Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) Pics

said by patsy in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

great job building & logging the progress of the house building, kris! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> it's surely a gem for part-time own-house renovator like me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> i'm thinking of extending the back of my house & have make another room as well as bathroom (hidden camera not included <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" /> ). since my house has raised floor (by 9 feet!), i thought of making yet another room downstairs & also a nice spot for my aquaria.

plowking, go ahead & build a monumental structure! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> maybe a Dennis Dome! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

edit: as i get further & further in your pages, kris, i get more & more impressed! are u sure it's a one-man-job? incredible!

how do u do the piling for the foundation since u didn't have access to heavy machinery? & the framing of the house (especially the roof) looks like it's done professionally.

Hi Janggut,

The piles (we call them ‘stumps’ here) are simply dug into the ground. The longer the stump the deeper you have to dig the hole (at one side the stumps are 8ft high from the ground). At the bottom of each hole they sit on small square wooden 'sole plates'. All the holes were dug by hand using a spade. I think there were something like 125 of them, including the shed. The hardest part was not so much the digging (which is just donkey work) but deciding exactly where to put the holes. As the site is sloping, the layout on the ground will not match what you get up where the actual floor is. So a fair bit of fancy calculating was involved!

It was almost all done on my own, including the design work, plan drawing, glazing, painting, plastering, cabinetmaking, carpentry, roofing etc. The exceptions were the electrical wiring, which I was not allowed to do by law, and also the copper water plumbing. I was allowed to help the licenced tradesmen by fitting the switches, basins, taps etc plus I was able to do the gutter plumbing and some of the plastic work. We also had the water and electricity connected to the site early on. So I had power tools pretty much from the start.

Some tasks were tricky (like lifting the heavy ceiling beams in the lounge on my own, which took a while) but with patience and persistence it was all possible single handed. Even fitting the plasterboard to the ceiling was done solo, using little toggles of wood to support the edges as I lifted them into position. I did miss the target once though, and had a large sheet break in half as it landed on my head! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Under floor rooms are handy, as you say. I made one room underneath. It’s only about 6ft high, and has a lot of stumps going through it, but it’s entirely full of shelving and is designed purely as storage for all the crap that we accumulated over the years but can’t quite bear to throw out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Oh, and I did get one machine in too – to put the concrete septic tanks in. Too big and heavy for one guy to manage, even an ambitious nutcase like me… <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I should probably also point out that although I have no formal building qualifications this was definitely not my first attempt at building. I completely renovated (and partly rebuilt) my two previous houses. I also had the chance to work demolishing several old timber framed houses – excellent experience for seeing how the work is done.

I had to submit proper plans to the Council and I was allowed to register to build as an "owner builder". The work was subject to all the same Council inspections as a regular builder has. I also had a thick book of building rules that gave me the required timber sizes, spacings etc.

I think that you can still get an owner builder licence here, but I believe that they’ve tightened up the conditions a fair bit, as many who tried never really got the job finished.

u know, kris, u could open a new thread on this house-building topic. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

thanks for the ideas & advice. may i ask; what do u use for flooring? planks or boards? for my house, back when budget was a bit tight, we used boards though we knew planks would be better. might re-visit those later on.

well talk about laws on building, we do have that as well, only that it's very vague in what is to be used for foundation, beams, flooring, etc. worse is that it takes them officials forever to check on your aplications & stuff.

sole plates? well that is new to me. we usually use this wood we call 'bakau' (of wetland origin) as it's more resistant to water than other types of wood, for piling purposes. we usually use 6-7 of those for one foundation. the foundation itself will be cemented with the 'bakau' already embedded, i guess 6-7 feet deep. so u can say, we make our own sole plates, which is reinforced with 'bakau' wood.

I mostly used second hand tongue and grooved flooring which I got from a house being demolished. Jarrah, which is a rather lovely local wood rather like mahoganny. Under the slate flooring and fitted carpet (bedrooms, bathroom and laundry) I used waterproof chipboard sheets. Like you, needing to save money then...

A fair bit of the framing was imported timber. I can't remember exactly how to spell it but it was something like Balau and Bangkirai (whoops, I probably raped YOUR forests to build MY house... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> ) The pine for the windows came from Canada I think. We tend to call it Oregan Pine, but I think they call it Douglas Fir.

Got any pics of your house (and a PROPER picture of that beard!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

---------------
Apologies to all for hijacking this thread with all this building waffle.

well here's a few pix of my place minus pix of my house. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

1. the path that leads to the beard
2. stairs down to the front of the house
3. view from the livingroom towards the front door
4. view of the same path to my place from the other end

jag, it's like jurassic park out there...hope you have big electrified fences! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

heck, plowking, u should view it the other way round! people like me are the reason why dinosaurs are extinct. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

*janggut is an unshaven hunter*

Wow, janggut!

Beautiful pics. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

I'm green with envy at your wonderful lush surroundings. I'd love to be able to grow that sort of garden, but the soil here is terrible, and the climate isn't really right either. Well, OK, it's mainly because I'm a bone lazy gardener...

But where's the beard picture? And the house? And pics of the owners of the feet that belong to all those shoes? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All together now:

"We want the beard..."
"We want the house..."
"we want the beard..." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Janggut and Robinson Crusoe one and the same <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />, send a Mayday mate and we'll bring you back to civilisation soon enough. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

hang on to your pants, aussies, i'll put up my pix once i'm no longer camera-shy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Kindof amazing that you have internet there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> Or is it perhaps by satellite <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You're amazed that Malaysia has telephones?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

You should scuttle out a bit more often.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

no i don't have internet here at my place (please refer to pix in my previous post to not see the house). what i do is ask my friend Stevie (his real name is Stephen Hawking) to telepathically connect me to the net & hence my presence. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

should u not believe that, then i'm just a bot supposedly employed to help lynn to regulate this forum. unfortunately i find myself needs to be regulated. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

just u wait, aussies & belgies (politically incorrect belgians), i'll show u my hidden fortress. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

.....and i'll have to get out my hidden Battering Ram then!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

Doh! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> is that what you call it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

Aye...or me Pork sword. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

To make a change from house waffle and trouser jokes... here's another picture. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Not sure if the owner of the van services RX8s or just likes them, but the paint job has been cleverly done. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

i say, it's very nice, wot! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

wonder how much is the paint job though? must be exorbitant.

Is it the same on t'other side of car??