Forum BuildHub Self Build Forum

Hi, I've been messing around in Sketchup trying to come up with a basic floorplan for my single storey house in Southern Scotland. I'm not a professional at CAD or anything so please forgive the roughness of the plans. They are very much a sketch at this stage. The design is loosely based on a house built to passive standards in Herefordshire in 2018 called Old Holloway which featured in a design segment on a Grand Designs episode. I liked the 'just enough' ethos of the design, but I have changed the layout. It is helpful that the architect has a blog which details a lot of temperature performance stats for the house and so on. The cranked external area is based on another Grand Designs featured property - again in Herefordshire. Some points: The external walls aren't shown thick enough at the moment as that part hasn't been finalised. Just now they are shown at around 350mm which is obviously not enough. The internal walls are shown at 200mm thickness and the internal doorways at 900mm. Internally will be a vaulted ceiling. Some parts ie bathrooms might be flat ceilings with storage above but I haven't worked that out yet. The internal wall height of the non-vaulted part is 2400mm. The lowest part of the wall in the lean-to is 1800mm. The angle of the main roof is 40 degrees. I've forgotten to mark north on the drawings but it is at the bottom of the page in the floorplan ie where the Sketchup logo is. Prevailing wind is from the south-south-west. The building isn't massivel

Hi Everyone, Looking forward to learning, and hopefully in time, contributing to this site. We finally completed on a building plot with Class Q to existing steel barn. Planning submitted for a smaller property and now awaiting outcome. Original planning had unhelpful BNG attached as plot area had been miscalculated. Recently had DNO's come to quote for providing services. Will post cost outcome in relevant section but suffice to say your experience/ advice will be more than welcome as their fees are nothing but extortionate.

Hi everyone, I’m based in the UK and work in UK LED lighting company. I’m particularly interested in LED strip lighting, electrical installations, home improvement and how lighting can be integrated into different residential and commercial projects. I joined BuildHub because there are some really useful discussions around self-builds, renovation and building services here. I’m looking forward to learning from the community and contributing where I can. Nice to meet everyone!

Saw this ☝️ Seems to take the vehicle DC output from the fast charge port and use a dc-dc converter to step the voltage down a bit (depending on your battery architecture). Then connect it to the mppt panel inputs on a solar inverter moving a string of solar panels. I can see this as being quite clever - especially if the inverter has spare solar inputs. You could have your panels on 1 and 2 and your car on 3. If the box can talk to your inverter to get the house demand it could then set it's "solar panel string" to provide the appropriate output either to just match the homemload or provide enough for export.

We have just started designing our new build with our chosen Architect at stage 1. On meeting we obviously went through all what we wanted, the look etc before he starting drawing ideas. However, one thing was mentioned when I asked for a plant room that I intended to have ASHP , MVHR, Solar and UFH downstairs and rads upstairs, we are going block and brick. He almost jumped on me at the idea of upstairs rads and that I should be having zoned UFH throughout and rads upstairs will not work properly and where did I even hear this could work? My theory is that hopefully the upstairs rooms won't need as much heating, the majority of all the bedroom floor is covered with bed/furniture, the kids want thick carpet and the extra expense. I understand the rads need to be bigger than standard and was hoping to position them all under the large windows in each room with a heated towel rail to each bathroom. Anyone any experience? Is the Architect right? Would my way not work or should I just go with it for now until further down the line when I have the SAP calculation done and discuss then? Bit peeved I was wrote off straight away as you will do it my way!

Thanks for allowing me join this self-builder community. I'm building my home, and first project of this scale, in Norfolk with my husband. We are trying to be considerate of sustainability and use local materials when possible within our rather modest budget. Our architect has designed a timber framed structure with straw bale walls. We are doing all the construction work ourselves unless it requires certification, specialists or we get stuck! Neither of us have formal building experience, so are learning as we go. I'm hoping this forum will be an invaluable source of information and advice. I'd really appreciate anything which helps us get things right first time and avoids costly mistakes! Hopefully in return I can offer some entertainment value with our dodgy DIY antics!!

I used Project North Geomatics for my topographic survey recently. I found them excellent so I thought I would put a recommendation up here. I've not been paid or incentivised to do this. They were the cheapest quote and the most professional - they were on site a couple of days after my initial request and got the files to me very quickly afterwards. I had sent them a spec but they just included some other things that I hadn't asked for but they thought I would probably need anyway. I've not had chance to properly test the data by actually using it yet, but Gus cast a professional eye over it and thought it seemed very good. The lads that came out seemed competent, hard working and friendly. They are based in Newcastle but didn't have a problem travelling 1.5 hours to my site. They say they operate UK wide. https://www.projectnorthgeomatics.co.uk/

Slightly speculative, but worth a discussion I think. One thing I see balcony solar being used for is a small fixed installations as a cost-saver. That is, we use a more fixed small install on wall, roof - whatever - done via something more substantive than "hook on a balcony" done under Permitted Development, and then use a connection to a plug-in unit to avoid the complex wiring etc. AIUI the limitations are 2 kWp of solar panels, and 800W output. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? And does anyone have any thoughts on the impact of a 1kw or 2kw balcony solar system on the EPC number? This could be a way for LLs trying to meet the EPC C which is I think a requirement for 2030.

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Hayden. Myself and my wife have recently purchased our dream house, which is in need of a lot of TLC, and it's going to be massive DIY undertaking. I'm really excited to join this buildhub community and will input where I can. If people are interested, I will be happy to share my progress as I go along. Happy building!

Hi! Great to be a part of this community - I am in the process of developing a business concept to hopefully make self/custom-build much more accessible and simpler to the UK market. I would love to get people's feedback. I will be sure to share more details in a separate post soon. Many Thanks Matt

Does anybody have a recommendation for an architect or architectural technician in the West Surrey/East Berkshire/NE Hampshire area, who’s capable of producing construction drawings for a BuildHub-quality house that’s air tight with MVHR, please? I’ve just sacked the guy who was supposed to do this for me, after more than a year of low quality work, constant excuses & missed deadlines. I think this time, I want somebody who’s close enough to me for face to face meetings & affordable site visits.