The Real Self Build Blog

Throwing Light on the Subject

2012-02-13T13:42:00.002-08:00

The plaster was drying out very nicely and my wife was champing at the bit wanting to get some paint on the walls so I had to let her have her head. After one of our regular visits to B&Q and Wickes we had sufficient paint and materials to get a primer coat on the walls. Let there be light !! its amazing what one coat of primer can do to the light values in an otherwise dark interior. However I think we got the cart before the horse here as a coat of primer prevents any regular building adhesive from sticking to the wall so all skirting and architraves had to be mechanically fixed rather than using the modern way of sticking them.

White walls but no light fittings.

Without electric light indoors at any time of the year it can be too dark to work long hours so the lights were next on the agenda, however the mains were not connected to the consumer unit. Yet! All the wiring had been provided by yours truly during the first fix and now it was time to fix sockets and switches, lights and controls. At the earliest stage of design we decided to opt for chrome hardware through out the house so all our switches and sockets are of the chrome variety all courtesy of Screwfix. Screwfix opened a business account at the early stages of our build, as did B&Q trade and our friendly local builders merchant. Anyway I digress, having fixed all the electrical fittings we had to dig up the driveway ?? That's right, the electric supplier will only excavate in the public highway so as we were the builders it was up to us to lay a pipe(a genuine article supplied by a builders merchant) to provide a connection to the consumer unit.


*Me doing some basic testing whilst connecting sockets in the loft.*

Hand digging through road stone to lay a pipe for the electricity supply

Not great pictures but you can see a couple of the sockets I fitted. I am not qualified to certify a mains installation so my friendly local electrician did that for me. He quipped that he had tested a grand total of 54 double socket outlets. I know I said ' I fitted them! '

Anyway after he had completed his testing and the mains had been provided and connected to the consumer unit, Eureka! we had light.

Kitchen Lights On


*Temporary Lights in the Living Room pending some nice fittings.*

The house was coming together now and with each stage the prospect of moving in permanently was becoming closer and more exciting. That was a relief because not surprisingly we had spent three years getting to this point!! However there was much left to be done, not the least of which would be the plumbing. Water is a prerequisite of a modern home, baths and all that. So that is the next topic for 'TheRealSelfBuildBlog'

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Thanks for viewing.

Getting Plastered

2012-01-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

The big day arrives and this is where the shell of our build begins to look like something resembling a house, 'THE PLASTERERS ARE IN'

Six big young lads turn up, trowels at the ready and are straight in, sheets of plaster board everywhere, mixing buckets and baths in every room, materials in every corner. These guys mean business!! The first day sees all of the top floor boarded out ready for the skim coat. The second day the boss takes over fixing plaster board with the dot and dab method whilst several of the others start the skimming on the top floor. A sight to behold, the way these guys handle the plaster, rapidly mixing, skimming the plaster evenly onto the plaster board and after a ten minute break for drying, polishing off to a fine finish. A wondrous sight!

Two days work and the second floor is boarded and plastered

Preparation is everything. Boarding out the landing on the first floor and covering up the banister. Notice the pink fireproof plasterboard for the ceilings, part of building regs for three floored buildings

Master bedroom boarded out ready for skim. Boy do these guys work quick.

Another room skimmed.

Of course the downside to this onslaught is the mess. What was once pristine chipboard flooring was now a patchwork of plaster stains. Next time (if there is such a thing) a proprietary protective floor covering will be applied. Lesson learnt?

Meanwhile whilst all this pandemonium was going on my wife and myself were demoted to tea boy and assistant as there was little else to get on with, however we were already planning the next phase, 'second fix'.

Ground floor preparation

A week later and all the plastering was done, every room in pink, well not quite! the plaster is very dark and has to dry thoroughly which may take days if not weeks, meanwhile my wife was dying to put on a first coat of paint.

The finished product. Very neat.

This part of our build was the largest item which we did not do ourselves (for good reason) however it was also the most expensive single item in the build amounting to approx £12000. So to all you would be self builders out there, be aware!

Anyway that was a major milestone in our build and as I said the next phase would be second fix, however that's for the next time on 'The Real Self Build Blog'

Thanks for viewing.

Prep for Plaster

2011-12-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Now I can do a good job of most things when it comes to building and I can do the odd repair job when it comes to plastering but I have to draw the line when it comes to plastering a whole house. The process of plastering may not be particularly technical but the skill level has to be admired, so I cheerfully handed this job over to the experts, but there was a range of other jobs to get done first.

I have mentioned before about the choice of a suspended block and beam construction for the first floor, how solid it seems and how it provides a stable platform to work on, but it has it's downside, there's nothing to fix the plasterboard ceilings to!! A matrix of timber was required across the whole of the ground floor ceiling, easy and quick to say, but time consuming to provide.

Timber Matrix fixed to beams

The matrix consists of 2x2 timber attached to the concrete beams with a steel bracket, bent over and secured with nails, then timber noggins at appropriate spacings fixed between. The brackets are only hooked over the beams and trapped under the blocks, is this going to hold up the weight of the ceiling?? Well its still up there!.

Another job to get done before plastering was to screed the floor. I did not expect to have to do this one because as we would be tiling or timbering(is that a real word?) the ground floor it would not be necessary for it to be perfectly smooth, but the unfortunate circumstances at the beginning of the build ( see 'Getting on with it') rendered the floor like the ocean waves, so screeding it was.

A young chap just starting out on a new business adventure, popped his head in one day and offered to do the floor with a flowing gypsum based screed, the price seemed good, a quick job(one day) and a perfectly flat floor was the promise. It looked good and offered a great solution except that, it was twelve months later when I asked him to do it, he had established his business and the price had gone up. However it was a great job, another layer of insulation, dpm,and 40mm flowing screed and it was done. No one said to me that it would be necessary to scarify the finished surface in order for anything to stick to it though, more of that later!!

Polystyrene laid prior to DPM and screed

Kitchen floor showing completed screed. Lovely finish

The trouble with having bedrooms on two floors (amongst other things) is that at least 100mm worth of sound deadening insulation is required between floors. Not too bad a job I hear you say, until you consider how to hold it up there until the plasterboard is fixed. A lot of pondering then several bundles of string and a good stapling gun is what was required! plus loads of suitable insulation. (Wickes do bats of suitably stiff insulation, which we bought rather a lot of). It was a good game for a few days, my wife holding up the insulation whilst I stapled a criss-cross network of string to hold it in place. Job done!

Insulation between the joists held up with loads of string!

Of course there was quite a bit of first fix joinery to do before the plasterers arrived and that involved fixing door linings to all openings, constructing a false chimney over the planned kitchen range(see above picture), fixing the remaining stair spindles (although in hindsight this would have been better left until later) making false ceilings in the sun room to accommodate lighting(see below) and constructing false walls in the bathrooms to conceal the cisterns and piping.

Because the ceiling was sloping we had to provide false bits along the edges of the sun room to accommodate the lighting

I hate boxed in pipes! so I was determined that all pipework was made as discrete as possible and to this end we decided to conceal all the cisterns and soil pipes behind false walls in all the bathrooms and to have suspended basins and loos. This decision involved considerable timber framework strong enough to support a wall mounted loo with someone sitting on it!

I'm getting the cart before the horse here because in this picture the plastering is done, but you can see the framework provided for the false walls.

Substantial timber framing to provide false walls where cisterns, soil pipes and water pipes could be concealed and provide a cleaner look to the bathrooms.

Framework for Luxury Bath. Don't look much now but I assure you it will

We don't have much thievery around hear being a remote little village, but during this period I was aghast to one morning to wake up and find my Landrover had walked, off the driveway!! Security suddenly became an issue and as we stored much of our building materials in the garage we thought it high time we fitted the garage doors.

Beautiful garage doors with well engineered Hormann Frames and Cedar cladding.

Supplied by The Garage Door Company

I then had to find a new car and spend precious cash

I have only included here a few of the many jobs we did in preparation for plastering as they are too numerous and basic to mention so it's on with the next big step, plastering.

Plastering Supplies arrive courtesy of B&Q

A good price matching deal from B&Q provides all the materials required for the next job, but that's for next time on the 'The Real Self Build Blog'

Thanks for viewing.

Water Works

2011-11-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

First fix electrics were in and it was time to do first fix for the plumbing. I have always enjoyed plumbing work, soldering joints etc there is something satisfying about cleaning up the ends of copper pipe, the inside of Yorkshire fittings, coating with flux and heating the joint so that the solder flows uniformly around the joint making a neat water proof seal, sad or what? Anyway I originally started off intending to do all the plumbing in copper but ease of use and cost soon put paid to that. Before long I was using plastic for all pipework where ever it was supported throughout its length. Unsupported plastic pipe set into pipe clips looks awful where they are exposed and I suspect have the potential to fracture over time due to the drooping effect of the pipes as they expand with the heat. Although individual copper fittings are generally cheaper than plastic a joint of some kind is required at least every 3mtrs (standard length of copper pipe) so plastic tends to cost in over longer lengths. It is also easier to produce a watertight joint with plastic first time. So it was with these factors in mind that a mixture of copper and plastic was used throughout the house.

Providing hot and cold feeds to all sinks and baths is not particularly difficult but guidance can be sought with regard to the regulations from the the Water Regulations Advisory Service(WRAS) who will provide you with a copy of their booklet, a very descriptive and helpful guide.


First Pipework

Pipework in Place

First fix cannot be completed without knowing what and where all the components of the system will be so a few decisions were required. Like all good self builders I like to be unconventional (hence block and beam for the first floor) so in true fashion I decided on a thermal store to provide hot water and space heating. Not the first choice for heating engineers and plumbers and probably due to their complex electronics, however there was good reason, 'I like a good shower'. That means more than a trickle, so as the water pressure appeared to be very high in this area, (I had several burst hose pipes during building) the choice of thermal store was a good one as (similar to a combi boiler) it heats the mains water as it comes into the house. Hot water is fed direct to the taps and showers giving mains pressure at the head with the ability to supply large amounts of hot water and with two en suites and two bathrooms, boy do you need it?Gledhill Water Storage were the manufacturer of choice but unfortunately they have since stopped making them, a victim of the recession!!

The choice of boiler was on recommendation from a local service engineer and as I presumed he knew more about it than myself we chose his recommended Grant boiler with the size determined by the accumulation of the radiator sizes plus a bit for good measure, all guidance which can be found online.

Central Heating is something I have never designed or installed before but there's always a first time for everything. How big should a radiator be? How many radiators does a room need? Where should they be sited?How powerful should the boiler be? There are a lot of options and decisions to be made and no doubt everyone will arrive at a different solution but in my case using what experience I had and the use of the Internet I designed my own system. Its amazing how little heat output is required in a modern house with all its insulation. My previous 1970's house had radiators the length of some walls but using an online design aid which took into account heat loss through outer walls, loss through adjacent rooms, ceilings and floors all the radiators turned out to be very small, some equivalent to the output of a single bar electric fire. I checked the results several times!! Radiators I here you say! yes we fitted radiators throughout the house despite protestations from me the better half won the day on this option. We used ACOVA column radiators on special offer from B&Q for the aesthetic effect.

After plastering this is the room that I

put this radiator in. Small ain't it

Since all the walls in the house were solid block work there was no stud work and modern construction methods involve small bore pipework in the stud walls, therefore I had to find other means to feed the pipework to radiators, taps and showers.

On the first floor there was a false floor of 2x2 timber battens and chipboard flooring so a cavity was formed under which pipes could be laid and as all basins and cisterns were wall hung or enclosed there was no problem concealing pipes behind false walls. However on the ground floor it was necessary to bury the pipes under the floor screed and apart from underfloor heating it is no longer acceptable to bury the pipes in the screed, so they were encased in a separate corrugated flexible tube, readily available from Screwfix and placed in the insulation under the floor screed.

Of course all loo's have to have a soil pipe and again these were readily accommodated behind false walls in the bathrooms.


*False walls in Bathrooms to accommodate pipework and concealed cisterns.*

All the pipe work was in place ready for the more exciting bit, second fix, where radiators, sinks, baths, toilets, showers, boiler and thermal store were to be fitted, not much left then!! However next, just the small question of plastering, but lots of bits to do first in preparation, but that's for next time on 'therealselfbuildblog'

Thanks for viewing.

First Fix Electrics

2011-09-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

All the rooms were defined in block work and shortly we would be ready for plastering, however just a small matter of first fix for plumbing and electrics.

Now I am one for having a go at most things DIY but for the novice a word of caution. Electricity can kill! I have a background in electronics, a good understanding of the difference between Volts, Amps and Watts, I have studied Ohms law and my training in the telecommunications industry encourages me to use best practices in all things electrical. If I sound like I am talking gibberish then its best for you to leave this part of a build to the professionals, however if like me you have the knowledge to undertake some of this work then it is not beyond the self builder armed with a good guide book to do so, with the proviso that a qualified electrician carries out the final inspection and tests and connects to the mains supply.

So armed with my Collins complete wiring and lighting guide in hand I set about installing the mains and lighting circuits. Unfortunately my wife did not find taking photos of bits of wire very interesting so I am a little short of pics for this post.

Anyway, in simple terms a ring main starts at the consumer unit and runs around the house passing in and out at each socket outlet and finally returning to the the consumer unit. In theory the number of sockets is unlimited but in practice a limit is placed on the number by the floor area that one ring main can supply and that is 100 sq mtrs also generally each floor needs it's own ring. That's how I came to provide four rings as there are three floors and the ground floor is greater than 100 sq mtrs. Lighting circuits are a different matter and in their simplest form start out from the consumer unit and run in a radial circuit out to the last light with the limit being the maximum wattage of 1200watts ie:- 12 x 100watt bulbs. With fancy lighting this limit is soon used up hence I ended up with six radial ccts excluding the garage. Cookers, storage heaters and immersion heaters which draw rather more current than either lighting or ring mains all require a dedicated radial feed from the consumer unit and much heavier cable.

Running cables is a case of finding the best route through the house usually in the loft, in the floor space between floors, in studded walls or chasing them into solid walls. Because I am anal, I had to have a more sophisticated solution and that involved providing cable runways and risers, which were born out of my communications background. So all my cables rise (on a vertical runway)from the garage, through two floors to the loft and then across the loft on a cable runway to a riser where they would fall to the floor voids and start running around the house, dropping down walls to the various sockets. Large numbers of cables running alongside each other tend to develop some heat and and this was another of the reasons that I provided the runway to take the cables above the insulation rather than on or under it. Similarly where lighting cables drop to lights in the loft the cables where attached to battens fixed to the rafters above the insulation then dropping directly to the light fittings, in this way any heat generated by the cables easily escapes reducing any potential fire risk.

Typical Riser, this one in the Utility Room mainly for pipe work

A drawback to having solid internal walls is that all cable drops need to be chased in to the wall and protected and this turned out to be a very long and messy job. Best practice for cable drops dictate that they should be vertical ie:- no diagonal runs to save cable, however where sockets are reasonably adjacent to each other short horizontal runs are permissible. This practice ensures reasonable confidence as to where cables are located after plastering and hopes to avoid fireworks with a wayward drill. Wall boxes of varying types were provided at the end of each drop and the punch out holes in the metal types protected with a rubber grommet. Cable tails (ready for second fix) at the wall box were left 150mm to 200mm long to help with termination later.

There are several fittings which require a spur off the ring mains and these included extractor fans, auxiliary lights over bathroom mirrors and fixed appliances all of which require a fused outlet. Smoke detectors however must have a separate feed from the consumer unit and be linked to each other. The regulations with regard to bathrooms are very strict and need to be observed closely but in any case any electrician worth his salt will not pass any installation not up to the regulations, so I say again the system needs checking and testing by a qualified person before connecting to the mains.

A loop of the ring main rises under the island unit. Kitchen ring shown running around at floor level no more than six inches from the floor is permissible.

Regulations and practices change so it is with some concern that I have written this post. I have not given specific details about providing mains electricity in a self build as it is not intended as a definitive guide and should not be taken as one, moreover reference should be made to a good guide and IEE regulations if necessary.

In the event fortunately for me, my installation passed testing and was duly connected to the supply by my friendly electrician without any problems or rework. There are many electricians out there quiet willing to undertake the commissioning of a domestic system like this as it is the more intellectual part of the job and removes much of the physical effort whilst still being profitable. It is also worth noting that a completion certificate issued by the electrician is required by the BCO before they will issue a completion certificate for any build.

That was all the cables in for the first fix, fitting of all the electrical goodies was to come after plastering. I now needed to get on with doing first fix for plumbing but first to design the central heating system. That's for next time on the 'realselfbuildblog'

Thanks for viewing.

The next steps

2011-07-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

After the milestone of installing the windows it was back to the less rewarding chore of more block laying. I know most modern houses have stud walls and the later ones are only very narrow so they appear very flimsy, but we were determined to make ours look substantial so at the early stages we choose to use block work for all internal walls. It makes for a quality feel to a building but it needs the upper floors to be rigid and that's one of the reasons why we opted for block and beam upstairs. Laying the first few blocks on the upper floor started to show how the rooms fitted into the shell of the building and for the first time the internal layout started to appear.

Rooms start to appear

Once we had finalised the boundaries for all the rooms the stairs could be fitted. We had previously ordered the stairs which consisted of one straight flight and a double flight with quarter landing from a local manufacturer called, wait for it! 'The Timber Stair Manufacturers Ltd' original isn't it. However they were very good, their designer came to site to measure up and as I had never fitted a set of stairs before he was very helpful and gave me lots of guidance.

The kit of parts arrived soon after placing the order and were extremely good quality with Hemlock strings and spindles, Oak base rails and handrails and MDF treads. The solid oak option was prohibitive!!

Kit of parts arrive for the stairs

Now to get them in place, a job for more than one man and his wife so the regulars popped over to help. Not to worry though the straight flight went in first and after constructing the framework for the quarter landing (not supplied) the flight was lifted into position. The newel posts and strings were already mortised and tenoned so it was just a case of gluing them together with the handrail, lifting into place and fixing the top newel post to the joists. It was almost like building with Lego, each part slotting together easily, the only bit of real joinery was cutting the handrails to length and cutting the tenons on the ends.

The regulars on site to help install the stairs

Initial installation complete. Newel post bolted to trimmers between joists

The other set of stairs was less simple, with a quarter landing half way up (not supplied) the framework for the landing had to levitate somewhere in the air. I decided the most solid means of achieving this was to build a tower of blocks in the corner on which to stand the frame and also create a useful cavity under the stairs accessed from the little room.

My wife thought this was funny

Initial installation of the lower stairs complete. The newel posts at the top were bolted to a steel beam which supports the landing. A very solid fix.

That was the stairs in place so it was no longer necessary to climb ladders between floors, suddenly a flash of inspiration !! Why not move into the loft? (temporarily you understand) just one problem, no insulation, so that was the next job.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had designed the roof as a sealed roof and part of that design was that there should be an air space between the insulation and the roof membrane, so it was now necessary to provide the insulation and maintain that space.

The 100mm polyisocyanurate(I hate that word) needed to fit between all the rafters in the loft and should be cut to a snug fit and pressed into place without going in too far and compromising the air space. To prevent this, battens were fixed to every face of all the rafters 100mm in from the underside.

Fitting the insulation by cutting with a standard timber saw must be the most messiest and uncomfortable job I have done to date. The cutting generates clouds of choking particles which stick too your clothes with static, and spread everywhere. A second layer of 30mm insulation had to be fitted over the first to meet building regulations and this was fixed with screws and washers but thankfully in the last minute before fitting this layer which covered the rafters we remembered to mark the floor with their position or the plasterers would have cursed us. A few days later we had an insulated loft.

Insulation ready for installation, lot of it isn't there

In Progress

First layer finished

Just a lick of paint and building the only stud wall with a cheap door in it and we moved in!!

Bed from the caravan

Must have a tele

Xtratherm, Xtratherm, Xtratherm dreams are made of this.

Home from Home! It was good to get out of the caravan, a couple of winters did the trick but we still had to cook in there.

Insulating the kitchen and garden room ceiling


*More insulation, phew!! its getting warm in here*

Well that's it for now but next time on 'therealselfbuildblog' I will tell you how we started the plumbing and electrics and prepared for plastering.

Thanks for viewing.

Icing on the cake

2011-07-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are, complete shell, all bricks layed, roof on and fiddly bits done, now for the finishing touches, the beautiful Sash Windows. We had right from the early days of planning and design decided on Sash windows as the house that we had admired and used as our template had sash windows, albeit in timber. Ours were to be uPVC Urgh!! I here you all say, however consider this, we have twenty three Georgian style windows in white, think of all that painting every five years or so, it would be like painting the Forth Bridge and anyway the quality windows we have chosen are almost indistinguishable from timber and a lot less prone to rot.

Like yourselves, in the beginning, we were avid readers of anything we could get our hands on to do with self build and it was as we scoured the pages of Homebuilding and Renovating Magazine that we first came across the name of GlynGary Windows. A small family run business, hence the name Glyn and Gary, which specialises in the construction of uPVC AND Timber Sash Windows and who are based in Warrington. Inspired by the advertisements we called them and were duly invited to visit the factory.

They have a great set up and showed us many of their products and although they do not fit windows many them are fitted in the likes of Government buildings in London. It was the father of the two boys who first suggested fitting our windows behind the brickwork opening instead of in the opening as is the modern practice. This method adds to the character of the both the window and the building, reduces the profile of the window frame that can be seen and with the overhang of the bricks provides some additional protection for the windows, less cleaning!!

Here you can see one of the windows set behind the brickwork. Very Georgian.

A method of fixing was required and as much of the frame spans the cavity, fixing through the frame into the wall was difficult. Another GG suggestion was to use an additional timber frame as used in the Georgian era and therefore provide timber reveals with Torus profile architrave to match, very much in keeping with the style of the house. I hasten to add that the timber does not span the cavity as this would cause damp problems.

One of the windows(at a much later stage obviously) showing the timber reveals and architraves

We ordered our windows from GlynGary at very reasonable cost and the day dawned shortly after when they arrived and our second team were there to help with the offloading.

Meanwhile the scaffolding had been removed to reveal the house and it was with much excitement that we started to fit the first windows.

A cavernous space in which to construct the frames for the windows

The first of many frames finished and waiting for a liberal coating of preservative

First one in

From the outside

All windows in, even got the garden room roof on in this one

In at the front too

Well that was it, brickwork done, roof on, windows in, we can move in next week, Nah!! My friendly local builders chance remark was

'it's reckoned that when the shell is up your just about half way there', encouraging eh!!

Next time on the therealselfbuildblog I'll tell you how we progressed to the inside and moved in, although in a temporary fashion.

Thanks for viewing.

On with the roof, Part 2

2011-06-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Although the joiner guys I employed had fixed all the trusses they were unable to finish the trusses around the openings for the roof lights. That was left to me!!!

Here I am fixing the remaining roof members around the roof lights

Never having built a roof before I needed to take some guidance on the next steps. Most of my skills have been developed by employing the techniques learned from considerable reading and dedicated observation of the professionals as well as lots of practice over the many years that I have been doing construction jobs, both at home and for other people. This job was to be no exception and the one really useful piece of literature that I used to construct the roof was Kingspans guide to insulated roofs. A small booklet which lists the different types of roofing construction methods involving tiles, tile battens and roof membranes. Being the person I am I chose to follow the most involved method of construction which does produce the most thermally efficient roof but is also the most complex, that method is called in their booklet a 'sealed roof' ie:- sealed all around the edges and between the different courses of membrane so that there is no path between the outside air and the air under the membrane. Normally accepted methods involve draping the membrane between rafters and not sealing between the subsequent layers whereas my chosen route demands a taut membrane and the sealing between layers which presents some difficulties and non-standard methods of construction, of course!!

Because the membrane is taut the tile battens cannot be fixed directly to the rafters as there is no way for any water to drain so counter battens are required. (see pictures) A further difficulty was how do I access the second and subsequent courses of membranes to remove the release film between layers.

Preparing the valleys


*The Tyvec membrane used here is non regular 1.5m width with adhesive seal*	.

Well the solution was to cut the counter battens to just short of the width of the membrane and fix the lower tile battens first to provide a ladder to access the next layer, simple!!

Working up the roof fixing battens to form a ladder to fix the next membrane course

Working out the solution to the next problem caused some head scratching. Of course the professionals out there will work this one out in their sleep, "spacing of the battens", One roof with two sides may be fairly simple, fix the top and bottom batten, measure between and divide by the number of courses of tiles taking into account minimum cover, however in this case I had two roofs, both with the same pitch but of different base width and different heights and I wanted to keep the courses in line with each other, so one optimum spacing was not necessarily OK for the other roof, a compromise was needed ? Some measuring, puzzling, swearing, mumbling and a few guesses later a compromise measurement was decided on, so now we could fix the battens.

A little trick I used here to maintain the spacing between battens was to cut several pieces of timber to the requisite length and use them between battens whilst fixing them. I am probably not the first to think of that one??

All the battens in line,very neat


*Getting towards the ridge with the battens. Note the vacant area for the roof lights*

Fixing the leading in the valleys. Another tricky job!

There are nine roof lights in this build so by the time I get to the last I should have got it sussed!! Not that difficult really, Velux have got it well engineered here, very well made with complete instructions but it was still with trepidation that I put the first knife cut in the membrane. Should not have worried though and managed to fix four in a short space of time and I was ready for the first tiles.

You don't cut through a membrane like that without some worry.

Well that wasn't too bad

The tiles were next and I was determined that the roof should look professional although having said that I have seen some awful professional jobs,wiggly courses both up and across, uneven courses and cut verges. In order to avoid these obvious defects spacing of the tiles was critical (and difficult) and I used a builders line top to bottom to ensure the tiles were in line.

It was a small remark by my NHBC inspector but one that increased the amount of work dramatically, 'Get hold of a nailing pattern from the tile manufacturer' he said glibly. I did and in my area it required that all tiles should be nailed, with tile clips on two courses of tiles around all openings, eaves, ridges and verges and tile retaining straps on all verges. what!!!! you would think we lived in the wilds of Scotland and not the East Midlands but we had to comply to get our Solo certificate.

The first tile to go on and verge clips for every course of tiles

Our regular volunteer helpers

The completed front roof without roof lights, hopefully it looks as neat to you as it does me. The back roof with lights is not quite as I would like it due to the constraints of spacing around the roof lights themselves but it is more than acceptable.

Well just the small job of mortaring the verges, fixing the ridge tiles, leading around the chimney and fixing the beautiful Brett Martin cast iron effect rain ware and the roof is complete. Just like that!!

Next time on 'The Real Self Build Blog' I will tell you about the beautiful GlynnGary sash windows and how we fitted them.

Thanks for viewing.

On with the roof, Part 1

2011-06-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is exciting, the walls are up to plate level and we can start the roof, soon have a complete shell. There was still plenty of brickwork to do, like gable ends, dentil brickwork eaves and the chimney but the roof trusses needed to be in place before this could be done. There is a plethora of truss manufacturers about and we were spoilt for choice, in the event we were able to order well in advance and be assured of delivery. However loft trusses are very heavy and this is one area where we resisted our natural tendency to do everything ourselves so we hired a couple of local joiners to help put up the trusses, we also needed a crane for the third time. Crane drivers have a lot of skill and this guy was able to get a very large crane onto the drive and swing up its jib between the house and the overhead power wires with no trouble

Trusses delivered and temporarily secured to scaffolding

Moving trusses to side of house to aid the crane driver

Ready to go

A rather large crane

The first truss swings into place. A very artistic shot by my wife don't you think?

The two guys helping to install the trusses

All the trusses in place and braced ready for the final pieces for the roof lights.

Another couple of artistic shots by my wife, getting good at this isn't she?

Once the trusses were in place it was time to complete the gable ends and finish the eaves and chimney.

Gable end Block work

Excuse my back but I was concentrating on pointing of the eaves

More pointing of the dentil brickwork along the eaves, notice the spikes which will support the rise and fall brackets for the guttering My first attempt at fancy brickwork and though I say it myself it looks pretty good

Another shot showing the brickwork detail

My wife working on the pointing of the chimney, well not really, but she was very brave as this was about eight meters off the floor and she does not like heights.

Fantastic!!!! Wow !!! What a moment, I show you this picture because we were at the top and this is the last brick of the house

The roof timbers were on and secure, the gable ends,eaves and chimney were complete and the next step was to cover the roof, including fitting velux windows and tiling.

In my next post I will show you how we completed the timber work for the roof lights, installed a membrane and tiled the roof.

Thanks for viewing.

Up to the roof

2011-05-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

We were well on with the brickwork now, mostly up to first floor level, double lintels over all brickwork openings where there was a curved header, conventional cavity lintels elsewhere, block work also up to first floor level, it was time to start thinking about installing the block and beam on the first floor. We had plumped for b&b on the first floor for reasons I outlined in a previous post and Hanson Building Products had designed this floor for us, however it involved some steel work

There were several pieces of steel, all of which had to be supported on pads of three courses of engineering bricks. The steel was designed-in, in order to keep the concrete beams short. The alternative was beams in the order of 7metres long which would have had a considerable upward curve in them causing problems later. The beams in most instances sit on the lip of the steel rather than on the top, this lip is at maximum 75mm wide. It was quite disconcerting to think that there was all that weight, blocks and beams sitting on that narrow a piece of steel, but as Hanson's said it was fine, who am I to question it. Anyway they have been sitting there for the best part of five years now without any problems!

The family gets involved with the installation of the steels over the ceiling. The nearer one is a conventional I joist which supports the outer skin of the wall and the other is a C joist which supports the floor beams and the inner skin.

Steel joists which span the living room. The beams rest on three courses of engineering bricks at either end and consist of two C section joists back to back. The beams sit in the C.

I was also a bit concerned about concrete beams sitting directly on top of an aircrete block wall so I layed a course of bricks along the top to act as a pad for them. I love extra work!!

Crane hire to help move beams


*Beams swing into place*

Once the beams were in it was a simple slog to install all the blocks to make the first floor. A dry mix of sharp sand and cement was then brushed into the voids to firm them up.

As my wife is the resident photographer she would often not get in the picture, so here she is moving every one of the floor blocks onto the Bumpa.

And here's me taking them off at the top to fit them.

The Bumpa was a very useful tool and kindly loaned by a local builder.

Not everybody would choose to use block and beam for the first floor of a house but being old in the tooth and preferring a solid feel to its construction we decided to do so, however it is not without its drawbacks. The most significant of these is that there is no cavity between floors in which to run cables and pipes and together with using solid walls up and down location of services presented some issues. It is normal to lay a screed on the blocks but without constructing channels in the screed again there would be no place to put the services. In the event we were to construct a mesh of 50mm square timber both under and on top of the floor, one to support plasterboard and which would provide a cavity for cables and another on top also incorporating a cavity for pipework and to which we fixed the flooring.(more pictures of this later) Perhaps not the most elegant of solutions and one that most builders would avoid but it has given us a solid floor and no creaking.

It was at this point that another decision was made which was to lead to a rather large hole in our pockets but hopefully increased the value of the house substantially.

The original planning permission was for a four bedroom house over two floors but we thought why not make use of the loft space and increase it to five bedrooms and an extra bathroom. Wow! just like that. Actually it wasn't too difficult, by extending the b&b floor area over the hallway, incorporating a second set of stairs, roof lights and loft trusses it seemed to be achievable, so we duly submitted our proposal to the authority and to our surprise they agreed with the proviso that all occupied rooms had fire doors to the stairs. It was also necessary to include fireproof plasterboard to the underside of the floor, and so that's what we did!!

Block Work first floor(must be the tidiest site ever)

Almost up to wall plate

The floor was in and we now carried on with the block work up the the bearing plate for the roof trusses, this was easy as it could be done from the inside standing on the b&b floor, however to complete the brick work up to the same level it was time for scaffolding.

Well we like so many self builders were in a quandary about scaffolding. What was the best solution, buy the normal stuff and sell it later,(horrendous cost) hire it and complete the build in a limited time frame,(not for us as we could not meet the timescales)or buy it from the guy from Grimsby (I forget the name)who buys it back from you at a reduced cost. Then along comes our local friendly scaffolder who offers to hire it to us for a fixed charge and unlimited timescales, (I think he took pity on us) and we were off again, lucky devils?

Scaffolding in place and we can carry on up to the wall plate with the brick work. Note the scaffold hoist, bought for £800 and sold on eBay for £500, probably the most useful tool we bought throughout the whole build and absolutely invaluable.

The brick work is now up to roof level and before we can continue to the top of the gable ends and the chimney the roof timbers need to go on.

In my next post I will show you how we put the roof on and describe some of the construction involved.

Thanks for viewing.

Brickwork here we come

2011-05-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

We have just spent the Easter break decorating a flat (we should get a life) so I am a bit late posting the next episode about our self build which narrates how we tackled the brickwork and some of the details involved, but here goes.

I had done a lot of brickwork beforehand but nothing on this scale (about 15,000 bricks) and it was a daunting task, but not being able to find a good brickie at the right price I had to have a go, after all how difficult can it be? Well in the end, not too bad really, long and slow but very rewarding and definitely something to be proud of. In keeping with the theme of traditional appearance we designed the house with a base of blue bricks which appear above ground level, originally these would have been as a DPC but now days regulations insist on a proper membrane as DPC. We had included them for appearance sake. Laying blues demands some experience as they tend to float on the mortar but its a case of laying them quickly and accurately and then leave them alone, the more input the less success. Anyway I had managed to lay the blues up to DPC and I made a start on the facing bricks. The first task was the fireplace as this formed part of the internal walls. I included lime in the mortar mix for flexibility and also for appearance as it gives a creamy colour to the finished product, however if the brickwork is not clean it does show up rather badly on the facings, you live and learn!!

Fireplace


*The fireplace forms part of the inner skin, the blues will show above finished ground level.*

I then started raising the corners for about eight courses in the traditional way, (I know there are more efficient methods but that involves spending more valuable cash)

Admiring the first few?

Raising the corners

Raising a corner. Not pointed up yet I hasten to add.


*My wife gets in on the act by planting piles of bricks all round the site. Just to keep me going you understand!*

Of course as one raises the outer walls insulation must be included and in our case we had decided to use poly.. polyis.. polyisocy..polyisocyanurate, (PIR for short,thank god) partially for idealistic reasons but also it can stand up to wet weather, I never could understand how rockwool and the likes continued to insulate once it got wet.

Adding the insulation, the bottom course sits on the butterfly ties which were included between leaves below ground.

Demonstrating installing helical ties.(there was no insulation necessary at this point) Pictured at a much later stage you understand.

One of the features that we wished to include in our build was stone sills, well in our case reproduction concrete sills(a pretty good compromise)which we had made locally at our independent builders merchant(John Stephens of Nottingham). There is a technique to installing sills in that they should be wrapped in DPC on the underside and bedded on mortar at either end. The cavity is pointed up after all the remaining brickwork is completed. The idea is to stop the stresses and strains of the drying out process cracking the sills, simple!

Cutting DPC ready for another sill

Sill in place but not yet pointed

Once the corners are up and using a taut builders line brickwork can be infilled between. Normal rules apply, keeping perps in line, checking for verticals, maintaining a clean cavity and pointing up regularly. The method I used for pointing up was to apply a bucket handle, what!!! yes that's right a bucket handle(a steel one shaped to form a tool and which I happened to find in the loft of my original home many years ago) to the mortar joint, then brush with a stiff household hand brush to remove excess mortar finally giving a finish with a soft household hand brush. Pointing tools are readily available from Merchants and DIY stores.


*Brickwork well on the way*

Other features which we wished to include in our build was that where ever possible to incorporate curved headers to the window openings and to install the windows behind the brickwork rather than in between which is the modern practice. These features both present complications so are generally not used in mass building schemes. The former involves making formers to support the bricks whilst they dry and also prevents the use of a conventional lintel as the internal and external leaves need support at different levels.The second feature involves the opening in the inner leaf being wider than the outer leaf to accommodate the window frame.

Curved headers wherever possible

A completed window. The frame is behind the brickwork, a traditional feature found on many old buildings and designed to offer some protection to the window itself.

The garage doors were to be treated in a similar manner so that the reveal for the doors was on show, there would be curved headers and the character and appeal of the building would be enhanced.

Curved formers were made to support the brickwork whilst drying. This technique involved a long piece of string, a stake in the ground and drawing an arc on a pieces of particle board. Some guesswork going on here!


*Trestles and boards were used up to first floor level, beware health and safety.*

Conventional Lintel to take the weight

From this much later picture you can see how the garage doors are set behind the brickwork which adds greatly to the character of the building.

Well that's about it for this post, the brickwork is up to first floor level and we will soon be ready for the next stage.

In my next post I will describe the installation of the first floor, much of the remaining masonry and getting ready for the roof.

Thanks for viewing.

Early Blockwork

2011-04-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had the block and beam in place with a concrete screed, the drains were in and so the next stage was to start the internal block work followed by the outer skin of brick.

Having been to the Homebuilding and Renovation show at the NEC and come across the 'Thin Joint Method' of block work and being suitably impressed by its ease of use we decided to employ this method in our build. One of the main advantages being that I could lay blocks well ahead of the brickies as the ties are inserted into the block rather than in the mortar course. A SDS drill,(a cheap model £45 from Axminster Tools) is used with a special tool to drive in the stainless ties at every sixth brick course as one builds the outer course.

This system is a little unforgiving of sloppy workmanship as it is essential that the first course of blocks has to be layed on mortar and has to be dead plumb and level across the block. The thin bed joint is only 3mm thick and there is very little room for adjustment as the wall rises.So that was the first job, a single course all around the build including internal walls as these were block work too.


*The first of the Celcon Aircrete Blocks arrives on site*

Celcon and no doubt Thermalite supply all the tools necessary to do 'Thin Joint Blockwork' and they consist of a scoop (for laying on the mortar) a coarse sanding block for adjusting the odd block and a very coarse rasp for removing large amounts of block if you do go wrong. Block hand saws are readily available from builders merchants(they don't last long, we used four on this build) and the one part mortar is also readily available. The mortar is mixed in a bucket with a whisk. It is only necessary to mix small amounts (1/2 a bucketful will lay about 15 blocks) as the mixture goes off pretty quick and once layed is bonded to the blocks in less than 1/2 hour. As in all block work joint bed reinforcement should be used every third course and especially around openings, but the manufacturers literature gives guidance on all these issues. We purchased our stainless ties and expanded joint bed reinforcement from Tackburn Ltd.

First couple of courses of block work in place

The technique is fairly straightforward as you can see here where I am using the scoop to butter the end of a block. The bed has been prepared with a layer of mortar next to the door. The system is very quick and requires no great skill, just follow traditional procedures for raising a wall, corners first,then builders line between to give a straight and level line.One drawback to this system applies when lintols or other non aircrete block elements are to be incorporated into a wall. In this case resorting to conventional mortar is required for bedding and making up as these elements do not meet the very close tolerances of the blocks.

Sawing Blocks is simple, but the square(orange) also supplied by Celcon was not very accurate.


*Preparing frames for openings.*

The block work rises to first floor level without any bricks being laid.

These were extra wide aircrete blocks used down the centre of the build where a structural wall was required.

A good cup of tea and a biscuit helps the job along

The block work was nearly up to first floor level and by this time I had chosen to lay the first courses of brickwork up to DPC level. Then one ill fated day after long deliberation I decided that I would carry on and lay all the bricks for the house!!!! It was a difficult decision, I knew I could lay bricks but not at the pace of a good brickie, actually at most 150 a day, but both my wife and I are control freaks and perfectionists so it was inevitable really!

Next time in my blog I will show you how we did some of the brickwork, especially around the windows and the garage doors.

Thanks for viewing.

Getting on with it

2011-04-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

On site at last, living in the caravan, services laid on we could be working within the hour and make some progress.

We had it in mind to find a bricklayer and had been asking around for recommendations, now we would need one in a couple of weeks. Acting on suggestion we visited several other building projects in progress and completed but to no avail, we were looking for someone who apparently did not exist,someone who could lay bricks that were neat, clean and well pointed. It was quite disappointing the quality that we found. On the other hand a local builder in the village whose quality was exceptional gave us a quote which amounted to almost a pound a brick laid, but this was too rich for our budget.

Finding the right bricks was another problem as we were looking for something with a rustic feel. I had used Marshall's Old Mill bricks in the past which was close to our desires but a little too colourful. Then travelling through a local village one fine day we came across a development of new flats with bricks we loved (loved??) and speaking to the brickies we had potentially found our bricklaying team. The bricks were Hanson Cheshunt Multi, a good quality rustic looking brick with fine colouration and very appropriate for our village. All I needed to do was finish the foundations !!

First of many deliveries from B&Q Trade

We had laid the first course of block work around the site to delineate the walls of the house, checking the diagonals for square (+- 15mm)We then raised the inner course to under floor level ready for block and beam. Two courses of blue brick (overkill) were laid on top to bring the finished floor level up to the desired height. We were now ready for the floor.

Finishing the foundations

Hanson's had designed the floor for us from the plans and they arranged delivery to site within a few days of requesting it. We were now installing a block and beam floor ourselves, something we had never done before!

Careful

B&B delivery

Relatively simple job really, just need a crane (or lots of labour) to move the beams. A good quality dry laid DPC (Hyload Housebuilder DPC), beams lifted into place and spaced according to the diagrams supplied by Hanson and spacer and infill blocks mortared into place along the top of the wall. Not to difficult?

A final course of bricks around the periphery to act as shuttering and infill with insulation and we would be ready for screed.

Help to move the Beams

Local Crane Hire

First Beam

Crane drivers mate helps with the Beams

Spacer Blocks waiting for Installation

Solid Blocks for Garage Floor

All beams in place,now for the insulation. Brilliant design, easy to install, just slips into place, a couple of days work and its done.

Ready for Insulation

Simple to Install

Nearly Done

Well Earned Break

Garage Floor needed Mesh Reinforcement

Not so easy the next stage, laying the concrete screed. This had to be a bit more organised, labour in the form of friends and relatives, a vibrating concreting beam, a concrete pump to get the concrete to the back of the site and several loads of specialised Lafarge Fibrin concrete. All went well until the concrete pump arrived, brand new six wheel vehicle with an equally new driver who immediately said he could not do the job because of the danger of the overhead power wires. Calamity, we now had to man handle the concrete to the back of the site walking along the beams trying not to tread on the polystyrene insulation. We started and what should have been a relatively straight forward job became more difficult. The vibrating beam was f****** crap, worn out and held together with loose nuts and washers it eventually shook itself to pieces, and this was from a reputable hire company. Despite the panic we did get the job done eventually but it was down to the efforts of my family and friends that we succeeded.

Vibrating Beam(do not use one of these)

Despite all we did mange it

Well that was it, up to ground floor level, floor laid, drains in situ, just a small question of building the rest!!

In my next post I will describe how we started the block work which we had planned to do and how the brickwork became our job also which we had not planned to do.

Thanks for viewing.

Finally we get to live on site

2011-04-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

We had completed much of the preparation for moving to site, installed the caravan, built a storage and site hut, connected temporary mains and had BT connect us to the telephone in the caravan but we still needed water and drainage. We had to construct the footings before we could lay the drainage so we could find the correct line and they were not in the way. But here's the rub, we had applied to the sewerage authority for permission to connect to the main sewerage and also a connection to the surface water main (unusually), but a shock came when they informed us that we must stop work immediately. Apparently because our building line was close to the carriageway and there was an old brick culvert for surface water in the verge, and they did not know the line of, we would be required to have commissioned an optic fibre survey of the culvert in order to establish its position so that we did not compromise it with our building. We could not therefore carry on with the footings until the survey was complete. aghh!! Foiled again!!!

So we reluctantly downed tools and abandoned the site to await a survey.

Meanwhile the electricity company had also noted from our plans that because we were building close to the road and as the building reached roof height it would be perilously close to the open wire mains supply to the village and preventative measures needed to be taken. Oh! OK what does that involve?we asked.

You can see the offending open wires in this picture

Well what it involves is 'Money'. We had to pay for the open wires to be replaced by what they call ABC cables, three cores twisted into one cable. Fortunately as the poles carrying the wires were old and needed upgrading we only had to pay towards the work but the bill was still over £1200.00. And to our embarrassment the village power supply had to be off for the best part of a day.

It was about a month after we had stopped work on the foundations that the optic survey was scheduled to be undertaken and the survey team duly arrived on site on a cold, wet, snowy February day.


*That's me waiting for the survey engineers to arrive.*

It was a bit of a waste of time as in the event they tried to access the culvert from one end which was completely silted up and from the other it was partially collapsed preventing the 'optic mole' entering the culvert. It would take months to repair the culvert and we could not wait. It was a bit of a stalemate. In the end after protracted discussion and because of the Water Authority not wanting not to spend the money that they relented and allowed us to carry on but with great care. It turned out in the end that when we finally connected to the surface water sewer we found it only a few inches under the kerb outside our property and our foundations would not affect it at all. Panic over!

Right we 're cooking with gas and our friendly JCB driver from Squires of Southwell arrives to excavate the footings. A couple of days and they are dug and ready for conc. Squires lorries take all the spoils away for us.

JCB at work

Just checking

Me and my trusty laser level. A very useful buy

What you doing down there

Ready for concrete

There are many suppliers of concrete in our neighbourhood as I am sure there are in yours but just down the road there is a quarry belonging to LaFarge and we therefore had cause to speak to their rep. We knew we would require special concrete for screeding the 'Jetfloor' block and beam which contains reinforcing fibres, but as there was limited access to the back of our site and we were short of labour to manhandle the conc, he suggested we use one of their products called 'Agilia Trenchflow' and boy am I glad he did. This stuff is like water and flows much the same, so much so it will find its own level even after flowing several metres. It only needs a little help around the bends occasionally. Great stuff!! Only drawback, yes you've guessed it,expensive.

Forty Cube to go

Flows like water

Checking again

Finished Product

The first of many blocks to be layed.

Contractors connect us to the mains

My wife had a go

Drains nearly there

We used standard dense concrete blocks to get us out of the ground with cavity construction. Weep holes were provided on the outside and concrete infill with 45' slope between the leaves. Once we had a line on the footings we could get the drains in and connect the caravan to the mains. Our mains contractor generously supplied us with Osma drainage products at trade prices but as these were prohibitively expensive at normal prices we reverted to Marley products from B&Q at much less cost for the last remaining sections.

At last we were connected to the mains, we had water and we could go to the loo!! Now all we had to do was to move all our belongings out of store and move into the caravan which we duly did. It was a relief from the daily grind of travelling thirty miles to start work and returning in the evening seven days a week. We could now roll out of bed in the morning and get on with it.

My next post will deal with how we finished off the block work and installed the block and beam floor.

Thanks for viewing.

Moving to Site

2011-03-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well we had planning permission, we had drawings, we had the cash in the bank all we needed to do now was to start building.

During the planning we had attempted to sort out a few contractors for the various stages, we found a contractor(who would be required to open up the highway) for connection of sewerage and surface water by speaking to the local water authority who keep a list of approved contractors. Likewise the electricity company provided their contractor to connect a temporary electric supply to the plot, all very straightforward, if long winded, but getting quotes and commitments to start from builders and ground workers when they are very busy is akin to blood and stone. However we needed to get on so we pressed ahead with the move to site.

We had sold our house to pay for the build and were living in a flat with many of our belongings in expensive storage, which in the long term was unsustainable, then one day whilst wandering around B&Q we came across a FinnForest flat pack log garage at a bargain price. A solution to our storage problem!

As in the best tradition of self build we planned to live in a caravan on site whilst we built our new house, however if you are going to do this then its a good idea to invest in a residential rather than touring van as more than six months in a tourer will be hell(especially if you have any kids). Fortunately we found a superb 22 foot bargain on the East Coast and the caravan site owner from whom we bought it arranged to transport it to our site for very little extra, little did we know that it was to be our home for a couple of years.

Right, we had a number of contractors arranged, a caravan to live in, and a storage facility for our worldly goods and having spent a couple of weeks chopping down trees, digging up shrubs and demolishing a small building we could set up our site for the work ahead.

My wife gets stuck in helping lay a temporary access, you can't get the labour these days

A small summer house had to be demolished.

Friends help with the last remnants of the building

We used contractors to remove the trees

Just inspecting


I planned to raise the FinnForest timber building off the ground and install a false floor so had to build footings under the walls. If we had not got a bargain on this product then a conventional cabin would have been more suitable to store furniture etc.

Nice little toy

The caravan arrives on low loader


*Caravan in place ready to start erecting the cabin*

Building the walls on which to stand the cabin, please note the plastic chairs, you have to have somewhere to sit and drink your tea.

The FinnForest flat pack cabin arrives, excellent quality stuff with 40mm beautiful quality soft wood timber walls, quality machining and ready cut felt shingles for the roof.

It takes a few days to erect the cabin because being as particular as we are we gave each piece a coat of Cuprinol preservative as we built it. However these buildings are a piece of cake and slot together like a jigsaw with a sturdy structure at the end, an ideal solution to the storage problem, they also make for a great additional feature in the garden afterwards.

First stages

Up to the roof

On goes the roof


*Nearly finished*

It was looking good, the caravan was in place, the storage facility was erected, the site was cleared but we couldn't move into our accommodation yet, we had no services!! We had to get them laid on, it was essential for living on site that we could use a loo without worrying about waste disposal, water was a definite for a cup of tea(and cooking) and electric for lighting(to watch the telly at night,Grand Designs etc) Electricity (the easy bit)was provided to the caravan by a 6mm power cable clipped to the fence from a temporary consumer unit mounted in a wall box fixed to two posts in the corner of the site. However the sewage, surface water and mains water was to be provided up the side of the site and round the back, with a spur off to the caravan and this was a very different question. It was evident that the whole site had been raised at some time in its history and was now some distance above the properties either side and well above road level. It was necessary to lower the site to keep the roof line level with surrounding buildings!! Hence:-

We had to move an estimated 150 cubic metres of good topsoil off site before we were down to the working level. I did not drive the JCB by the way.

Topsoil removal in progress

What a lot of soil


*At last, down to working level and marking out for footings.*

You may be wondering by now why we were organising and doing this work as it was planned to do it with contractors? Well like much of this project we had been unable to find available contractors at reasonable cost so we decided to do it ourselves(as you do), and that included the next stage of marking out for the footings, getting them dug and filling them with concrete and then we might get the drainage in! However the first and fortunately last potentially major problem reared its ugly head, but more of that next time.

See my next post to read the details of this problem and how we finally moved to site.

Thanks for viewing.

Planning and Design

2011-03-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

This is where our adventure started to get really exciting. We had secured our plot and we were on to the next stage of designing and planning our new house. Whilst searching for our plot we had accumulated considerable information in the form of leaflets and brochures from manufacturers about their building products and services and this was a good place to start the self build research. We visited the 'Homebuilding and Renovating Show' at the NEC on a couple of occasions from where we picked up many ideas and other information leaflets from manufacturers and where we first came across 'Trent Jetfloor', an insulated block and beam floor construction system. 'Thermalite' also had a stand demonstrating the 'Thin Joint Blockwork' method of laying blocks, common on the continent, and a system which we were to use later in our build. We read and researched continuously including building books like Mark Brinkley's 'The House Builders Bible', 'Barry' 'The Construction of Buildings' and 'Building Your Own Home' by Snell and Armor. The leaflets we obtained from suppliers proved invaluable and in the case of 'Jetfloor' they described precisely the method of construction of their Block and Beam flooring.. The Kingspan insulation leaflet also proved very useful as it described all the different methods of constructing an efficient roof covering. Whether you are going to construct your own home yourself or by the use of tradesman it pays to be clued up about all the construction techniques that will be used in your house by reading as much as possible beforehand.

Another view of our plot

We had in mind to build a traditional brick, block and tile house with specific features which we wished to include, like sash windows, high ceilings, galleried landing, on-suites etc, and we had a good idea what we wanted the outside to look like.We wanted a solid, traditional looking, quality building with rustic brickwork, stone cills,cast iron looking water drainage system, windows set behind the reveals and curved heads to the windows.
It had to fit in with the village 'vernacular' a term often found in planning speak, and because we wanted to have a considerable input to the build and to save money we had to keep it simple,so we borrowed a design from a house which we had admired (and also photographed)in our locality and one that followed the vision which we had.

We also had a good idea how we wanted to construct the house and how it had to be achievable without the use of too much manpower and machinery. Our original plan was to use ground workers to do footings up to above ground, ourselves to do internal block work by the 'thin joint' method whilst a brickie did the brickwork and joiners and roofers did the roof. We decided to use block and beam in the ground and first floor with short beams for handle ability and to provide a platform on the first floor to work on as we were going to do the internal work ourselves up to plastering, it was going to be open to the weather for longer than normal so timber on joists was not an option. We also planned to fit out the rest of the house including wiring and plumbing and tiling, kitchen and bathroom fitting ourselves, phew!!

And that was the quick method!!

That's me doing some measuring up during the planning stage

You can draw and submit plans and negotiate with the local authority yourself but as we had neither the drawing facilities or the experience to negotiate, we decided to employ someone to do this on our behalf. How to find someone?? Yellow pages,local ads or recommendation, well as we had no recommendations and did not trust local ads we resorted to the 'planning register'. Eureka! the planning register lists the name of all the architects, planning technicians and private applicants alongside the applications and by looking for regular contributors and successes we had a good idea where to find a recommended designer. This is how from a short list we came to choose Geoff, our planning technician.

Planning Technicians are not architects and will not be able to give the same level of service, however they are cheaper and if you know what you want and can specify your build then its a good way to go and they do know their stuff.

Geoff was quick to catch on here, he was able to use our ideas (and photographs) to produce drawings and specifications that met our requirements and subsequently steer them through the planning maze very efficiently, however it still took several months to get final approval, but eventually we were off!

Next time on 'The Real Self Build Blog' I will tell you how we moved on to site and started to build.

Thanks for viewing.

2011-03-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hi and welcome to 'The Real Self Build Blog' which is the story of how my wife and I built our own house. We have called it 'Real' because we really did build 95% of the house ourselves and in this blog I hope to show you in words and pictures how we did it.

This is a picture of our house and as you can see it is now complete. It is of conventional brick construction with Sandtoft Clay Pantile roof, upvc Sash Windows by GlynGary, Brett Martin Cast Iron effect rainwater system and Hormann Cedar Wood doors. The materials and design were chosen to compliment the village and its surroundings. Anyway we didn't start here so let me show you where we did.

Behind the hedge is our plot, it used to be the garden of the house adjacent. Plots are very difficult to find but the use of magazines like 'Build It' or 'Homebuilding and Renovating' are very helpful. We also visited the planning office of our chosen area authority where they keep the 'planning register' another source of leads for new plots. However we eventually found ours in 'Plotfinder' classifieds. Here are one or two more pictures of our plot taken whilst we were planning the build.

A picture with my wife duly taking notes. Access to the site was a crawl through the Holly Hedge (very prickly).

A picture from the top of the site,a good size about 30m x 16m.

In case you are wondering, we are not qualified builders, plumbers or electricians but we are very experienced and accomplished at DIY and are also viewers of 'Grand Designs', 'Escape to the Country' and 'Sarah Beeney' from where we got much of our inspiration. We didn't plan to do all the work ourselves, it sort of evolved, but if you are thinking of doing this much work yourself, be warned it can take a long time.

Anyway, before we actually get on to talking about digging any holes in the ground I will tell you about how we planned the design of the house and details of the materials and specifications we used. But that is for my next post.

Thanks for viewing.