Building My own House

So I dabbled with building and architectural design. No Bigger test than designing and building your own House! I paid for the engineering degree, might as well put the skills to good use heh? So we purchased the house in 2013 with the intention of extending the side and the Back We completed phase one in 2015 i think. Nothing Exciting, bog standard side extension. I did the surveying and the Cad model For the proposed build; supplied them to our Draughtsman, Brian Gill, to check the design add the details for meeting building Regs. He laughed at me when I asked what him what software he used; Good old Manual Method. Old school! Brian Retired and we were unable to hire him again for part Deux.

Her she is, on the right in her original state, when we purchased her in 2013 as seen from google streetview.

Phase 1 (side Extension) completed.Circa 2014. Ran out of pennies to the drive, So cut a gap in teh edge and parked on the grass for a while. The neighbours were not impressed. Once the design was granted building permission, I let the builder, our friend and neighbour Mark get on with the building works.

Finally got the drive done and fenced in time for the arrival of our Second child Charlie and before our first, Lily started walking.

Another Iteration that didnt get allowed by the council. We extended the house in 2 phases for budgetary reasons. Council said we couldnt link an extension to another. Period. so the some of the extension had to go. If I'd been loaded and been able to do both phases in one fell swoop.It would most probably have been allowed. grumble.

Time to start planning Phase 2 (rear open plan living area). Lets start with a crude Mockup We went with the 45 degree angle as the neighbours thought that they would lose outlook from their rear window. It took a lot to-ing and fro-ing, rejected planning permissions, planning inspectorate appeals, in the end We managed to agree on the current design . It took modelling their house as well as my proposed build; setting a viewport from their window and rendering the view to show that their view would not be obstructed. All under the watchful eye and excellent mediation services of our surveyor and town planner Toby

Then a proper scale model.

Figuring out the roof inner structure. That was not easy. We were originally wanting to go for two part Sip roof and clad it win a rubber membrane. Mark preferred tiles, and also we had ran out of energy to fight the council planners..Boring unimaginative lot. If it was up to them, we'd all be living in identical regulation cuboids.

First lintel is up, Lily and mommy inspecting the works.

Getting hands on in the roof build. This obscure build is starting to get to Mark. It looks easy on CAD,but to the non CAD use, it's not immediately obvious so the scale model helps. Random fact. I actually used the spirit level bubble app on my phone to help set the roof panel angles on the model to meet the minimums inclination for the roof tiles. I then back calculated the timber lengths and rafter angles. Got some strings on there, laser level. Took some work to convince mark that the design was going to work. He has been in the trades 20 years +. This roof was winding him up :). It worked. I had a blast getting involved this time. Mark had always jokes that I was some sort of mad professor kind of guy. Working together on this roof earned me some kudos in his eyes , I think :)

Going old-school and using string to demonstrate to Mark where the vertices and panels will be

Progressing with the roof build. Lifting up that main ridge RSJ without a crane was quite a stunt!

Roof membrane is on, batten are on, roofers are waiting for the storm to pass... just our luck.

When completed , the roof will look like this. Mark is a bit worried about water stagnating.Im confident that all areas meet the minimum slope for the tile inclination. I demonstrate the slopes by dropping little plastic balls on the model roof. I think i have convinced him. Phew, i was nearly starting to doubt myself.

Planning how to layout the kitchen inside.

Fast Forward a bit , kitchen units are fitted. Need to finish the inside now... Outside is done!

View from the Sky! Mischief managed. and from within: The children love it. the open space has really improved how we live :)

Dabbling in Building

A client was having Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) at his house and the supplier wanted some 2D drawings of his house to plan the Job. So I put in my CAD skills and Basic building experience to the test : I visited the site, took some measurements, Built him a 3d Model, some renders, the 2d drawings. And An a VR viewable model, as I just happened to be experimenting with these technologies at the moment.

Not bad for a chance encounter on reddit, Happy client,