"Mike Mitchell" wrote in message
...

Okay, here's the story. I am now considering a property in
Lincolnshire. This is a very, very old cottage, at least 150 years, I
reckon. The setting is isolated and idyllic. But I made some enquiries
from the agent, who told me that the building had been underpinned at
the rear some years ago. I have not yet visited the property.

Some questions:

Buildings of that era had no foundations, true?

Some did, but shallow.

Does underpinning cure, or postpone, a problem?

Mostly it cures it if done properly.

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.
Absolutely bog-standard, but well constructed,
with cavity walls, solid internal walls, at least
downstairs, lots of insulation, quality
windows and doors, floorboards instead of chipboard.
In effect, what would the building cost be for
a slighlty better than "council house"
design? £60,000? £80,000? This has to be for
the finished habitable, product.

Go timber framed with external clad brick. Having solid blocks and bricks
and high insulation is very expensive and entails very thick walls. Give
the house an eco tag and the planners will be more favourable....see below
for the a guide in building a house

If house has stood anyway for 150 years,
it's likely to remain for a
good few years yet, true?

No. The longer it is there the closer it is to falling down.

A house to the specs bleow can be built for approx 80-100K depending on what
input you give yourself.

The Building Structu

- A light framed superinsulated structure (Minimum of 400mm of Warmcell
spay-in cellulous insulation in the roof, 250-300mm in the walls, heavy foam
in the floor if a concrete slab). Have Warmcell in internal walls so as to
give sound insulation - it is v. good at this.
- Face the house south to capture passive solar energy.
- Calculate the pitch of the roof for maximum insulation at your latitude.
- Calculate the roof overhangs to keep the sun off the windows and walls in
summer.
- Have the north side with few windows.
- Triple glazed with low "e" glass.
- Eliminate thermal bridges. These tend to be where the walls meet the
ground and the roof, or one material meets another. Use nylon tie bars if
cladding in brick
- Use SIP panels or TJI "I" beams. The void in the "I" beams can be filled
with Warmcell cellulous insulation (re-cycled newspaper). The Warmcell makes
the structure air-tight.
- Have all of the south facing roof being a solar panel heating water from
the sun. That is a large surface generating much heat.
- Could have a full width conservatory on the south side. Better if full
width and full height. This will help but not essential. Nice to have
though as bedrooms could have a balcony opening into the conservatory and
you can have coffee on the balcony in January.
- No letterbox in front door. All doors heavily insulated and sealed (the
Swedes do the best doors).
- Have a study for home working.

Heating, Vent, Thermal Storage:

- Store the heat in a large thermal store, which would have to be sized to
suit. Better have a battery of small cylinders, so if one leaks it is an
easy and cheap job of replacing.
- The heavy thermal stores can be at ground level. They could even be in a
separate building with superinsulted underground pipes between it and the
house if need be. The thermal store should hold enough energy to heat the
building over 3 or 4 cloudy days.
- Use "very" low temperature underfloor heating, which means lots of
underfloor pipes.
- In winter not a lot of very hot water will be generated, but hot enough
for very low temp underfloor heating.
- This low temperature water can act as a preheat for DHW.
- If hot water is generated, hot enough for domestic hot water, then this
water should be suitably stored for ready use rather than merging into a
large low temperature water store.
- The controls will be off the shelf and all be using the odd pump here and
there.
- A backup heat source can be incorporated when cloudy days extend over 3 or
4 days.
- The water system is understandable by any intelligent plumber.
- As underfloor heating is being used, best have an extract only vent
system. Heat recovery is expensive. The thermal store should store enough
energy for the heating system to compensate for vent losses.

Water Reclamation:

- There are large water tanks that fill from the roof available ready made.
The BENELUX countries have these as standard in new builds.
- The water tank is under the garden.
- The water is used to water the garden and flush toilets, reducing water
consumption drastically.

PV Cell:

- Don't bother as they are still super expensive with very long payback
times. If the house done as above then little electricity will be used.

Low Energy Appliance:

- These tend to be German like AEG, etc. Find out which of these is the
most economical in energy and water consumption and put these in the spec.

Comms:

- Wire the place out in CAT 5 to accommodate computers and home working.

The above is the basic concept. Then, depending on site, size of house, etc,
it is a matter of applying numbers to size up the thermals store, heat loss,
How much energy the solar roof will generate, sizing a "very" low temp
underfloor heating system, etc.

Look at this book:
Building with Strucutural Insulated Panels (SIPs): Strength and Energy
Efficiency Through Structural Panel Construction
By Michael Morley
ISBN: 1561583510

Synopsis
Structural insulated panels are sandwiches of foam insulation between two
sheets of fibreboard or plywood, and are used to build walls, roofs and
floors in all kinds of modern buildings: instead of three components - a
frame, insulation and sheathing - SIP panels are all three things and come
ready to install. SIP- constructed buildings are vastly more efficient,
quicker to build, stronger, quieter and more draught-free than older
post-war building systems. Taps into a huge and growing self-build market
which is generally only served by technical books.; Tips and information on
this highly efficient building material from an expert builder who
specialises in structural insulated panel construction. Packed with 180
colour photographs and 40 drawings.; Takes the reader through the entire
process of building a panel-constructed house, from planning and estimating,
ordering, storage and handling to construction.

Some SIP companies:
http://www.bpac.co.uk
http://www.sipltd.com
http://www.vencel.co.uk
http://www.tekhaus.kingspan.com
http://www.opstalan.nl
http://www.redex.nl
http://www.isobouw.nl
http://www.vencel.co.uk

Look at "I" beams:
http://www.masonite-beams.se