Parts of a house

[Russell griffiths]

Hi I asked this question before, but I don't think I worded it correctly 

what I am trying to do is do a list of parts and components that go into a house, last time I said this was for costing purposes which it is, but I need it for my own use, I don't need an estimating company to tell me how much of my house I can't afford ?  So what I need really is a list of every single thing you either did or had to buy to finish your house. 

I would also like pointing in the right direction as to if I can find this on the web somewhere. 

 

For example. 

1: site clearance:  fell trees and shrubs

                          :  scrape of vegetable matter 

                          :  alter any site levels

 

2 : services :    Gas connection    

                   :    Elactricity connection

 

Etc, etc. This is the sort of thing, I can do all the sums myself I just don't want to miss a big or small item like forgetting our access track needs raising 600 mm for a length of 80m, nothing a couple of hundred tonnes of stone won't fix. 

 

Thanks for for any help. 

Russ. 

[RichS]

Surely this would be site specific.

[Russell griffiths]

14 minutes ago, RichS said:

Surely this would be site specific.

Yes a lot would be site specific but for instance bathrooms. 

Bathroom 1: bath/ taps

                  : sink/taps

                 : toilet

                 : floor finish 

                 : wall finish 

            Etc etc 

what I don't want to do is get half way through and think, oh sod it I forgot about the heated towel rail so I haven't put an electrical supply in for it. 

If you get my thinking. 

Cheers. 

[Crofter]

@Russell griffiths I know exactly where you're coming from! I designed and have built my house myself, literally, and there was a lot of research to work out exactly what was needed. I must have done something right because my estimated cost is within a few hundred pounds of my actual spend. I'm going to go a bit over budget, but that's mostly due to feature creep, going for higher end fittings etc.

I'm afraid I can't really help with where to find a detailed list, though- I just built my house in Sketchup and then worked it all out. It was really helpful to speak to tradesmen, mostly in my case just neighbours or friends who stopped in for a chat. My sparky was also very helpful and his input made me realise how easy it would be to forget bits of the installation. For instance, I'd thought about where I wanted lights, but hadn't given any thought to where I wanted the switches to go! He rattled off a plan in about half an hour, whereas I would probably have been scratching my head and agonising over every decision for days.

[Ferdinand]

@JSHarris published a simplified cost spreadsheet for his project here, from which you could generalise a skeleton of items, @Russell griffiths

http://www.mayfly.eu/2014/04/part-twenty-nine-some-details-that-may-be-of-interest/

 

That list contains approx 100 items so could be part to a good basis and a checklist from a different angle to your own to fill in some gaps.

 

I expect there will also be something printed in eg House Builders' Bible somewhere.

 

If you end up with something that is comprehensive it would be a good structured checklist to put on BH.

 

Ferdinand

Edited May 29, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Temp]

Take a walk around the house you currently live in (inside and out) with a note pad.

 

Little things we forgot or didn't know we needed..

 

TV aerial and cable (although I remembered the distribution amp and cables to all rooms).

Rain guards/bird cages on the chimney.

Rubber boots between our rainwater down pipes and the 110mm drains

Security cameras (should have put in wire for them when building).

Spare slot in the consumer unit for the later shed (remembered one for the garage and outside power point).

Driveway edging/conservation curbs.

Linear drains for the patio and where driveway meets road.

We also needed an extra course of bricks due to miss calculation I think.

 

Sure there are others.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Temp

[Nickfromwales]

Proper drain to the boiler location for the condensate water. 

Doorbell. 

Telephone cable. 

Outside sockets and lights, plus a master switch so you can bring on your security lights manually from inside the house if 'spooked'. 

Front and rear outside taps, if the property is sizeable. 

 

This is could be a bloody long list.

 

[Russell griffiths]

Yes the list will be huge, but I work on so many places where people don't think of simple things. 

Why only an outside tap on the back of the house. Why not one under the carport by the driveway. 

Just silly things that make the house work better. 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Get the house wired for an all RCBO Consumer Unit too. Plenty of segregation and a bit of redundancy is good. Less to lose if a breaker trips. ?

Outside socket for every outside tap is a good rule, jet wash or Hoover etc. 

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

Yes the list will be huge, but I work on so many places where people don't think of simple things. 

Why only an outside tap on the back of the house. Why not one under the carport by the driveway. 

Just silly things that make the house work better. 

 

 

 A non-freezing outside tap, or two at each location ... one for a bucket and one for the hose.

An off switch for the entire house water supply, that is convenient enough so you will not forget to use it when out for a day in winter.

Master switch to switch off outside sockets.

Socket and light in the loft.

Sufficient bin storage (= at least 4 bins) which can be hosed down.

Convenient bike storage.

 

0.5-2% spares of everything .. bricks, roof tiles, floor tiles etc.

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Bitpipe]

This is a good idea - some, non obvious, things that we have done (and a few we forgot).

 

- Permanent kiosk for external electricity meter, removing need for site temps (and the associated costs). Especially useful if demolishing an existing building.

- Internal and external power for seasonal needs - we have a lovely large window where we locate the xmas tree, unfortunately no socket so had to put a hole through wall to the study (face plate either side with brushes). 

- Cat 5 in kitchen for internet radio / TV (forgot this, will need to rely on WiFi)

- Cat 5 in plant room for Solar PV controller (remembered this)

- Ducting between wall mounted TV and wherever the boxes are 

- Speaker cable in walls / floor / ceiling - allow for things like Atmos where you may need additional audio channels 

- IR sensors to activate hot return circuit for DHW and MVHR boost, removes need for dedicated switches and timers - one of the big tips I got from this site, plumber was impressed

- We have a large rear square lawn (well, mud for now) where the caravan sat during building, so we had a 25mm MPDE water main running to it. Will now relay this to the centre of the lawn and will hide in small gully - this gives us a central point to water the lawn from in the future (when the RWH tanks are empty).

- getting the FFL correct for sliding doors to allow a level threshold (managed this).

- noggins for bath cabinets, sinks, mirrors etc - but allow for FFL and read the instructions to see where the actual fittings are. If in doubt, ply the walls.

- cheap electric UFH for bathrooms (we did a very last min scramble to fit the conduit and electrics for ours, just after tacking).

- lead flashing under external doors (inc, sliding) only remembered this for the front door.

- power for velux integra (or equivalent) windows that will be inaccessible.

- built in internal / external blinds to minimise solar gain, especially on roof (the Velux external ones are great and patch into the window power system). We omitted one window on the south and regret that, thought it would have more natural shade but forgot about low sun in spring.

- allowance for MVHR duct and soil pipe routes, especially if you have steels anywhere, we had to get creative in a few places.

- pocket sliding doors for bathrooms - really free up floor space.

- running power and control cable for potential future things like video intercom, gate control etc.

- ducting for underground BT to avoid overhead cable. 

- provision for LED lighting on stairs - our bannisters have a strip in the underneath that comes on with low lighting

- low level led lighting in hall wall that comes on when it's evening (together with a timer) - useful if guests or kids are popping out to loo or getting a drink at night, also saves having the full hall lighting on in evening

 

I'm sure there will be more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[warby]

Try this: 

and this http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Self-build_home:_Prepare_for_construction

go onto other sections for other items

This was started but never finished on ebuild: http://www.ebuild.co.uk/blog/39/entry-371-check-list-index-and-summary/#comment_1831

and this: https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/homebuilding/prod/content/uploads/2012/04/a-self-builders-checklist.pdf