Newbie sayin hi

[handyandy]

Just a quick hello.
Ive been building an off grid home for the past year or so.Taking ages as im doing all the work myself but very satisfying!
Previously a builder who had been screwed by the banks I had no choice but to knock it on the head but luckily managed to get planning
permission on a bit of very wet ground which I kept from a previous build.
So far I have gotten the building to roof level,have a borehole down to bed rock (about 200 ft) and am currently wiring the house for
dual separate circuits,240volt and 12 volt.
Have mobile home on site which is well stocked though looks like crap!
Hoping to pick up few tips on here

[preppingsu]

Hello and welcome

[tigs]

welcome to the forum

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[i11matic1795]

Sounds interesting and quite impressive, some pictures would be cool!

[handyandy]

thanks for the welcome guys.heres few pics of progress.

before I started.house in background is one I built and sold about 8 or so years ago.


getting borehole drilled and installed


starting to dig out for foundations.no turning back now!


footings built and concrete for subfloors going in


for anyone like myself who had never bricklayed before it aint rocket science.As long as you keep the corners level and square
you cant go too far wrong.Doesnt have to be neatest in the world as it will be getting plastered over anyway!


german shepherds are known for their building supervising skills


I have kept the design to a simple rectangle to keep costs down and to keep it simple to build.
Got load of reclaimed bricks off gumtree dead cheap so used them for around the windows/doors and
to build little candle recesses!Long process when you are doing everything by yourself but if you mix a good big batch of cement
it does all day.Took me around 5 months taking it reasonably easy to build complete shell.a decent squad of brickies would put a
shell up in around a month............but id be about £8k-£10k worse off!






to date I have got the roof temporarily covered whilst hunting for cheap roof tiles.gumtree is epic for getting cheap guff!
all window/door openings were built to suit upvc windows/doors bought off gumtree.costing about 500 quid rather than 4000 quid new!
main thing is that doing all the work yourself means you save a huge amount of cash (cash I don't have!) and also you can customise
as you go!

with pure drinking water supply sorted and having a fuel source on site (peat...shitloads of it!) next jobs are to get roof tiled,solar panels
mounted,solar heaters and try and build a wind turbine!
have been cracking on with 1st fix electrics,240volt to run from genny and 12volt to run from battery bank powered by solar/wind
Managing to get free mobile home has helped a lot meaning I can crash out on site
Cost wise,normally to get to this point would have cost about £60k,i have spent about £15k
Been a long hard slog to get to this point so far but even if it take me another year or two I wont be a slave to banks etc!

...................that said.............. I need a holiday!!

[Arzosah]

You have a great four-legged supervisor there - very cute

The work is fantastic - candle sconces, and the shape of the window frames, they're absolutely gorgeous.

And I have bore hole envy

[handyandy]

ha,thanks,the mutt helps me ....by keeping out of the way!
(my pics seem to have disappeared,prob cos admin need to approve newbie posts/edits)
borehole was a necessity as water mains is about a mile away and the theivin gits quoted me £32k to get it in!!really!!
and that was about 10 years ago when I built the other house,it has borehole too with no problems.as long as you change the filter now and again
it does well.

[Arzosah]

Hi Andy, yep, you guessed right, the posts didn't appear on the forum until a mod approved - that was me

Not surprised you chose a borehole if the cost of the mains was that high whats in the filter, do you know?

Just so you're aware, the modding things continues for ten posts, but posts in the New Members section, which is where you are right now, don't count towards that total. So get on your bike, and have a cycle round, see what you like you obviously have a huge amount of knowledge around building, energy and safety too, I'd imagine.

[handyandy]

ah!im currently putting on my bicycle clips and off for a trundle around the site for a nosey!
tbh im not sure whats in the water filters,theyre just a complete unit you can buy off amazon etc.pretty cheap
and more for filtering out tiny grit etc.
environmental health come out to run a few tests if you ask them nicely.luckily this water is pure,cold and wet,just the way I like it!