diner looks better - it seems to create more of a separated dining area. And we'd get full height in the master bedroom rather than sloping walls. The only minor downside I can see is the loss of natural light into the dressing area, and perhaps less wardrobe space - are there any obvious ways to get natural light into the dressing "corridor"? Alternatively, I wonder if the wardrobes could extend over to where the double sinks are so that the dressing area uses the light coming in from the rooflight, and then reconfigure the master ensuite and family bathroom a bit? I'm trying to compare the size and shape to what we already have. It looks like you've pushed the front door and the music room wall back, and the same on the first floor. Have you gone out further at the back of the house, where the dining table is? Or have you brought the kitchen and living room forward?

Hi folks, our architect has provided some basic 3D visuals of the exterior, with an updated porch which does look a bit better than the previous attempts. Appreciate the design is not everyone's cup of tea, but we're always keen to hear suggestions or tweaks that people would make, including choice of materials and colours. Render colour and windows will probably be more of a cream and agate grey combo, something like in the border oak image above. Still discussing those dormers with the architect given the previous discussions on this thread.

@CharlieKLP and @Gus Potter - thank you, some really useful advice. Much appreciated. Just going back to the porch, if you take this house, stretch it a bit wider, and move the dormer left a bit, you get something akin to the shape of our house. Please could I get the committee's views on whether a porch like in the picture below might look okay on our house?

I had assumed either in that cupboard or perhaps carve out some space from the master ensuite or family bathroom given that's where most of the plumbing will be and the ASHP will be in the utility directly below. Good shout though, I shall raise when I go back with comments as they probably haven't thought about it. Oh, I agree. Unfortunately the other half doesn't, and thinks it would look like the house has a nose I found a picture where a similar porch looks ok. not sure why it looks alright here but the one in our plans looks a bit naff. maybe because this one follows directly off the gable roofline? Yeah, I think they've given it to someone fairly inexperienced, which is in itself not necessarily a problem, provided there's someone more experienced overseeing, but I think that's been lacking so far. We've made a bit of noise though so hopefully that'll be sorted going forward. I don't know any specifics on the dormers at this stage other than Nudura saying they'd most likely be timber constructed. We've seen examples of similar dormers online like in the picture below so we had assumed it wasn't going to be an issue.

On the previous version, where the back wall was straight all the way across, the eaves and guttering of the single-storey roof protruded past the back of the house. Our architect suggested pushing back the living room wall very slightly to avoid that.

@ETC, typo? Would you mind describing or sketching out what you mean? Believe me, there's been a lot of discussion about the roof with the architect! The rationale given is that the neighbouring properties are both small chalets with fairly low rooflines and both are very close to us (within 2-3 metres on each side of us). One in particular has a bedroom window facing our plot. So it's a been designed as a chalet-style rather than a 2 storey house to be in keeping and to avoid blocking light. The roof height has then been raised to maximise the internal full-height space in Beds 2 and 3. I presume that reducing the height of the main roof to be more in scale with the rest of the house would mean there is more unusable space in Beds 2 and 3? Designed for us based on our brief. My own drawings are just me trying to get my head around what could work and what doesn't - I find it quite hard to visualise the options directly from the architect's plans otherwise.

Hi everyone, We have an updated set of floor plans back from our architect. Front elevation has been changed to more in line with what @CharlieKLP and @ETC suggested and the store room has been replaced by a study. We couldn't find a way to change the large gable on the rear without over-compromising on the floor plan though. We'd appreciate any suggestions on the following: Finding somewhere for a fairly large coat/shoe cupboard in the vicinity of the front door. Our architect hasn't currently found anywhere suitable aside from a small cupboard under the stairs and it's a bit too far from the front door. The only solution I can think of is to push the stairs back by, say, half a metre, make the kitchen 4.8m deep rather than 5.4m and then fit the coat cupboard in on the right hand side at bottom of the stairs, with a pocket door. We'd put kitchen units or cupboards under the half-landing of the stairs (if that is structurally possible?) so, in effect, retaining a 5.4m deep kitchen. I've mocked that idea up, see below - I would appreciate any thoughts on whether that could work. Any other ideas on how we could fit the cupboard in? Access from kitchen/diner to living room - the architect has suggested inserting two 1.1m pocket doors between the kitchen/diner and living room (one at each end) which can be left open most of the time. That fits our brief for a "broken plan" feel but we're not sure it completely works as drawn at the moment. Presumably it would be better if the dining table was turned 90 degrees? And the pocket door at the bottom is too central on the living room wall and currently opens onto the back of a sofa. Any suggestions for how it could be made better? Any other comments on the floor plans also very welcome.

Yep, we’ve come at it in reverse. It was only after a few people commented in the other thread that the form factor means it might be a PH that we started looking into it properly. South facing to the rear, and more or less a square, and simple elevations aside from a couple of dormers. @Gone West, I’ll have a look thanks. Just wondered if there were people out there who know their stuff on this and could advise us, should it be too overwhelming (we’ve also got two newborns so not a lot of free time on our hands).

Thanks @ETC, really appreciate this.

Our architect is currently doing what we hope are the final tweaks to our design (which is in a thread in the new design section if it’s relevant). We didn’t set out to build a passivhaus but as we’ve progressed and read more of this forum, a low energy house which uses passivhaus principles (good insulation, airtightness etc) has become more and more appealing. Or a passivhaus if it’s achievable. We also set out perhaps naively thinking that masonry was the obvious way to build as that’s what the majority do but we’re starting to like the idea of using ICF. Still undecided though. Research ongoing. I’m not sure our architect has that much (if any) experience of designing to passivhaus or near passivhaus standards of airtightness etc or ICF. What would you suggest in terms of approach? I’ve seen references to PHPP. Should we be going to someone who can help us with this? I presume we need to find a structural engineer with experience of ICF or passivhaus? Or both? Which is more important if they don’t have experience of both? Anything else we should be thinking about? If we went ahead with our architect and try to design a low energy and/or ICF house, I’m not sure we’ll end up with exactly what we need without it being a painful process.

@TerryE will have a hunt round the forum, thanks. Did you manage to achieve this with masonry construction or did you go down a different route?

Great shout, it's something that has just occurred to us and not currently factored in, perhaps will have to go in the utility space. We're looking at heat pumps at the moment, architect has suggested using ASHP, but the negative reviews about them often not being designed or installed correctly is very off-putting. Looks like they require a lot of space internally for the equipment from the pictures people post online. Architect also suggested considering ICF rather than traditional masonry construction, given can easily get passivhaus standards with ECF, but it doesn't seem to be that commonly used and there seem to be a lack of builders/contractors who have used ICF. Any views on ICF and if worth properly considering?

I think we're inclined to keep the stairs where they are as a focal point rather than end up with a large space that needs filling. But also amend the back as per option 2. Not sure both are feasible but a nice challenge for the architect ?Thanks for your earlier suggestions as well.

Attaching in case pics are too small. Thanks! Large gable at back.pdf Small gable at back.pdf

Hi everyone, We've thinking through options, given the feedback you guys have given us, before we have a call with the architect. We will reduce the gable on the front and push the front door back in line with the bay window. We're moving the study downstairs and getting rid of the store room. We aren't intending to replace the study upstairs - instead we're thinking of putting a skylight or dormer in, with natural light straight onto the landing and putting a reading nook / extra study space on the landing for when we're both working from home. We've been considering @CharlieKLP 's suggestion of doing the same at the back, making the single storey longer and reducing the width of the gable. It would look much better from the outside but we obviously lose internal floor space. I've mocked up two floor plan concepts: #1 has the existing wide gable at the back and #2 follows Charlie's suggestion. (Please be gentle!, I've drawn these in Excel of all things and the architect would no doubt "tighten it up"). Any thoughts on which works better? We like #1 because: the dressing room is tucked away off the Master bedroom Beds 2 and 3 are nearer each other (we have twins) Potential for grander staircase But we don't like that the guest bedroom is oversized and bigger than beds 2 & 3 (and beds 2 & 3 also have dormers so have less useable floor space anyway) We don't like that the family bathroom is a bit squashed in between beds 2 & 3 We like #2 because: Smaller gable at the back - looks nicer Slightly lower build costs Beds 2 and 3 have much better dimensions than before, particularly given bed 2 has a dormer Bigger family bathroom and bigger master ensuite Stairs cut into what was an oversized playroom so we gain more space elsewhere on ground floor (e.g. for utility or storage) The downside is we'd have to walk through the dressing room to get to master bedroom

Noted, thanks again!

Thanks Charlie, really appreciate the help. Would something like the picture below work for the front? Just in terms of the form of the gable and the porch, not the house style. Our house would be a mirror image of what's in the pic. I think this would mean reducing the width of the gable on the RHS of our house, similar to ETC's drawing and just having the store room (or a study) and Bed 4 in that space . And then add a front door and porch similar to the pic below between the gable and our bay window as more of a focal point. We can tweak internally if it works on the outside. I would appreciate opinions on whether this, or something similar, might work before we start lots of back and forth with the architect. Any obvious issues with it? Thanks!

yeah, I like it as well. Thanks ETC. The front elevation clearly needs work, and this looks much more in proportion than our design. Not sure about the skylight but I assume the only other option is sticking another dormer in there instead. yes, architect is pretty insistent that we’d need to trim the roof corners given next door’s height and the windows on their side elevations.

Don’t necessarily disagree with you but I guess whether that matters depends on the reason for building and also the need to be in keeping with the surrounding houses. It’s probably not our forever home, I’d want to design something way more funky than this if that was the case. Our priority for now is getting the layout/space we want (a premium in our neck of the woods) whilst controlling build costs to the extent it’s in our control. So we’re deliberately keeping the design quite simple. We’d be paying well over £1m to buy something similar.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. @CharlieKLP Functional is how I'd describe it as well. It more or less fits our brief in terms of function but it doesn't have any wow factor. Do we like it, yes, do we love it, no. Agree on the windows looking wonky - thanks for the drawings. We're considering replacing both of the French doors with slim-framed sliding doors (2-3 panes each) and putting a picture window from the kitchen (window 3 on your drawing) to increase the view out to the garden, and make the rear look less "busy" so that should help. You say that the windows don't match the room sizes and the bay is wrongly proportioned - can you expand on those points please as to how we fix it? We're rubbish at that sort of thing and our architect perhaps doesn't have a great eye for detail. I've attached a pic and Instagram link below which show the sort of style we were aiming for. The pic is what we initially showed the architect at the outset. The Instagram link (showing the rear) is probably more what we will end up going for. i.e. more of a "cottagey" style. I agree with the comments about the gable proportions and the massing looking a bit off. We've really struggled to get that right. The architect has deliberately done the gables that way so that our roof line at the front and back doesn't impose on next door which is a chalet with a lower roof height than us. But doing so has reduced the amount of full-height space in the Master and Bed 4 (see dotted lines on floor plan) and we wanted to retain full height as much as possible elsewhere, so the "middle" of the house has a higher roof line than the gable ends. Any suggestions on how we fix that without too much reduced height space internally? We've been going round in circles on it for months trying to find a solution. On the porch, I agree with you, it looks stuck on on the front, but the other half likes it! I couldn't think of a way to make it look better. ? @Gus Potter , the hallway's boring isn't it?! I like your ideas. We had thought that a c. 3m wide hallway would seem quite big but are you suggesting it actually won't because of the length? Our challenge is storage, with a young and growing family who are inherently untidy. The cupboard on the left is a coat/shoe cupboard, near the front door. If we get rid of that, the only other obvious option I can see is a cupboard under the stairs but that's a long way from the front door. Knowing my family, we'd just end up with a heap of coats and shoes piled by the front door! If I can solve the coat cupboard issue, we'll definitely explore your idea of the doors to the music room (it's actually a playroom, no idea why he called it that) although glass doors would mean you can see all the mess in there as soon as you step through the front door, so need to give that some thought. @TerryE @Iceverge Re. the glorified "shed" on the front of the house, it's not in lieu of a garden shed (the garden's reasonably large and ample room for that). The purpose of the store room is for more day to day storage: the buggy, my daughters' tricycles and bikes, my smelly hockey gear that the other half won't let near the house etc. I'd love to get rid of the store room and move the study downstairs but, if we did, I'm not sure where that stuff would go. @shuff27, the bathroom between beds 2 & 3 looks a bit more awkward I agree, I think partly because the architect's been lazy with the bathroom layout on the plans. But I was trying to find a way (and failing) to make the bathroom longer and still access beds 2&3. The other bedrooms have en-suites so the main bathroom will primarily be shared between my two daughters. We didn't want a bathroom onto the front or back of the house for aesthetic reasons so I think we may have to compromise and leave where it is, unless anyone has any ideas. Quite possibly so, although I've struggled to think of a solution, aside from removing the rooflights, without taking away the views of the garden from the kitchen/diner and living room. Sorry, that ended up being a long post! Style: To give you an idea of the sort of style we'd envisioned (although maybe less yellow!), and also considering something like this: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6h2uNylu0O/?utm_medium=share_sheet)

Hey everyone, We’re demolishing an existing bungalow and replacing it with a 4-bed family home. We’d really appreciate any comments or suggestions on our design and floorplans. Some context: Rear faces south Aim is to have open-plan living areas but with ability to close off the individual spaces The design of the roof height is deliberate to not be overbearing on the chalets (1.5 storeys) either side of us. Looking at how we might be able to add an additional small work space downstairs for when we both work from home (maybe convert living room cupboard?) – would appreciate ideas. Any thoughts on whether the skylights above the living room are needed to get more light into the living room or whether the fact we are south facing to the rear is sufficient? Worried about overheating in summer if we keep the skylights.