Welcome to The Selfbuilder. Your one-stop shop for anything self-build.Latest Articles
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 Tuesday, 24 January 2012 11:55 Presenter of channel 4's the home Show and restoration Man, george is also an architect, so can solve your design queries and provide professional know-how.
Choosing the right doors
Q We're currently building our house and will be using white render with graphite grey windows on the exterior. We are More...
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 Monday, 16 January 2012 00:00 This month Kevin says goodbye to the Great British Refurb Campaign – long live its glorious new grown-up incarnation.
Farewell then the Great British Refurb – at least in its adolescent form. This is the campaign that I helped put together at Grand Designs Live in 2009 as a joint intitiative More...
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 Monday, 09 January 2012 00:00 When it comes to environmentally friendly options underfoot, it's no longer a choice between aesthetics and eco credentials – you can now have both, as our selection for every room proves.
1: Natural, handmade, hard-wearing Seagrass Carpet Original in panama weave and colour code SG, £20.02 per More...
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 Wednesday, 04 January 2012 00:00 The decision to do up an old wreck or knock it down and start again is influenced by more than simple aesthetics. Tax breaks and maintenance costs could sway your choice.
IT'S A CLASSIC conundrum: you find a run-down property in a perfect location with tons of potential, and you long to turn it into More...
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Need to add space and value to your current home?With property prices falling due to the credit crunch, now’s the time to stay put and make most of your home. Extending your current property to create an extra room could add up to 15 per cent to its sale price and installing a new kitchen around 5 per cent. So transform your home and check out 10 Ways to Add Space and Value. Press Release's - Read More
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 Aquaduct’s corporate range combines: ingenious design; exceptional quality and functionality, presenting the opportunity for hotels and spas to More...
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 Yeoman Rainguard's XL Aluminium rainwater system excelled in value for money, aesthetic appearance and ease of installation when it was More...
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Rural Idyll - Real Homes
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The Long View
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Farm House - Real Homes
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Grand Designs Live
The story so far...
Who?
Architect Marcus Lee of practice FLACQ, his partner, Rachel Hart, and their three young daughters.
Where?
Hackney, east London.
What?
Timber-framed home, informed by Japanese residential architecture, with plentiful glazing and timber screens.
When?
The site was purchased in 2000. The building was started in 2005, and completed in 2007.
How much?
The land cost £70,000 and the build cost around £300,000, although Marcus is ‘still going through the receipts’.
High point?
‘August Bank Holiday 2005, when we first moved in. It wasn’t finished until 2007, but it felt like home’.
Low point?
‘Starting the work without having confirmation of planning, and the planning refusal we got in 2003’.
Tip
‘Despite what I said about being the high point, I’d recommend not to move in until the job’s completed,’ says Marcus.
Biomass boilers
The couple chose the biomass boiler partly for environmental reasons. ‘But the main reason we did it is because the house isn’t plumbed for gas and we were quoted £25,000 to get connected.’
The Baxi biomass boiler was installed by Green Systems and cost £6,500, alleviated by a £1,500 grant. It runs on compressed sawdust pellets, from suppliers such as Welsh Biofuels (www.welsh-biofuels.co.uk).
The pellets are loaded from a ‘silo’ into the boiler and Marcus checks on their progress. ‘Unlike gas, you know how much fuel you go through.’ The pellets burn within the boiler, which heats the water and the house via underfloor heating. ‘It’s very efficient,’ he says.
