Live self-Builds - mod warning in post no. 1

mighty mush

We dug first sod 31st May '08 and moved in 6th march 09. Held up for a month and a half but worked very hard to get back on track and it paid off. Anyone afraid of selfbuild don't hesisate as its not as bad as people say. just go for it.

mr_edge_to_you

The roof trusses should be finished early on in the week. Slate decision made and builder has them ordered. We're going to throw up samples of the coloured render to see what they look like. The builder wants to do the chimney before the slates go on. Ground source pipes going down this week too. Windows ordered. It's all go at the moment!

Currahee01

Making great progress, plasterer in next week

3plunkett

Hi,

We are currently at foundation/ground floor level of our 2,600 sq.ft self build home in east Galway.

The radon barrier and floor insulation is in place and the plumber has been in and has laid all the major pipe work for toilets/radiators etc. Next step is to pour the concrete floor....(we don't plan on having exposed concrete floor, we will be using carpet, tiles, wooden flooring etc)

We are hoping to pour the floor early next week and our builder has advised us to look for someone to 'powerfloat' the floor once the concrete has been poured. Our main concern is for the floor is to be level, is powerfloating the most common method, or is a bull float a more reliable way of ensuring a level floor (I know this depends on who is controlling the bull float!)

Who would be the best tradesman to approach, builder, plasterer (a local plasterer has been mentioned as a possibility)?

Any advice or recommendations of anyone in east Galway would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance,
Paul

Poor Uncle Tom

The powerfloat or bullfloat will not make a slab level. These will only make a slab smooth, the formwork which the slab is screeded from makes the slab level.

Only some very good local advice will tell you who, locally is good at powerfloating or using the bullfloat.

If anyone wants to volunteer names, do so by PM only.

mr_edge_to_you

We signed off on our window order today. The felt is on and the slates arrived this afternoon. A few more decent dry days and we'll be laughing!

selfbuildlost

blocks should be starting on Thursday but the weather is going to slow it up ...... typical I spent the best months of the year messing around with planners now I ready to push forward and the weather catches me. on the up side my wife found a kitchen online www.surplusstock.ie down from €10k to €2.5k and got a lot of the tiles we need as well so saved a small fortune. I emailed the site to see what else they might have coming up - I'll keep ye posted - in the meantime please pray for the rain to stop:D

selfbuildlost

curahee - what a view - i hope you have plenty of glass on the mountain side!!:D

BoozyBabe

Don't know what stage we were at when I last posted, but:
Slates are on & looking well
Windows & doors (excl front door) are in
Plasterers almost finished (External)
Walls chased
Some plumbing done
Suspending ceiling frame going in next week.
Happy with progress although plasterers let us down a little

Podgemcd

Hi all,

We have most of the back breaking work complete on site: Blocks, Roof, Windows, Air Tightness, Sewerage, Electrics & Plumbing. We are now looking at putting tiles in a significant portion of the ground floor and First Floor Bathrooms.

We have two options: Go for a pre finished tile, ready to lay and then once laid its finished.

Or go for a tile that must be laid and then sealed.

We are going for a porcelain tile for bathrooms and a cream travertine tile downstairs. We've been told that laying and then sealing is a good job but must be completed every 5 years. And special cleaning fluids must be used with these tiles.

Any advice on this would be a huge help as we are lost!!

Thanks Guys!
Podge

dfcelt

Currently finishing 1st fix electrics, plumbing 1st fix complete.
Insulating & plastering to commence in next 2 weeks.
Trenches (waste/Eircom/ESB) being done next week.

Technophobe

Progress is slow but stuff happening at least...how long will this "helpful" weather last though...

Chimneys plastered, slates going on and have to say they look v well with the stone, so well happy with that aspect:D....
Plumbing work ongoing and also near ready for 1st Fix electrics....Windows hopefully arriving soon.....

selfbuildlost

podgemcd. Go for the finished product, if you get the stuff that has to be sealed once it's laid then it's extra work for no reason and another possibility of a delay. The finished tiles you can now get cheap as chips and good ones at that. I have polished porcelin in my current kitchen for about 4 years and its perfect, but a word of warning make sure the person laying the polished porcelin is an expert, if not it will look terrible. There should be just the smallest of margins between the tiles

selfbuildlost

the weather has been gift - blocks are flying up - if the weather holds up for the next 4 to 6 weeks I'll be on the pigs back

Leadership

House is really coming along now. The roof is being tiled at the moment and the windows were packed on a boat in Norway after a 4 week delay at the weekend so they should be here next week.

Shame about the delay on the windows as we will not be in Christmas so it looks like it could be February or March as we are expecting a baby in January and I am sure that hold things up.

http://grianan.blogspot.com/

mr_edge_to_you

That's a shame about the windows. At least you're moving again now. Ours should be here in 4 weeks. We were later than expected ordering so it will probably be Feb before we're in.We've just got our roof finished and the electrician and plumber are on site now. Picking out bathroom fittings and sanitary ware.

rok

Currahee01 wrote: »

Making great progress, plasterer in next week

Looks like a beautiful site Currahee, any more pics ?

bakerbhoy

Finally seeing a finish date ,internally at least.Floor finished yesterday now the cavalry can charge.
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OCT08 737.jpg
Heating and insulation working a treat, very cosy.Hope to be in end of november

selfbuildlost

blocks are flying up should be starting the roof in a couple of weeks. If I can get the roof on and the windows in quickly then I dont care if it rains until April!

ThePiedPiper

Heating's turned on, tiler nearly finished, stairs going in today, floors and architrave nearly all done, kitchen going in next week.. I think I better buy teabags and milk soon...

brendan caffrey

I would just like to say good on ye all .A self build is alot of stress and strain on yourself and your partner . Im a builder by trade and my brother has finished his own self build this year . fair play to him he actually built it bit by bit to suit his pocket . If I could give any of you advice it would be build your garage first you could move into it rather than spending money on a mobile home and your money is not wasted on rent . and when your house is finished you can leave it as is or put it back as a garage .

also if you built your garage first it would do for storage of materials as your house progresses , if you already have a mobile on site

mr_edge_to_you

Hey guys!

Our windows are arriving on Tuesday. Bang on the expected date - you have to love the scandanavians and thier punctuality. Hopefully they all arrive as expected - can't help but be nervous when you are going for a different colour door than the rest of the windows!!

1st fix electrical and plumbing done as much as possible considering that the windows aren't in yet.

Builder reckons things will start flying again once they get the windows in.

bakerbhoy

The stove was installed thursday and lit for the first time. 1700
22.00 While retrieving brush to sweep in kitchen noticed a damp spot on cardboard and then plink plink.:eek:
After two years how could the flashing fail,mad panic up to the attic dry chimey breasts
problem seems to be seal around clay pot and formed chimney cap.easily sorted.now i only need a dry and wind free day.No more plinks sat or today different wind direction.
Second ingress .Tiler notices damp stain in bathroom.up to attic again.Cuprit is solar panel mount. Panels up since feb
Two more wind blown to window cills where plaster was not finished fully to bottom of reveal back under the window frame.

If we didn't get this spell of weather these little guys would not have shown up . So the storms do have an upside:eek:

Update of present work.

Kitchen fitting / bathroom tilng / Doors and arcitrave

D-day is approaching pics to follow, too untidy at the moment cardboard and packaging everywhere

TERRIC

Hi everyone. Anyone experienced in trying to raise more money from their lender to get the house finished. We're doing the garage as temp. accommodation as we won't have enough to have hse movable into. Depressing but practical solution but if we could just get the house done, it would be a dream come true. Our budget was tiny to begin with... but we had to give it a go... An extra 30k would do it. Any advice greatly appreciated.

mr_edge_to_you

Sorry to hear that Terric. I know of people it has happened. So far they've had no luck. Unfortunately, the valuation you got done before you started building will on apply in current economic climate. I think the best and easieist option may be getting a credit union loan or a standard term loan from another bank. Get a detailed quote from your contractors for the work that needs to be done. Our windows arrived yesterday- out with the saw!! I didn't realise it would take as long to put them in. That's because the sales man said he could only reduce his price if the lads could fit them in a day. Paid for now anyway.

sas

Hi,

After 2.5 years of planning\changing minds etc we started on 27 Oct.

The aim is to have a certified passive house built using direct labour at the end of this. I am working with a member of the PHI as regards the calculations and detailing. All with an unrealistic budget...

The house is 3256 sq foot 2 storey. Relatively compact shape.

My architect is our very own Sydthebeat.

First job was to remove existing footings and rising walls. If I ever get around to setting up a blog I'll tell that story there. In summary though my "changing minds" remark above is very relevant to this.

Anway, at the end of week 1 you can see the progress. The site is fully cleared back (Excavation.jpg)

Next job was to prepare the stone base for the insulated raft. This involved a layer of 2 inch clean stone compacted in layers to a minimum total depth of 300mm. That became 500mm thanks to the weather filling the excavation and the need to excavate further.

The stone base then had all the service pipes, grey water, soil etc. installed in the stone. Unfortunately due to thermal bridging everything has to be put in now through the base. We added a few extra 4 inch pipes from one 1 room to allow for future needs e.g. phoneline to the garage etc.

Finally a thin layer of washed 6mm chip was used to form a perfectly level base for the insulation. This had to be as thin as possible because we couldn't compact it and also it had to be levelled in the same manner as concrete i.e. screed it and don't walk on it again.

This is the final job the day before the installation (PreparedBase.jpg)

Finally the insulated raft had to be put together. We did this last friday. We were steeped with the break in the weather because an installer from the suppliers flew in thursday lunchtime and was leaving again
friday lunchtime. No wind or rain. It was warm at times. Took 4.5 hours to unload all materials from the 40ft container and put them together. That was 4 of us in total. (CompletedRaft.jpg)

Next step is to install the radon membrane. I need 1 dry day with very little wind. Not having much joy on that front yet.

Still progress at last...

Technophobe

Windows finally arrived today at lunchtime..so hopefully can put slow month with nothing much happening behind us now..frustrating business this house building;)

mr_edge_to_you

Same as yourself Technophobe. Windows being fitted, looking well. Look well worth every penny. Trying to get prices for drilling vertical bore hole for geothermal. Last minute change of plan.

muffler

Good to hear of the progress lads. Good luck with it all and keep us posted.

JuniorB

Sorry for long post but hopefully will be of use to someone.
We've picked up numerous great bits of advice here so feel free to PM if we can repay the favour to anyone.

Just about to get going on our build - contractor hoping to break ground some Monday soon .... has been put off due to weather.
Building in the midlands on site from the auld fella.

Pre-planning was our biggest headache. Spent a good 6-8 months waiting on planner to visit site to be told that we could just have a bungalow!
Waited another 6 months for planner to move to another job/area and then got the house we wanted - storey and half- on first application in March 09.

Have spent since then sorting out site lines (great craic with neighbours and ditches!), on detailed building drawings and tender process.
Sent tender to 6 local builders - all of which came highly recommended and we were happy to use.
Outline of our build details:
Story and Half 3200 Sq Ft + Garage 300 Sq ft
Have provisional A3 cert (included in contract as a deliverable for final finish)
97% Efficiency Oil Condenser Boiler, Underfloor Ground Floor, Rads upstairs, Solar, 350 ltr Heatbank/Buffer Tank system
High Efficiency HRV
U Values: Sloped Roof 0.13, Horiz Roof 0.20, Wall 0.20, Floor 0.21 , Windows 1.2
Air Permeability Result of less than 3m3/hr/m2 required
Ground floor: 130mm Kingspan Thermafloor TF 70 (60mm board + 70mm Board) with 75mm screed.
External Walls: 100mm block cavity wall construction with 150mm cavity. Full fill cavity: 150mm resin based pumped platinum bead or full fill graphite 27.
1st floor: Hollowcore slab
Alu-Clad Windows

PC Sums (excld VAT - off the top of my head ... total is correct anyway!):
Windows: 35k
Plumbing\Heating\Solar\HRV etc: 25k
Electric: 7k
Internal Doors\Skirting: 3.5k
Septic Tank: 2k
Alarm: 2k
Electric Gates:3.5k
Stairs\Landing: 15k (Concrete with curved glass balustrade)
Stove: 3k
Vac:2k
Sanitary Ware: 5k
Other: 2k
Total 106k

4 Tenders received (Incl VAT in brackets): 414(470), 378(430), 263(299), 247(280)
We're going with cheapest who happens to be the preferred from day 1 !
He is currently building 8 other one-off houses in the area as well as numerous other commercial work. Comes highly recommended by anyone we have talked to and finishes a house very well.

Not included in Tender (incl VAT): Stonework (15k), Kitchen\Utility (20K), Tiling (10k), Decorating (5k), Driveway, Garden etc (10k), Prof Fees (20K)
So our total is 360k ish
Excluding garage (10k) and Prof fees, Works out at €85 per sq ft builders finish; €105 fully done.
Expected build time 7 months.