zoe61 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Hello from Yorkshire. Just a friendly hello to let you know a bit about myself and our project. My partner and I are currently in the process of converting a building. Its a fairly modern build so luckily for us it was traditionally built with a 100mm cavity with 50mm insulation which makes life a lot easier. But we have plans to further insulate it which raises a lot of questions which I'm hoping some of you may be able to help with later. I'm a Civil & Structural Engineer by degree but I never really went into that specific field, instead I design the Overhead power line systems on railways. It may sound ambitious but I have done all the architectural and structural designs myself as I like the challenge. I have no previous experience in anything house related so its a huge learning curve, but (hopefully) all part of the fun! Anyway hopefully I can learn some tips from you guys along the way and share the journey with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyke2 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Hi. Welcome (from Barnsley) I did all my detail drawings myself too. So goo luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Welcome to THE forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Welcome ! Have you got any plans as this sounds interesting ..! Do you have a budget in mind and are you living in it while you modernise the building ..?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 1 hour ago, zoe61 said: Hello from Yorkshire.[...] so its a huge learning curve, but (hopefully) all part of the fun! [...] Welcome to Pain Central. Woe, worry, ulcers, sore backs, empty bank accounts, mis-communications, buckets of steam, smoke being blown up your withers: it's all here. In spades. Along with some of the most committed, interested and interesting people I have never met: I only see what they write and photograph. This place has saved me about £20,000 so far: its addictive. Smile inducing. Shared hardship, shared privilege. You are most welcome. BTW, can I see your designs from my window? The gantries on the West Coast main line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Welcome to the forum. 1 hour ago, recoveringacademic said: BTW, can I see your designs from my window? The gantries on the West Coast main line? Likewise but I see the East Coast main line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoe61 Posted September 28, 2018 Author Share Posted September 28, 2018 1 hour ago, recoveringacademic said: BTW, can I see your designs from my window? The gantries on the West Coast main line? Haha I cant wait, what doesn't kill you definitely makes you stronger! When you say its saved you large amount of money, can you name any specific that may be useful to me too please? 19 minutes ago, newhome said: Likewise but I see the East Coast main line. Luckily for me I haven't worked directly on either, neither are great examples! Although currently designing some upgrades for the ECML which will definitely remove some of its resilience issues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 7 hours ago, zoe61 said: I have no previous experience in anything house related so its a huge learning curve, but (hopefully) all part of the fun! Welcome to the forum. We didn't have experience of house design or build but we designed and built our own house to Passivhaus standard. Whether it was all fun I wouldn't like to say . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Our experience was very similar to @PeterStarcks, in that we had no experience of house design at all, and little knowledge of how the building industry works, yet somehow we also managed to design a house to passive house standards, without using an architect, or whatever. The only consultant we used was a structural engineer to design our big retaining wall, and that was really to satisfy insurance companies more than anything else. I found the technical aspects of design interesting and fairly straightforward, but I did struggle a bit with the aesthetics. The downside of that was that I spent a lot of time going through different design iterations until we had something that we thought looked OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 8 hours ago, zoe61 said: Although currently designing some upgrades for the ECML which will definitely remove some of its resilience issues! I know who to ask when I get another 'overhead lines are down' reason for my train being delayed or cancelled then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 (edited) On 28/09/2018 at 12:18, zoe61 said: When you say its saved you large amount of money, can you name any specific that may be useful to me too please? Welcome to the forum @zoe61. I think the biggest saving was to do with finding a cost-effective solution for @recoveringacademic's piles. IIRC a brief aside from a professional site-treatment specialist in an email hinted at an alternative treatment for said piles. See this post and others either side in the blog. The takeaways are REALLY sweat the detail of what you *are* told, and research the adjacent stuff you have not been told. Ferdinand Edited October 1, 2018 by Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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