Highlands self-build retirement dream

[Timmy]

Hi all

I’ll probably retire in a couple of years and move to the Highlands. Very much at the stage of considering the possibilities at the moment, but the idea of a self-build is appealing. I haven’t done a self-build before and the prospect of a blank sheet for a new home’s layout is quite daunting. Where do people go for ideas and inspiration? 
Cheers. 

[MikeSharp01]

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Your right it is daunting but you can start from the outside in! As in, think about the sort if location you are looking for and then think generally about the style of house you want that might suit the location. This latter choice can be worked out before the location but it seems to me that the house should follow the place. That does not stop you thinking about things like wether it will be a passive house and for location how far you want to be from civilisation / broadband / water / electricity / .... Great to dream though.  

[ToughButterCup]

52 minutes ago, Timmy said:

...

Where do people go for ideas and inspiration? 

...

 

Here.

Your plan is exactly what we've done. By chance retirement and getting full PP occured on the same day. I could not have done the build without BH.  Beware optimism bias. You cannot read enough of BH to help you plan. Think of it as planning time.

 

Have a read of any of the blogs: they're probably the best place to start.

Good luck

Ian

Edited December 11, 2021 by ToughButterCup

[ProDave]

The Highlands is a good choice of location, it is also a very large area so plenty to choose from.  And it has the advantage over other parts of the UK that building plots are usually for sale and at sensible prices.

 

As to choosing the layout, that is often led by the plot, i.e. shape, orientation, views, neighbours, etc etc so I would not get too far down the line of designing a house before the plot, but it is certainly worth getting some ideas.

 

Do lots of reading on here, thicken up your skin (you will need it) and get working on your sense of humour.

[Timmy]

Thanks for everyone’s replies. I appreciate that the layout / location decisions will be somewhat iterative. One of the areas where I have most to learn is about the how the aspect of the house, the glazing, the heating, and the ventilation all interact. The house where I’ve lived for the last thirtyish years is about 100 years old, has thick stone walls, is poorly insulated by modern standards and is pretty draughty but we like it. It very rarely gets too hot in summer. I’ve stayed in quite a few self build holiday homes in the Highlands and some of them could get sweltering at particular times of day. I’d like to avoid that pitfall.

I had a look at your blog @ProDave - I like what you’ve done, and a lovely part of the country. 

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, Timmy said:

Thanks for everyone’s replies. I appreciate that the layout / location decisions will be somewhat iterative. One of the areas where I have most to learn is about the how the aspect of the house, the glazing, the heating, and the ventilation all interact. The house where I’ve lived for the last thirtyish years is about 100 years old, has thick stone walls, is poorly insulated by modern standards and is pretty draughty but we like it. It very rarely gets too hot in summer. I’ve stayed in quite a few self build holiday homes in the Highlands and some of them could get sweltering at particular times of day. I’d like to avoid that pitfall.

I had a look at your blog @ProDave - I like what you’ve done, and a lovely part of the country. 

If you want to insulate against heat in summer, design your walls and particularly your roof to have space for thick slabs of wood fibre. At least 140mm. From memory, we did 140mm steicoflex plus 40mm of Steico hardboard. You want to aim for a decrement delay of 10 or 11 hours.

[ProDave]

The decrement delay of our house is over 13 hours and it provides a very stable internal temperature, it does not heat up or cool down quickly.

 

To some extent, our layout is modelled on the traditional highland "croft house" being quite wide but not very deep front door in the middle, stairs in the middle and rooms either side of the stairs on both floors.  It suited the site, wide but not very deep, and was in character with it's surroundings.  None of the rooms have massive windows, again in keeping with the style, except for our sun room that is the glass box.

[Adsibob]

41 minutes ago, ProDave said:

The decrement delay of our house is over 13 hours and it provides a very stable internal temperature, it does not heat up or cool down quickly.

 

To some extent, our layout is modelled on the traditional highland "croft house" being quite wide but not very deep front door in the middle, stairs in the middle and rooms either side of the stairs on both floors.  It suited the site, wide but not very deep, and was in character with it's surroundings.  None of the rooms have massive windows, again in keeping with the style, except for our sun room that is the glass box.

I probably should have said at least 10 or 11. Don’t they say 12 is ideal?