What are your opinions or experiences with building a prefab home?
Harri
4 years ago
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Huw Buckley
4 years agoRelated Discussions
POLL: Would you ever let your partner design your home?
Comments (39)My husband trusts me and prefers I make all those decisions. That said I always ask his opinion on large pieces. If I left it all to him he would lose interest before finishing! Design is so not his thing. But then I'm not interested in documentaries on outer space or Lego.... Best we stick to our own interests I think! ;)...See MoreAdvice for hiring someone to design and build a house
Comments (12)Hi Gavin, Good questions. These are really vital points to consider but the answers are complex and very dependent on what suits you. 1. Finding property - yes that can be tricky but it depends on what you are looking for, where and at what price. As others have said, consider property as not necessarily simply a plot of land but potentially a building (and not necessarily a house) that could be demolished or remodelled to give you what you want. However, before you go through with a purchase, check with the local planning department that what you are hoping to achieve on any prospective site is likely to be supported / meets local planning policy. Auctions can be good places to look. A quick search on Rightmove or other online platforms using filters for location, price range, etc... is a good starting point. Also many architects, as I do, can offer you a reasonably priced pre-purchase assessment of a property to check that there is scope there to achieve the type of home with the size and spaces that you would like. 2. The second is also a complex question that relates to you and your personal situation. It can come down to budget, as well as your skills / knowledge of construction and the amount of time you have available to either project manage / carry out work yourself. If you have little to no construction knowledge nor time then it would not generally be advisable for you to project manage / build the project yourself. There are pros and cons to all options. The traditional approach is to commission an architect to carry out the design work and they then tender the building work to contractors, who would then project manage the build while the architect inspects the work and deals with any arising site queries. This typically gives you the most control over quality and cost of build. Another option is a turnkey approach by a design and build company, this typically gets you a completed project at a fixed pre-agreed price and timescale, but with very little control over quality. There are many other options and I could spend all day writing them out! Taking a look at the JCT contract options can help illustrate many of the most commonly used approaches....See MoreAccoya - your experiences?
Comments (9)Yes, we had Accoya multi-laminated timber windows and doors installed in our house in 2013. Multi-lam better than a solid section as it doesn't move as much [expand or contract]. Accoya on external weather face, softwood on internal face, also a bit cheaper. Generally, looking very good 4 years on. We used v good Vallti Tikkurila paint from Finland. The paint is flexible and porous so it moves with the wood and breathes to let out any moisture build up [recommended to us by National Trust carpenter]. Only thing you need to do before topcoating is to ensure the first primer coat is a specialist solvent based blocking type, not cheap water based primer. Vallti Otex, Sikkens Rubbol or similar. The primer stops tannins potentially leaching out and staining the top coat. Other specialist paint manufacturers do similar products. Suggest you tel. the technical dept. of the paint manufacturer for specific advice on paint build up to Accoya. Suggest you don't use Dulux for Accoya as paint not as good as some others for this use. We also make sure our windows and frames are cleaned every 4-6 weeks to reduce dirt build up. We don't expect to do any painting for another 4-6 years which is a great benefit of Accoya. Good luck....See MorePlease help. Modernising our 80s build house. What internal doors?
Comments (17)Hello Sarah. Ref your skirting, the Ogee and Chamfered are lovely but it may be helpful to consider the ceiling height in relation to the depth of the skirting. We are in a 1970s townhouse - VERY plain architecture - and the ceilings are not high. The skirting is very simple - around 4” and just a slight slope in to the wall along the top edge - so it’s recessive to the eye and gives a lot of wall space (i need space for art on the wall so this is good for me). The other thing I would consider is how much dust they might collect (boring but in my case, the easier to clean the better)....See MoreMarina
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