Hello - 1st self build North Cornwall

[scottvining]

Well, we're finally doing it!

 

So I thought I'd sign up here and pester you guys with all my questions.

 

After years of dreaming about it we've got cash for the land, selling our business to pay for the rest and planning to build an eco (passivehaus-as-possible) family home somewhere in North Cornwall / Devon borders. 

 

1+ acres rural, 4 bed unique family home. Earth sheltered, tree house, quirky barn conversion, we're open to anything that's sympathetic to the surroundings and fits with the land. We know what we want inside, but have open ideas for the exterior to reflect the nature around it. 

 

We're currently living in Bucks, having moved out of London 7 years ago and would rather spend the money up front on an energy efficient home with low running costs. So I'm thinking air tight, air source heat pump, maybe MVHR, maybe solar thermal, PVs... If we could go off grid we would, but there are probably a few luxuries that are stopping us.

 

I'm very much still getting the feel for the self build opportunities in North Cornwall. It's hard being so excited about getting the ball rolling, yet so frustrated with the land search. Maybe I just don't get on with Estate Agents or maybe I'm naive (probably), but finding land / conversation etc is so life sapping!

 

I'm so glad places such as this forum exist. I hope to delve down many rabbit holes exploring different opinions and experiences. 

 

Thanks for reading.

[Redoctober]

Hi and welcome to the forum - you have certainly come to right place for advice and guidance but I fear helping  you with your quest for a sizable plot in your chosen area is probably beyond even the sagest of members!!

 

That said, and out of curiosity, what is the current situation for land down that part of the world? Are you hopeful in finding such a plot within your desired budget?

 

 

[Marvin]

Welcome Scottvining.

Yes an exciting time. 

 

I find the good thing about asking questions here is that you can get many choices and some clever ideas.

 

Ah! Many memories of surfing Widemouth Bay!

 

Our MVHR is excellent. But not without airtightness!  Whilst looking for the right place I would suggest you look in great detail at all the pros and cons of each type of energy source. Looking at PV at the moment has made me aware that in winter you only produce about 1/4 of what you do in summer. We have solar thermal.

I have installed trench GSHP but not here. I have realised that the ratio of these energy sources is important to get right. 

 

Well good luck with the hunting

 

Marvin

 

[scottvining]

2 minutes ago, Redoctober said:

Hi and welcome to the forum - you have certainly come to right place for advice and guidance but I fear helping  you with your quest for a sizable plot in your chosen area is probably beyond even the sagest of members!!

 

That said, and out of curiosity, what is the current situation for land down that part of the world? Are you hopeful in finding such a plot within your desired budget?

 

 

Thanks,
There are barns and the like with 1+ acres popping up occasionally. Most are over our budget (which is 150k-180k) or not secluded enough for us. We're hoping that being open minded about the how the house sits in the land will help us. I've was hoping to find the land this year, but fear it may take longer.

I'm in the process of making contact with all the Estate Agents. Do I really need to 'butter them up' so they send land my way, or just registering on their website enough?

[scottvining]

Thanks @Marvin

I can't wait to really get into the nitty gritty of heating, energy efficiency and power etc. 

I have no idea of what combination of ASHP, MVHR, Solar Thermal, Thermal Mass and PV would be ideal. Plus charging an EV too! I read today that you can get ASHP which has a dual tanks for UFH and HW, but I didn't think ASHP could do hot water hot enough?

 

Is it worth getting in someone to figure it all out, or is it something I could work out myself?

 

I'm drawing floor plans and looking at all these heating solutions, but started to feel like I was getting ahead of myself. It feels like it's going to be a massive hurdle just getting the land.

[SteamyTea]

Welcome

I used to live in Bucks, still have family there.

Now down in Cornwall.

Regarding planning, have a word with @joe90 and the disastrous experience he had with the Devon people.

You have picked a bad time to look for plots down here as there is renewed interest in the area.  And some places are trying to to stop development for emmets and dreamers.

So conversion or bungalow gobbling is probably easier overall.  Have you considered buying a very cheap place to live in while you search and build.  There are still some very cheap areas, and compared to most of Bucks, much nicer.

 

Regarding all the technical stuff it is all very basic technology and calculations, but you can, if you want, make it really complicated, but it won't work.

There is no such thing as 'Thermal Mass'.  There are materials that have different densities with different specific heat capacities and different thermal conductivities.  It is the combination that gives you the supposed thermal stability that people crave.  Or just rely on the Atlantic Ocean, that is pretty stable thermally.  Takes months to change by 3°C.

 

28 minutes ago, scottvining said:

I'm drawing floor plans and looking at all these heating solutions, but started to feel like I was getting ahead of myself

Yes you are.  Find a plot where you can build a place that gets sun from all angles on it (well not North obviously).  Remember that it is hard to grow trees on the North Coast and it is windy.

 

Don't get hung up on construction type either, some places have embraced timber frame (there is a large manufacturer of them in Redruth) and others are still sticking with brick and block.

 

53 minutes ago, Marvin said:

Ah! Many memories of surfing Widemouth Bay!

Me to, and stuffing my Honda into a Cornish Hedge on my way to the chippy in Bude.

 

Head down to Penzance, it is still affordable and not a bad town, but make sure you are upwind of the heliport.

 

And regardless of what @pocstersays, we are not all pasty munching morons that have married our cousins, but it is sometimes really hard to be accepted.  Move fie miles and you can be an outcast for decades.

Edited May 5, 2021 by SteamyTea

[Marvin]

The ASHP we are about to install is an air to water type, and will heat the building and water and cool in the summer!

 

Many different machines on the market. A lot less energy used to heat water than a whole house. We use about 3-4kW hours a day to heat the hot water for 2, whereas as the house can use 96kW hours a day to keep warm. 

 

You can obtain software I think, but I use my own spreadsheet to do the calculations. It's a lot of maths and the devil is definetly in the detail.

 

Run it like a business. Do dummy runs. Where's your business plan?

What's your budgets?

 

You can prepare well in advance by getting systems up and running.

 

We did a renovation of a bungalow. Received the keys at 11. Skip on site at 12. 

 

Good luck

 

M

[joe90]

39 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Regarding planning, have a word with @joe90 and the disastrous experience he had with the Devon people.

DONT GET ME STARTED ON PLANNERS DOWN HERE!!!!! But we won on appeal hands down so don’t give up hope.

[SteamyTea]

8 hours ago, joe90 said:

DONT GET ME STARTED ON PLANNERS DOWN HERE!!!!! But we won on appeal hands down so don’t give up hope.

Was Devon's planning department, not Cornwall's.

[joe90]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Was Devon's planning department, not Cornwall's.

Yes, I was told if we were 1 mile west of where we are, in Cornwall, it would have been passed by planning on the first application ?.

[Pocster]

15 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

And regardless of what @pocstersays, we are not all pasty munching morons that have married our cousins, but it is sometimes really hard to be accepted

I accept you .... as a pasty eating moron 

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, pocster said:

I accept you .... as a pasty eating moron 

 

Rowe's sausage rolls for me, 2 of 3 quid, and they start almost twice the size of Warrens'.

Edited May 6, 2021 by SteamyTea

[Pocster]

28 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

 

Rowe's sausage rolls for me, 2 of 3 quid, and they start almost twice the size of Warrens'.

I love Cornwall . Especially the trip home away from it 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, pocster said:

I love Cornwall . Especially the trip home away from it 

I never stop in Bristol, I just carry on for another 3 hours. In any direction, except west, obviously.

[scottvining]

Good to see Cornish Banter! There's so much info on here. 

 

If I don't find land this year we'll probably rent down there next year. Penzance might be a bit far though - going to need to regularly visit relatives in West Sussex!

 

@SteamyTea So Devon is cheaper, but harder to get planning. I'd rather be in Cornwall of I can afford it. 

 

@Marvin I've had a couple of business so hopefully have learnt some lessons the hard way, that I can hopefully apply. Was hoping to find land for 150k, but looks like what we want will likely be 200k. Then selling business and flat to fund the rest. 

 

I'm going to get down there in a couple of weeks, to get a feel for it, try to narrow the search and view a couple of plots. 

 

I'll have loads of questions about planning very soon I suspect. 

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, scottvining said:

going to need to regularly visit relatives in West Sussex

There is no easy way to get there from here.  Used to be able to fly from Newquay to Gatwick for a few quid, but those days are over.

There are a couple of members that are building down Saltash way.

[Omnibuswoman]

Hi there, welcome to the Hub. I am one of the members building in East Cornwall. We bought a plot in South East Cornwall last year, with extant planning permission. We’re building a timber frame passive house, ASHP, MHRV etc hopefully starting the build proper in the Autumn. 

Buildhubbers are a friendly and generous lot offering invaluable advice and encouragement, sometimes a gentle reality check, and plenty of banter. ☺️

[scottvining]

Thanks @Omnibuswoman

Do you have any recommendations or experience with architects in Cornwall?

We just had a good chat with Acro2 architects who are based in Bodmin. But they did put a dampener on some of our ideas! 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, scottvining said:

Acro2

That name comes up too often down here.  I have not met anyone that has actually used them.

 

Do you really think you need an Architect, a few on here have not used them.

[joe90]

1 hour ago, scottvining said:

But they did put a dampener on some of our ideas! 

It’s your build, don’t let “others” tell you what you want (unless they have a structural problem or financial implication). I find too many architects want you to build what they deem best!!!!!

[Omnibuswoman]

We didn't go with an architect in the end.

We did speak with one recommended to us, but in the end we felt that we just couldn't spend that proportion of our modest budget (around 10%). Instead, we used the questions the architect had asked us to think about - how we plan to use the house, what our living habits are, feelings about 'must have' things and 'absolutely not' things etc.

 

I used an app called Room Sketcher to map out plans, based on a simple rectangular house (which we understood was likely to perform well as a passive house and was likely to be the most cost efficient to build). Once we had completed that, our builder engaged an architect that he works closely with to draw our plans up properly, and then I spent a couple of hours meeting with him to make a few final adjustments. 

 

We have spent a total of about £3k, which is 1% of our budget. And as a result of doing all of the thinking and planning ourselves, I now know the plans for the house upside down and inside out! It was definitely the best thing for us, and has helped me to gain a sense of ownership both of the house and the project as a whole. If you know what you want, I would recommend this way of approaching it, and maybe getting an architectural technician to draw the plans up for you.

 

[Marvin]

7 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

I have not met anyone that has actually used them.

 

Acro no 2 used once: In a bungalow. From the floating slab, through the suspended timber floor, through the plasterboard ceiling up to the purlin. Hire shop said never hired out before.  

Edited May 12, 2021 by Marvin
Clarification

[SteamyTea]

11 hours ago, Marvin said:

Acro no 2 used once

Silly sod.

[BotusBuild]

I'm the other one building near Saltash. The original plans for our planning permission were drawn by ARCO2. I tried to use them, but timing and cost were all wrong for us. Now glad that it was wrong, as I have found the plans and elevations just didn't match up.

 

Anyway, to your search - go grab yourself a large helping of Patience, sprinkle over a little pessimism, but top it off with some enthusiasm and an open mind to what might be possible with sites that you look at. It took us about 2-3 years to find the right thing. Glad we waited - we are building a semi-basemented 2 storey, 3 bed house that we aim to be well insulated, air tight, and hence a low energy home.

 

Good luck with you search