Building Your Home

[Mike & Nicola]

Does anyone know of any building companies in and around the Wellington area? Do these houses have to be built in a specific way to accomodate the risk of earthquake (and winds)?

Sent a mail to the strawbale company Re prices - will let you know if I hear anything. They look fantastic! (And warm!!!!)

House building definitely appears to be the best way to go to get our UK creature comforts.

Mike

[Moorf]

Thanks for sites guys - I am off today to chat to some house builders so I'll report back and try and ask some of your questions.

Will also try and get them to give me solar costs.

It's weird, it's almost as if building our own house is our "last resort" - following on from a thread where someone said there were disappointed with the houses for sale - we are too - and so we always start talking about building just after we've "lost" another house

Plus, there are considerations like "which comes first, the house design or the plot"? I say this because we have looked at a few plots and had to discount them because the house wouldn't "fit" to take advantage of the views etc... *sigh* so we would either have had to change the house style we wanted or find another plot!

[Gran]

The only aspect of straw houses that would concern me would be vermin !!!

[Bubbles]

Does anyone know of a builder specialising in Hobbit holes?

Timbo,
I can give you the number of a good gynaecologist if that helps matey.


Or try this..............

http://stormbear.com/bagend2/index.php

or this,

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1305182/posts

[veronica]

The straw is supposedly enclosed completely with a clay / adobe type lining so in theory there shouldn't be vermin.

[Moorf]

http://www.sustainable-structures.com/

A NZ straw-bale home site.

[Jo and Andy]

They look sooooo cosy.

But so does your new house, Moorf.

Now all you need is the solar panels on the roof.

[eric_amanda]

Solar Panels we can help with - we have them on our house here, probably because the guy who built our house 20yrs ago had his own solar panel business!!!

They heat all our water, although we do have back up electrictiy if required, which at the moment it is. Our panels need cleaning (on the list for Eric). We have one large panel which supplies the main part of the house ie laundry, kitchen, bathroom etc the smaller one is on top of the master bedroom and supplies the ensuite and the sleepout.

I guess we will get a better picture of how they work once Eric gets round to cleaning them, but they do seem popular up here.

We have friends sho have solar heating for their pool. Their comments are that it does raise the temperature, but probably only by a couple of degrees. I guess that is better than nothing?

I have also seen that you can get solar panels to open gates instead of by electric.

We also have spring water here. We have an extra water tank that stores the spring water for us, and it is used for flushing our toilets, stock troughs and external taps!

Amanda

[Moorf]

Hmm not sure solar would work due to the position of the house within trees :?

Definitely worth investigating though - I suppose, thinking about it, they don't necessarily have to go on the roof...

[jo b]

Timbo,

you dissapoint me I though that as the fountain of all knowledge for Tauranga you would have found a house building website.

Jo