65 replies to this topic

[Mart!]

i havent done anything to my clubby estate for a while, reason being i sold my duplex in Montreal last september taking advantage of stupidly high selling prices and decided to move outta town. we decided to give up looking for a house because nothing fitted our needs and after living in a 100 y/o duplex i was tired of bodged restoration jobs and fixer-uppers, so my girlfriend and me decided why not design and build our own from scratch. i'm not an architect, but i've been working in graphic design (print & web) for over 12 years and always found much of my inspiration in architecture and industrial design books and magazines.

i started doodling and everything kept turning around a simple "L" shape so we decided to use it:



we spent our week-ends driving around the country side and finally found a lot for sale on a mountain, just a tad over one acre. once the plans where made and we got the permits, we started cutting down the trees.



then we moved to bigger equipment



then a cloud went by (were about 900ft up)



then we decided to blow up some bits of mother earth



and got stuck with huge chunks of granite



finally some foundation work!





after a week of curing, we finally filled everything up and moved a bunch of boulders around





a proper driveway!



garage space (25' X 30')



the deck space, where we buried most of the huge boulders:



to save time, i sent off my plans to a company that does pre-fab (not sure if you have those in the UK. they build anything you want in a shop, then they deliver it in modules. its much faster and efficient since its in a controlled environment). here the 1st floors and walls arrive!







the only thing different from my initial sketch is the basement. we didnt want one at first, but since the lot is on a mountain side it was cheaper to build a basement than all the groundwork involved in making the lot flat.

right now, the second floor is done and so is the roof. we started laying out the forms to pour the concrete slab for the garage yesterday. still need to take some pictures...

let me know what you think!!!

cheers
Mart

Edited by Mart!, 08 July 2011 - 06:57 PM.

[Mart!]

from the rear. all the openings are currently blocked out to prevent rain from coming in until i get my windows (in 3 weeks).



the front:



started on the forms for the garage's 25ft X 30ft concrete slab:



misc interior shots

[danrock101]

Wow, I'll be watching this, Always wanted to build my own house.
Nice one

[samsfern]

wowzers, i might go and steal a digger, find a field and build myself a house, claiming squatters rights , this is something i really would like to do, all the engineering work that has to go into it, amazing, proper garage space as well by the sounds of it, looking forward to more pics!

Edited by samsernie, 28 July 2010 - 12:51 AM.

[998dave]

When I saw that huge basement I thought that was goig to be one big garage!

[Mart!]

When I saw that huge basement I thought that was goig to be one big garage!

hehe funny you say that because at first when we got told that it was cheaper to have a basement, we figured why not put the garage there... but i didnt like the idea of having the driveway come all the way to the back, and also the girlfriend would get tired of the fumes, smells and noises coming from down there!!! would of made a great garage size tho! about 1150 square feet...

i wont have much update till next week, all the construction workers are on vacation this week so cant pour the concrete until then...

thanks for your interest!
cheers, Martin

[tomgale]

wow, lovley! very modern! are the walls getting somthing more robust on them or just the wood? we're building our new house at the moment and all the floors and walls are reinforced concrete beams with 7n blocks and cavity walls with reinforced concrete infill or insulation depending on the location, do you guys get more sympathetic weather over there? good luck with it, should be a lovley house when its done! (what house with a double garage isnt? )

[Mart!]

wow, lovley! very modern! are the walls getting somthing more robust on them or just the wood? we're building our new house at the moment and all the floors and walls are reinforced concrete beams with 7n blocks and cavity walls with reinforced concrete infill or insulation depending on the location, do you guys get more sympathetic weather over there? good luck with it, should be a lovley house when its done! (what house with a double garage isnt? )

thanks!
nope, just wood. the bulk of the frame is using 2x6 timber, and the more structural bits (there's no supporting divisions inside) are using engineered wood beams, (glue laminated plywood - the orange beams you see inside). weather here is winters with lows of about -40ºc, maybe 5 or 6 feet of snow between december and march, and in the summer we get lots of humidity and peaks of over 30ºc.

heating will be achieved via radiant floors in the basement and 1st floor. Water hoses will run inside the basement concrete slab and on the 1st floor i will pour about 1.5 in of concrete over the hoses. my plan is to stain the concrete a dark shade of gray, and then polish it. in the winter the dark floor will attract more of the sun's heat and help keep the heating cost down (i hope). the 2nd floor will be heated via ducts, that will also be used for air-con in the summer. the down side of my dark floor and big window idea is that it might get rather hot in the summer. for that i got some special glass that cuts the sun's heat during the summer months where the angle is much more vertical than in the summer... all this is theory, i intend to spend one year as is and do modifications the next year if needed!

cheers
Martin

[Nick '91]

Sounds great, would like to see how your polished concrete comes out, I usually make a suggestion, but you seem to have everything sorted (with the house), so instead Im going to question why on earth you have that Jeep = P.

[Mart!]

Sounds great, would like to see how your polished concrete comes out, I usually make a suggestion, but you seem to have everything sorted (with the house), so instead Im going to question why on earth you have that Jeep = P.

lol, i love that jeep... its great to haul crap, and you can nap in it when it rains too much to work outside!

[tomgale]

wow, lovley! very modern! are the walls getting somthing more robust on them or just the wood? we're building our new house at the moment and all the floors and walls are reinforced concrete beams with 7n blocks and cavity walls with reinforced concrete infill or insulation depending on the location, do you guys get more sympathetic weather over there? good luck with it, should be a lovley house when its done! (what house with a double garage isnt? )

thanks!
nope, just wood. the bulk of the frame is using 2x6 timber, and the more structural bits (there's no supporting divisions inside) are using engineered wood beams, (glue laminated plywood - the orange beams you see inside). weather here is winters with lows of about -40ºc, maybe 5 or 6 feet of snow between december and march, and in the summer we get lots of humidity and peaks of over 30ºc.

heating will be achieved via radiant floors in the basement and 1st floor. Water hoses will run inside the basement concrete slab and on the 1st floor i will pour about 1.5 in of concrete over the hoses. my plan is to stain the concrete a dark shade of gray, and then polish it. in the winter the dark floor will attract more of the sun's heat and help keep the heating cost down (i hope). the 2nd floor will be heated via ducts, that will also be used for air-con in the summer. the down side of my dark floor and big window idea is that it might get rather hot in the summer. for that i got some special glass that cuts the sun's heat during the summer months where the angle is much more vertical than in the summer... all this is theory, i intend to spend one year as is and do modifications the next year if needed!

cheers
Martin

-40!!!!!!! bloody hell!! the radiant floor is a good idea, another way of getting cheap heating bills is with air/ground source heat pumps, basically a fridge in reverse which sucks heat out of the ground or the air using electricity, you need plenty of land for the ground source heat pump, and the air source dosent work properly below -3ºc. They are incredibly efficient though, we're going to be running an air source heat pump, they are about 400-500% efficient eg. 1kw of energy in=4-5kw of energy out, free energy!! you can also get glass which can be made opaque when a cyrrent is run through it i think, but its really expensive.

[Mart!]

-40!!!!!!! bloody hell!! the radiant floor is a good idea, another way of getting cheap heating bills is with air/ground source heat pumps, basically a fridge in reverse which sucks heat out of the ground or the air using electricity, you need plenty of land for the ground source heat pump, and the air source dosent work properly below -3ºc. They are incredibly efficient though, we're going to be running an air source heat pump, they are about 400-500% efficient eg. 1kw of energy in=4-5kw of energy out, free energy!! you can also get glass which can be made opaque when a cyrrent is run through it i think, but its really expensive.

are you talking about a thermopump (might not be the same name abroad)? the water of the radiant floors will be heated by a air/water thermopump to about -15, then a tank-less electric water heater will take over. the thermopump is about 40% more cost-efficient than the water heater so i'll help by burning some wood in the fireplace which is supposed to be enough for about 2000sq/ft... the same thermopump will heat the 2nd story by pushing hot air through some ducts, and in the summer it will supply air-con for the 1st and 2nd floor.

i thought about geothermal, but since my water well cost me a lot more than expected i decided not to go that way. its really cost effective but so expensive to install you have to be sure you will keep your house for at least 15 to 20 years to get back your investment!!!

cheers

[ajperry]

As an architecture student, I applaud you! It is definitly my dream to build my own house! looks good and a nice big garage too...

[Deathrow]

Wow!

This is awesome! I love how you've just got stuck in!

How much has it cost you so far if you don't mind me asking?

[carboy001]

Very nice work Martin. You seem to have all bases covered with the efficiency of the build. I hope you cashed in that granite!

You seem to have done all this rather quickly (granted its prefab) but as regards time scales, how long did planning take? And were there any implications in planning being granted (like we'll grant planning if you do such and such...)

Great build anyway

Chris