Design your own home online

keyser2012

Ive been designing my next home down on some graph paper and want to know is there anywhere online that i can turn it into a proper set of plans. The reason for this is that im wanting to cut down teh costs when i give them to my engineer and all he has to do is locate it on my site plan.

I have a good enough understanding of the building regs and all teh measurements of materials etc as ive been in the building game for 15yrs and would like to teach myself how to draw up a set of house plans.

DOCARCH

Seriously, if you do have a really good idea of what you want, getting a good local AT to draft up the plans for you (double checking/advising on building regulation compliance at the same time) would be worth it's weight in gold. It may cost you a couple of hundred euro to do this.

'A good enough understanding of the building regs' really is not enough!

keyser2012

DOCARCH wrote: »

Seriously, if you do have a really good idea of what you want, getting a good local AT to draft up the plans for you (double checking/advising on building regulation compliance at the same time) would be worth it's weight in gold. It may cost you a couple of hundred euro to do this.

'A good enough understanding of the building regs' really is not enough!

Ive a very good understanding of teh building regs to build a house, infact i know them all. Well, all what homebond sets out for us in theyre book

DOCARCH

keyser2012 wrote: »

Ive a very good understanding of teh building regs to build a house, infact i know them all. Well, all what homebond sets out for us in theyre book

Hmmm. That's all I say on this. Building regulation compliance can be a little more complicated than what's outlined in the Homebond manual! Just to note that I use the word 'liitle' with my tounge in my cheek! :rolleyes:

Your going to spend a couple of hundred thousand euro building a house for yourself. Spend a couple of hundred euro more and get some advice.

Even if you do draw up the plans yourself, get somebody at least to sit down with you and go through them in detail. During the design process you will at a minimum need somebody to do a provisional BER.

Cedrus

cadstd is a basic CAD package that will allow you to draw up a set of plans but it won't tell you what to put on them.

There's a Lite version which is free but a lot of the commands are disabled, or a full version for less than the cost of the homebond manual.

archtech

keyser2012 wrote: »

Ive a very good understanding of teh building regs to build a house, infact i know them all. Well, all what homebond sets out for us in theyre book

Have a read of Joseph Little's article in the current issue of Construct Ireland critiquing the latest edition of the Homebond Manual . All its details show a 300mm cavity wall, one normally won't comply with the current Part L with that thickness of wall and the build up illustrated in most of the diagrams.

And if you have such a good understanding of the building regs, you'll have no problem in complying with the CPC and EPC then also, and have full knowledge of the required levels of ventilation for naturally ventilated dwellings relative to the air tightness etc .

Must remember not to look at any of you're future queries here, seeing has you have a very good understanding of the regs.

john_cappa

You seem familiar.....!

If you know exactly what you want and want no design input at all and feel you are able to handle the application etc itself then you could approach an draughsman and offer him a simple proposal; payment just to draw what you sketch (not suggesting anything illegal, its up to architect to decide declaration btw).

A student with knowledge of the software would also be able to handle it.

Be better off with someone qualified as such though I think.

john_cappa

archtech wrote: »

Have a read of Joseph Little's article in the current issue of Construct Ireland critiquing the latest edition of the Homebond Manual . All its details show a 300mm cavity wall, one normally won't comply with the current Part L with that thickness of wall and the build up illustrated in most of the diagrams.
.

Do you have a link?

muffler

Just to point out that the OP has closed his account but I'll leave the thread open for now.

archtech

john_cappa wrote: »

Do you have a link?

its not on line yet, but the current issue is still in the shops I think.