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woodyandluna

Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 2:25 pm Post subject:

Jill wrote:

Hi,
We have a place in brittany and our local maire will not give planning permission at the moment for such houses unfortunately, because I rather like it myself.

regards
Jill

That's a shame. Do you think it would be a no-no (or non-non!) throughout France?

Do you know of any good websites that list land for sale in France please? Google searching brings up loads!!

Interesting idea Tawny, thanks for the tip off!

Thanks,

Carl

Jill

Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 13

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 05 8:40 am Post subject:

Not all communes are the same so I believe, we wanted to try and get planning permission to erect so log cabins on our land but came up against a non,non! we explained they wernt the run of the mill log sheds but very nice expensive cabins/houses, no where near as nice as the one you have shown, still a non, non, but like I said I'm sure its not the same everywhere, I'll try and find some links for you that I used in the past.

Jill

@Calli

Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1682
Location: Galway

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 05 9:36 am Post subject:

brica wrote:

In my excitement, I forgot to mention that I was considering moving to France because land prices are so high here in the UK. Obviously, the land will still be the major investment though.

Land in UK extortionate - thats one of the reasons why we are here in Ireland. Scools and lifestyle others-would not hesitate to recommend it.
There are a few sites showing land prices just for info of course!
Many already have full planning so OPP better.

www.propertyfile.net, www.propertypartners.net
Would have supplied a link but a bit of a dinosaur here.....Makes it hard to type with these paws too..

Callie

tawny owl

Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 05 12:11 pm Post subject:
Don't run away with the idea that you're going to get a bargain there, though. House prices (and land with PP) has doubled in Ireland in the last couple of years, and it's now supposedly in third place in the world for increases in prices. Plus it's becoming a lot harder to get PP.

tawny owl

Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 4:40 pm Post subject:

tawny owl wrote:

One system I saw at the homebuilding and renovating show that was quite interesting was insulating concrete formwork done by Beco Wallform, Polarwall, Quadlock and a few others. It's basically a polystyrene brick that's used to build the actual house up to the first floor, then filled in with concrete, leaving the insulated brick in situ, and that's then clad with plasterboard or tiles on the inside and render or whatever on the outside. Thus, you basically end up with a sort of reverse cavity wall, with two layers of insulation sandwiching the building material. Now before anyone jumps on me because of the use of polystyrene and concrete, this type of building is so well insulated that energy costs are very low, and also it cuts down on some other harmful materials. Building costs are also really low (they were talking 3 grand to build a 2-bedroom house up to the roof), and it's very versatile, because the strength is all on the outside walls, thus all internal ones are stud and so it's very easy to change a basic design. See https://www.becowallform.co.uk/web/techbr.pdf for the technical details.

A house using this system was on Grand Designs last week. The owner ended up with a very interesting (and I thought quite lovely) curved house, although it seemed the architect was learning on the job, and poured the whole of the staircase tower in one hit, thus ending up with some of the blocks giving way and causing 'blow-outs', which then caused problems when the staircase was lowered into the tower. Personally, I'd have put the staircase in and built round it, but there you go. I was surprised they had so much trouble, because when I spoke to these people at the show, they said that they'd recommend trained builders, or if there weren't any in the area, they'd send their own person to supervise. They also made it very clear that only one floor at a time could be poured, to prevent exactly this problem, and that steel rods were needed for reinforcing throughout.

V. interesting though, and well worth having a look at, as it gave quite good close-ups of the system.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 5:45 pm Post subject:

tawny owl wrote:

...A house using {the Beco} system was on Grand Designs last week...

Details here
https://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/D/devon_south.html

Maybe worth remarking that More4 (Freeview, etc) is rerunning old Grand Designs programmes at 7pm weekdays, and repeated en bloc Saturday daytime. The strawbale house in France was shown last week...

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 6:02 pm Post subject:
I've seen these in CS magazine and they seem quite impressive. I'd have one here if I had the funds. IMO they are very good for the money. (20K)

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 6:39 pm Post subject:

ExilesinGalway wrote:

Land in UK extortionate - thats one of the reasons why we are here in Ireland.

An interesting thought just struck me- land prices is one of the things that a lot of people use to complain about the UK, when the main reason prices are high is because of demand- loads of people want to live here, so it must be pretty good here. On the flip side, places abroad that are cheaper can be cheap for the same (reverse) reason- so beware of where you choose if planning to move out of the area you know.

Another way around it (if staying in the UK) is to think outside the 'preferred' area & look for places that may need some long term care- developers & richer folks are less likely to be tempted by them as they are not a quick turn around & can't be made perfect overnight. If you find such a place you can soon start making friends with the neighbours by tidying it up (which makes any future developments much easier)! Especially if it has been unoccupied/in a state for a good few years.

I like the idea of these wooden homes & as they have a lot of them in Scandanavia they can't be too bad in the cold! The thing that appeals most is the speed at which they can be made water tight & the good finish that can be achieved. Also, they don't take as much moving if need be

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 05 6:43 pm Post subject:
P.S. It's probably the best home you can get for 20k (and it doesn't have wheels! )

hardworkinghippy

Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1110
Location: Bourrou South West France

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 05 7:30 am Post subject:

Brica,

I've a freind who has lived in a Finlodge for three years and the house is warm and comfortable in winter and cool in the summer and looks nice too!

The only way you could set off the building costs would be to become a builder and sell the house.

These sites will give you an idea of the price of land in different areas of France:

https://www.terrain.fr/p_liste-terrain.htm

https://achat-terrain.com/fr/annonces-liste-dep0-type_terrain1-sup4-budg0_1_0.html

Wooden construction is currently favoured by the planning departments in our area (Dordogne), but land prices here are high.

To give you a rough idea, land is currently selling at up to £30,000 for a small site with PP and available adjoining land without PP is minimum £2,000 a hectare.

Irene

tawny owl

Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 05 11:45 am Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

I like the idea of these wooden homes & as they have a lot of them in Scandanavia they can't be too bad in the cold! The thing that appeals most is the speed at which they can be made water tight & the good finish that can be achieved. Also, they don't take as much moving if need be

You need to be careful with the type of wood, though - hardwood such as oak is definitely needed in the UK. It's not the cold that's the problem, it's the damp. Scandinavia has dry, cold winters, ideal for timber houses, even if softwood, whereas the damp, mild climate of the UK is very bad for wood. Having said that, we looked at timber-frame houses at the show, and in fact, attended a talk on them, and they looked very interesting as well.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 05 12:57 pm Post subject:

tawny owl wrote:

It's not the cold that's the problem, it's the damp. Scandinavia has dry, cold winters, ideal for timber houses, even if softwood, whereas the damp, mild climate of the UK is very bad for wood.

Good point

woodyandluna

Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 05 5:37 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the input everyone. I must admit, my girlfriend and I have totally fallen in love with the idea of living in a home like this and are keen to find a way to make it possible.

UK land prices, particularly in our area (Essex) are the main barrier at the moment, but as I mentioned before we could be tempted to build one in France (thanks for the links Hippy!)

I still can't can't believe that they can be nice and cosy in the winter, but plenty of people have told me they are and after all they are used in Scandinavia, so it must be true!

I was thinking could this be classed as an ecologically friendly home? Can you get any financial help or grants for homes such as this?

Thanks,

Brica

Will

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Grenoside, Sheffield

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 05 8:09 am Post subject:

Ecology Building Society or the Co-op are good for mortgages on environmentally friendly buildings. Grants for any renewables and extra insulation might also be available, though the Government solar grants are being phased out.

Try www.clear-skies.org and the Energy Saving Trust www.est.org.uk

Wood has excellent insulation properties in itself, and kit houses generally have an above average amount of additional insulation, which is what makes them cosy.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45425
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 05 11:01 am Post subject:

brica wrote:

TCan you get any financial help or grants for homes such as this?

No apart from the very limited grants you get for solar energy etc. Planning depts don't give a monkeys about the sustainability of your project either.

Depending on budget, aspirations (amount of land), and location there are places in Essex that might have something for you, it gets markedly cheaper the other side of Colchester and out towards Maldon

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