Hi all,
I have been lurking around here for a few months now I need some 'steering' in the right direction. To the mods - I have posted in the owner builder forum as the kind of house I am building seems to fit in this category better than the new home section, feel free to move if you wish.
While I have done a few projects myself in the past and will do a lot of work myself, I am using a builder that I have used previously to help take on this project.
Quick bit of history. I am about to turn thirty,. I bought my first place when I was twenty yrs old. A commonly built timber framed, corrugated iron clad exterior with the timber slate plastered interior from the the early 1900's. I did some small reno's which included gyprocking, re-stumping, new kitchen, painting etc.
I then built a place with Stirling homes at Craigmore ( SA ). 233sqm total, 9ft ceilings, triple garage, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, all the normal stuff. Stirling built the basic house which I finished myself. Timber/laminate hardwood flooring, curtains, painting, landscaping and the list goes go on.
I got bored very quick and stumbled across a Stone fronted rammed earth house on half a acre @ Kersbrook in the Adelaide hills. This is the kinda of building that I had been brought up in. So I sold Craigmore and bought Kersbrook. This house was only Four rooms with an outdoor bathroom – It was so run down I basically did a demolition out back, had a builder do a shell for me which brought the bathroom inside, I then installed a kit kitchen, large rainwater tank, a nice deck etc. I then completely stripped the inside out of the original house and started from scratch. From the subfloor up to the ceiling, everything was replaced or reworked. In this same time I tidied up my first house which I was renting out to a mate, subdivided then sold off the house and land. This meant I owned my house freehold with a small amount left over. I was completely debt free and decided to build a rental property with Adelaide Designer Homes.
As it turns out I didn't like Kersbrook. I recently sold up and moved into a mates house. I am purchasing a small block of 249sqm @ Mawson lakes, settlement due the 14th of February. I have started drawing up plans for a possible reverse something veneer home. It will be the smallest house I have ever had. Approx 160sqm including double garage, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a small study area and one living area containing kitchen/ dining/lounge area. I am looking at a medium spec home with 10ft ceilings, 30degre roof pitch that will contain a small attic. Double glazed windows throughout and a little bit of effort in reducing my energy consumption. I have attached a sketch which was done a while ago and been modified since. The house outline has not changed just the configuration of the bedrooms bathrooms, I also done this on a A3 sheet which I have no way of scanning – sorry. The outline of the house and the thermal mass wall through the middle won't be changing though. The same goes for the majority of the windows.
So a couple of ideas of the materials. I am trying to find the best performing thin wall possible. At the moment I am looking at a few ideas.
My first idea was reverse brick veneer using 90mm deep blocks on the inside, then insulated timber framed stud wall, blue board on the outside. This would probably be too much thermal mass.
My builder told me to look at hebal AAC panelswhich are 75mm thick. This looks like a very attractive option if I can get away WITHOUT using the 40mm spacer which attaches to the timber frame that the hebal panel is screwed to. This will give me a slim wall with some thermal mass, good insulation/sound deadening properties and a 'solid feel' to the house. My only concern is the render that is used on hebal is a specialised product and may not be suitable for indoor use with my main concern being off gassing.
My builder had also mentioned limestone bricks in a reverse brick veneer construction. These are 100mm deep which means the wall is starting to get a little thick, but not too bad as long as I don't have to do a gap betwwen the bricks and the frame. I cannot find much info on the bricks as far as insulation/mass etc goes. He tells me that they are 3 times more insulating than brick. I could also so a single skin construction using limestone and maybe use a stick on foam for the outside to insulate the bricks.
In any scenario, I will have a solid wall going through the middle of the living area which separates the kitchen from my bedroom, this will most likely be limestone and left unfinished as feature wall. My Garage walls will be timber framed with the blueboard exterior, gyprocked interior and insulated.
The front of the house faces north and will have double glazed awning windows to help heat it up in winter. Down the north-west side of the house which faces my tiny backyard will be a big set of doors, still not sure what style but they will be double glazed with some sort of removable shading like a shade sail or other structre. In my bedroom and my little boys bedroom I am a little undecided with glass. I was going to get double glazed but I am more concerned with noise than thermal properties. My builder uses Southern Star Windows which don't really rate that well on weers. They have a commercial range but no ratings for them.
While my builder is quite good and honest, he is terrible at getting back to me and doing any of this sort research. I only just got the draftsman number who loves this sort of thing.
Also to add my house on the east and south boundary, has got two and three story buildings. My back/side yard faces north-west and the other side of the fence is a big park.
So any ideas, preferences, advice anyone?
http://img87.imageshack.us/i/houseplan.jpg/
Thanks
Aaron