Pre-made homes

OK so I'm in the market for a house, but at the back of my mind is the temptation to build one. Or rather to have one built, I reckon I could do a fairly good job of it but I simply don't have time or the cash to make a few mistakes myself etc. So I was looking at the options of the flat-pack wooden houses or the pre-cut log-cabin type ones. Can anyone recommend ones to look into. Obviously I can google it, and have, but I wanted to hear if anyone had experience with them.

Your plot will be the hardest part of that in this country. A mate spend 11 months finding a suitable plot for his build.

Here

http://www.homebuildingshow.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

Go there – best place and only a month away.

Thanks Tootall, good link, I've bookmarked it and will probably attend. Plots are pretty hard to find, certainly good ones, that are not the same price as a normal house in the same location. I'm just tired of looking at the same grey boxes that everyone has and wouldn't mind the extra effort etc.

Have you thought about a Huf Haus ?

There's one near where my parents live. You get the land, build the foundation and then come over with thier team and build it in no time at all.

yeah all about the land unfortunately, shame really paying house price for a piece of land!! After that you can do something really special as I'm sure there are a lot of timber house builders across europe.

The issue I have with the Hufs is there's so much glazing I can't see it being a) as warm as it could be in winter and b) overly long-lived. Just about every double glazed panel I've ever known for more than 10 years has eventually leaked and gone misty inside, can you imagine your whole house doing that?! At least a full log setup (200mm logs) will be toasty warm and, with treatment, they often seem to have lifetime guarantees.

When I looked into this 3 years ago 2 things put me off – the difficultly of securing a plot with permission for reasonable money (I was looking in the New Forest surroundings) and the fact of borrowing against a self build as I don't have huge wedges of cash set aside. I imagine it will be even more difficult to mortgage a self build in the current climate.

Thanks for the link as well

Yup, the plot is an issue, though our local council planners etc seem to be very helpful in that area, I've already contacted them over a few things. I do have a fairly heavy deposit, so in essence I'd only be mortgaging the land.

200mm log won't be that warm, it only gives you a U value of 0.76.
We've just completed a Code 5 housing development using off site constructed modules – although they can be a complete pain, they might be a better way to look at things.

you want SIP panels, for warmth.

I'm just not keen on the rather feeble-looking SIP approach, it looks like a prefab school building from the 70s and seems like it would be easily damaged and not overly sound-proof. I'd be willing to be talked round though!

Over in this part of Germany the Germans are mad for 'building their own houses' and there are a lot of companies that specialize in prefab houses. The downside is that there are a lot of horror stories of people handing over the money then the company either going bust or they fail to complete the house in a liveable standard.

Finnish houses seem to be in vogue at the moment which are entirely made of wood and can be put up in a day at a fraction of the cost of a brick/stone house. The main downside being they have to be well aired everyday or you get damp problems. A lot of companies in Poland specialize in this kind of thing.

The main downside being they have to be well aired everyday or you get damp problems.

Ooh, that's news to me. That would make insulating them pointless as you're dumpign a houseful of heat each time. I have that problem now in a brick flat!

I'm just not keen on the rather feeble-looking SIP approach, it looks like a prefab school building from the 70s and seems like it would be easily damaged and not overly sound-proof. I'd be willing to be talked round though!

It doesn't have to look like a prefab it can be covered in anything from render to cedar to paint to even walnut if you got the cash. Not feeble you could jump up and down on the roof.

I would look at europe for a cheaper build, as has been said until you get the land. . .

Have you got an concept/style in mind sounds like a fun project?

Orena45 (Andy) off of this part of the woods has one 🙂

Traditional Brick buildings have to be aired or you will get damp problems.

There are many, many options.

I would also suggest you go to CAT centre of alternative technology in Machynlleth (you can also do some ace riding) for examples of built houese, information etc… etc….

I'd like to avoid the style of the one that went up at a plot near my flat recently, which looks like a giant version of a 6×4 shed, that much I can tell you! I'm trying to get ideas of cost for different styles before deciding if it's a goer or not, at that point I'll put more thought into the actual shape and locations of the various bits. I'd like something fairly open-plan and relatively minimalist, but large (specifically high) open-plan areas are obviously pricey to heat which isn't ideal. I'd be looking for a plot with a small amount of running water (preferably one that wont become a large amount of running water!) and the possibility of micro-hydro, but that might be a pipe-dream due to the cost of such plots. There's a plot like this one:
http://tinyurl.com/yem6ymn going locally, but I've yet to find a price for it. Pretty open to the weather and winters would be fun (first place to get snow around here), no mains water, sewer or utilities though which I'm trying to decide on the importance of!

If you are going to import an alien building technology, you may find that achieving UK regs difficult as (particularly) Germans have an interesting approach to anything outside their own experience.
You could also look at Findhorn (breathing walls etc etc) and the AECB for examples to think about.

as well as CAT, check out http://www.buildstore.co.uk/mykindofhome/index.html.

Also you can buy a useful book from CAT called the Whole House Book which covers some systems.

I was visiting a designer yesterday and he showed me a very interesting german (?) block product* that gives fantastic thermal properties and amazing construction speed. Id consider it if I were looking to build a new build. As it is Im building a barn conversion myself so am driven by the existing building envelope rather.

* found them.
http://www.clayblocks.co.uk/

you can obviously clad or render them as you wish and you can layout any design you like.

Cheers for the thoughts all, I'm bookmarking for later deep reading! aP – yes, a concern of mine for sure. Ideally I'd find someone capable of putting a complete solution together to suit local laws, but thats usually the most expensive route too. Bricks and mortar start to seem far simpler and easier when you delve into all the new available tech!

Check out http://www.fjordhus.com/ I have worked with them in the past and you can do as much/little work as you like

Oooh fjord do seem to have some lovely houses, but their cheapest is 170K built, which is possibly pushing my boat out a little far when factoring in land costs. Might be worth a call and a chat though!

ck ask to speak to Gordon it would be worth a chat anyway

You wont have a choice regarding insulation – current building regs will force you to insulate. the 'well aired' comment is a bit of a red herring for a new build – you want to be looking at whole house mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. Greenwood airvac make a couple of good systems that i have sold in the past – they do full ductwork design as well.

smudger – do you know of a supplier of a simple exchanger – I want to fit a single input/output unit?

More detail – it will have a single warm dirty input and a single warm clean output. maximum pipe distances are no mor ethan 1m to outside or inside.

Just looking for a small and cheap manually controlled heat exchange unit to move air from warm living kitchen to upper floor.

just get a caravan and live in any layby you choose for free…..
ooops did i say that… 😯

I'm wary of the heat exchanging vent systems, I know someone who just fitted a monster unit, about the size of a fridge in the loft, (he's friends with someone who makes them) and apparently their house is now damp-free but quite cool and feels draughty despite careful vent location. He's yet to determine whether his heating bills have actually changed though.

when my parents had a skandihus in wales there was a whole hosue heat exchange system that worked very well indeed.

I dont propose installing a mass of ducting and a big fan to pump it all around in the barn, but a small baby uni would be quite handy I reckon.

Huf Haus is good but very expensive for what you get. What ever you do stay away from Kingspan TEK. I do a lot of timber frame houses and can put you in contact with a fair few people could even give 'mates rates' on a design if you're reasonably close 🙄

It's a great idea, and a beautiful dream, but, of course, the question is, will he pull it off?

Have a look at YTONG, when I worked for their parent company they specialised (in Europe) in not only blocks but whole houses.

And a house in 90 seconds – and not a hard hat nor hi-viz vest in sight!

😆 @ IHN, he is worse than peirs morgan.

hoohee?

(him ^, not piers moron.)

presents that C4 grand designs program. out of interest what qualifies him to talk about architecture/design, as his show is a C4 ratings winner so he must know his onions.

Kevin Mcleod is an interior designer and a professional idiot.

90second house my ar*e. Connecting the panels to the crane take longer than that!

aha. People keep telling me I should have got grand designs to film our barn conversion but I gather it's not sufficiently doomed to failure, with oversized egos, tantrums and outrageously expensive design finishes 😉

one of the architects I worked with was on GD with her piano house in London. I think because she was an idiot her house went half a million over budget.

That would make insulating them pointless as you're dumpign a houseful of heat each time. I have that problem now in a brick flat!

Not so – letting all the warm air out of the house doesn't remove ALL the heat from the house, as air doesn't actually hold that much. Most of the heat is in the furniture, walls etc.

I am very much a fan of the Scandinavian houses, there are a few manufacturers that bring them over and put them up for you (the basic shell – you supply the plot and pop the foundations/services down then they put up the basic structure). They will probably be at the show… ace buildings that are very, very efficient.

For plots – an alternative is to buy a complete gopping wreck of a place and bulldoze it. It may be a cheaper/easier option than getting a site with planning 😉

Not so – letting all the warm air out of the house doesn't remove ALL the heat from the house, as air doesn't actually hold that much. Most of the heat is in the furniture, walls etc.

I'm aware of the thermal mass of the hard parts of the house, but they convey very little to the heating of the house – i.e. if you open the doors and flush out the cold air, the temp diff from table to air is minimal, so the heat transfer is slow and low, in order to re-heat the air you need the rads on, which needs burning of fuel. Though that doesn't mean you have to re-heat the hardware again (which saves obviously) it's still not ideal. It takes 35 minutes (I checked, last night) just to increase air temp in my flat from 19.5 to 21 degress. 35 minutes of the boiler on full whack and the rads at 65c. To go from ~5C outside temp it would take considerably longer, you can appreciate. To do that daily is nuts. I'll find the article if I can, but killing draughts and air-loss is meant to be just about the most effective method of improving home efficiency, as lost hot air and replaced cold air = comeplete loss.

For plots – an alternative is to buy a complete gopping wreck of a place and bulldoze it. It may be a cheaper/easier option than getting a site with planning

Still need planning, just not quite as difficult as dropping a new house in a previously open green field!