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

dos30 wrote: »

The stone looks great, is that sandstone?

Thanks,
Yea, its Lacken Stone (Sandstone) Guillotined Stone.

+1 for concrete stairs fine example of what can be achieved

New build in sight wrote: »

Just pricing painting/spraying at the moment. - love to hear any tips anyone else might have on this part of the build. Were wondering should we do it ourselves, or is it worth paying someone to do the job? Also any tips on undercoat or not etc. if anyone has any tips that would be great!

Definitely get it painted by a professional. All the good work of the plasterers and every other trade in the house can be undone with a poor paint job, and similarly a good paint job can right a lot of wrongs.
Where abouts in the country are you?

New build in sight wrote: »

We're in Westmeath Quazzie. Thanks for the reply, we always thought that's where we would save money but now were thinking it's worth it

I'll forward you on the number of the guy I used. He's reasonable and very picky which is good. Our plasterer left a lot of little issues around, and the painter came in and amended a lot of them, just by his preparation and finish. I know if we tried it ourselves, we would've missed a lot of them, or even made them worse.

Folks
I am researching which pipe work to plumb my self build with. Some plumbers i talked to suggested using Multilayer piping instead of Copper, where as other plumbers recommend copper as the cost of multilayer fixturing can be expensive.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? which would you recommend as the better ?
i dont want to choose multilayer if its just easier and quicker to install......
tks

Just at the design stage ourselves. Building on my familys farm. Currently there is an old cottage on the site which we will be knocking and the new house will be going pretty much exactly on the same site. Its part of the family farm with the farmyard right beside it. The site is pretty nice - roughly 150 metres off the road, elevated and south facing.

Some fantastic advice, tips etc on here but the volume of info to try and take on board is just unreal! My wife works full time and I'm on a 3 day week so I'm thinking of going with a contractor maybe for the outside shell and then go direct labour for the rest. We're still only finalising drawings so we have a long road ahead of us. The 'plan' is to living in our new house by Sept/Oct 2014. I'll have to go back through this thread with notepad and paper and start documenting everything just to try and make some bit of sense of it all!!

Skimming finished Friday on the inside. Looking at inset stove at the moment, pricink the kitchen and the stairs at the moment. Geothermal plumbing inside, other 2nd fix plumbing and vacume system started. Hope to begin floor insulation towards the end of the week. Stonework almost finished outside. Stress City here!

A year in and the geothermal is nearly finished, was pressure tested today before backfilling. 850m of 40mm pipe and the ground was better than i feared, thought it might be full of stones but more blue clay at that depth, the father thought it was a bit of an overkill digging up an acre of a field for a heating system.
Plumbers start on first fix in the morning, hopefully floor insulation down by the middle of next week and screed not long after that. Plasterers finished a fortnight ago inside and its looking well, skim was really drying out in that good warm week and was just soaking into the walls. I felt the heat radiating of the external rear walls in the evenings during the good weather, the thermal mass appears to be working anyway.
had a bit of an issue with the pumped cavity insulation company but i stopped the cheque on them and they soon realised they were in the wrong with their measurements. Waiting on getting all storm waters and sewers done before we start the external weber render as i don't fancy going near it with a track machine once its on which has resulted in a few birds nesting in the roof before i could get to the eaves with a bit of plaster to stop the little friggers getting in. Really want the floors in and then get other stuff done while its drying out, but no major stress at the minute. Kitchens picked, tiles are picked and budget is gonna be over but hopefully not by too much, maybe 10%. Still reckon i'll save a minimum of £50k by doing it on the grip compared to the 3 quotes i got.

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Still reckon i'll save a minimum of £50k by doing it on the grip compared to the 3 quotes i got.

I'm surprised to hear it considering builders have cut the celtic tiger premium out of their quotes. Well done! What bits did you do yourself?

Looking good. I love the wall. Does it stretch all the way up the side of the site as well?

By the sounds of it you'll have to change your username when you move in

AntrimGlens wrote: »

A year in and the geothermal is nearly finished, was pressure tested today before backfilling. 850m of 40mm pipe and the ground was better than i feared, thought it might be full of stones but more blue clay at that depth, the father thought it was a bit of an overkill digging up an acre of a field for a heating system.
Plumbers start on first fix in the morning, hopefully floor insulation down by the middle of next week and screed not long after that. Plasterers finished a fortnight ago inside and its looking well, skim was really drying out in that good warm week and was just soaking into the walls. I felt the heat radiating of the external rear walls in the evenings during the good weather, the thermal mass appears to be working anyway.
had a bit of an issue with the pumped cavity insulation company but i stopped the cheque on them and they soon realised they were in the wrong with their measurements. Waiting on getting all storm waters and sewers done before we start the external weber render as i don't fancy going near it with a track machine once its on which has resulted in a few birds nesting in the roof before i could get to the eaves with a bit of plaster to stop the little friggers getting in. Really want the floors in and then get other stuff done while its drying out, but no major stress at the minute. Kitchens picked, tiles are picked and budget is gonna be over but hopefully not by too much, maybe 10%. Still reckon i'll save a minimum of £50k by doing it on the grip compared to the 3 quotes i got.

I think I recognise that blue geothermal pipe!! Very simple and cost effective, not like some plumbers who would have you put down all sorts of expensive rubberised pipe

Did you install and bury pipe yourself, or did FG supervise the covering of pipe?

I think I just make out the end of trenches on your aerial photo. Was it trenches? How many, how long and how deep for each one?

I just got planning past for a house, so going to build again in 1 or 2 years.

Will you pm me the insulation company who balls you about?

Looking good, you will be in before the cooled winds arrive in those glens in November

Well done and good luck

K

Hi ShiverinEskimo,

Just wondering what type windows did you go for? They look like they are green, are they PVC, alu clad, double/triple glazing?

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

A lot happened since I last posted. A lot of little wins. Floors poured and dried out nicely. When dry enough I got the whole inside spray-painted, in and out in one day, superb job.

2nd fix electrics were done and electricity connected \o/

Couldn't resist shouting "LET THERE BE LIGHT" as I turned on the lights for the first time.

Site works starting proper now, got water connection sorted and getting the heating going today to dry out the floors proper. Two weeks should do it before tiling starts. Kitchen's ordered and will be ready for delivery in 3 weeks. Other flooring picked. Got underlay to suit the underfloor heating so we can have a cost master bedroom and living room (essential to enjoy surround sound IMO so I was willing to accept a small hit on the heating there).

And finally - sort of a feature of the site was built and finished last week by a bunch of highly skilled, efficient and very reasonably priced polish wall builders:

6 years to the day I got planning I moved into my new home, I'll post some photos and details later in the week

Villain wrote: »

6 years to the day I got planning I moved into my new home, I'll post some photos and details later in the week

Congrats Villain, best of luck in the new place.

Just to let you know for the BBQ, I eat pretty much any type of meat and drink pretty much anything that comes in a bottle