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

Viking House

sas wrote: »

I've been overspecing structurally alot on this build. It's just something I decided to do. I worry so I'm prepared to pay a little more to lose less sleep.
Also, due to the nature of the build (and my complete lack of construction experience) alot of the decisions are being made when we need to make them, not in advance. It's not ideal but spending a little more where I didn't necessarily need to spend is something I'm prepared to accept because in my opinion "less speed = fewer mistakes".
Not sure your idea to envelope the RSJ is a runner because I had thought about it. The reason I walked away from it is as follows:

The rsj is 203 wide, the block work is 215.

The plaster on the internal face of the walls is required to overlap the ringbeam to form airtight seal i.e. the face of the ring beam needs to be flush with the face of the block work. That means that either side of the rsj there would only be 6mm ((215mm - 203mm) / 2)between the steel edge and the shuttering.
The 20mm chip clearly couldn't pass through that gap and pokering it would have been impossible too. So we'd have had to make the ring beam wider in order to allow the concrete to flow around the upper flange of the rsj and into the web.

Points well made and accepted!

voodoo

Havent posted in ages as things just seem to be mental!

Anyway, we are flying it with the build but getting to the nail biting stuff now... need the next 2 weeks to run smoothly for us...

Plasterers will be finished by Friday (inside and out) and despite pic, scaffolding is now down. Site being cleaned up on Thursday with any excess rubbish being shipped off site.

Ok, so why the next few weeks are very important -

- insulation for the floor on the first floor arriving in the morning - need to lay it tomorrow too as plumber coming tomorrow evening to install clips for UFH
- Thursday/Friday - plumber installing UFH
- Thursday/Friday - groundsmen clearing site and building piers at entrance
- Monday - first floor screed being poured....
- Monday/Tuesday 16th/17th - electrician undergoing 2nd fix on ground floor
- Wednesday 18th - away on hols for 12 days...
- 1st Sept - stair(s) being installed... we decided to develop the attic during the build and 2nd stairs to the attic required

So if everything doesnt go to plan this week I just know it's going to slip...

Bally Bay

Hi All,
Thisis my first time on boards.ie and not very technically minded!! We are currently in the process of buliding our first home, so much to think of. Regarding the kitchen; a company have recommended that I hand paint the units instead of spray paint. Is this easy to do? Are there speical paints to use? I wanted wodden worktops but was told that this would need alot of minding and stains easily. Any advoce would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Reading the other posts this may not be right spot for the kitchen question, sorry!1 but the build is going ok foundation and block work on ground floor just done. Waiting to let it rest for the Dukon slabs to come. Not the right to do things but we are making decisions as we go along. Thanks for a wonderful string

soldsold

Is the live self build thread going a bit off topic lately?

Anyway now that I'm here...

My 26 windows are arriving from Germany next week, first fix wiring is done, airtightness done, kitchen supplier booked, and most importantly 2 outdoor speakers, 5.1 tv surround speakers, home cinema monolith subwoofer and B&W 685 rear speakers, and home theatre bluray pc all winging
their way to their new home.

It's all about priorities as the budget gets tight!

Out Of Order

Haven't updated here since starting in April.

I poured the foundation on 25th May.
Completed the blockwork to ceiling level on 1st July.
Then put up the joists and built the gables from them.
Started on the roof last Thursday and have the 9" rafters, purlines, struts, and collars in.

Starting the felting and battoning tomorrow and the slates are due to be delivered on Friday.

Need to order the windows ASAP.

Some recent pics...

Viking House

Out Of Order wrote: »

Haven't updated here since starting in April.

I poured the foundation on 25th May.
Completed the blockwork to ceiling level on 1st July.
Then put up the joists and built the gables from them.
Started on the roof last Thursday and have the 9" rafters, purlines, struts, and collars in.

Starting the felting and battoning tomorrow and the slates are due to be delivered on Friday.

Need to order the windows ASAP.

Some recent pics...

Are you Externally Insulating?

Out Of Order

Viking House wrote: »

Are you Externally Insulating?

Yes

cromabu

In 2004 , We completed a 5 bedroom timber framed house, in 40 days.

We are in the trade and all the crews involved can verify the schedule.

The grounds work and base took 1 week . The frame supplied by A Thruss in Rathcairn Co Meath , took 3 days to erect in total.
The block work took 4 days . Roof took 5days+ slating 3days.
plastering inside 3 days .
Windows & doors took 2 days .
Kitchen utility all 5 bedroom wardrobes in 4 days.
Hand made stairs erected in 3 days . Internal doors & skirting 3 days .
Plumbing *& Gas Heating, 5 BATHROOMS 3 ENSUITES plus ONE MAIN Bathrooms & CLOKE ROOM (our dep ) 4 days .
Electrics & alarm inc outside ie gates lights tec 6 days.
Painters moved off site on day 39 !!

Now I will say ;
No wooden floors in ! as concrete wasent dry enough , but kitchen utility tiled. 3 other ensuites in but not tiled .
This job was on a tight schedule due to time restraints. It worked because this crew knew and had worked together for a long time ! and were prepared to work together and on top of each other !ie 2nd fix sparks & painters !!
It was absolutely exausting and both Mr & Mrs worked 24- 7 to complete.
Yes there are 2 things we rushed ! the type of tiles on kitchen floor 60X60 black porceline (covered since ), and paying tooooo much for a hand made stairs (but it was delivered on time )
Would we do it again ! in a heart beat ,
Good luck to anyone self building !

JuniorB

Time for another update. Not sure when I posted last.

We missed the deadline for the summer holidays in the window factory so that has brought the whole project to a virtual stop. Was raging at the time but has given us some breathing space before the battle commences again!
A few bits and pieces have been done in the last month but not much worth talking about. Previous to that we got the first fix plumbing and electrics finished.
Anyway we are on schedule for window installation next Monday week. Plasterer is lined up to plough into it then, plumber and sparky on stand-by too.
Glass balustrade being measured next Monday. Most tiles have been bought and tiler is on standby. Stove ready and waiting. All sanitary ware bought and ready for delivery. Doors picked. Most light fittings bought. Speakers still on way from US. Kitchen, worktop and most white goods picked out.
All systems go hopefully. Aiming for Nov 1 move in now..

Not too many updates here lately...:)
http://carrickaneha.blogspot.com/

lmc11

does anyone know how much it generally costs to get an engineer to test the soil?and do they know any good architects in the meath area that dont cost a fortune?

lmc11

cromabu wrote: »

In 2004 , We completed a 5 bedroom timber framed house, in 40 days.

We are in the trade and all the crews involved can verify the schedule.

The grounds work and base took 1 week . The frame supplied by A Thruss in Rathcairn Co Meath , took 3 days to erect in total.
The block work took 4 days . Roof took 5days+ slating 3days.
plastering inside 3 days .
Windows & doors took 2 days .
Kitchen utility all 5 bedroom wardrobes in 4 days.
Hand made stairs erected in 3 days . Internal doors & skirting 3 days .
Plumbing *& Gas Heating, 5 BATHROOMS 3 ENSUITES plus ONE MAIN Bathrooms & CLOKE ROOM (our dep ) 4 days .
Electrics & alarm inc outside ie gates lights tec 6 days.
Painters moved off site on day 39 !!

Now I will say ;
No wooden floors in ! as concrete wasent dry enough , but kitchen utility tiled. 3 other ensuites in but not tiled .
This job was on a tight schedule due to time restraints. It worked because this crew knew and had worked together for a long time ! and were prepared to work together and on top of each other !ie 2nd fix sparks & painters !!
It was absolutely exausting and both Mr & Mrs worked 24- 7 to complete.
Yes there are 2 things we rushed ! the type of tiles on kitchen floor 60X60 black porceline (covered since ), and paying tooooo much for a hand made stairs (but it was delivered on time )
Would we do it again ! in a heart beat ,
Good luck to anyone self building !

wow this sounds great do you mind me asking how much this would cost for something similar?:)

mendel

Well we have 18 weeks work done on our renovation and all the gutting out is done and we are back to a shell with a roof. Lots of rubble removed!!

Reached a milestone last week by pouring the sub floor concrete. house is taking shape. New joists being installed this week. hoping to complete first fixing elec and mechanical in the next few weeks while waiting on the windows.

Great to be building rather than demolishing.........

new boy

Hi...hav a major issue with build at the mo... whether to insulate or not inside of external walls?...some are of the view that it is a waste of money others reckon we will not get any major benefit in relation to u value? can anyone throw some light on this please.....

cromabu

to be honest Cash is king at the moment !! you are in the driving seat with cash !
ours cost to what i call christmas day finish , 175 k but remember we are in the trade so twisting arms, schedules and budgets came naturally to me !!

cromabu

whats the bulid block etc two storey bungalow etc
whats the heating system what sort of windows & doors all these things hold a relevance

cromabu

your doing well !

clint_eastman

new boy wrote: »

Hi...hav a major issue with build at the mo... whether to insulate or not inside of external walls?...some are of the view that it is a waste of money others reckon we will not get any major benefit in relation to u value? can anyone throw some light on this please.....

You should get advice from your BER assessor, if you haven't already engaged one, you should.
Also, do a search for "insulated slabs, drylining etc" on this forum, this has been discussed at lenght on here.

SARAH ANNE

hi all,
just a quick query, the blocklayer asked me today would he close the cavity wall with slate on the flat instead of cavity closer blocks, and strap a 4x3 wall plate on the slate so to limit cold bridging wall ties should be 1 per block lenth just below the slate.
I find this very odd, any ideas please.

Supertech

SARAH ANNE wrote: »

hi all,
just a quick query, the blocklayer asked me today would he close the cavity wall with slate on the flat instead of cavity closer blocks, and strap a 4x3 wall plate on the slate so to limit cold bridging wall ties should be 1 per block lenth just below the slate.
I find this very odd, any ideas please.

Doesn't eliminate the cold bridging imo. Plus there's a risk of the slate cracking due to the fixing of the wallplate or movement between the leaves of the wall.

irishshadowfax

Hi All,

Looking for some advice, I'm getting windows and doors for the house, I got 3 quotes all around the 6k mark including fitting (11 windows, 2 doors, 2 french doors), the lowest being <SNIP>. The thing is I have a builder that can put them in no problem, so I like to cut out this cost- can anyone recommend a quality direct supplier that you can order straight from, possibly something in the North? Thanks

Poor Uncle Tom

A lot of window companies warranties only kick in when the product is fitted by their own fitters.

irishshadowfax

Thanks Tom, I am willing to take the risk on that, as the parts that tend to go on windows (handles & hinges) are normally only guaranteed for a year. Can people PM me with any recommendation or companies they have experienced, be it good or bad? Much appreciated.

IS

ThatsOurGaming

check out this website it will sort you out with a cheaper staircase For your home

<SNIP>

Mod edit: No links to a business, please PM any recommendations.

lorraineb

Hi All,

Myself, my husband and our 15 month old daughter Cara have just received our planning permission. We are building a 2,700 sq ft L-shaped, two story house and are very excited and very scared!

I have just been reading through this thread and I am delighted at all the tips I have picked up from you all already, best of all your advice is unbiased, which is so hard to get. I have also been reading about materials and systems that have been used that I have never heard of in my life and this makes me worried that I haven't done enough homework. Did most of you know what materials and methods you were going to use before you started or is it a case of learning on the job?

Poor Uncle Tom

lorraineb wrote: »

Hi All,

Myself, my husband and our 15 month old daughter Cara have just received our planning permission. We are building a 2,700 sq ft L-shaped, two story house and are very excited and very scared!

Congradulations...

lorraineb wrote: »

....been reading about materials and systems that have been used that I have never heard of in my life and this makes me worried that I haven't done enough homework.

When you approached your Architect/Arch Tech did they not go through the various options for the method ofconstruction with you?

lorraineb wrote: »

Did most of you know what materials and methods you were going to use before you started or is it a case of learning on the job?

All building methods and most building materials should be nailed down before construction starts. Your budget can't be fixed until this is sorted.

Changing building methods during construction may not work and make for poor detailing, say, changing to ICF at floor level of a cavity block build. In other cases it may make no difference and even save you money, say, changing from a cut roof to using prefabricated trusses in a rectangular, gabled bungalow.

It's always best to have most decisions made before starting.

muffler

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

and most building materials should be nailed down

That must be the worse pun ever

mr_edge_to_you

Congratulations Lorraine. It is tough alright. I've no building skills and no industry experience but I would say we had all major decisions made prior to building. The only things that we changed were going vertical for our geothermal heating and we changed the timber spec inside.

You need to have most things tied down before you break ground. I would strongly advise going to a few selfbuild exhibitions. They are great for starting off because you can get an idea of what all the various materials do, what they look like and what are the alternatives.

Your eyes will be opened!

lorraineb

That's the problem Mr.Edge! Our build is quite traditional with insulation planned for every square inch and that's about exciting as it gets. We have all our major decisions made but the more I read here the more I want to do. The priority is to create a place we can live (be it finished or not) for 260k (including the site and 20% contingency) and there is no room to budge on that figure.
My dad and three of my brothers are contract carpenters all of whom have built their own houses by doing most of the work themselves and the third who has just poured his own foundations. They will be taking care of all the carpentry, plus monitoring (anything I don't understand, oh how I'm laughing here!). A fourth bro is an electrician. My father in- law drew up the plans, which my brother helped me design (I'm halfway through a interior architecture diploma). So far I haven't needed outside help.
Self-build shows are great but hubby breaks out in nearly as big a sweat as when I suggest going shopping!

SARAH ANNE

Judst wondering, am building in an exposed site on a hill, wondring if we drop the foundation below ground level for about 3 foot would there be any problems relating to drainage and sewerage,just an idea, any comments please

sydthebeat

SARAH ANNE wrote: »

Judst wondering, am building in an exposed site on a hill, wondring if we drop the foundation below ground level for about 3 foot would there be any problems relating to drainage and sewerage,just an idea, any comments please

without being smart, but if all the drainage is downhill and below this level, then no....