[
Damion and Melanie invested most of their budget on the fabric of the building, including softwood window frames, five kilometers of cabling set into the walls, heat revovery and ventilation systems and water-based underfloor heating
CURVED LINES IN THE CEILING, SHOWER AND FREE STANDING BATH SOFTEN THE EDGES OF THE MODERN ANGULAR BATHROOM
]
height of the eaves to 7.9 metres, but if you are prepared to work with the planners you are more likely to get the house design you want.” With planning passed in August 2012, the
next hurdle was to remove three large elecricity poles which cut across the land in the path of the new build. Western Power quoted £27,000 to have them taken down , but when Damion investigated further he discovered that the original wayleave, or contract, had run out meaning that the power company had to remove them at their own cost. By the time building work began there was ice
on the ground, but the foundations went down swiftly. Two wells had to be filled in, but a layer of sandstone just a few feet below the surface created a solid base for the concrete, beam and block foundations. The timber frame was then brought on site and assembled, the brick walls built and the heavily insulated roof put on to make the building watertight within just three months of starting. “We bought reclaimed roof tiles because we
didn’t want them to look really bright and new,” says Damion. “The roof includes insulation pan- els cut to fit the spaces between the timbers, plus a layer of plastic and a silver space blanket to seal it. Unfortunately we put the silver blanket on during the summer and the reflection from the sun was so bright we got burnt.” Damion and Melanie invested most of their budget on the fabric of the building, including softwood window frames, five kilometers of cabling set into the walls, heat revovery and ventilation systems and water-based underfloor heating with pipes laid close enough together to accommodate a ground or air source heat pump at a later date. “We have future proofed the house,” says Damion. “It is all prepped for green technology, even though we haven’t fitted everything yet due to costs. We had a £10,000 contingency fund and wanted to stick within our limits, so the bulk of the expense went into the build itself. A lot of the interior fixtures and fittings, the cosmetic
Continued overleaf... selfbuilder & homemaker
www.sbhonline.co.uk 25
THE BEDROOM OVERLOOKS THE LARGE GARDEN
MODERN WHITE SOFAS AND COOL GREYS DEFINE THE MAIN SITTING ROOM
LOW POINT I did the decorating myself and it
was the most demoralising job I’ve ever done in my life – especially painting the first wash to seal the plaster. It took a month of solid painting to get it done and it was a
nightmare. We saved about £4,000 as a result, but it’s not to a great
standard. Next time I would get it professionaly decorated
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