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woodyandluna
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes
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 Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 11:23 am Post subject: Timber Self Build Home |
 
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Hello everyone, newbie here!!
I am considering living in a self build timber home like this one:
Timber Home
There seems to be several companies that can supply these self build kits ready for assembly for around �20k and I can't help but be impressed by them. I understand that roofing, plumbing, electrics, kitchen and bathroom are to be added onto this, but it still seems to me an affordable form of housing. I'd love to make one of these into a low impact house by implementing various energy and water saving measures. Can anyone forsee any pitfalls with this?
Despite the cost, I find this type of home very appealing. I wonder if they get very cold in the winter?!
Does anyone have any experience of living in a home like this, or know anyone else who has?
Is there a way that I could make the costs tax deductable, perhaps by setting up a business?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Carl |
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Andy B
Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 3920
Location: Brum
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45671
Location: Essex
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woodyandluna
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45671
Location: Essex
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45671
Location: Essex
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Jill
Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 13
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tawny owl
Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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One system I saw at the homebuilding and renovating show that was quite interesting was insulating concrete formwork done by Beco Wallform, Polarwall, Quadlock and a few others. It's basically a polystyrene brick that's used to build the actual house up to the first floor, then filled in with concrete, leaving the insulated brick in situ, and that's then clad with plasterboard or tiles on the inside and render or whatever on the outside. Thus, you basically end up with a sort of reverse cavity wall, with two layers of insulation sandwiching the building material. Now before anyone jumps on me because of the use of polystyrene and concrete, this type of building is so well insulated that energy costs are very low, and also it cuts down on some other harmful materials. Building costs are also really low (they were talking 3 grand to build a 2-bedroom house up to the roof), and it's very versatile, because the strength is all on the outside walls, thus all internal ones are stud and so it's very easy to change a basic design. See https://www.becowallform.co.uk/web/techbr.pdf for the technical details. |
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woodyandluna
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes
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Jill
Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 13
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@Calli
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1682
Location: Galway
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tawny owl
Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire
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tawny owl
Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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| tawny owl wrote: |
| One system I saw at the homebuilding and renovating show that was quite interesting was insulating concrete formwork done by Beco Wallform, Polarwall, Quadlock and a few others. It's basically a polystyrene brick that's used to build the actual house up to the first floor, then filled in with concrete, leaving the insulated brick in situ, and that's then clad with plasterboard or tiles on the inside and render or whatever on the outside. Thus, you basically end up with a sort of reverse cavity wall, with two layers of insulation sandwiching the building material. Now before anyone jumps on me because of the use of polystyrene and concrete, this type of building is so well insulated that energy costs are very low, and also it cuts down on some other harmful materials. Building costs are also really low (they were talking 3 grand to build a 2-bedroom house up to the roof), and it's very versatile, because the strength is all on the outside walls, thus all internal ones are stud and so it's very easy to change a basic design. See https://www.becowallform.co.uk/web/techbr.pdf for the technical details. |
A house using this system was on Grand Designs last week. The owner ended up with a very interesting (and I thought quite lovely) curved house, although it seemed the architect was learning on the job, and poured the whole of the staircase tower in one hit, thus ending up with some of the blocks giving way and causing 'blow-outs', which then caused problems when the staircase was lowered into the tower. Personally, I'd have put the staircase in and built round it, but there you go. I was surprised they had so much trouble, because when I spoke to these people at the show, they said that they'd recommend trained builders, or if there weren't any in the area, they'd send their own person to supervise. They also made it very clear that only one floor at a time could be poured, to prevent exactly this problem, and that steel rods were needed for reinforcing throughout.
V. interesting though, and well worth having a look at, as it gave quite good close-ups of the system. |
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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Blue Sky
Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France
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