The initial idea was a house with open-plan living areas all on one level, for any future mobility issues


“Not only did it increase the costs by £15,000 but we wanted to go with a timber clad because the design was barn-inspired. Timber would have been a third of the price and a lot quicker to put up.” The slips, effectively tiles glued to the SIPs, still needed mortar pointing like real bricks – an exercise that turned out to be an “absolute nightmare” and took close to a month, reveals ark. The final brick-like render is now both convincing and attractive but cost £30,000 for the slips and labour. However, everyone agrees the biggest challenge within this project was not the cladding, but the earlier, costly, problems with foundations. After demolition of the old cottages and general site clearance in spring 2021, it became clear that strip foundations for the new building were not appropriate and pile foundations would be necessary. “It was quite depressing,” says Mark. “It took us si months to find someone to do the piling, which in the end cost close to £20,000 more than the strip foundation quotation we’d had. It knocks your confidence, something like that so early in the project – you wonder if the rest of it is going to be similar.” Construction proper began in October 2021. Happily, the SIPs used to form the core structure of this self-build proided a welcome fillip, by moving the project on at a rapid pace. Mark says rom at foundations to the full house in position with just open roof and rafters took just more than 10 days – so the speed of using SIPs was quite exciting.”


42 www.sbhonline.co.uk


Why SPs ark eplains One underlying principle of this self-build was to keep energy bills low. My dad was already thinking about some kind of prefab approach and SIPs are both an efficient way to build and proide good insulation. At the time I was also working with a company specialising in this kind of construction, so it seemed the obvious way forward.” The panels, which simply slot together, are in this case a sandwich consisting of magnesium oxide board on the outside, with a thin layer of galvanised steel on each edge, and insulating polyurethane foam on the inside. This gives the panels a high insulating strength. The design of the interplay between the SIPs and elements like doors and windows also helps to cut heat loss – as does the insulated roof. Besides the insulation, it’s the ecological- friendly heating that helps to keep energy bills low with an underoor system fed by a Daikin  kW air source heat pump. While an unobtrusive outdoor unit sucks in air, the ingenious exchange of heat between air and water happens in an integrated tank, which is tucked away in the plant room.


The pump is powered by electricity, and solar panels installed on the south-facing roof of the west wing which can produce 3.4 kW of electricity. This means that, at times, the house generates more electricity than it uses, and Keith and Ann are paid for any excess electricity they export to the National Grid. Not surprisingly, being a director at Airway


Group, which provides air conditioning, electrical and mechanical services, Mark has done the


mar/apr 2023


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