Construction methods for self build

[i_am_fubar]

I'm starting to look into moving with the missus and due to rising fuel costs and desire to start a work from home buisness. Am considering the benefits of doing a self build.

The layout would be 2 bed bungalo (one bedroom kitted out as my office/lab), bathroom, toilet and open plan kitchen/living/dining area.

Being a control system engineer, I am keen to intergrate a lot of 'smart home' features. as well as high efficiency, but as cheaply as possible. The following are a list of features I'm considering, can anyone forsee these plans falling foul of building regs?

1) Solid concrete walls throughout (hollow blocks laid without morter then filled with concrete). Then barriered, insulated and rendered over cement-board. The huge thermal mass within insualtion should keep the interior at a constant temperature.

2) flat roof (used to mount solar panels to or grass) designed with required structural support to enable roof garden or similar.

3) Heating/cooling would be achieved by embedding pipes in some of the internal walls prior to the concrete fill. Coolant would then be pumped through this as an isolated system allowing heating or cooling via heat exchangers. This would include tapping heat from kitchen exhaust/ open fire/gas boiler/solar...etc

4) All wiring, piping, control cables to be run through narrow 'loft' area above a floating ceiling. Only waste will be run under the floor.

5) Slab foundation with concrete suspended floor. What is the situation with insulating these?

6) some parts of the walls would be left as frames and filled with lower density blocks. The idea being that they can be knocked out as extensions are required (growing family). Likewise, cables and pipes would be available in the loft space above these openings ready to hook up.

Any thoughts or suggestions on energy improving measures or cost cutting measures?

Cheers.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Personally I'd consider the whole buying a plot/getting PP/does it stack up issues before possible construction methods. Building it is the easy bit! Adding extensions might not be possible if they add restrictive conditions to an approval or do not restrict any Permitted Development rights with an approval.

 

[i_am_fubar]

Oh, total agreement there. I'm not looking at full design yet, simply looking at options for the time being. If I can't work in the things I want for building reg issues, then I may as well buy an existing house.

That, and I design things for a hobby

 

[Richie866]

I dont want to appear negative, but a conventional build would be far cheaper, especially for a house that size. Stick a condensing boiler in with a weather compensator. IMHO you would never recoup your intial outlay for all that 'green' stuff!

 

[SimonH2]

I dont want to appear negative, but a conventional build would be far cheaper, especially for a house that size. Stick a condensing boiler in with a weather compensator. IMHO you would never recoup your intial outlay for all that 'green' stuff!

Ah, the old "bung in combi" approach

I'd be inclined to agree though but not for the reasons you state.

Done as a BIY job, this is going to be unique and probably unmaintainable by anyone but the owner. That means it's going to be hard to sell in the future except to a very small number of likeminded people - and most of those are going to want to do their own thing !
On that basis, I'd be thinking in terms of making so that whatever system goes in can be easily replaced with something more conventional.

 

[flameport]

1) Solid concrete walls ... The huge thermal mass within insualtion should keep the interior at a constant temperature.

It certainly will. Whether that temperature is one you want to live in is another matter.

2) flat roof (used to mount solar panels to or grass) designed with required structural support to enable roof garden or similar.

Solar panels will be far less efficient on a flat roof, hence you will need to mount them on a stand at the correct angle. Or just fit a pitched roof in the first place.
Unless this property will be in an isolated field, your roof garden will be busted by planning before they even look at the rest of the design.

3) Heating/cooling would be achieved by embedding pipes in some of the internal walls prior to the concrete fill. Coolant would then be pumped through this as an isolated system allowing heating or cooling via heat exchangers. This would include tapping heat from kitchen exhaust/ open fire/gas boiler/solar...etc

That might work in theory, but in the real world the installation costs are 100x greater than the annual savings made.

4) All wiring, piping, control cables to be run through narrow 'loft' area above a floating ceiling. Only waste will be run under the floor.

Certainly a good way to rack up the costs of installation and any maintenance in the future.

5) Slab foundation with concrete suspended floor. What is the situation with insulating these?

You put slabs of insulation under the concrete.

6) some parts of the walls would be left as frames and filled with lower density blocks. The idea being that they can be knocked out as extensions are required (growing family). Likewise, cables and pipes would be available in the loft space above these openings ready to hook up.

Building a property which you know full well to be totally inadequate and leaving bits to supposedly make it easier to expand later seems like a very expensive idea. Even if you can't afford to build it to the size you want, nothing will be gained by leaving weak points in the structure.
It's not exactly difficult to open up doorways and other holes in walls, or to extend electrical/plumbing systems into new areas.

Any thoughts or suggestions on energy improving measures or cost cutting measures?

Forget most of the above, build conventionally, put in plenty of insulation and make sure the heating & lighting is energy efficient.