Confused to start with!!

[jack]

[Mod hat on]

 

Please behave yourselves and stop bickering.

 

[/Mod hat off]

[ProDave]

4 hours ago, Carrerahill said:

Lets stick to the topic of architects spending lots of cash. 

 

DIY design is another topic for another day. However, while you mention that, practically everything Zaha Hadid did makes me wince.

I designed mine myself, I would be interested to see if it makes you wince.  We are very happy with it.

[Gone West]

18 hours ago, CharlieKLP said:

Well I’ve never seen a novice design a house that didn’t make me wince. Prove me wrong guys! 

When I last posted this picture you indicated that you liked it. Has anything changed?

 

[joe90]

Not everyone’s cup of tea but it works very well fir us and I get constant comments from passers by and neighbours how good it looks.

[SteamyTea]

Have hidden my architect designed house behind some pampas grass.

Not because I am a R4 GQT old swinger, just because it offends me.

 

[Carrerahill]

14 hours ago, ProDave said:

I designed mine myself, I would be interested to see if it makes you wince.  We are very happy with it.

I think you quoted me instead of Charlie...

[Carrerahill]

@joe90 @Gone West

 

Both fine looking houses! 

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Carrerahill

[Carrerahill]

27 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Not everyone’s cup of tea but it works very well fir us and I get constant comments from passers by and neighbours how good it looks.

I see the trusty Merc trying to get in on the action there!

[joe90]

1 minute ago, Carrerahill said:

I see the trusty Merc trying to get in on the action there!

Well spotted, in fact that was the old one, 180k miles and started having electrical problems. Spent a bit replacing items but kept giving problems so sold it to a dealer (who reckoned he could fix it) and bought a newer one (only 80k). Brilliant car,  can get loads in it (estate) got 60mpg the other day on an a road and £100 a year less road tax. 👍

[Iceverge]

19 hours ago, Carrerahill said:

It depends what you mean by better.

 

If it was me, my forever house I would build it in block/brick.

 

I've done TF and I am happy with it, but I would have been happier with block.

 

There is a recent thread on this topic and the pro's and cons where we have all chipped in the 10's of pros and cons.

 

 

 

Having done the masonry route we had to fight hard for our airtightness and detailing and the build process was torturous at times. Concrete is sloppy, heavy, dusty, noisy going. 

 

It is cheap and pretty solid however but simple things like window installs feel like a best effort rather than any kind of precision fit. 

 

I think a dense pack cellulose or rockwool filled TF with a heavy weight 15mm plasterboard and skim would feel plenty solid, but it's best guess really and listenung to others experience. 

 

Having been in PIR insulated roughly constructed TF with thin plasterboard houses with no attention to airtightness houses they're a world away. 

 

In hindsight would you change anything about your TF?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thorfun]

1 hour ago, Iceverge said:

rockwool filled TF with a heavy weight 15mm plasterboard and skim would feel plenty solid, but it's best guess really and listenung to others experience. 

our mineral wool filled TF will be lined with 9mm OSB and then 12mm plasterboard to give it a solid feel. again, best guess as I have no real experience of this but others seem to think it'll give the walls that 'solid' feel. 

 

not sure if going to 12.5mm OSB will be any added benefit though?

[rh2205]

We have our TF upstairs bungalow to house extension lined with osb (architect spec’d it & builder never spotted it until he read the drawings), yes you can hang things but it’s still like a hollow echo chamber & doesn’t seem to have any sound bearing properties & I’m not convinced it’s given the perception of being more solid. But it was no extra charge so I’m not complaining.

Edited October 7, 2022 by rh2205

[markc]

1 minute ago, rh2205 said:

We have our TF upstairs bungalow to house extension lined with osb (architect spec’d it & builder never spotted it until he read the drawings), yes you can hang things but it’s still like a hollow echo chamber & doesn’t seem to have any sound bearing properties & I’m not convinced it’s given the perception of being more solid. But it was no extra charge so I’m not complaining.

The OSB on a timber frame is most likely for wind bracing, not for making it sound or feel more solid.

[rh2205]

No it wasn’t architect spec’d it just because of being able to affix things easily, we also have external osb & EWI on the outer frame so there’s a lot of osb & I presume the outside osb will act as the bracing. Of course no one realised or questioned this until the work was started & we just went along with it..

Edited October 7, 2022 by rh2205

[Thorfun]

5 minutes ago, rh2205 said:

We have our TF upstairs bungalow to house extension lined with osb (architect spec’d it & builder never spotted it until he read the drawings), yes you can hang things but it’s still like a hollow echo chamber & doesn’t seem to have any sound bearing properties & I’m not convinced it’s given the perception of being more solid. But it was no extra charge so I’m not complaining.

I presume the builder didn't fit any sort of Rockwool in the internal walls to reduce the hollow echo chamber effect?

[rh2205]

Yes rockwool fitted, we came every day! There was a bit of an argument over plasterboard thickness so we agreed to 12.5mm instead of 15mm specified, maybe if we’d of looked into it we might of ditched the osb for thicker plasterboard, but I don’t know what really would of worked best, it’s definitely feels more hollow than our crappy 1980s masonry bovis home, but it’s also bigger & we don’t own much stuff so probably doesn’t help with how noise travels.

[Thorfun]

4 hours ago, rh2205 said:

Yes rockwool fitted, we came every day! There was a bit of an argument over plasterboard thickness so we agreed to 12.5mm instead of 15mm specified, maybe if we’d of looked into it we might of ditched the osb for thicker plasterboard, but I don’t know what really would of worked best, it’s definitely feels more hollow than our crappy 1980s masonry bovis home, but it’s also bigger & we don’t own much stuff so probably doesn’t help with how noise travels.

interesting that you don't think the OSB has made a difference as it's quite a large expense to board out with OSB first! maybe I'll compare 15mm plasterboard costs with 9mm OSB and 12.5mm plasterboard

[jonM]

My advice to anybody embarking on a self-build is as follows: 

 

1) Be very clear on your requirements. The following post may be of help on this topic:

2) If your requirements are not achievable for the budget you have available, then focus on what is the most important to you. Eg: If a comfortable house that is cheap to heat is your priority, then you could focus your budget on the fabric of the building and compromise on the size and / or the internals. This will to some extent drive what build method you choose. There is no one build method that is the best but each build method has its own strengths. My overriding objective was to build to a passivhaus standard, so I built using a timber frame as recommended by an architect, passivhaus consultant and builder who were experienced in passivhaus design and build. They knew how to design the frame to ensure it was cost effective, watertight and airtight. 

 

3) Understand what your strengths are and how you can best contribute to the project. There are some very gifted people on this forum. Some have designed their own houses and others can turn their hands to many different trades. I can't do this but I have good planning and research skills which helped choosing the right people with the right skillsets to do the work and working out the cheapest place to source materials. 

 

4) Professional Services are an added expense but if you choose well, they will reduce the chances of errors and can save you money. 

 

Finally, plan, plan and plan again. Make sure you know exactly what you want before you start the build. You may not be able to achieve everything on you wish list but it should be a lot better than what you can obtain on the open market. My build was started after a lot of research, but what I did may not be right for you, so it is best for you to carry out the research and come to your own conclusions. 

 

Best of luck and most of all, enjoy the self build journey !

[NickK]

On 07/10/2022 at 08:49, Gone West said:

When I last posted this picture you indicated that you liked it. Has anything changed?

 

That looks great @Gone WestDo you have pics of other elevations and floor plan you wouldn’t mind sharing?

[Gone West]

3 hours ago, NickK said:

That looks great @Gone WestDo you have pics of other elevations and floor plan you wouldn’t mind sharing?

I moved eighteen months ago but I'll see what I can find.