A challenge for old house lovers

[IMM]

£750 for what? You have to know the size, construction type and fitments to have a firm figure.

[Mary Fisher]

I wear sandals but have never heard of lentil sandwiches ... what's the connection?

Mary

>

[Andy Hall]

I never do that.

"One potential disadvantage is that foam core panels are susceptible to tunneling by termites, carpenter ants, and rodents that can destroy the structural integrity of the assembly. This is especially troublesome because the tunnels are difficult to detect. Where termites pose a threat, standard preventive measures should be used such as soil treatment or termite shields. At least one panel manufacturer has incorporated borate into their expanded polystyrene core as an insect repellent, but the effectiveness is not well-documented to date. Apparently other foam materials are not as receptive to treatment. "

Other integrity problems as well.

Since these things are forming part of the structural integrity of the house, anything that can potentially cause damage to the core or to the OSB covering is a major concern.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[usenet]

What on earth is vague about it?

[usenet]

Per square metre!

[IMM]

Or squ. foot if you want.

[IMM]

You missed this "one panel manufacturer has incorporated borate into their expanded polystyrene core as an insect repellent"

We also do not have termites like the USA does. Infestation of these panels is not a problem in the UK.

[Tony Bryer]

a modern 100m2 semi it gives figures of £73,800 and £95,9000 for London/SE and Wales/Scotland/NE. Playing around with some other options suggests that £1000 would be a safer ballpark figure

[IMM]

nothing to do with the SIP panles themselves. If you poorly errect any house of any contruction you will have problems.

A Google will bring out the results of the Alaska failures.

....Any more tripe?

[Christian McArdle]

It's not vague, just very low. I'd say 1000 per sq m. is a better guess in my neck of the woods for basic construction and cheap fittings.

Christian.

[Clive Summerfield]

Wrong. It is actually a precise price. Now whether or not it is an accurate reflection of the true cost is indeed questionable, but it sure as heck isn't vague.

Cheers Clive

[Anna Kettle]

Don't assume that underpinning is essential cos a house with minimal foundations can be perfectly stable if the underlying earth/stone is well compacted and not going anywhere. If you find anything which warns of movement, like wall cracks or if the house is built on a hillside (Not too many of them in Lincolnshire) or it is built in a fen (more likely) then there may be a problem that needs to be dealt with

However the nice new extension that you get built will have to comply with building regs and will have a good deep foundation. Then you are bound to get cracking cos the two bits of houses will have differential movement

Don't go for new build then. That sort of thing is illegal these days

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[IMM]

Rotting SIP roofs in Juneau Part I: The Base Line Info

by Steve Andrews

SIP Manufacturers Respond

Mike Bryan, Premier Building Systems "What I know is there were a number of Premier panels, back when we were an R-Control plant, that were installed in Juneau, and now we have problems with the top layer of OSB turning to mush," said Premier's Mike Bryan.

"Last February through May, we sent three different people up on four different occasions. During our investigations, we determined that there were numerous problems with the installations. The builder's liability insurance company paid the entire bill. The problems with the installations were so flagrant that they didn't have much choice. The good news is that

80%-90% of the people want replacement panels on their new roofs."

"The deficiencies were obvious to the casual observer," said Bryan. "The list starts with missing OSB spline connectors, missing pieces of lumber, missing foam, missing adhesive."

"In retrospect, I can see that a climate like Juneau is somewhere we would want to be particularly careful about the details."

Jim Ferraro, Insulspan of Idaho

Ferraro is not aware of any other instances of roof rot in his SIP panels. "We do a lot of work in Seattle and Oregon, and haven't experienced problems with rot."

Phil Reynolds, Alchem (Anchorage, Alaska)

"Our company has more than a dozen, maybe two dozen homes with rot in panels," said Dave Gauthier. "That's a very small percentage of our homes. Almost without exception, it's due to installation problems

[Another Dave]

Let's remember what the OP asked:

"What is the cost of errecting a new traditionally built bog-standard detached house with two to three bedrooms? I'm talking ball-park here."

Ball-park is what he asks for and that's what he got.

Another Dave.

[John Laird]

Don't follow this - if the existing structure is presumed not to be going anywhere anymore, and the extension has foundations sufficient to stop it also going anywhere, then the two are going nowhere together, no ?

[I do understand differential settlement - my own house is half-cellared front-to-back and the cellar that is there stops 6' shy of the back wall...]

[Andy Hall]

We certainly have rodents, and we certainly have the potential for rot and the various weevils and other creatures who love to follow it.

It is impossible to say what the long term implications of these are in the UK environment because there is too little history and too small an installed base.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Owain]

"Mary Fisher" wrote | I'd have thought so - but I don't call 150 years "very, very old"! | Reminds me of when I first went to america and was proudly shown | "the oldest house on the island" - it was 90 yo.

I was reading posts elsewhere about someone's trip to Abu Dhabi and the local museum showed what life was like in "Old" Abu Dhabi ... in 1974, I think, before the oil brought prosperity, skyscrapers, desalination plants and cheap immigrant labour.

Owain

[Owain]

"Another Dave" wrote | Let's remember what the OP asked: | "What is the cost of errecting a new traditionally built bog- | standard detached house with two to three bedrooms? I'm talking | ball-park here." | Ball-park is what he asks for and that's what he got.

Wouldn't it be more expensive building on a ball-park than on an existing serviced plot?

Owain

[Owain]

"IMM" wrote | > >Many commercial building use them in the USA, | > >and now here in the UK too. Taco Bell Mexican fast food | > >outlets in the USA are built of SIPs. | > A real recommendation then. | Yep. | > So are the leftovers of the building used to make the | > tacos or the other way round.? | Well they will a taco whatever way you like.

It takes two to taco.

Owain

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , IMM writes

Of course you do, but the OP is not expecting a precise figure for building this hypothetical house which he has not even designed yet.

£750 per sq.m. is a fair ball park figure for him to work with, as is £73 per sq.ft.. If his spec is better, or worse, than the typical, he will have to alter the figure accordingly.

The above suggests that a typical reasonably sized 1200sq.ft. house would cost around £90,000 to build. Add this to the land cost, factor in where you live in the meantime, and the hassle, and you can make a decision as to whether to take it further, or consign the idea to the bin.