House building and your thoughts

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › House building and your thoughts

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

bfginger

1268 posts

Uber Geek

#1185993 30-Nov-2014 23:34

The stated R values for different window systems may or may not include the influence of low emission glass and argon gas. Low emission glass and argon gas improve the R value compared with air and plain clear glass so comparing with and without it is not comparing like with like. Argon gas doesn't make a huge difference but it shouldn't be too expensive to ask for. A good builder should be able to work out the effects of different windows on the house's warmth.

thecatsgoolies

414 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1186034 1-Dec-2014 08:17

maoriboy: Hi Folks.

My wife and I are looking in to the idea of building our own house. Admittedly this won't be for a few years, but I think the sooner we get started on researching what we need to do, the better.

I would like some feedback from people who have built their own homes. Things like:

did you choose a home builder and premade plan from places like Stonewood, Golden Homes etc or did you get an architect in and designed something especially for you? If you did, how did you find their service, flexibility etc?
What were the biggest hurdles you faced in the design/build of the house and how did you overcome them?
How close were you to your budget? If you were over, how did this happen and how did you fix it? If under, what did you do to keep costs under budget?
I'm wanting to ensure that the house is 'future proof' (for want of a better phrase) and energy efficient. How did you choose the materials, heating source, and technology that went into the house build e.g. Ethernet ports, centralised media cabinet, etc
Solar panels? I've read lots about them and many different opinions on whether they are worthwhile. Your thoughts?

I'm sure I have a lot of other questions that I could add here, but work keeps distracting me so will leave it to just that.

Thanks in advance.

I built with Goldenhomes Franklin back in the day.

We did make a few changes to the original plan which wasn't too hefty in terms of pricing.

We deducted the cost of all the electrical work as then hubby was a sparky, got all his materials at cost and future proofed the house it had so many bells and whistles. I believe they factored in at the time a cost of 9K for electrical. We paid around 3K wholesale for all the materials and probably improved the value by 20K. As in putting more power points than planned, cat3 at the time (wow). Also upgraded the tints on the double glazing on all windows for an extra 1.5k which was the best thing we ever did.

Biggest hurdle was time! They never stuck to their time promise. They had other houses building at the same time so over committed on the other tradesmen. Also then husband did not want to deal with all the tradesmen so left me with the job. Believe me, that was not easy! it's a man's world out there and they did NOT want to deal with a woman. Was hard!

Was worth it in the end as building IMO really is easy money. The value of your property goes up upon completion. We made so much from the sale of that house. I would do it again!

Disrespective

1925 posts

Uber Geek

#1186104 1-Dec-2014 09:34

bfginger: The stated R values for different window systems may or may not include the influence of low emission glass and argon gas. Low emission glass and argon gas improve the R value compared with air and plain clear glass so comparing with and without it is not comparing like with like. Argon gas doesn't make a huge difference but it shouldn't be too expensive to ask for. A good builder should be able to work out the effects of different windows on the house's warmth.

Argon can add between 15-20% to the thermal performance of a double glazed unit and should add 5-10% in costs so if you can afford it, it's a worthwhile additional cost. Thermally broken frames have shown to be about 60% more thermally efficient than typical frames so should also be considered, although their cost is much higher (sorry don't have an approximate number here).

Batman

Mad Scientist
29761 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1186107 1-Dec-2014 09:36

are thermally broken frames the door bit or the wall bit or both bits needed to be considered thermally broken frame?

Brat

40 posts

Geek

#1186135 1-Dec-2014 09:54

Both need to be thermally broken to be 100% effective but every little bit helps. The wooden jambs are already "thermally broken".

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1186225 1-Dec-2014 11:23

Niel: You can just as well go to Expol and order polystyrene cut to the exact dimensions needed for your specific garage door, and then put thin MDF/ply over the top to sandwich it in (this works well for metal sectional doors). Guy at work did it, and he is critical on thermal performance like getting the right triple glazed uPVC windows from Europe, etc.

Be careful retrofitting insulation to a sectional garage door. The insulation may not weigh much, but enough to throw out adjustment of spring tension, which may over-stress the auto unit causing it to fail prematurely, and/or result in erratic opening. Adjusting springs on sectional doors is not DIY friendly, so if adding insulation, get a service person in to check and adjust it after you've done it. It might require fitting heavier springs - which would cost a lot more than simple adjustment.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5