pleasedon'tfallonmyneighbourshouse

It's been a busy and exciting week.  We've had some proper builders in to speed things up and get vaguely back towards schedule, and most importantly to get in the giant glulam (glue-laminated) timber beams that will now support the roof, allowing us to open up the ceiling for the living space and have a wide of spread of light from roof windows there.  The beams are very strong, lighter than steel, have much better environmental credentials than steel, and are easier to deal with than steel in terms of fixings etc.  But they they are still pretty heavy (about 200 kilos each for the big two I think), and blatantly more than could be wrestled into place at the top of the roof by just me and a couple of friends.  Ever since the structural engineer presented us with his proposal for a wonderfully simple roof structure it's been preying on my mind that it would only be simple once finished: getting the beams in place underneath the existing roof looked anything but simple (actually I didn't think that far at first, it was Anna who first posed the crucial "how do we get it them in there?" question).  The builders have the experience, the equipment, and perhaps just the blind confidence to be able to get them in.

Design and Access Statement?

Below is a draft Design and Access Statement (DAS) to accompany our planning application.  It now appears we may not be required to submit one as the regulations have changed since the guidance I've been using was issued.  If nothing else I hope it provides a pretty good summing up of our plans and the reasoning behind them.

The property is in an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty which used to require a DAS for householder applications, but now it's unclear.  I'm sure the planning officer I'm meeting tomorrow will be able to tell me.  In any case, our project is unusual compared to standard applications for building an extension so it may help to submit the DAS by way of explanation.  Any comments from anyone used to dealing with things very gratefully received!  I'm sure it's too long for starters, despite a fair bit of editing down.

Colouring

We're finally nearly there with the plans for planning permission.  I think I had in mind that this stage of the planning would be the simplest, perhaps because the fee for planning permission drawings is much less than that for building regulation approval drawings and construction drawings, as befits the fact that so much more detail is required at the building regs stage.  But so many details have to be thought about now that affect the overall design: details about what heat source we're using for example, along with what kind of chimney or flue it requires, where we want it to be and whether it can use an existing chimney or needs a new one built.  Although this doesn't need to be shown on planning permission drawings (which are concerned primarily with the external appearance of the building, and overall layout) it has to be resolved now - otherwise we may find further down the line that we need to change the layout somewhere, which could affect the external appearance and so require a revision to our application.  In short, planning officers don't need to know how we're providing heating, but they need to know where chimneys will or won't project from the building...  Also, although full building regulations submission comes later (if planning permission is granted) it is essential to make sure planned layout and use of space will comply now, to avoid having to make costly changes to plans later on.

Musical Interlude

Our designer is starting the build of his own strawbale home this month, and I'm waiting for various people to get back to me with information about different materials or kit, and in between massage work I've been wearing my music hat for a bit.  So instead of going into details of how if you insulate a wall internally too well, you increase the chances of condensation (and mould, rot etc.) at the point where the insulation meets the wall (one of the infuriating potential problems I'm waiting for technical advice on - it would be so much easier if the planners would let us wrap the entire building in straw, but I do see their point) - here's a musical interlude.

These tracks (and more) are on Soundcloud (soundcloud.com/bicipital-groove), a wonderful website for sharing music and getting feedback, hearing other people's weird and wonderful music that you wouldn't otherwise get to hear, and collaborating with complete strangers on other land masses that you will probably never meet.  It's great. The first track is such a collaboration - my accompaniment to a vocal-only track posted by a lady from Boston called Tea Leigh, asking for people to do something with it.  The second is all mine, a bit of electric mandolinery.

Chopstix (Tea Leigh/Bicipital Groove) by Bicipital Groove

Tears Before Bedtime (updated) by Bicipital Groove

The wonderful world of wood-pulp

As explained previously (see The Importance of Fitting In) when we wrap our bungalow with strawbales the bedroom that projects forward of the main building will remain as brick outside, in order to visually tie the building with the other brick bungalows in the street and appease the planners (see Elevated Greenery).  This presents some problems.

We want the whole building to be very well insulated and maintain a comfortable temperature without central heating.  The cavity walls of the existing bungalow will be filled (with glass-fibre granules made from recycled glass) but this only gives a U-value of around 0.57.  To achieve a central-heating-free home, we need the external walls to have a U-value of around 0.15 or less (there's some explanation of U-values here).  The strawbale wrap will easily achieve this for most of the building.  But in order to retain the external brick wall of that bedroom some kind of internal insulation will be needed there.  This in turn, presents some problems.