building materials

C – Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture

The approved documentsThese are a part of the Building RegulationsThese are the legal regulations which govern how a house is constructed. (not to be confused with Planning Permission which is about whether you are allowed to build the house at all or what it might look like) see Building Regulations) which ensure, if you [...]

A – Structure

Timber frame

overview

‘Timber frame’ has several meanings:

Platform frame where walls are assembled on site into storey[for the purposes of part B (fire) of the Approved Documents to the Building Regulations] this means a. any gallery[for the purposes of part B of the Approved Documents] – A raised area or platform around the sides or [...]

Insulation and wall thickness

With increasing levels of insulation, the total thickness of a wall becomes an issue in relation to land values, especially in densely built urban areas where space is restricted. The total footprint of the external walls of a house can easily be around 15 – 20% of the ground floor area and this becomes significant.

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UK self build context

Almere has over 700 plots including 3000 houses and flats

There is a rapidly growing interest in self build in the UK, but what is self build?

Well it tends to be a term used to mean almost any personal input into the building process related to the owner’s house (or in the case [...]

Structural principles

The Building Regulations

The Building RegulationsThese are the legal regulations which govern how a house is constructed. (not to be confused with Planning Permission which is about whether you are allowed to build the house at all or what it might look like) see Building Regulations), part Apart A of the Building Regulations Approved [...]

Main structure

Method of construction

How you design and build the structural elements of a house depends on many factors. Although not in particular order, because they can all dynamically affect each other, the first few do tend to set the scene, especially regarding what the planners will allow.

Traditional considerations :

Planning conditions

Planners [...]

Patrick and Fiona’s house

Existing houses present a much greater challenge than new ones in terms of energy saving. However in terms of reusing building materials they often provide better opportunities.

Patrick and Fiona run a very pleasant bed and breakfast near Nelson, Caerphilly and their house has been the subject of much renovation and extension over the [...]

Larch and Lime passivhauses

Larch house entrance

Although not self built, the two passivhauses at Ebbw Vale may be very relevant to many self builders. Built in 2010 as show houses mainly for the attention of housing associations, they are attractive and innovative while being relatively modest. The 3 bed Larch House is clad with a locally sourced [...]

Retrofit

‘Under the Sun’, a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham is an outstanding example of bringing a fairly typical old building up to PassivhausSee more on the Passivhaus standard. The PassivHaus Institute has pioneered a standard for low energy buildings. It includes very low energy usage and ways of achieving this. The word is derived [...]

Suppliers

Where can I buy recycled plastic sheet made from kids wellies? At Smile Plastics of course

The world of suppliers to the building industry is a very mixed bag varying from the excellent to the appalling. When you are purchasing building materials it is of course good to go in with a positive [...]

Aluminium

Aluminium tends to be used as a waterproof barrier in buildings because of the slow rate at which it oxidises (rusts). It can be treated to stay nice and shiny for a decade or two and can also be colour coated to last quite well. It’s other attraction in building work is the ease [...]

Designing with timber

timber house in the Field of Dreams, Findhorn FoundationThe Findhorn Foundation is a large community near Inverness. There is a strong emphasis on sustainable building and living.

See some of the wealth of interesting UK timber designs here.

advantages and drawbacks

Timber can provide some of the greenest solutions to house building for several [...]

Design it yourself

Have fun designing your house.

There are several worthwhile advantages if you do your own design work (or at least part of it) -

it may be the only way to get what you want. you achieve a kind of creative act that you can do in very few realms of your life. you [...]

Thermal Mass

Energy storage

High thermal mass is generally seen as a useful quality in a building because it can be utilised to trap and save any spare heat which might turn up.

It can also do the reverse equivalent for coolth during hot weather. This quality is utilised in passive solar design, including the PassivhausSee [...]

Smile Plastics recycle plastics into beautiful high quality sheet materials. Here’s an example of bottle recycling

Sustainability of building materials

This can have several slightly different meanings which are to do with:

Whether the material is actually running out or very rare (e.g. Cuban Mahogany) Whether the embodied energythe total amount of energy it [...]

Window design

There are many purposes a window can serve and several of these have important ecological considerations:

Letting light in Collecting solar heat Providing a view Acting as a door The visual character of a house

Windows may have associated drawbacks to consider:

They may let in too much light at certain times Too [...]

Healthy buildings

The concept of ‘sick building syndrome’ has now moved from speculation into widespread acceptance with several well designed studies showing how people can react badly towards certain aspects of poorly designed buildings. This subject has several partly overlapping areas

air quality problems associated with dampness microbe allergens poor ventilation chemical pollution pollution from [...]