building house in garden

Dirk Gently

I'm a young single person living at home with my parents as I can't afford to buy my own house or even rent as prices in Dublin are too high. I have a healthy hatred for the greed and profiteering in this country which makes life impossible for a lot of young people. Houses are grossly overpriced even for the smallest dog box on the market, not to mention greedy management companies adding to the price of mortgages by charging horrible amounts of money to do the job the councils are suppose to do (that’s what we pay taxes for) By the way I’m in no danger of being offered a mortgage by any banks anyway to buy a new house.

Possible solution:
My parents own a corner house and are willing to give myself and my younger brother the land to build a house in which to live. I am a draughtsman so I can draw the plans and submit for planning.

So my brother and I have the land for free and I can design the house so no architect’s fees. We are both also willing to work as free laborers for the builder.

I would like people’s opinions on building costs. Are there any materials I can use to cut the cost of construction? E.G. timber frames structures. I am aware to some degree on planning laws but considering the amount of one off houses built in the estate which are different to the standard house type I am confident that with a good design I can get permission for an alternative type house. Also I am keen to incorporate solar power into the house and use as much enviornmentally friendly materials / green design as I can if this is affordable. I would be interested to know if anyone out there has any advice on the practical side or the cost of solar panels. I basically want to build this house for as little money as possible and am interested in people’s advice on choice of materials which would cut costs without risk to structure and insulation.
many thanks.

jhop

I know VERY little about it, but apparently you can make a hay bale house ( I say one in New zealand once)
Basically you build a frame to hold your roof up, pile up hay bales for walls, and cover them with cement. The cement keeps the hay dry, and it is great insulation (or so Ive heard)

Dont trust anything I say though, I know nothing of regulations or anything.

FX Meister

Yeah, the corpo will definetly give you the go ahead for a house made of hay. Just as long as you're not a little pig and there's a wolf near by with a grudge against you.

jhop

http://www.abc.net.au/northtas/stories/s1052906.htm
http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/energy/straw/straw.htm

etc
etc
etc
do a google.
of course the rain might be a problem

Viking House

If you are building a small house in the garden then the walls of a straw bale house would be too thick 2ft and leave you with less space inside.
The best option in my opinion for a relatively cheap and quick build is a closed panel timberframe house. These are available in superinsulated versions and are very eco.
Some companies who supply them are Scanhomes, Griffner Coillte, Danwood and I am building one for my sister in May/June.

O-Ninio

Last I heard the planning authorities take a positive view of this infill type of development so long as it is in keeping with the area. You can check this with the arch.s you work for.

byte

There was a programme on Discovery RealTime some weeks back, where a guy in UK built a house using straw for insulation. Don't think it's too practical though. Would dread what would happen in a fire. You'd have no hope of controlling a blaze.

Idleater

byte wrote:

...Don't think it's too practical though. Would dread what would happen in a fire. You'd have no hope of controlling a blaze.

I have seen a couple of programmes on TV about people that have built using Straw Bales. Contrary to your belief, it is actually extremely difficult to ignite the straw because they are densely packed and the fire cannot get hold.

And that is just the unplastered bales, in actual fact, they are plastered on the inside and outside so you have about as much chance of them going up in smoke as you do with a standard wooden stud partition (which actually would burn easier if the fire got in there).

Straw Bale building has been widely recognised as very insulating and enviornmentally friendly, however, as has already been pointed out, the walls are quite thick and as a result such builds are more common in the country as one off houses.


Another interesting one I saw was regarding newspaper insulation. Shredded paper (well practically dust) was pumped into the cavity walls and into the ceilings. In the event of a fire, if the ceiling/wall covering was breached, then the dust would fall down and because of its size, it simply would not burn and actually would put out the fire.


Keep an open mind about these simple natural solutions. We are in the 21st century and didn't have the modern construction methods and materials in the "olden days" so if these ideas were as daft as some people claim they are, we would be well extinct.


L.

ismynametoolong

Clow bag You know this would make for a great TV show just to prove or
see how cheap one could build a house for .
You are spot on with all your comments this society has changed
big time with money as everybodys no 1 priority . Instead of Dog eat Dog
it should be Dog rob Dog because we all rip each other off . Best of luck with your project maybe you should contact Duncan stewart and see if
they are interested you never know they just might be interested in your story instead of the usual millionaire tossers they have on .

redman

Following on from the last comment, this is live:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/architect/

and
Duncan's
http://www.rte.ie/tv/aboutthehouse/

Good luck

Redman