We are headed over to celebrate my Mums 60th and to check out the land we have purchased. While we are away we have house sitters coming to look after the animals.
We will be making some plans about building a house and setting up the property. It will be another year or so before we move but we are starting to plan for the move.
At this stage we are looking at building a straw bale home and I have been working on some plans. Hubby's dad is a retired architect and he and my mother in law are coming over as well. They will spend a few days with us then heading off to do some sightseeing on their own. Hubby's dad will help us design a house so the stage we are at now is working out exactly what we want.
I would be interested in hearing about your experience if you have built a house before. Any tips for us in this early planning stage?
Wow, how exciting for you, it will be like living in a giant "chilly bin" !!!!! you will be so snug and warm.
ReplyDeleteThere are some straw bale houses on "Grand Designs" from the ABC show, you may be able to bring them up on your computer.
Very exciting indeed! I would love a bit of NZ time. Imagine being able to walk in the long grass without terror...
ReplyDeleteOh I would love a straw bale house! *sigh* How wonderful to begin the journey! You must be so excited.
ReplyDeleteWow, how exciting Fiona. What an adventure it will be for you both. Sorry, I don't have any ideas for you on building. My only suggestion is to put mostly drawers in your kitchen instead of cupboards under benches, so much easier to get to things instead of reaching right into the back of the cupboard. Can't wait to see your photos once you start building. Good luck!
ReplyDeletelooking forward to hearing about building a straw house if you plan to go that way!
ReplyDeleteExciting! Lucky that you know an architect too :) We had a look at rammed earth, but we couldn't decide on the floor plan. Then we found our removal house, not completely ideal, but easier than making decisions! From the small amount of research I did, a good point I saw was to have thermal mass as well as the insulation (straw bale), so a nice big concrete slab etc could do that for you. I'm sure your architect will be able to suggest something.
ReplyDeleteWow. What an exciting time ahead for you.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, did you know you got a mention here.
http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/blogs.html
Take care
This is exciting, Fiona!
ReplyDeleteWe built our own straw bale house and we love it. It really is cool in summer and warm in winter. We also have straw stuffed internal walls that are also rendered which keeps the earthen look of the straw bale house. That also contributes to thermal mass and insulative qualities.
As we built our house ourselves, it gave us the freedom to make a few little changes as we went. We purchased much of the fixtures and fittings online, from eBay and demolition yards which saved us alot of money and has resulted in a quirky little house that we love.