'modern' cottage-can I make one?

[middi]

This is the problem though, does the government safeguard peoples back gardens or does it make more land available for the sprawl of housing ?

My guess is that they sit on the fence and chisel away in both direction.

Well, that way they willl always maintain some friends.

As to pretty villages and lovely gardens, it is only in the last few decades that they have become to be admired by the masses, the majority would like to live in one, or have a home in one , with preferably no more housing allowed.

I think it is a brilliant idea from a short sighted selfish point of view.

Villages need to be regenerated with discrete and appropriate affordable housing to keep them alive for future generations.

It is a question of foresight to achieve the right balance.

The same villages full of dirt roads, cow dung, open sewers and so on , were full of life before 50 years ago, the pretty gardens were full of vegetables not wisterias roses and daffodils.

It has proved that we manipulate our surroundings according to the perception and our needs.

The NIMBY brigade has the right to be there, it is part of the equation.

 

[jess marley]

I would very much like to not build on it too, after all, we bought the house because it was in town but still had a sizable garden with no intention of using the p.p, dreaming of veg plots and chickens etc... but pressure from an adjacent road may well increase leaving us with no option financially BUT to build if I can't bring the old house back from road-blight hell.
Ironically, most of the traffic passing our door is headed out of town to the surrounding countryside, full of barn conversions and pricey cottages all with loads of land only reachable by bloody car.

 

[middi]

" but pressure from an adjacent road may well increase and leave us with no option financially".

Jess, I didnt realise you paid for cars going past you house. :wink:

 

[jess marley]

I pay all day, especially at rush hour.

 

[jess marley]

What I'd like to do, if it's possible, would be to extend the old house in such a way that the proportion of house to road is reduced. We have access at the back too, this would re-orientate the house around a new entrance without changing the old one.
It would be a smaller project to manage and from what I can see, alternative building techniques offer me more of a chance to do the work myself and I have yet to be convinced that I couldn't do it.What worries me is that then, do I just have a bigger house suffering from road noise? Too many eggs in one basket etc.
Just thinking aloud.

 

[middi]

One minute you moan about the traffic, the next minute you want to bring the house closer to the road. I must have missed something.

If you want a loan for the build, look no further-----CONFUSED---- is the company to approach, I am sure they will understand. :wink:

 

[jess marley]

Middi, trust me, the front of the original house could not actually get any nearer the road.
[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com].

 

[Moo]

What a coincidence! Our house is in almost exactly the same situation as yours, on a busy city road. Buses, lorries, cars, motor-bikes..... you name it and it trundles past us. We don't have any double-glazing, just rattly sash windows with thinnish wobbly glass.
We also have the YMCA next door, and are on one of the main routes used by the young clubbers when they yahoo their way home late at night.

Should the noise ever reach a level that really disturbed us, we'd put in something like secondary double glazing. I'm sorry to sound curmudgeonly, but I really don't know what you're making such a fuss about.

 

[jess marley]

Moo, glad you think I'm making a fuss. Maybe others will too when we come to sell. I suppose it must just be be my sensitive nature then...
We are putting in secondary glazing, having found a firm who can fit units within the staff bead so that the shutters will still work.

 

[NT]

Yeah. I blame all those silly people who want houses to live in.

I blame a planning permission system that seeks to stop people building on perfectly suitable plots out of town. The result is spiralling house prices, an unnecessarily reduced national stock of housing (a valuable resource) and the tendencey to turn gardens into building plots, which is worse than the original problem PP was intended to solve.

Nannying as always.


NT

 

[NT]

DG / SG plus labyrinth fan ventilation is very effective against traffic noise, though not of course vibration.


NT

 

[jess marley]

N.T- I really have absolutely no idea what labryinth fan ventilation is...idiots guide please.

RE . building new property, just to make the situation clear for those who seem to think I am hatching an evil plan to chop up an ancient garden- NO.
1. My first priority is not to build on this plot at all, as I'd much rather have a large garden.
2. The plot behind the house was sold to us as possessory title only, historically probably belonging to a rather large local land-owner whose own gardens have become a car-park.
3. I was hoping, if it came to it, to build a much smaller dwelling than the one planned, not least to maintain good sized gardens for both plots, but also because there is a shortage of housing locally for young people and I thought a smaller dwelling or dwellings built in a more creative way than the usual plasterboard box way, might supply that need.
Hence my original question.

 

[Penners]

What a coincidence! Our house is in almost exactly the same situation as yours, on a busy city road. Buses, lorries, cars, motor-bikes..... you name it and it trundles past us. We don't have any double-glazing, just rattly sash windows with thinnish wobbly glass.
We also have the YMCA next door, and are on one of the main routes used by the young clubbers when they yahoo their way home late at night.

Should the noise ever reach a level that really disturbed us, we'd put in something like secondary double glazing. I'm sorry to sound curmudgeonly, but I really don't know what you're making such a fuss about.

Surely the best way to avoid being disturbed by the clubbers is to join them!

 

[NT]

quote="jess marley"

> N.T- I really have absolutely no idea what labryinth fan ventilation is...idiots guide please.

The idea is to use dg/sg to keep the noise down, and keep it closed to maintain its effectiveness. Fresh air is brought in with a fan, and over the fan sits a wooden box. The air is made to follow a labyrinthine course through the box, giving excellent noise reduction. This setup can transform noise problem properties. If fitting one I'd add HRV to the fan.


what is possessory title only?


> 3. I was hoping, if it came to it, to build a much smaller dwelling than the one planned, not least to maintain good sized gardens for both plots, but also because there is a shortage of housing locally for young people and I thought a smaller dwelling or dwellings built in a more creative way than the usual plasterboard box way, might supply that need.

I thought the house was for you. Now I'm getting a bit confused.

Straw bale is ill suited to most of the population for one simple reason. The straw has no tolerance for water, so any leak needs to be repaired immediately otherwise you'll soon have to rip out a whole section of wall to fix it. So eminently unsuitable for young people, or really anyone not prepared to diy, understand this issue with straw, and with sufficient respect for the building to keep a good eye on it. That counts 95% of the population out at least. And that will hit your property valuation quite a bit.

Re mortgages and buyers, most buyers dont want anything to do with nonstandard build tehcnologies, and this is especially true of types that are not widely recognised as being sound and adequate, such as straw bale and earth. What people think about it counts for more than what it is at sale time.

If I were building I'd use standard construction and incorporate several design bits and pieces to make it all work better. Brick and mortar will last centuries and sell well, straw will do neither. Why dont you start a thread asking for design ideas, this should be a good place to pick up lots of interesting input.


NT

 

[Nemesis]

Well, I'd be interested in a house using alternative technolgy - if I was going to buy or build something new it's what I'd be doing.

And simple earth buildings are traditional and have lasted all over the world for centuries. I can't see why properly rendered straw bale can't either. There are straw bale buildings which have been standing a considerable time without render - we had a thread not so long ago. A decent roof is the answer, maybe even a straw one!

With regard to the title - how long is it until possession absolute can be claimed?

 

[jess marley]

N.T Have you any pics of this labyrinth thingy? Where does the box fit exactly?
I take your points on the relative saleability (or not ) of straw-bale building...more research needed.
Possessory title is what the land reg' give you when you can't prove ownership but can prove possession.

Nemesis, I do agree that earthern stuctures really ought to be given more credit for longevity especially when I'm typing this from a room in a house made only of stone, slate and mud.
We have another ten years to run on the possessory.

 

[Nemesis]

Are you sure? Ten years sounds a bit odd! Is this claimed under the old or new rules?

I assume it is claimed through adverse possession?

 

[jess marley]

Yes, Nemesis, quiite sure. We've just moved in and the previous owners only got around claiming it just prior to sale, only realizing at that point that half the garden wasn't actually theirs.

 

[NT]

quote="jess marley"

> N.T Have you any pics of this labyrinth thingy?

no

> Where does the box fit exactly?

Picture a standard extractor fan, except that this one brings air in not out. Put a big wooden box over it, sealed up tight to the wall all round. Add a hole in the side of the box. Now, inside the box are many wood baffles that make the air path from fan to room go round lots of corners before emerging. Its the same principle as an old fashioned exhaust silencer, each time the air goes round a corner you get some sound absorption in the solid material plus only partial sound reflection round the corner. After many corners you get silence.


> Possessory title is what the land reg' give you when you can't prove ownership but can prove possession.

Ah, well lets hope you dont get into a legal battle with that one, lose your garden and have to pay legal costs for the privilege.


NT

 

[NT]

Well, I'd be interested in a house using alternative technolgy - if I was going to buy or build something new it's what I'd be doing.

And simple earth buildings are traditional and have lasted all over the world for centuries. I can't see why properly rendered straw bale can't either. There are straw bale buildings which have been standing a considerable time without render - we had a thread not so long ago. A decent roof is the answer, maybe even a straw one!

All quite true Nemesis... but youre not exactly the typical buyer


NT