Who and when to consider a SIP Building Systems
SIP building system have been manufactured for use in a variety of building applications, for example: Self build homes, Social Housing, Schools, Commercial Buildings, Community Centres, Retail, Supermarkets, Hospitals, Colleges, Hotels, Leisure Centres and Garden/Gym Rooms.
Keep reading
SIP Introduction
SIP (structural insulation panel) panels have been widely used in the USA, Japan and Canada since the 1950’s, and are now a ‘traditional’ method of building homes in these regions. There a number of manufacturers of SIPs wothin the UK spread sporadically. Over the years, they have been adapted and improved in there form of…
Keep reading
OPEN / CLOSED PANELS
Open Panels- these are structurally engineered panels that form the i side load bearing leaf of the external wall. Comprises of studs, rails, sheathing and a breather membrane to external face. I stalled using pretreated softwood timber for which a sheet of OSB or ply is fixed. Closed Panels- faster to erect on site, made…
Keep reading
Why Timber frame for construction …
It’s sustainable, economical, thermally efficient and can be constructed quickly. Build times can be reduced by as much as 30% for timber construction. An extension of the external walls can be built and watertight in as little as 5 days (through installation of a prefabricated external face). The finished build is better insulated and should…
Keep reading
planning approval granted
SINGLE STOREY REAR EXTENSION TO ACCOMODATE AN ADDITIONAL BEDROOM AND BATHROOM.
Keep reading
Why are foundations a vital part of any build…
The foundations are a very important part of any project as they transfer the weight of the proposed building to the ground. ‘Foundations’ is a word generally used to differentiate that part of a project. Every property has a unique set of foundations set out to the specific requirements of the site. All buildings are…
Keep reading
COVID-19 GUIDELINES & ACHIEVING APPROVAL GOALS
Anyone who would like to adapt there current home or look at buying a piece of land to create the perfect home then please do get in touch I will be happy to help. All applications will be worked on as quickly and efficiently as is feasibly possible by the council to bring your dream…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making A House a Home – External Rendering & Internal Doors
30th May 2020 So after a difficult few months we have moved in to what may be considered as better times … well for us this is the case as we have managed to get our trades back on site. Time to get the external walls rendered and close to finishing. Things have gone on…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Removal of Timber Battons and worktop to Utility Room
As lockdown has been relaxed if only a small part but this has allowed us to get a few bits completed that really needed doing this includes. A new worktop to the Utility Area which allows it to function as a room for washing and cleaning purposes. This is a mid range laminate worktop from…
Keep reading
Expandng Spaces – Making a House a Home … External Works and Study
Week Commencing 28th April Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, we have been unable to source the required materials and work force required to carry out the works that we require finishing so we have looked into sourcing the materials we can get hold of this being external materials so due to the amount of…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Bedroom Room & Decking
Week Commencing 13th April A week of progress Completion of the final bedroom to include the tape and joint to the plasterboard, intensive session of sanding down the walls to then be finished painted crisp white to all walls and one feature was as per all other bedrooms. We also started work to enclose the…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Coat & Shoe Storage
Week Commencing 8th April After a very strange couple of weeks we are starting to come to terms with this lock down and the creation of very unusual colour eggs and the inevitable delay on the speed of works on site. Having no opportunity to get any tradesman on site to carry out work. Hopefully…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Finishing Touches, Tiling & Render.
Week Commencing 16th March The week begins with lots of Talks of some crazy Lockdown meaning a halt to daily life. But I tried to finalise on the two bedrooms I had been working on. Plus the floor tiling in our Utility Room, with the final positioning of the Washing Machine, Dishwasher and Tumble Dryer.…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Plaster boarding and Room Preparations
Week Commencing 02nd March & 09th March This week we finished plasterboarding the first floor extension. Firstly we constructed the partition wall to create two bedrooms and then we started to Tape and Joint the plasterboard in what was the master bedroom that has been split to make two equal size bedrooms. Prior to painting.…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Plasterboarding
Week Commencing 24th February 2020 This week we have gone to plasterboard the whole first floor extension including the walls and the ceiling.We also had the installation of the windows to the first floor extension from Colne Valley Windows and doors.We also started to created the storage cupboards in the utility. this is all battens…
Keep reading
Information required to write a Design Brief for your Project:
The starting point of any project is your brief, a description of clear instructions, requirements and functions required for your building, for us to assist with the preparation of your design brief we will need to know: Your aims, aspirations, and dreams, what you would like to achieve and what you dream of the finished…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home … Roof Tiled, Walls Insulated
Week Commencing 17th February 2020 The roof has been battened, finished with the membrane and now nicely tiled including the hip that our first builder had advised was not required even though it was on my planning approval, the feeling of getting a roof and walls with insulation installed is immense. It is definitely feeling…
Keep reading
How will the pandemic effect you …
The current Covid19 pandemic has made the future pathways for those who were looking to extend or build a new home feel like a long way off than it perhaps felt like in January or even February. However, the world may be in a position of uncertainty, but this doesn’t mean your project needs to…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Paint, electrics, removal of walls, new openings, steels, roof tiled and walls OSB and fireboarded.
Week Commencing 10th February 2020 So to recap we now have the trusses and are ready for the roof to be battened and finished with the membrane ready for the tiles to be installed! The hip is being created and the feeling of positivity on site helps. All the timber frame has to be lined…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Paint, electrics, new partition walls, new openings & trusses
Week Commencing 2nd February Continuation of painting … from plaster to white walls … this is a lengthy process first coat was watered down then second coat was slightly watered down and final coat was as it is from the tin! Nice freshen up! New electrics added to the new bedrooms and shower room. Wiring…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Paint, garage floor, drainage, fencing, Plumbing & electrics
Week Commencing 27th January finishing touches … internally week commences with a taster to how it could look when finished prior to the white mist cost being applied.the white mist onto the new plaster walls before we can finalise the panting work to the ground floor. Garage floor constructed using reinforced mesh and concrete poured…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Plastering, Kitchen Installation, Drainage Positioned & Existing Kitchen Removal
We spent along time looking for a builder to replace our other so called builder someone happy to pick on a project that hasn’t been constructed correctly to comply and put right the errors of construction. We have had a number of builders come out and provide there thoughts and costs to do this. Week…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Plastering, Kitchen Installation & Existing Kitchen Removal
Week commencing 13th January The guy continued to install the kitchen having all the units in position he continues to cut the plinths and worktops to the correct length then adds the doors/drawers and edging strips and panels. From Monday to Wednesday the plasterers finish off the extension this includes the walls beams and ceiling.…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Kitchen Installation, Steels & Plastering of Existing House
Week Commencing 6th January – Preparation work for plastering. All remainder steels have been boxed in with 2 layers of Gyproc Fireboard this is to prevent the passage of fire. The Gyproc Fireboard is a Pink Board. Two guys got the ceilings and walls plastered within the living room, dining room, kitchen and hall. This…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Installation of Electrics – First Fix, Extension Slab and Screed Laid.
Day forty four – Day Fifty Eight – 23rd December – 3rd January (week 9 and 10) W/c 23rd December Ground floor electrics first fix completed all the wiring of new electrical sockets and lighting to extension. The installation of 9 No. points for spot lights, 6 No double sockets and 2 no single sockets…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Internal knock through, existing Window Reduced & Construction of the Roof.
Day thirty eight to forty three – 16th-20th December (week eight) The guys worked at First floor to finish the timber frame walls construction. The new windows are formed giving an idea of space. The guys await materials for the roof trusses when the timber arrives they set to work to create the pitch. But…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Construction of the First Floor
Day thirty two to thirty seven – 9th – 13th December week seven The scaffolding was adjusted to allow for the construction of the first floor. They started to locate the joists and start to construct the timber frame first floor.
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Windows & Doors / GRP Roof & Steelwork
Day twenty seven to thirty one – 2nd – 6th December (week six) Colne Valley windows and doors came to install all windows and doors, they started by replacing all existing windows and doors, we had two No. composite front doors, one to the front and one to the side, we then replaced all existing…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – External Block work Wall Construction
Day twenty two to twenty six – 25th -29th November (week five) Building Regulations Requirement: Ground Floor wall construction 100mm Blockwork external skin 100mm cavity filled with GA4000 insulation or similar 100mm Blockwork internal skin This week we managed to install the steels, marine ply to the single storey flat roof, timber joists and insulation…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – External Blockwork Wall Construction
Day sixteen to twenty one – 18th – 22nd November (week four) Continuation of the block work construction to the garage section side extension this is to be constructed up to plate for the first floor so all single storey to be single storey this has an increased ceiling height due to the DPC being…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Beam & Block Floor
Day eleven – fifteen – 11th – 15th November (week Three) Due to a water leak we had to move out as there was quite a bit of water damage and the electrics were not use-able so had to be switched off till it was fully resolved and dried out. This meant we had no…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Block work to Ground Level
Day Six – Ten – 4th – 8th November (week 2) Building Regulation Requirement: Ground Floor wall construction. 102.5mm Facing Brick work 100mm Cavity with GA4000 Insulation or similar 100mm 7N Aerated Blockwork Blockwork to GL Dave and Steve carried out the next stage of construction … That is to construct the block-work from top…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Foundations
Day Five – 2nd November A group of guys turned up with a prepared cement mixer to fill the foundation trenches with concrete. The use a pipe and pour it straight in. First they started with the upper patio filling the 1.25m trenches and then with the lower foundation section all filled to the same…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Foundations
Day Three & Four – 30th & 31st October Building Regulation Requirement The foundation construction comprises of: minimum 450mm wide x minimum 1000mm deep concrete trench fill footings. To be agreed with Building Control. The cavity to be filled with Lean Mix to 225mm below DPC. Three guys turned up with a digger to dig…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Removal of the Chimney
Day Two – 24th October Demolition of chimney Two guys came to demolish our existing chimney located on the west side of our house where the new extension is to be located. They removed all but a third of the chimney because: the insulation is like mini foam balls like in a bean bag and…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home – Starting on Site
Day One – 23rd October Erection of Scaffolding At 8am two guys from Alumni Scaffolders attended our property to to erect the scaffolding around our chimney ready for demolition.
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home
STAGE THREE Now we have approval the next stage is to look at construction package for which a package of information will be required for Building Control this is to ensure that all works are carried out to and comply with all current legislations and regulations. This is a detailed set of drawings that include…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home
STAGE TWO Creating a package of information for submission for Planning Approval. This will incorporate all modifications we propose including the single storey rear extension / two storey side extension and internal alterations. Within this package it comprises of the following: full set of existing existing plans / existing elevations these are scaled drawings and show the…
Keep reading
Expanding Spaces – Making a House a Home
How it all began … Stage One: We went out looking for property in march / April 2015. We knew what we wanted and set out to find our ideal home. What we wanted was a place we could create our ideal living space. After months of searching in may 2015 we found our House.…
Keep reading
uniquedesigncreations.co.uk 