Potter wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:08 pm
There are some near us that look ok on the outside but they've made strange decisions on the inside layout that I can only presume follow some sort of fashion, like the whole of the downstairs only being two rooms, one is a living room and the other is a combined everything else.
Ah. The now ubiquitous 'family room'. They're all the rage. Probably take their cue from the farmhouse kitchen which was pretty much the hub of the house.
The two houses our architect designed for our old house/plot had them. Full width of the back of the house, kitchen area at one side, comfy/casual dining area
- complete with TV at the other. (They had dining rooms, one of which was more an area with a gallery above, so it was pretty much the height of the house above the dining table...which was a bit odd, but looked quite impressive).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Potter wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:08 pm
like the whole of the downstairs only being two rooms, one is a living room and the other is a combined everything else.
The houses here are all open plan. One huge room for kitchen, dining room and lounge.
Potter wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 5:42 pm
I'm not keen on open plan.
We have a kitchen with an island and sometimes we eat at the island on tall wooden chairs, it comfortably seats five and it's a nice informal place to eat/chat, but I also like having a separate dining room, living room, snug, etc.
It's a lot better than only having one large room, I can sit doing some work in the snug with a bit of music on in the background, without disturbing Mrs Potter sat at the island listening to the wireless in the kitchen.
We've lived in open plan places and I find that privacy is hard to come by, or even just getting annoyed at pots clanging in the kitchen area whilst I'm trying to watch the TV and don't want the volume blasting out.
We're lucky as the whole top floor was a self contained apartment with HUGE bedroom when we bought the house, so she buggers off up there when she wants some space
Potter wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 6:31 pm
Yeah you need somewhere to get away from each other, at one point we had five adults in our house all living together (a couple of the kids had come home whilst they were saving up for houses) and we were really glad that we had enough personal space.
I like a decent kitchen, it's a central point, there is just me and Mrs Potter now, so we don't need so much space anymore, but the kitchen is still a nice area to chill out in. I'm usually in there or in the snug with the log burner on.
As you'll know from your other place, we spend most time on the patio anyway.
Potter wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 6:31 pm
Yeah you need somewhere to get away from each other, at one point we had five adults in our house all living together (a couple of the kids had come home whilst they were saving up for houses) and we were really glad that we had enough personal space.
I like a decent kitchen, it's a central point, there is just me and Mrs Potter now, so we don't need so much space anymore, but the kitchen is still a nice area to chill out in. I'm usually in there or in the snug with the log burner on.
As you'll know from your other place, we spend most time on the patio anyway.
Yeah that's a fair comment, we spend a lot of time outside, in fact we don't even see it as 'outside', it's just another part of the house.
It gets too hot in summer though, so we often go inside to cool down
The Bahamas was good for that, as long as you didn't get a bad storm then the temps were great all year round.
And Bonaire/Aruba as well, you get the afternoon rains in the season but no hurricanes or tropical storms to worry about (ou do get one every few years but bad ones are rare down there).
Friends have moved to Spain, Alicante and after eighteen months there they reckon it's about bob-on for that as well, nice temperature all year round with it getting a bit nippy in the evening in winter, but only needing a sweater.
The weather here is temperate.
Winter days always above 20c.
25c right now.
Nights never below 16c
19723B04-69E1-4FBD-B160-E01C41CB7A7A.jpeg (976.93 KiB) Viewed 369 times
Here’s another option. Just around the corner from my current location.
Not fake, but genuine corrugated steel. No problem with rodents. Save on electrical install too.
Nobby wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 2:20 am
19723B04-69E1-4FBD-B160-E01C41CB7A7A.jpeg
Here’s another option. Just around the corner from my current location.
Not fake, but genuine corrugated steel. No problem with rodents. Save on electrical install too.
When I was involved in that sort of thing there was a development in iirc Milton Keynes where they'd invited 'novel/advanced house designers' to build a low energy house each on about 6 plots. One was completely roofed in copper. The local 'travelling scrap merchants' would have been lining up to have a drool.
Although stuff like slate seems pretty archaic (quite like the stainless idea but thermal expansion could be interesting) houses evolve in locations so that they actually work there. So, for example, flat roofs might work in places like Greece but trying to build 'em in England is folly.
Slate works pretty well.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Wiggly tin is becoming popular with the architects up here. One advantage are that it's much easier to make a quiet roof, slates and tiles tend to rattle in the winds we have. It can also be supplied preinsulated and is much quicker to finish the roof. It also gets used as cladding, the life span is probably about the same as cement render. AFAIK it's maintenance free once put up. All subject to being installed properly of course.
No mention of living rooves yet, the one on my house used the set aside turf from the building plot so all the plants are local and suitable for the climate. It's very quiet which was unnerving at first, I was used to rattly slates.
cheb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:17 am
No mention of living rooves yet, the one on my house used the set aside turf from the building plot so all the plants are local and suitable for the climate. It's very quiet which was unnerving at first, I was used to rattly slates.
A coworker of mine had a new build with a living roof. His dog was obsessed with getting up there and shitting on the apex
Count Steer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 7:38 am
houses evolve in locations so that they actually work there.
Total sideways derail ...
Did you see the series of programmes on 'how to build a castle'?
First requirement is a plot close to quarry, a forest and a water supply.
Location, location, location
+ a fair bit of manpower.
Going back up there ^^ to poorly designed new houses. I should have taken a photo yesterday of a new build pair of semis and one detached house - with paddock. At first glance they look - I'll get a pic next week and we can play 'spot the flaws and cheap components' in them. (We enquired as to the price when they were going up...the semis are £1.2M. We didn't bother asking about the detached...and it has sold anyway).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
cheb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:17 am
No mention of living rooves yet, the one on my house used the set aside turf from the building plot so all the plants are local and suitable for the climate. It's very quiet which was unnerving at first, I was used to rattly slates.
A coworker of mine had a new build with a living roof. His dog was obsessed with getting up there and shitting on the apex
Thank you for that nugget.
The cat hasn't got up there yet AFAIK, but it's only a matter of time. I don't know where it shits but it's not inside the house. which is a bonus for me.
Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:10 pm
One of the thatched cottages near me has an equally thatched fox on the roof. How dya feel about that Demo.
AIUI that's likely to be the thatcher's mark that shows he did the roof.
I thought that too - but apparently not, at least that's what the master thatcher said when we had him round to inspect our place last year. IIRC he said it's up to the owners if they want anything, and he'd then find someone to make the thing.
Our first neighbours a straw pheasant on the roof which was a gift from a friend when they moved into the house. They took the thing with them when they moved out! (They weren't even going to another thatched house iirc)
I've just looked at said foxy house on Google Maps.
It's also got a loft conversion and the thatch in general looks pretty thin! Fake? Or at least, non-functional?
There are actually a few real thatched buildings in the same area. The Swan Inn, just down the road from this location, has burned down multiple times partly on account of it's roof. This part of MK is the original village of Milton Keynes - now called Middleton - where the modern city took it's name from.
cheb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:17 am
Wiggly tin is becoming popular with the architects up here. One advantage are that it's much easier to make a quiet roof, slates and tiles tend to rattle in the winds we have. It can also be supplied preinsulated and is much quicker to finish the roof. It also gets used as cladding, the life span is probably about the same as cement render. AFAIK it's maintenance free once put up. All subject to being installed properly of course.
No mention of living rooves yet, the one on my house used the set aside turf from the building plot so all the plants are local and suitable for the climate. It's very quiet which was unnerving at first, I was used to rattly slates.
Our estate has 3 modern houses with pitched zinc and flat sedum roofs. The sedum is a problem, the drains block, it floods and dies. All looked good for the first 2 years, now it looks a mess. Also apparently sedum needs watering and fertilizing, with no access that is a problem The zinc is also a major problem, it was apparently installed wrongly around the velux windows, with oodles of silicone used to seal instead of forming the zinc properly. Five years on, silicone ages, windows leak. Needs the entire zinc roof removing and re-installing.
Clever architects need clever builders, or their cleverness is in vain.
Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:10 pm
One of the thatched cottages near me has an equally thatched fox on the roof. How dya feel about that Demo.
AIUI that's likely to be the thatcher's mark that shows he did the roof.
I thought that too - but apparently not, at least that's what the master thatcher said when we had him round to inspect our place last year. IIRC he said it's up to the owners if they want anything, and he'd then find someone to make the thing.
Our first neighbours a straw pheasant on the roof which was a gift from a friend when they moved into the house. They took the thing with them when they moved out! (They weren't even going to another thatched house iirc)
Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:10 pm
One of the thatched cottages near me has an equally thatched fox on the roof. How dya feel about that Demo.
My folks have a (fairly) new build thatched cottage. It needed some remedial work as it must be >20 years old now and, while they were about it, commissioned the thatcher-bloke to add a straw pheasant to the apex.
The local crows, of which there are masses, spent a happy few months pulling it to bits for their nests and now it looks like an oven-ready chicken.
