Grand Designs - New Series

Author
Discussion

dom9

8,040 posts

208 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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What an interesting build!

Looking forward to seeing how this one ends!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Catz said:
What a crazy house plot!
It's crazy, but if it gets built I think it's going to be magnificent.

ajprice

27,317 posts

195 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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dom9 said:
What an interesting build!

Looking forward to seeing how this one ends!
Underwater and broke? hehe

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Half way in and all we've got is a flooded hole. Time is definitely a factor...

Roy E6

1,025 posts

231 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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If it gets finished.

campionissimo

578 posts

123 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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How do the get any silt out of the concrete 'tank' that the house sits in? Surely it'll fill up in a flood, and the house can't return to it's original level because it's sat on a new bed of Thames silt..........

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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campionissimo said:
How do the get any silt out of the concrete 'tank' that the house sits in? Surely it'll fill up in a flood, and the house can't return to it's original level because it's sat on a new bed of Thames silt..........
Not sure. He did say the flood had taught them about silt movement so we shall see.

Deerfoot

4,897 posts

183 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Have they mentioned how they'll cope with sewerage and getting services into the house?

Catz

4,812 posts

210 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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campionissimo said:
How do the get any silt out of the concrete 'tank' that the house sits in? Surely it'll fill up in a flood, and the house can't return to it's original level because it's sat on a new bed of Thames silt..........
I wondered that too.

After they'd dug out the huge hole could they not just have popped in a house like those they showed from Finland (iirc) with dolphins? Rather than the huge cement block.

Megaflow

9,347 posts

224 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Deerfoot said:
Have they mentioned how they'll cope with sewerage and getting services into the house?
I've been wondering the same, electricity, water and gas is relatively easy, they are flexible (ish) but drainage?

SydneyBridge

8,500 posts

157 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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One hell of an expensive view, but love it

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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This is one for the revisited show...

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Hopefully they'll do a follow-up

I love it's simplicity in design and would be very happy there

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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I bet their house insurance is, er a bit pricey! ;-)

(long term, you wonder how long that house can last, afterall, there was quite a lot of steel under ground/water, all of which will presumably start to rust / degrade relatively quickly?)

BoRED S2upid

19,643 posts

239 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Does fake grass float with the house or float away down the river when the floods come?

Great build but at the end of the day it's a very very expensive bungalow.

CMYKguru

3,017 posts

174 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Nice house when finished and zinc 'dragon plate' cladding.

But it really gets on my tits when they don't finish it especially considering they had 17 months to do so.

With regards to the fake grass. I'm under the impression the Grand Designs team probably advised them to cover up the un-landscaped river frontage to make it look more presentable.

The pots just sitting around and you could clearly see the joins in the astroturf with lumps and bumps underneath.

Oh well, only another 8 years until it's on revisited.

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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I wondered how they'd stop the 'bath' from filling with detritus and crud over time. Also there must be a maximum weight that the house plus contents can be before it just sits on the bottom and fills with water (without even the benefits of being on stilts to start with!).

Also they mentioned that the house would've been up six feet in the air under the flood conditions from earlier this year. That's cool but how do those four posts stand up to shearing forces as the water moves the house around when it's that high up? The pressure the water could exert on the house would be immense.

Innovative and clever but I'd have taken my £1.1m and found a different location completely. I can imagine that little island could well be a very strange little place and I'd hate having no car access at all. Nice design idea but I can think of far better ways to rinse a cool million.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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I kind of liked it, not sure about the cladding, but the design was very interesting, and a good idea if it works.

I too wondered about silt in the hole and shearing forces on the columns. They also mentioned timber sliders that run up and down the dolphins. I wonder what type of wood it is, how replaceable it is etc, as it might not last very long in those conditions. I can see this as being brilliant while it works, and then a total nightmare when something goes wrong.

I had the chance to briefly see the house in the flesh about six weeks ago (so knew right from the start of the show that it wouldn't be finished at the end). Lovely little island and a great place to live I think, apart from dealing with the flooding which in the end becomes part of the 'charm' of a little island like that. I was looking at the house next door so didn't get to look around this one, but had a good nose over the fence.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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BoRED S2upid said:
Does fake grass float with the house or float away down the river when the floods come?

Great build but at the end of the day it's a very very expensive bungalow.
I suspect that was probably just put down for the filming.

campionissimo

578 posts

123 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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Also, did anyone else notice all the road noise from the A404 on the other side of the river. Hardly a tranquil idyll.