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

dos29

Wealth of information on here folks! Learning all the time.
Just made a start on my own build, and like others, will be blogging it.
http://selfbuildwestcork.blogspot.com/
Would love to get feedback along the way from the knowledgable people on here.

dos29

Just added plans to that blog now, so might be a bit more interesting.

Quazzie

dos29 wrote: »

Just added plans to that blog now, so might be a bit more interesting.

Just a very quick comment on your upstairs layout. Its probably something that will be spotted beforehand but in your master bedroom en-suite the shower will have to be on the opposite wall as where it is won;t have the headroom where it currently is. That potentially could scupper plans for that window, and possible mean reapplying for planning or scuppering the shower idea.

Similarly the toilet in the main bathroom would be awkward for a tall person based on your section.

mfceiling

dos29 wrote: »

Wealth of information on here folks! Learning all the time.
Just made a start on my own build, and like others, will be blogging it.
http://selfbuildwestcork.blogspot.com/
Would love to get feedback along the way from the knowledgable people on here.

Class site - hope the build goes well for you.

dos29

Quazzie wrote: »

Its probably something that will be spotted beforehand but in your master bedroom en-suite the shower will have to be on the opposite wall as where it is won;t have the headroom where it currently is.

Well spotted. It was a while before we twigged it ourselves. But all we're doing is moving the door towards the rear wall, moving the shower to the opposite corner(where the door is in the plans), and moving the toilet to where the shower is in the plans. Should be able to sort it without moving the window.

new boy

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Underfloor piping laid & tested.
Floors being poured this week.
Stairs almost ready.
All drainage & sewerage works complete outside.

Will stud & slab attic shortly.

just joined in! getting a spec together at the mo... suggestin 150 mm bead insulation as against kingspan 2 x 70 mm as former cheaper.. is this wise? also frames for pvc.. any advice to keep u value down..
regards

Technophobe

Quick update on progress or lack thereof of late....

Received most of my Limestone floor tiles but unfortunately not all of them so a few rooms awaiting their delivery (hopefully Monday)..
The delay in receiving the remainder of these has really pi**ed me and my tilers off…holding up other stuff too, so mildly frustrating to say the least...:mad:

All showers/wet areas currently being tiled and very near completion but not without a few trips back to get an extra few tiles !! All rooms look very well, so happy with our choices:D

HRV installation being finished up this week... When tiling is finished, the sanitary ware can go in, although I do already have hot and cold running water….(such a shame to see all that solar generated hot water from recent good weather going to waste whilst I am still turning on an immersion in my current abode

Doors and chippie arriving next Tuesday and kitchen due on Wednesday, so hopefully things can kick on again from there..

beyondpassive

new boy wrote: »

just joined in! getting a spec together at the mo... suggestin 150 mm bead insulation as against kingspan 2 x 70 mm as former cheaper.. is this wise? also frames for pvc.. any advice to keep u value down..
regards

Dos 29,

Very exposed site, wind tightness at the eaves and dormers will be critical. You should start planting trees on site this autumn, to help bed the house into the site as its very visually prominent and suburban in form.

I'd suggest going to a 220mm full fill cavity, no closer block. Drylining to the inside is not recommended. I'd remove the inner leaf cold bridge using foamglas block or quinnlite. Have you a raft?

The rafter lock isn't ideal where you have rooms in the roof. 200mm rafter with 75mm inner battens with osb liner filled with cellulose and overclad with 60 softboard. No need to ventilate as it is diffusion open to outside. The softboard is essential if you have those fussy little dormer windows as they are impossible to insulate and airtighten.

As you're going with the Ventilation system, I'd aim for below 2 airchanges at 50 pascals underpressure. Worth developing a solution for this now as 2 airchanges are a cumulative hole, maybe 3 times the diameter of a tennis ball. Thats small. I usually line the roofs with OSB as its easy to tape and also easy to seal where pipes and wires penetrate it.

best of luck with the build.

sas

Hollowcore grouted and mesh installed.

IMG_6700.JPG

Screeding starts at 7.00 in the morning. A little concerned by the risk of cracking due to the hot weather but I need to start taking risks on items like this or we'll never get in.

Fingers crossed...

sinnerboy

Good man SAS Great piccy . What did you decide about the UFH/insulation issue ? No UFH ?

.

Out Of Order

sas wrote: »

Hollowcore grouted and mesh installed.

IMG_6700.JPG

Screeding starts at 7.00 in the morning. A little concerned by the risk of cracking due to the hot weather but I need to start taking risks on items like this or we'll never get in.

Fingers crossed...

You're probably bent over with a sore back after the morning, and mightn't get this, but I've seen lads shovel a thin layer of sand over the slab to help keep the sun from cracking it (after floating of course)

sas

sinnerboy wrote: »

Good man SAS Great piccy . What did you decide about the UFH/insulation issue ? No UFH ?

.

Your words of support on that thread reinforced my faith and I pushed ahead without the UFH. We'll use that under tile matt heating for bathroom\ensuites for comfort heating.

All other plumbing will run in suspended ceiling downstairs.

sas

Out Of Order wrote: »

You're probably bent over with a sore back after the morning, and mightn't get this, but I've seen lads shovel a thin layer of sand over the slab to help keep the sun from cracking it (after floating of course)

Oh I wasn't tackling the screeding. Some jobs you leave to the professionals.

I was on site for an hour before work and got out again just before lunch. They were already power floating where the the first load had been placed by midday, the truck only arrived on site at 7:10am! I saw a couple of cracks already where the 2nd load had been placed but not power floated. Hopefully the power floating helped close these again. Entire job completed by 3.00.

They finished by spraying with water and covering it. I'll uncover it tomorrow evening and take a look. That'll be a nervous moment!

Leadership

Getting there!

Inside is painted now, flooring goes down next week. Drainage and sewage laid this week. Still trying to get the council to connect the water, apparently they are "working to rule" so who knows when we will get through to someone who will help.

Next week finish off the plumbing

http://grianan.blogspot.com/

mr_edge_to_you

well,

we have our gates up now. i cut the lawn for the first time last week! haven't touched a paintbrush in about 5 weeks and don't know when i'll pick one up again. still a few spots to be touched up and it doesn't bother me one bit!

the lads are a bit slow on the oul snag list but its fine because it means it gives us more time to find things that need fixing up.

we had the heatpump on for the first month and it was fantastic. The bill was €100. even this month with a months electricity and constant hot water our ESB will was 90e. I think that is fairly impressive. The house extremely well insulated so at the moment is actually uncomforably warm when you come in from work in the evening. Looking forward to seeing how the heatpump goes in the winter. The supplier came up one afternoon and gave us a good run through it. I think people have to be smart with how the use heatpumps. He gave us great advice - simple but very good. He said when the winter begins to set in that we should slowly increse the temperature. If we set it at 22degrees straightaway we'll get used to it so if bring it up gradually we'll probably be fine at 18degrees. They also told us that it was more economical to run the heatpump at the minimum of 8degrees which also heats the water otherwise we would be the immersion system on the heating to heat 300litres of water to 55degrees.

anyway, hope the rest of you are all progressing well! you'll get there eventually.

JB81

Hi 'Mr Edge to you'

I was just wondering what kind of heat pump you had installed ( Geothermal or Air-to-Water or other ), and what model, I am currently in the proces of building a bungalow and have UFH in and installed, block layers are in at the moment. And my next decision is heating????
I was planning on Air-to-Water Heat Pump, with UFH, and Mechnical Heat Recovery and Ventilation?

Anyone any advise?

Thanks
JB

Technophobe

Nearly there...

After a very frustrating delay waiting for the balance of out limestone floor tiles to arrive, all the tiling is finally finsihed now and the chippie has most of the doors hung now...He is also working away at putting in the kitchen....

HRV is to be final fixed next week and then we are nearly ready to go....

have Sale agreed onpresent house too, so will be moving in soon, ready or not...;)

ECO_Mental

Well its been 8 years since my first planning submission and two years since my last and but now its official from this morning I have finally got planning permission.:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:


phewwwwwwww.... at last.

My head is wrecked from it

Now the real work starts:):):)

To every body out there it can be done, just stick at it and keep the dream alive

EM

mr_edge_to_you

Good to hear techno! Eyes on the prize. Congratulations Eco- that is fair going!

SARAH ANNE

hi all
Have a problem, in my new build my engineer has gone out of business, only found this out recently, no stage payments have been made, i am approved by a bank for a mortgage. what do i do.

RKQ

It will be much easier to retain a new Certifier if no works have started. If this is the case, contact 3 experienced Architects, Arch Tech or Engineers with full PI for written quotes.

If work has begun, try to get your old Engineer to certify works today. This will make it easier for someone else to take over. Photos of excavatred tenchess, steel reinforing in trenches prior to pouring of conc etc would be very helpful.

It may be difficult to get someone else if work has begun, but not impossible. Your old Engineer will need to keep PI cover for up to six years, so check this point with him/her if necessary. Good luck.

SARAH ANNE

thanks very much for the reply.
To make it clear, the walls are up to first floor, i have no pictures of foundation etc damm digital camera was in for repair ( £110 TO FIX BUY ONE CHEAPER), no contact no or address for engineer, office up for rent, contacted auctioneer who gave me a solicitors number, who in turn was not very helpful in forwarding information about engineers whereabouts, any looks like i need all the luck i can get.

mr_edge_to_you

it might be safe to stall building for a few days until you have a new engineer sorted. i'd be very concerned that no engineer has signed off on the foundation stage of the build.

SARAH ANNE

orry my mistake
the founds have been signed off,
no update on whereabouts of engineer
prob best to hold off and see what happens
any engineer architect looking for work pm me and we will chat
midlands area tanx

Leadership

We have a similar situation where the orriginal Engineer signed off the foundation but then moved to Africa for work. The new engineer has signed off all the aditional stages no problem however we are at the the final stage and most importantly Homebond will not accept the current signoff unless we have a statement from the first engineer. So, No Homebond insurance or final stage payment until we track him down :mad:

SARAH ANNE

OMG WAT A MESS

ninjaBob

Got the Granite for the kitchen in this week, the kitchen is slowly taking shape now.

Doors have been stained and hung (was getting use to open plan...).

We also got the decorative paneling finished down stairs and I finished painting another 2 rooms. Also got all bathrooms tiled this week as well.

homewardbound11

hi ninjabob,
where did you go for your granite and panelling.
I guess pm's apply.

ninjaBob

Carpenter did the panelling

PM'd the Granite supplier

[Edit]
I'm planning on uploading some photos soon.

Technophobe

HRV installed yesterday, waiting for it to be commissioned... panelling done in downstairs bathroom, kitchen granite and butcher block arriving today....

Skirting and architraving ongoing and my wetrorom shower walls were installed yesterday....they look class:D..now i could even have a solar powered shower there after cleaning duties instead of going home (soon to be ex-home;)) and switching on the immersion...:(