Things I wish I had done when building?

heavydawson

muffler wrote: »

I wouldn't bet on it

I recall a guy from years ago who had built a house in England where he was living and working at the time and he came back to Ireland and decided to build here. We sat down and got a lot of things thrashed out and got plans drawn up for him and he built but both he and his wife weren't just completely happy when they were living in it for a while.

So after about 10 years living there he took advantage of the old celtic tiger and decided to sell and build his third house. He went into a lot of fine detail and we got what he thought was a plan of the perfect house...well a perfect house for him and his missus.

He got planning through and built and while I lost contact with him for a couple of years I met him not so long ago and asked how he and his wife liked the house and he said he would have to do it again to get it right

Muffler, that should be at the top of every page in this section. Great story :-)

muffler

heavydawson wrote: »

Muffler, that should be at the top of every page in this section. Great story :-)

I'm tempted

muffler

muffler wrote: »

I wouldn't bet on it

I recall a guy from years ago who had built a house in England where he was living and working at the time and he came back to Ireland and decided to build here. We sat down and got a lot of things thrashed out and got plans drawn up for him and he built but both he and his wife weren't just completely happy when they were living in it for a while.

So after about 10 years living there he took advantage of the old celtic tiger and decided to sell and build his third house. He went into a lot of fine detail and we got what he thought was a plan of the perfect house...well a perfect house for him and his missus.

He got planning through and built and while I lost contact with him for a couple of years I met him not so long ago and asked how he and his wife liked the house and he said he would have to do it again to get it right

I think that the key point is, that a house is for life unless you plan to move/build frequently, what is perfect when you're in your 30s will be completely wrong when you are in your 60s.

So you meed to consider what will be needed from the house at different stages of your life and try to design as much flexibility in as possible. I don't think that anyone can ever build their "perfect" house and it still be perfect a few years later.

badgerhowlin

1. Put a mains shower in my own bathroom along with the Triton shower
2. A few more power sockets.(thought i had enough!)
3. Put my Heat Recovery systems on the least windy side of the house. Now in strong winds i can hear the wind blowing.

heavydawson

badgerhowlin wrote: »

1. Put a mains shower in my own bathroom along with the Triton shower
2. A few more power sockets.(thought i had enough!)
3. Put my Heat Recovery systems on the least windy side of the house. Now in strong winds i can hear the wind blowing.

badger, is it fair to see we should all be then locating our MHRV inlet and exhaust vents to the north and/or west of the roof?
Where are yours currently located?

heavydawson

heavydawson wrote: »

badger, is it fair to see we should all be then locating our MHRV inlet and exhaust vents to the north and/or west of the roof?
Where are yours currently located?

I would say that south/east is the least windiest, well that's the case here anyway and my MHRV vents are on the SE soffit.

just do it

badgerhowlin wrote: »

3. Put my Heat Recovery systems on the least windy side of the house. Now in strong winds i can hear the wind blowing.

Thanks for that. First time I heard that one but stands to reason.

heavydawson

Deleted User wrote: »

I would say that south/east is the least windiest, well that's the case here anyway and my MHRV vents are on the SE soffit.

DB, is the country's general prevailing wind not south/west?
I had a quick gander at Met Eireanns site and found this:
http://www.met.ie/climate/wind.asp
In almost all cases, it's clear the prevailing wind is from the south and/or west.
However, there's an interesting line in the text at the top of the page:

For example, the rather low frequency of southerly winds at Dublin Airport is due to the sheltering effect of the mountains to the south

so prevailing winds do appear to be affected by local topology in a significant way. Probably stating the obvious :-) That point is interesting to me because I've got the Galtee mountains 8km behind my house to the south. The Dublin mountains from the airport are roughly 21km as the crow flies, so I suspect the Galtees may provide a bigger shelter again. Time to get the wind-vane on site!

Villain

Southwest is the prevailing wind, it can vary from season to season i.e. during Cold Winters East and North winds are common. My wind rose for the last month

New build in sight

badgerhowlin wrote: »

1. Put a mains shower in my own bathroom along with the Triton shower
2. A few more power sockets.(thought i had enough!)
3. Put my Heat Recovery systems on the least windy side of the house. Now in strong winds i can hear the wind blowing.

Quick question about your point on mains shower along with a triton; were just in the process of picking bathrooms etc, and were advised againts electric showers at all, we will have 3 showers in the house, none of which will be electric, we want all power showers. And we have a pressureised system and solar to help in summer. What are your thoughts on this?

Tks

sheff the ref

It would be very poor foresight not to include at least one electric shower in a new house for emergency purposes. What happens if the hot water system breaks down, the plumber cant come for 2 days, and you really need a shower?

randombar

sheff the ref wrote: »

It would be very poor foresight not to include at least one electric shower in a new house for emergency purposes. What happens if the hot water system breaks down, the plumber cant come for 2 days, and you really need a shower?

Yup two years in I've ran out of oil twice cause I never bother checking. Early on a winters morning solar panels aren't doing much and too early to light the stove delighted I've an electric shower!!

New build in sight

GaryCocs wrote: »

Yup two years in I've ran out of oil twice cause I never bother checking. Early on a winters morning solar panels aren't doing much and too early to light the stove delighted I've an electric shower!!

Ok this is making me think! The place where we were buying these things he said we'd be mad to buy an electric shower as theyre not as powerful as power shower when using a pressureised system. Of course this was just his opinion and i suppose we never consdiered the factors mentioned above. He did say at any time we could exchange them before we install them in case we change our mind.
Tks!

just do it

Surely having an immersion as back up makes more sense?

Have a look at "cold water accumulators" they provide the "power shower" effect without electricity, basically it's a big tank with a rubber balloon in it that gives the cold mains water a bit of extra pressure. These work great in a system that uses mains pressure hot water as I have great powerful showers and can fill up a bath is half the time, the accumulator holds enough (pressureised) water to 3/4 fill a bath, plenty for a shower,

New build in sight

just do it wrote: »

Surely having an immersion as back up makes more sense?

Hi, What do you mean by this? Why wouldnt we have an immersion? How does this affect having an electric shower? Sorry i am unfamiliar with plumbing What in your opinion is best option?

sheff the ref

An electric shower is instant unlike an immersion. It would be madness not to have an electric shower somewhere in the house as a backup.

just do it

You'll be able to have a shower 20mins after flicking the immersion switch. It also means you'll have hot water at your sinks. Depending on your heating system your hot tank maybe part of it. For the number of times your system is likely to fail, and the number of times you'll not be able to wait 20mins for a shower, I believe the immersion is the better of the two options. Of course you could put in both

New build in sight

just do it wrote: »

You'll be able to have a shower 20mins after flicking the immersion switch. It also means you'll have hot water at your sinks. Depending on your heating system your hot tank maybe part of it. For the number of times your system is likely to fail, and the number of times you'll not be able to wait 20mins for a shower, I believe the immersion is the better of the two options. Of course you could put in both

OK well after speaking with himself he agrees with this point.
Thank you to all for their points!

sheff the ref

A Triton T90 costs a little over €200 and only requires power and a connection from the Cold Water tank. Nothing more. Not budget or labour intensive when building a house. I will be putting one in anyway.

New build in sight

sheff the ref wrote: »

A Triton T90 costs a little over €200 and only requires power and a connection from the Cold Water tank. Nothing more. Not budget or labour intensive when building a house. I will be putting one in anyway.

Funny hearing both sides of the debate, but you know the idea of putting 2 in the one shower is not a crazy thought really.....
Are there ary electric showers out there that are good pressure wise?

sheff the ref

Would prefer to do it building than to regret it afterwards.

Electric showers operate on the principle that the water is heated as it passes through an element. My homeplace is an old house with no insulation overhead the bathroom where the electric shower is.

In summer time the cold water tank in the attic will be warmer, particularly during a heatwave, that means that the shower can be set at a lower temperature on the blue side of the adjustment, leading to a greater flow of water as it does not need to spend as much time on the element and it can actually be quite powerful.

In really frosty weather the temperature of the water is much colder leading to it needing more time over the element, and this means you have to turn it well up onto the red side of the adjustment which slows the flow to allow the cooler water to be heated sufficiently by the element. The flow is sufficient, but nowhere near as powerful as during the summer.

just do it

sheff the ref wrote: »

Would prefer to do it building than to regret it afterwards.

Electric showers operate on the principle that the water is heated as it passes through an element. My homeplace is an old house with no insulation overhead the bathroom where the electric shower is.

In summer time the cold water tank in the attic will be warmer, particularly during a heatwave, that means that the shower can be set at a lower temperature on the blue side of the adjustment, leading to a greater flow of water as it does not need to spend as much time on the element and it can actually be quite powerful.

In really frosty weather the temperature of the water is much colder leading to it needing more time over the element, and this means you have to turn it well up onto the red side of the adjustment which slows the flow to allow the cooler water to be heated sufficiently by the element. The flow is sufficient, but nowhere near as powerful as during the summer.

Thanks for that explanation, never thought about it but it makes perfect sense.

stringbean

Great thread!!!!

We're at the design stage and currently looking at the interior layout particularly around the kitchen and utility room and of course storage space. Getting kinda of daunted as now I know I won't get it right first time I'll be getting some grief from the other half

BoardsMember

stringbean wrote: »

Great thread!!!!

We're at the design stage and currently looking at the interior layout particularly around the kitchen and utility room and of course storage space. Getting kinda of daunted as now I know I won't get it right first time I'll be getting some grief from the other half

That's a real challenge. I have heard people using interior engineers or something like that, i.e. people who discuss layout, flow etc. Not an architect, not an interior designer. Not sure what the name is, but getting this right can be the difference between an acceptable outcome and a wow factor, where you feel you nailed it.

Villain

Stringbean when you looking at designs be sure to include blocks of appliances that you will want and also talk to a kitchen supplier/designer and make sure the design fits what you want.

A small example we wanted an American style fridge Freezer which varies from 700 to 800mm in depth which is deeper that common appliances so we adjusted the position of door and window to allow for it.

BoardsMember

Do people generally get the architect to design their kitchen so that they end up with internal finished measurements that allow for standard size cabinets. It would seem to make sense, avoid cost of bespoke sized units etc, I just don't know if that is the norm. And assuming that the builders can build to that degree of accuracy - can they? The idea of getting a granite worktop that doesnt fit to the edges would give me sleepless nights!!

New build in sight

The arch designed our kicthen, just the general layout as it was difficult to think about the kitchen at design stage as we werent even sure we would get planning, but if i could go back i would have went through all my interiors magazines and researched as much as i could on the layout etc. Thankfully i am very happy with my layout now, but there would be things i would have prepfered for example these are things i didnt consider when i was planning:

1. Where are you going to put teh extractor fan - i didnt want it over the island as i wanted the space to remain clear of anything, and i wanted the overmantle, so the wall that will have the extracter now has to house the pipe along the wall to the exterior wall, which means we now have no choice but to have wall cabinets at eye level which is one thing i actually didnt want.

2. The size of a slab of quartz is generally 3m x 1.2m so bear this in mind when choosing the island layout.

3. I want and will have my window seat but it took some logistics to work out how the counter top would finish next to the window seat.

4. Do you want a large pantry, where will this be? We had to block off a door going into the utlility (which i was actually happy about in the end!) but it helped the design layout which the arch didnt see.

5. Look now for the type of oven/range style you will buy as certain ones come in certain sizes and some are so much more expensive than you think!

6. My kitchen is about 7m x 4.5m i would have prefered just a tad wider perhaps 5m, when you add insulated slab boards etc it can eat into your space so bear that in mind.

7. Remember your gadgets and how they will work in the kitchen, make sure there is additional sockets in the island if you want the Quooker tap etc.

8. Think about your microwave! And where it will end up, this is something i keep forgetting, and i want it built in, i dont want it sitting on the counter top!

9. Dont forget to think if you are putting a TV in the kicthen, think about where people will sit and where plugs etc will go.

10. For the utility make sure you flick through houzz.com for inspiration, i found a fab room that will work perfect in my utility, which is small enough. I wanted seated area in the utlity and i wanted the dryer and washing machine at waist high rather than on the floor.


If i was to ever do this again i would definately plan my kitchen first! When you see it on paper it looks great when the arch is showing you but sometimes it doesnt actually work out that way

Oh and one last thing, i wanted a recessed ceiling over the island unit, with rope light behind the recess, but we didnt make this clear enough to the people doing the ceilings and ended up that we didnt have enough room for the rope light! We have reconfigured it and it has worked out but these little things can throw you if you dont foreward plan them!

Good luck!

sheff the ref

There are two things you need in a kitchen
1.As much natural light as possible
2.As much storage space as possible

Do not allow any professional to brainwash you into thinking that you have enough storage space on a drawing, evaluate based on working houses that you know of belonging to family friends etc. For instance my mothers kitchen is L shaped in a square room, and has 4.5m of upper and lower kitchen units along each wall. That is a total of 9m of kitchen, or 18m of presses including above and below. There is a utility room with additional large storage capacity.

That is not excessive in my opinion and there is no press that is not used. Several people have tried to tell me that its ridiculous having so much etc. etc. but my own house will not have less kitchen storage space. An Island is an option, but I dont particularly like Islands, and therefore may not have one. I am certainly not going to sacrifice wall storage with or without an island.

My mothers kitchen has only one window, so that helped in terms in terms of space but not in terms of having the light available.

However I would say that Kitchen units arent really that expensive anymore so maximise that storage space to the very limit.

just do it

Also consider the height of kitchen units. We currently have some units with the top shelf at 6ft high. As the two of us are 5'7" and 5'8" they're not great. Our build will have units with a top shelf no higher than ~5'4" - 5'6".

sheff the ref

The modern trend is to have three shelves on the high up units. Very difficult to avoid having them high with three shelves.

I am 6'0" myself but the height wouldnt worry me. I would prefer to have the capacity and use the top shelf for rarely used stuff than not to have the capacity at all. I would use a mini steps if I had to

New build in sight

just do it wrote: »

Also consider the height of kitchen units. We currently have some units with the top shelf at 6ft high. As the two of us are 5'7" and 5'8" they're not great. Our build will have units with a top shelf no higher than ~5'4" - 5'6".

This is exactly the point i was trying to say in my big speech.... i really didnt want wall cupboards, as we're not exactly the tallest family, plus i like the simple style of no wall cabinets. I only wanted waist level units and my pantry, but when it was all planned out we needed to put some wall units in, to hide the extracter fan pipe! I was so disappointed but hey im sure it will be lovely in the end. But these are important points that someone that is about to start designing a house should be looking at.

Wish this thread was available to me before we started

BryanF

New build in sight wrote: »

The arch designed our kicthen, just the general layout as it was difficult to think about the kitchen at design stage as we werent even sure we would get planning!

So just to be clear, you only employed an architect for planning stage? Did you employ s/he for tender stage dwgs and spec?

Irish Steve

Come late to this thread,

Try to design the layout with pipe runs from storage tanks to the areas like bathrooms and kitchen as short as possible.

Try to make sure that your window positions work with the unit layouts in kitchen and utility.

If the architect is trying to make you have things like Velux Windows in a bathroom that go through an unheated area of the roof, tell him where to stick his Velux Windows, you will have nothing but trouble with damp and condensation in the tunnel up to the window. Geetting up to it will be a nightmare, and decorating it will be eveh harder.

If you are designing the house, make sure that the storage tanks in the roof are the largest you can fit.

Don't go with the "standard" small size hot water tank that seems to be the favourite of most architects and installers if you plan to have power showers.

Make sure that the electrician labels every circuit breaker on the panel before he leaves the job, it will save you much heartache at a later date.

Get the Plumber to show you where every control valve in the system is, and that you know what it does.

At least once a year, completely close and then re open the main incoming stop cock valve on the water supply coming into the property.

Twice a year, test the main fuse board earth leakage protection breaker.

Make sure that the alarm installer leaves you the user manual, and a complete list of what sensors are connected to which zones, and how to exclude one or more zones in the event of a fault.

Make sure you know where the incoming gas cut off valve is, and that you know how to operate it.

Make sure that you have at least 2 spare fuses for the incoming main fuse on the main panel.

Make a note of the key number of all the internal doors before they get mixed up and dumped in a big heap in a drawer.

If you are doing the building, before the floor coverings go down, put a clear and permanent line on the floor wherever there are pipes, and if upstairs, where there are wires.

Most of the above are based on experience in one house or another.

sheff the ref

I am hoping to have my hot water storage tank etc in the Garage with insulated piping underground because it gives greater flexibility for changing heating systems, solar etc. later on without butchering the house. Why do you prefer a shorter run for pipes?

randombar

sheff the ref wrote: »

I am hoping to have my hot water storage tank etc in the Garage with insulated piping underground because it gives greater flexibility for changing heating systems, solar etc. later on without butchering the house. Why do you prefer a shorter run for pipes?

Shorter run means less cold water going into the hot tank to replace the hot water running along the pipes to get to the tap.

sheff the ref

Food for thought allright. Had originally considered a plant room, but the side of the garage will be south facing making it the most suitable place for solar panels. If solar is in the garage, and the heatpump is in the garage, it would make sense to have the hot water storage tank there especially with the potential for change in the future.

Need a think about that one

Irish Steve

No matter how well insulated the pipe runs are, from the hot tank to the kitchen, or bathroom, will go cold over a longer period, like overnight. If you have to run the tap for ever to get hot water, that's going to become expensive once we go metered, and it puts that much cold water into the tank that then has to be heated, and there's a whole pipe full of hot water under the floor or whereever going cold until the next time you want hot water. Maybe not such an issue for a bath, but it for sure is for a utility or Kitchen, or even a hot fill washing machine, especially if some of the pipe is laid in 22 mm rather than 15mm.

Due to long runs and 22mm for much of it, we have to run off nearly 3 litres in the kitchen before the hot goes hot. If we don't need much cold, that's going to become increasingly expensive as time goes on.

On balance, long runs from source to storage will be better than long runs from storage to usage, that loop is at least a closed loop, so not being changed in the same way.

sheff the ref

How far is your hot water supply from the bathroom, kitchen and utility???

sheff the ref

sheff the ref wrote: »

How far is your hot water supply from the bathroom, kitchen and utility???

Too far! I should have clustered those rooms together better.

New build in sight

BryanF wrote: »

So just to be clear, you only employed an architect for planning stage? Did you employ s/he for tender stage dwgs and spec?

Yes arch was just employed for drawings and planning, we gave him opp to quote for tender for oversee build but he was too expensive.

Irish Steve

sheff the ref wrote: »

How far is your hot water supply from the bathroom, kitchen and utility???

Due to the way the pipes run, kitchen is about 24 Mtr run, out of tank, down to floor level, out to centre of house, then along passage, out to external wall, along to sink and up, much of it in 22mm, Utility is the other side of the house, about the same by the time it gets there, and the bathroom is about 10 Mtrs in the opposite direction, House is 23 Mtrs x 10 Mtrs dormer bungalow, and the architect insisted on putting the boiler in the middle between the family room and lounge, his "H" system, the boiler is in an external wall entry boiler house at the back, 3 flues behind it, boiler, family room and lounge, then the hot press is the other side of the chimneys, on the ground floor,

In hindsight, should have changed some of the layout round to have the kitchen, Utility and bathroom much closer to the hot press, but at the time, it looked like it worked as a layout, and I had enough trouble getting rid of the velux windows that the eejit wanted in the bathrooms going up through the unheated roof space to the roof. In the end, it was a case of "what is it about my use of the word NO that you don't understand".

Glad I did dig my heels in, the other bungalows in this area got lumbered with them, they are a nightmare for damp and mould, even with fibreglass lagging round the vertical sections, a total pain to clean the window, and also suffer with huge condensation issues, and only being 600 mm wide, are a huge hassle to get into for painting.

sheff the ref

Irish Steve wrote: »

In the end, it was a case of "what is it about my use of the word NO that you don't understand".

Some Architects are like artists, they pride themselves in unique work. I genuinely believe that it dampens their spirits to have their work rejected!!

I think you have to have to be well able to fight your case

thebackbar

hi folks,

just wondering do the people who built recently have anything they would like to add to this post ? i.e. any new technology they wish that they'd incorporated ?

The only thing I wish I'd done was to install some extra service ducts for future unknown projects.

Villain

thebackbar wrote: »

hi folks,

just wondering do the people who built recently have anything they would like to add to this post ? i.e. any new technology they wish that they'd incorporated ?

I put 4 Cat6 cables to every room, you can use them for pretty much anything, coaxial is old technology and won't allow you to send HD TV around the house CAT5e will but CAT6 is better, get a few boxes and run it everywhere

Most common heating controls like nest etc have a thermostat built in so wire the heating controls back to a point in the main living space where you can control zones but also the use the stat rather than in a press in the utility

sheff the ref

It has been suggested to me that I drop a 1" white sink drainage pipe inside the cavity, and bring it out through the wall to each ground floor room in the bungalow from the attic. This would make it easy to run new cables in the future. I am pumping my cavities so it won't hinder the insulation but has anyone else tried this?

Poor Uncle Tom

sheff the ref wrote: »

It has been suggested to me that I drop a 1" white sink drainage pipe inside the cavity, and bring it out through the wall to each ground floor room in the bungalow from the attic. This would make it easy to run new cables in the future. I am pumping my cavities so it won't hinder the insulation but has anyone else tried this?

Airtightness?

sheff the ref

Should not be an issue with an issue with the cavities being pumped

Poor Uncle Tom

Having a vent pipe directly from a warm room into the cold attic space has nothing to do with the cavities being pumped.