House Build Diary

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bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Tuesday 28th August 2012
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So chaps I'm very excited today as we've just received word from our planning consultant that our application has been approved and the decision notice is in the post! So in the finest tradition of H G & DIY I'm doing a build thread where I'll share what happens from now on.

A bit of background; my missus' parents own a farm on the outskirts of Durham and to cut a long story short we have become the proud owners of about 1/4 of an acre of land on a leafy little lane that borders the farm to one side and the neighbouring village over the fields to the other, behind an embankment that belongs to a disused railway line that used to take coal from Consett steel works towards Durham. The railway line is now a footpath which provides ample dogging, er, I mean rambling opportunities in the scenic Durham countryside.

We made all the classic errors in the first instance when we went to see the planning department a few years ago; took pictures of the site, a few screenshots of the kind of house we'd like to build etc and emailed them over to the planner. He summonsed us in to see him and amongst the plastic plants, screwed down chairs, chavs and ner-do-wells hovering for a variety of services in the depressing surroundings of the council's reception building told us that our plot was outside a settlement boundary so was classed as open countryside, and therefore could categorically NOT be built upon.

We left, dejected and drowned our sorrows in a pub up the road. A year or so later, they started work on flattening a disused old car body shop over the other side of the embankment that had been sold to a developer for housing. After a protracted fight with the planners, an application for 23 'executive' houses had been approved. In no time at all, these houses started springing up behind the embankment, adding further insult to our planning rebuff. It was at this point that a family friend pointed us to a planning consultant who was in her words 'st hot' and likened to him the 'Mr Loophole of planning law' and that if this guy couldn't get it through, no-one could. Let us hope. So after working on things for a long while, he submitted basic plans for pre-application advice. We were a tad annoyed that this 20 page document was answered with literally a ten line email from the planner, stating that the decision would be 'finely balanced' and that according to Policy H4 (which is guidance in the Durham Council plan about developing infill sites in villages with no settlement boundary) this particular plot was of high importance to the street scene so MAY be judged unsuitable for housing. Argghhh.

Thankfully the government published the new NPPF just before we submitted our application, a lot of which helped us. In a nutshell, it promoted 'sustainable' development and pushed planners a bit further into considering sites such as ours that previously they might have resisted simply because they felt they were too 'rural'. In the end, the NPPF saved our bacon and after 11 weeks of sleepless nights to our utter amazement our application passed through the system like a hot knife through butter and they approved it. Job done!

So here are the plans:











Few things: the plot is long and narrow, so we've put the house at the widest point. It faces that way to get sun on the front in the morning and the rear in the evening. The L shape allowed us to screen off the patio side from the road, although it's a tiny lane and doesn't go really anywhere, so it's very quiet. The brick external chimney was to give the flat side of the house facing the road a focal point, as the architect felt it looked stark with no windows on that side and the planners might not like that. A few people think that a car port is pointless, even a nice oak one like ours. I tend to agree, as they don't stop driving snow and squally showers from hitting your car as they are open sided and unless you get one with a lean-to shed, can't be used to actually store anything except a car. However, we did try all kinds of permutation of garage styles but because the only place to put it is in front of the house and the oak frame is a) nice to look at and b) allows an open 'aspect' around it because it's open sided and doesn't look like a huge brick blot in front of the window we ran with it.

We're going over to the plot tonight to break open a bottle of bubbly on our new 'home' and I'll get some snaps. Next job is a builder and get the finances in order. So there is much to do. Wish me luck!

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 28th August 2012
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Huge congratulations! Now you've got permission, the fun with the council really starts wink We're renovating/building so are a few steps ahead of you (while living in the 'van) but it's the best thing we've ever done. Planning are idiots, once they're out of the picture, all is well...

5potTurbo

12,482 posts

167 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
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woohoo for your planning acceptance!

I can not see the plans due to site blocks on work internet, but I've bookmarked this.

Bookmarked, because I love these build threads. I must start one myself soon....

GhiaX

227 posts

145 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
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ALso Bookmarked smile.

Huge congrats, looking forward to reading how it all goes.

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
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Soooooo.

The first thing about building a house, certainly for the world's most impatient man like me is that it's bloody slow. I think I imagined that within hours of the PP being issued we'd be driving onto the site in a JCB and it would be a bit like 'Challenge Anneka', with a team of blokes descending onto the project like ants! Now of course I know that getting PP is only the beginning. We have no builder's plans for starters and our architect doesn't do that side of things so the first job is to find someone to get those drawn up and get them into building regs. Then it's engaging builders. I met with one up at the site to show him the plot and the PP plans and he saunters up, 40 minutes late. I sense that this is the way of the world with builders! He was however a nice bloke, a real sage old-timer who gave me lot of useful advice so even if we don't use him I'm grateful for his input. The builder feels that by the time we've got building regs and the proper plans out of the way we'd just be starting in time for the crap winter weather, which isn't something he would personally do for a house that he was going to live in. His point was that if the basic structure is up by time Jan/Feb comes around then all the frost, ice and snow will be inside the house as it won't have a roof or be watertight and that 20-30 years down the line we might see issues related to this that would be negated by hanging on. He felt that we'd be best to start the groundworks now while the ground is still soft and then wait until Spring before we start on the main build. Hmmmmm.

Also we planned a traditional blockwork construction, although the builder I met today suggests that a timber frame might be the way forward. Our architect suggested a masonry build was probably cheaper and easier for our house than the cost of a one-off timber frame. Interested to hear any PHer's opinion on that one. Obviously as long as it looked identical to the plans submitted to the LA for planning then we can construct it any way we like, as long as the building control people are happy. So more phone calls to make!

Next job is to start tidying up the site. I'll get my brother-in-law to come along with his tractor and mow the verge, so we can see the state of the stone wall running along the whole plot. It will need repointing, if it doesn't fall down first! Then we need to open up the wall a bit wider to get plant onto the site and start scraping off the topsoil so we can get in and do the soil samples.

So, the obligatory pictures. Not much to see yet as the whole plot is totally overgrown. Even the stone wall along the verge is hidden behind years of foliage!


Looking down the plot. It's pretty long and ends where the grass verge goes from monstrously overgrown to neat and trimmed in front of the neighbour's house. Keen PHers will notice that the wife's E92 is the unloved 325i, saving us a bit of cash over the bonkers 335i for our house build.



Behind there is a stone wall!



The site was originally a paddock. What's in there we won't know until we get in with the tractor. Let's hope there's nothing nasty......biggrin



Next stage is builder's plans and soil samples. I'll keep you posted!

Edited by bennyboydurham on Thursday 30th August 14:40

illmonkey

18,112 posts

197 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
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Watching!

louiebaby

10,651 posts

190 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
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bennyboydurham said:
I want a house that casts no shadow. That would be cool.

Or to put it another way, I'm watching. Looks good!

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Thursday 30th August 2012
quotequote all
louiebaby said:
I want a house that casts no shadow. That would be cool.

Or to put it another way, I'm watching. Looks good!
Eeee this the North East pet. We dinna want ya daft southern shadoos man!

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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So chaps, an update. Planning was awarded at the end of August and it's all been quite frustratingly slow, but we're getting there.

Thanks to some friends who have just about finished their own self build, we found a great building engineer to do the builder's plans and oversee the build. First job was to clear the site up a bit and dig a few holes with a friendly neighbour's JCB so we could get a peek at the soil conditions. Unfortunately the holes were dug the night before the engineer came out and it rained, so I had to unenviable job of climbing in and bailing the water out. In the end my efforts were a bit pointless as the fact that they'd filled with water which hadn't drained away told us all we needed to know - we would be building on good old clay which is great as a solid foundation for a house but not so good for handling drainage. The topsoil is nice and deep however and of great quality so I'll have nice lawn one day at least.....

The JCB made a right old mud bath of the site!





The engineer with his er, stick, thing.




The other big event is that we are moving into a caravan! While we're waiting on the building plans, quotes, mortgage applications etc. I felt we might as well be saving some cash so I gave the landlord notice and hunted for a static. £2000 later......

Yes it's a 1999 Atlas Fairline. 3 bedrooms, double glazing and er, lots of velour...


As we don't have any services at the site yet, my in laws kindly let us stick it at their farm for now.



Having failed in our bid to tow it into position with a Freelander (note the mud marks on the front from us trying), it was time to bring in the big gun!



Bro in law busy doing manly stuff!



I was more interested in seeing whether we could pick up a decent 3G signal inside the caravan - I was very pleasantly surprised:

So there's lots more to do. Caravan needs to be hooked up and winterised, as it was bd freezing in there yesterday! We're going to stick some bales of hay round the bottom to stop the wind whipping underneath it. Apparently you can buy rolls of a thermal insulation from B&Q as recommended on a caravanning forum for about £7 each and bang them on the underside of the caravan with a staple gun. Most people seem to be able to do it for around £150 which is probably money well spent considering we'll be moving into the caravan at the start of January!! The caravan has those bloody vents all over the place which are supposed to vent LPG leaks and reduce carbon monoxide levels inside if you have a leak. They also let arctic level draughts of cold air come in. Blocking them up, according to the caravan people, is more dangerous as taking a walk through Helmand Province wearing an 'I love Bush' T shirt made of bacon. Surely if you have an LPG/Carbon Monoxide detector then you're fine to block (at least some of 'em) up?

The quote for a temporary electrical supply was a pleasantly low £650, although we do have to pay again to get it moved from the temporary supply area to the main house when we need it, so it might not be that cheap by the end. The water board charge you £80 just to ask for a quote, so I haven't done that yet. Next is organising a mortgage. We've already had the first of many meetings with our mortgage broker and covered a lot of ground. We still don't have the finished builder's plans and schedule of works yet so until we have that we can't proceed with the money side. Hopefully that will be nailed down this side of Xmas so we can crack on with the build by the end of Jan. I'll keep you posted all.

louiebaby

10,651 posts

190 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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I lived in a caravan in Devon over winter once. The frozen gas was a pain in the arse. Could you not have put it inside a barn, to at least help a bit, and then surround the whole thing in bales?

(This might be a fire hazard.)

Looking forward to seeing how this goes. thumbup

magooagain

9,909 posts

169 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Here is some good advice. When you have the caravan installed take the time to build a deck out side the whole lenth of the caravan. Build it to just below the door threshold level and out as far as you can. Maybe about 3 metres or so. Then cover part of it in by the main entrance doorway( the bigger the better). Call it a lean to or porch if you like.
By doing this you will save yourself much pain by having somewhere to take your work boots and mud covered clothing off. Somewhere to store stuff etc.

You are a brave man taking foundations out in the middle of winter while living there.

The very best of luck.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Big congrats! You won't regret a bit of it (unless you block up those 'van vents) Don't use a gas fire - they means lots of condensation. Get an electric blanket. Get a onesy. We love our 'Billyvan. We're six months in and still smiling. I'll be sorry to see it go (except we went for the £5K one so will replace it at the end of the build with a holiday in the Maldives wink)
Do you have to put PVC windows in? I only ask because my Howarth man does wooden sashes and they aren't too much ££. Have a look at the blog, drop me a line if there's anything I can share with you.

Best of luck, looking forward to hearing about it.

Skintemma (the clue's in the name!)

Du1point8

21,604 posts

191 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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mobile home... mmm toasty and warm in winter!!

So many house builds, I like to follow them all and add mine own at some stage.

paulrockliffe

15,639 posts

226 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Interesting! I can't see the pics at work, where abouts are you exactly? Langley Park area?

We've just had an offer on a house accepted in the centre of Lanchester that backs onto the disused railway line. Won't be a full construction, but a lot of renovation work to do with a loft conversion and extension eventually.

Good luck!

Edit - Had a look at the pics, Wallnook Lane right? We looked at a house on there, might still be for sale, very nice little area, though a bit more out of things than my girlfriend was looking for.

Edited by paulrockliffe on Wednesday 12th December 19:43

mercGLowner

1,668 posts

183 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Best of luck, I've always wanted to self build.

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Thanks all, your suggestions are all taken on board.

@Emma - we were dead against PVC windows at the beginning of the process but our attitudes softened a bit after we lived in a new build barn conversion with wooden windows which are a pain in the arse. They look nice but all the paint has flaked off, they've twisted and warped in the weather so many of them don't close properly and of course they're bloody expensive. We went to a home show at the NEC and they had a few different suppliers of PVC sash windows with all the right furniture and a textured finish that frankly you need to rub with your hands to discover isn't actually wood. They're a fraction of the price of wood, can be repainted different colours (not the easiest job, but doable) and last for yonks with no twisting or warping. So PVC it is. In an ideal world we'd go with timber but hey ho, this is the forever house and it's something that we can revisit one day if we feel we made a big mistake.

@Paul, yep that's it. It's a nice spot but you're right it's a car journey anywhere from here. I'm all about peace and quiet however so it's horses for courses.


paulrockliffe

15,639 posts

226 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Cool, yeah, we looked at a house on Wallnook, too much money for what it was and too isolated for my girlfriend. I wouldn't mind personally, but the centre of Lanchester is going to be a better balance for us. Looks like a good project, I'll probably pop past for a look when it all gets going, I'll be running down that cycle path a lot as my girlfriend's family live at the Durham end of it.

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Good luck with the house in Lanchester. If you're running past and I'm on site feel free to pop in for a brew. That's if we have electricity. Or a kettle. Or tea bags!

paulrockliffe

15,639 posts

226 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Ha ha, yeah. We don't complete until the end of January/Early February, hopefully you'll have a kettle by then!

bennyboydurham

Original Poster:

1,617 posts

173 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Bit of an update for you all. We now have the final set of drawings from the building engineer and they've gone out to a few builders so we'll have some quotes soon. Then it's a case of organising the mortgage and then hopefully we'll be on our way to a new house!

Since my last update we moved out of our rented house into the caravan and it's not been the total nightmare we were worried it might be, despite the fact that we've had some of the worst weather imaginable up here in the last month - 2 weeks of snow, temperatures not above zero for over a week, gale force winds, the whole deal. Things have been made easier by the fact that we have services on site due to the proximity of the stables next door. This means that we've got a septic tank, cold water feed, electricity and even the luxury of a feed from the combi boiler in the stables which means we've put in a couple of old radiators in the living area and in the hallway where the main door is. An oil filled electric radiator keeps the bedroom toasty. This has been a Godsend and I'd imagine those people who stick a caravan in the middle of an empty field for a new build will have one hell of a job just connecting up the services for the caravan, let alone the house! We've also bashed the caravan around to suit our needs. The wardrobes have been ripped out in the main bedroom as you couldn't get in the bed or open the wardrobe unless you put in a tiny bed. The second bedroom is now for clothes and the third had some big holes drilled in it to allow us to put in a washing machine and tumble drier. There are also a couple of new holes in the side for my 3G aerial and Sky+.

We've had a few moments - the whole caravan is run off single plug into the stables so my wife always seems to choose the coldest, wettest, windiest night to put on the heater, hairdryer, microwave and kettle at the same time, with the result that I'm despatched into the night to change the fuse. We've got through 3 so far! We emptied the first (19kg) propane gas bottle in less than a week so I banned the missus from using the gas fire unless she was going to pass out from hypothermia (unlikely, but our old house was 23 degrees all year round, so she's not acclimatised yet) and the next one lasted over a month so we're clearly getting a bit better at eeking it out. Internet has been a challenge, too. We could have a BT line but the ADSL speed round here is crap so 3G seemed the way to go. I bought an EE Huawei dongle which I connected to an external aerial (on top of a drain cleaning rod!) and was overjoyed to get solid speeds of around 10 meg down and 2 up. I work from home so we use a lot of data and I burned through the EE allowance of 5GB in no time. 2GB top ups at £15 a time started to get pricey. I noticed that 3 did an all you can eat data package with their PAYG phone sims, but the woman in the shop claimed it wouldn't work in a dongle. Once I get it home, unlocked the dongle and stuck the SIM in it, er, didn't work at all, not giving me a flawless connection up to 20MB. A week on and having not eaten through probably around 30GB of data it still, er, isn't working and isn't connecting me to internet as I type this whilst, er, not watching Top Gear in HD on iPlayer. biggrin

The other downsides of the caravan are really as you'd expect. There's not a lot of space and it easily becomes cluttered if you're not ferociously tidy. Ours has a laminate floor which is (especially away from the heated areas) bloody freezing on cold days and nights, although as long as you wear slippers it's not an issue and on milder days is ok. It's somewhat muddy around the caravan although I'm sorting that with raking a bit of shale between the entrance and where we park the cars. Security is a worry, despite having an alarm and a presence on the site most of the time. If we go away we take the stuff out of the caravan and put it somewhere else but you do feel vulnerable, certainly.

The build process itself is not for the impatient. We got planning permission at the end of August. It took us a good few weeks to find someone to do our building regs drawings and act as architect/engineer for the build. This took us to the middle of October and by the time the plans were taking shape it was Christmas and we moved into the caravan. This took a few weeks to get settled in and organised so took up most of Jan. It's now mid-Feb and we've still got an empty field with nothing but a few holes. This is the frustrating bit where nothing seems to be happening and six months has passed, but hey ho, the next stage is finances and a builder so hopefully it'll all move on much quicker now.

I will keep you updated, chaps.