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P ROJ ECTS IN: . KILKENN Y . A NTRIM . KERRY . FERM ANAG H . DONEGAL A ND MORE ...

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BUILDING METHODS YOUR 32 PAGE GUIDE TO CHOO SING THE RIGHT WAY TO BUILD YOUR HOUSE

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EDITOR'S LETTER

Astrid Madsen - Editor astrid.madsen@selfbuild.ie

ew Year, New Lockdown.

As Selfbuild went to print the ROI government announced the closure of construction sites, including self-builds.

The only exception is for those that are “nearing completion” so the house pretty much needs to be built. In NI, activity can continue with safety procedures in place.

Any delay seems endless when you are planning to break ground, or if you are trying to get the house weathertight. But in the grand scheme of things, waiting for the window

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order to show up could set you back just as much.

Still, it’s anyone’s guess whether this second lockdown will be as short lived for the construction industry as the one in March 2020. And will the future be one with vaccination cards to access sites, a type of Covide safe pass?

At the end of the day, there’s no doubt selfbuilders will continue to do what they do best – build quality homes for their families and help alleviate the housing shortage.

Selfbuild Guide

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P ROJEC TS I N : . K I LK EN N Y . AN T R I M . K ER RY . FER M AN AG H . D O N EGAL AN D M O R E. . .

Your guide to what building methods are open to you, from the more traditional to the latest modern methods available on the Irish market today.

Stay safe and happy building!

COVER PHOTO Paul Doherty

SELFBUILD.IE

99 Selfbuild Guide

Dream it . Do it . Live it

BUILDING METHODS YO U R 3 2 PAG E G U I DE TO C H O O S I NG T H E R I G H T WAY TO BU I L D YO U R H O U S E

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ALL IRELAND BEST SELLING MAGAZINE FOR SELF-BUILDERS AND HOME IMPROVERS

EDITOR Astrid Madsen astrid.madsen@selfbuild.ie

MARKETING Calum Lennon calum.lennon@selfbuild.ie SUBSCRIPTIONS Becca Wilgar becca.wilgar@selfbuild.ie BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Niamh Whelan niamh.whelan@selfbuild.ie ADVERTISING SALES David Corry david.corry@selfbuild.ie

Maria Varela maria.varela@selfbuild.ie ACCOUNTS Karen Kelly karen.kelly@selfbuild.ie

100 Overview of

the building

methods open

to you.

SALES DIRECTOR Mark Duffin mark.duffin@selfbuild.ie

102 Concrete construction

MANAGING DIRECTOR Brian Corry brian.corry@selfbuild.ie

DESIGN Myles McCann myles.mccann@selfbuild.ie

Nicola Delacour-Dunne nicola.delacour@selfbuild.ie

CHAIRMAN Clive Corry clive.corry@selfbuild.ie

Shannon Quinn shannon.quinn@selfbuild.ie

Lisa Killen lisa.killen@selfbuild.ie

DISTRIBUTION EM News Distribution Ltd

108 Timber frame construction 122 Modern

structural methods 120 Other building methods

The publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions nor for the accuracy of information reproduced. Where opinions may be given, these are personal and based upon the best information to hand.

At all times readers are advised to seek the appropriate professional advice. Copyright: all rights reserved.

4 / SE L F B U ILD / S P R I N G 2021

115 Solutions

for thermal bridging 128 PROJECT:

Building the dream

CONTENTS

Projects Learn from other self-builders all over the island of Ireland who have built new or renovated their home.

20 Going solo

Kieran and Anita McGrath built their home a decade ago to current energy standards.

Find out what they would change about their choices.

32 Guided by fate

Paul and Diane Gates knocked down a derelict house to build from scratch. The resulting L shaped design has delivered everything they wanted from a home.

68 44 The 80/20 rule

Mark and Elaine Coleman’s guiding principle throughout their DIY renovation project was to get 80 per cent of what they wanted at 20 per cent the cost.

Advice 89 Top 5 tips to survive self-building

Things you need to know before you take on your home building project.

90 When the boat starts to leak How to prevent disputes and what to do when they arise.

92 Introducing….

Selfbuild+

Everything you need to know about self-building, all in the one place.

96 Solicitors

What they do and how they can help on your self-build.

56 Victorian Triumph

Catherine and Gavin Gracey’s renovation project includes a stunning new kitchen extension.

97 PI Insurance

Building professional such as architectural designers and engineers must have insurance; here’s what to check for.

68 Picture perfect

How Paul and Brodie Doherty brought their photography skills to their new build project.

98 Spring Fizz

Spring divisions will bulk up your borders and regenerate old tired plants; find out how to do it.

120 Selfbuild Live Belfast Our live events are back with a bang! Find out about our June open air event at the Titanic Exhibition Centre.

56

78 The hobbit house

Building an underground house isn’t for the faint hearted but serial self-builders Anne and Paul Dyer weren’t afraid to take on the challenge.

SELFBUILD: THE ALL-IRELAND All articles equally cover the 32 counties; when we refer to the Republic of Ireland the abbreviation is ROI. For Northern Ireland it’s NI. SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 5

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NEWS . ANALYSIS . PRODUCTS . REVIEWS

Shortages lead to price hikes

image: Freepik.com

Builder’s providers and small to medium sized contractors warn of price increases as the renovation market continues to boom.

irst came the timber shortages, mostly due to local forestry management issues, now all construction materials are feeling the pinch. According to the Sunday Business Post, McMahons Builders Providers sent a letter to ROI developers in December to warn them of price hikes on building materials.

The construction supplier expects increases of between 3 and 15 per cent on key building materials from the start of 2021.

In the UK, small builders are reporting a rise in prices too. The Federation of Master Builders’ Trade Survey for Q3 2020 shows 87 per cent of builders reported an increase in material costs up from 78 per cent in the summer.

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FMB members have faced rolling shortages of key building materials such as timber, plaster, and roof tiles, with some plastics and appliances now also in short supply, warned the FMB’s chief executive.

The survey also showed one in three builders struggled to hire bricklayers and one in four had trouble finding carpenters.

While only 39 per cent of builders reported a rise in workload, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland were much more positive than their English counterparts about the level of construction activity. House building was also down but repair and maintenance showed a significant jump, with 22 per cent more enquiries.

Call to make knotweed survey mandatory A Mayo councillor has called for the planning authorities to make Japanese knotweed surveys mandatory for self-build sites, reports the Connaught Telegraph. Councillor Cyril Burke made the suggestion at a roads committee, stating an early survey could save homeowners thousands of euros in remediation costs. Knotweed is a plant that can cause damage to foundations.

Another committee member, John O’Malley, who recently questioned the money being spent by the council on dealing with knotweed, said spraying seemed to contain the plant. Councillor Burke said his information was that if the plant is touched, it takes off again.

More delays for pyrite homes Homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks are starting to avail of the ROI government's remedial grant scheme, which is capped at €275,000, or 90 per cent of the cost of the works.

The grant took over a year and a half to get off the ground after the ROI Dept of Housing announced how much they were allocating to it. Many homes must be knocked down and rebuilt, however the Connaught Telegraph reports these rebuilds now require planning permission, leading to further delays and need for rental accommodation. Meanwhile a new pyrite action group in Clare has been formed, looking for homeowners in that county to be allowed into the remediation scheme currently applicable in Donegal and Mayo.

SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 7

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NEWS

Home improvement grants underperform Half of the contractors carrying out grant-aided energy upgrades are still not up to scratch. ustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) statistics shared with Selfbuild show grant aided contractors continue to underperform when carrying out work to upgrade Irish homes to be more energy efficient.

The Better Energy Homes scheme partly funds measures such as adding insulation but can also refer to adding heating controls or solar thermal panels. The upgrades are meant to make your home more comfortable and cheaper to heat.

Homeowners currently must choose a contractor from the SEAI’s approved contractors list to carry out the work, but have no means to check contractors’ track records.

In 2017 the SEAI introduced a colour scale to rate the contractors taking part in the Better Energy Homes grant scheme that subsidises energy upgrades for all homes built before 2006.

Contractors in the green zone have shown good performance and are low risk, in the yellow zone are a moderate risk while those in the orange zone are high risk and in the red zone, very high risk.

Once contractors are identified to be in a zone other than green, they must take demonstrable action to improve performance including eliminating repeat issues.

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Half of the Better Energy Home contractors are considered high or moderate risk.

Latest data showing how grant aided contractors fared when inspected by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

Source: SEAI

If in the orange zone, they must have moved to the green zone within the next three evaluations, i.e. within 18 months. If in the yellow zone, they must have moved to the green zone within the next two evaluations, i.e. within the next 12 months. If there is no demonstrable improvement, contractors receive a letter of deregistration and have 14 days to appeal the decision.

Any contractor identified in the red zone receives a deregistration letter pending appeal within 14 days. The contractor cannot be selected for new works but may complete ongoing works.

The good news is that the figures for 2020 are a marked improvement on those recorded in 2017, when only one third Better Energy Homes contractors were in the green zone.

The Quality Assurance and Disciplinary Procedures for contractors, which rates them on the green to red scale, include checking for compliance to technical standards and overall performance.

Vetted tradesmen on the list are registered on the basis of continued National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) certification of the products and associated methodologies the tradesman uses. The heat pump grant and the photovoltaics grant, which are available for homes built before 2011, have a separate list of contractors.

Cork City introduces new fees for renovations Cork City Council billed a home renovation project €19k in council fees, as development levies are introduced on extension projects.

Renovation projects that increase the size of a Cork City house by more than 40sqm are now imputed development levies, reports The Echo.

Most local authorities only charge development levies for new builds; these go towards infrastructure and related charges incurred by the local authority as a result of the new development. These fees can run in the thousands of euros and are determined by each local authority.

A spokesperson for City Hall told the Echo: “if someone is redeveloping their family home and increased the floor area, they don’t pay contributions on the first 40 sqm of the development but they pay development contributions on the remaining floor area of the development,” The Echo reports the change was voted in by councillors as part of an amended Development Contribution Scheme and Supplementary Development Contribution Scheme for 2020-2022. However, it is understood this change was not highlighted to councillors at the time.

Prior to September 14, people looking to increase the floor area of their home paid no contributions, says The Echo.

The paper also shares the story of one individual who planned to gut his family home (keep the façade and rebuild the internal structure) but would have had to pay €16,442.19 as a general contribution, and an additional €3,113.17 as part of the supplementary scheme to Cork City Council.

Payment within a year of commencement would result in a 20 per cent discount, but if he had received planning permission before September 14, he would not be facing that cost at all.

S PR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 9

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NEWS

One-off housing under fire

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Framework] policy framework and policy objectives. This review will examine and further detail future social need criteria that may be included in revised Rural Housing Guidelines - that will be prepared and subsequently issued to inform local authority development plan provisions.”

At the time of the publication of the National Planning Framework, the government committed to continuing the practice of oneoff housing in the countryside. The press office told Selfbuild: “Similar to the previous National Spatial Strategy, the NPF seeks to protect rural areas from excessive urban based demand for housing in the open countryside by identifying that a social or economic need be demonstrated by applicants for housing provision in certain rural areas. Importantly, the NPF provides an updated framework within which to clarify planning policy with regard to rural areas, including defining appropriate social need criteria. Particular language, i.e. Gaeltacht communities, that are in need of support and protection will be considered under the social need framework indicated.”

Meanwhile, Kerry musician Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich has secured planning permission to build a modest home for himself through an appeal, (see Selfbuild magazine Summer 2020), after 15 years of wrangling with the planners, despite being a local himself in a Gaeltacht area.

The press office also said they had no updates as to when or how the promised Serviced Sites scheme would operate, which will allow local authorities to sell sites, ready for connection to utilities, at an affordable price to self-builders.

sofology.co.uk

eath County Council is the latest local authority to consider further restrictions on building in the countryside.

The Meath Chronicle reports the county council is proposing to restrict applications to build a one-off house in the countryside to those owning at least 15 acres of land. The council is currently updating its County Development Plan to cover the 20212027 period, and is at the draft phase. The final version is expected to be published this August.

Each local authority in ROI puts together its own development plans – County Development Plans or Local Area Plans depending on the size of the area. The plans include zoning guidelines and general guiding principles to ensure sustainable development.

County Development Plans justify why you can or can’t be granted planning permission to build a house, and take guidance from the Department of Housing’s 2005 Rural Housing Planning Guidelines which in turn allow for locals only rules.

The locals only rules, or provisions that only allow people from that specific area to build a new house (definitions vary by council), have been challenged by the European Commission.

Ireland has since vowed to change the 2005 guidelines.

But despite assurances from the government that the guidelines would be updated, there is still no clarity as to when the changes will be made or what they will entail.

The Department of Housing’s press office could not confirm a timeline for changes at the time of going to print, sending the following statement: “the Department is undertaking a review of the 2005 guidelines to update them in line with the [2018 National Planning

bridgman.co.uk

County Development Plan revisions make building in the countryside more difficult in ROI; Department of Housing does not commit to clear timeline for changes to locals only rules.

Employer built homes National media reported on the story of three families in Co Kerry moving into new homes built for them on a not-forprofit basis by the owners of Walsh Colour Print and Educate.ie in Co Kerry.

Tony and Patricia Walsh sought planning permission for the houses in 2017 on a site owned by Walsh Colour Print at Clonaugh, which can accommodate up to 70 houses, with 20 set aside for staff. They were motivated to develop houses for their staff after they heard of the employees’ difficulties in trying to buy a home for themselves, due to high rental costs.

Each house is 1,000 square feet and is expected to attract an A energy rating.

The three houses were sold for €150,000 each with independent property sources telling RTÉ News that the selling price was more than €30,000 below market value.

SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 11

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NEWS

Self-builds back in lockdown

Avg cost of new builds 230k Local authorities are building social housing on average for €230,000, according to review by the ROI Department of Expenditure and Reform.

Self-builders in ROI are once again asked to lock up building sites in a bid to stop the spread A self-build of Covid-19, but figures show the coronavirus drama is not having as negative an impact on It’s not often that a self-build is the topic of a movie, but it seems a new film made construction as originally feared. here in Ireland has grasped the nettle ost self-builders in ROI stopped construction on January 8th 2021 as all non essential construction sites shut their doors. Sole traders, such a plumbers, glazers and electricians, will only work on an emergency call-out basis to existing homes and businesses.

Essential construction projects that are exempt include housing adaptation grants, if the homeowners are happy to allow the tradesmen in to carry out the work.

The NI Executive, meanwhile, has decided to keep construction sites open despite having entered a lockdown of its own on December 26th 2020 for a period of six weeks.

Meanwhile, the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) reports mortgage approvals are the highest they have been in a decade, with the average amount lent by banks increasing by 5 per cent to €250,000 –

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indicating price inflation.

The BPFI also warned housing supply won’t match demand until at least end of 2023, even though housing completions started to recover towards the end of 2020. “Given the severe restrictions during the second quarter of the year as well as ongoing measures on construction sites, completion numbers are likely to be much better than early estimates back in April/May,” read the BPFI third quarter report.

The BPFI expects 20,000 units to be built in 2020, which compares to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) forecast that Ireland will need 28,000 new homes every year for the next thirty years.

Third quarter planning permissions also recorded growth, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Is your house design as eco-friendly as you think?

and shed light on the housing system.

“Herself” is an Irish drama chronicling the struggle of a young mum to provide her two young daughters with a warm, safe, happy home to grow up in.

When it becomes clear that the local council won’t provide that home, she decides to build it herself from scratch with the help of those around her. Received with great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, the movie is due to be released in Irish theatres some time in 2021 pending the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd.

Meanwhile RTÉ is looking for selfbuilders to share their story for a new TV show; email buildyourown@motive.ie for more info.

The Irish Green Building Council has launched a campaign to tackle the whole life environmental impact of buildings, in a bid to think beyond the energy we use to heat and light our homes.

Building an eco-friendly home can mean different things to different people; in most cases though it has to do with making sure the house requires very little energy to run, or even produces more energy than it needs.

However these “operational emissions” are only part of the picture. There are other environmental impacts to consider, including the manufacturing, transportation, construction, and end-of-life phases of built assets – often called embodied emissions – which account for around 11 per cent of all

global greenhouse gases.

And so, on the five-year anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) launched a campaign to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment across its whole life cycle.

As part of #BuildingLife, the trade body plans to bring together representatives from across the sector to produce a science-based and industry-backed national decarbonisation roadmap for the built environment.

Minecraft design The Irish Mirror reports that Strictly Come Dancing star HRVY revealed on Instagram that he is in the process of self-building, stating: “Fun fact: I built my house on Minecraft and then showed the architect.”

SPR INGING 2021 / S/ELSFEL BU IL DIL/D13 S PR 2021 F BU / 7

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NEWS

PANDEMIC ARCHITECTURE

How disease influences design

Marion McGarry @marion_mcgarry

Many elements of urban planning, architecture and interior design have historically risen out of fear of disease. With Covid-19, a focus on ventilation may become ever more prevalent, but that isn’t anything new, as Marion McGarry finds out as she evaluates the lasting influence of two previous pandemics. here was no known cure for cholera when the first pandemic hit the western hemisphere in 1832, and as the wealthy were not immune, there was an urgency towards obtaining a solution. At the time the scientific community subscribed to miasma theory, which meant they thought the disease was airborne and ultimately caused by smells.

The disease was actually waterborne, caused by a bacterium, a fact not discovered until later in the century but as long as miasmic theory held sway, the emphasis was on clean air in cities. And so we have cholera to thank for New York’s Central Park, which was built after the city’s second outbreak.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, as the cholera threat abated in the west, there was a growing understanding of the cause of the disease and a fearful acceptance of germ theory. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19 and the ongoing occurrence of tuberculosis prior to the development of antibiotics in the mid 20th century, further fueled a growing anxiety about hygiene.

These concerns are reflected in interiors and furniture, particularly in early Modern architecture, and have had a lasting influence on domestic interior design.

Where Victorian interiors featured overstuffed furniture and decoration that tended to be difficult to keep clean, Modern designers were concerned with function rather than ornament, and their interiors were dominated with a whiteness and tendency toward easily cleaned surfaces that we would call clinical today.

The Frankfurt Kitchen (1926) designed for a housing development by architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, is regarded as the forerunner of modern fitted kitchens. It was designed for efficiency and workflow, but also took in contemporary theories about hygiene and separated the process of cooking and eating.

The architect Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye is

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Modernist designs represented a departure from Victorian interiors, which were dominated by hard to clean, overstuffed furniture. Pictured here LeCorbusier's basin at Villa Savoye.

Villa Savoye

Paimio Sanitorum chair design.

a famous Modernist house built for a wealthy couple in 1931. Known as one of Le Corbusier’s white villas, it features open plan interiors, large windows that allow in natural light and easy access to fresh air.

The fitted and iconic freestanding furniture was designed with little decoration from easy to clean materials. Driving home the hygiene message, the first thing you encounter upon entering the house is a wash hand basin

standing in the middle of the floor.

Many have commented over the years how this appears as a sort of artistic statement by the architect. It was in fact a product of Le Corbusier’s obsession with hygiene, function and the idea of a house being a “machine for living in”: it visually invited visitors to immediately wash their hands.

In the 1930s in Finland there was huge loss of life due to TB which set the context for the building of the Paimio Sanitorium in 1933, designed by husband and wife architects Alvar and Aino Aalto.

Initially the Aaltos produced furniture in materials the other Modernists favoured, such as tubular steel but they decided that birch plywood suited the convalescent Paimio Sanatorium Chair (1931) better, designed to seat the patient in a position to optimise breathing.

Along with Le Corbusier’s Chaise Longue, conceived for Villa Savoye, the chairs are both icons of design and are still available to buy today.

SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 15

C O M PA N Y N E W S

No strings attached Getting advice from an architect is worth its weight in gold, whether you want a second opinion on your drawings or have bought a site with plans already approved that don’t quite suit your needs. You could even be thinking of buying a house and would like advice on extending or making alterations before making an offer.

However, booking that initial consultation can seem daunting. The cost of the service may not always be clear either, which is why the award-winning architects behind 2020 Architecture have launched easy to book Design Review Consultations.

The 45 minute online consultation will check your current layout and advise on any areas for improvement. You can also ask any self-build related questions, about any aspect of the process from purchasing the site, right through to completion.

Simply book your slot online on 2020architects.co.uk/design-review, pay £145 and upload your plans. The team will review your drawings and prepare a list of recommendations; then at your chosen time they will walk you through their suggestions and answer your questions.

BOOK REVIEW

Sell High Sell Fast For those looking to release equity from their existing home to self-build, now is by all accounts a good time to sell. Sell High Sell Fast brings together the advice of home stager Elaine Penhaul to help you maximise your investment.

The alternative title for this book says it all: How to sell your home for the best possible price, in the quickest time possible. Tips are laid out in a clear and concise manner and examples of what has and hasn’t worked for Penhaul’s staging company are peppered throughout, driving the point home that each property really is unique and that a one size fits all approach only works for generalities.

As with most things, staging your home mostly has to do with the preparation, starting with identifying who is most likely to buy your house at the right price.

Although some images would have been helpful, the snappy writing and easy to read layout make up for the lack of visuals.

Sell High, Sell Fast by Elaine Penhaul, ISBN 9781781334782, 168 pages B&W, £11.99, rethinkpress.com

Get the merch Self-builders who project manage their build have their local builder’s merchant on speed dial. This is the place to buy building supplies, and in some cases bathroom and floor finishes too. It’s also where you will get materials you need at short notice.

Perhaps because of this business model, builder’s merchants wouldn’t normally allow you to buy from their website. In comes Haldane Fisher which has spent the past year and a half working on a new e-commerce platform, launched during the pandemic.

David Haldane, Managing Director, explains: “Our research has shown this new website will be invaluable to self-builders and 1 6 / SE LF B U ILD / S P R I N G 2021

the general renovation, maintenance and home improvement market. The ability to research products, technical information, prices and availability from the comfort of your own home is more important now than ever before.”

With 19 branches across the UK and Ireland, Haldane Fisher now also allows you to apply for your self-build account online to avail of trade discounts and manage orders and deliveries.

Visit haldanefisher.com for more information.

C O M PA N Y N E W S

Modern living BuildWright manufacture and build concrete modular homes that deliver speed, certainty and convenience to self-builders across Ireland. To add to the convenience of their offering, they have just launched a new website and a fresh brand identity.

As part of The Wright Group, this familyrun business started in 1949 supplying quarry stone to the construction industry.

Before long, they expanded their offering into new geographical markets and construction sectors.

LBS has it covered

Natural slate is one of the oldest and most traditional forms of roofing, and for those in the market for them there’s great news.

Lagan Building Solutions (LBS), a leading specialist supplier of Natural Slate, Clay and Stone products, that famously supplies slates

from the Penrhyn quarry in Wales, has now become Ireland’s exclusive distributor of Glendyne natural slates.

Glendyne are excellent quality roofing slates procured from the last remaining slate quarry operating in Canada. Renowned throughout the world for their durability, they are covered by a quarry-backed 75 year guarantee. And being one of the most consistent slates available, they require minimal grading.

Smooth, clean and attractive, the bluegrey slate has a very similar appearance to slates from the Oakley quarry in North Wales.

They are available in the imperial size of 20”x12” similar to old Welsh slate, and lend themselves well to heritage projects but also suit a wide range of new contemporary designs.

LBSproducts.com info@LBSproducts.com

Polished performance With the ongoing skills shortage and housing crisis, the team spotted an opportunity for a new way of building. In 2018, the BuildWright system was born.

Bringing together all the benefits of concrete homes with that of 3D modular construction.

After successfully establishing themselves in the self-build industry, they decided to develop a fresh identity to match their modern approach to building. Their new identity is aspirational and modern while retaining the strength of the BuildWright name.

Find out more: BuildWright.ie The chic, durable and popular alternative to natural stone flooring is polished concrete, as it provides thermal mass (acts as a storage heater) and looks the part. But to get the ultimate results it’s essential that the supplier, the layer and the polisher work in harmony.

Enter specialist concrete supplier RTU who precision manufactures Zircon, the exciting new hardwearing, seamless and nonslip decorative concrete floor product, for a guaranteed finish. Not only does it act as the finished floor, it replaces the levelling screed and encapsulates the underfloor heating pipes.

Whether your style is minimalist, rustic or contemporary, Zircon is available in five colours which can be polished in one of three ways: a deep grind for a full marbled effect, a light grind to show some aggregate, or a polish to show no aggregate at all. General vacuuming and mopping is all it takes to keep its lustre; after several years the floor can be repolished to bring back its sheen.

Zircon is supplied by RTU, and installed

by RTU approved installers, to ensure a quality finished product. rtu.co.uk SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 17

When Self Build becomes a Team Effort

Advert

Xtratherm Technical is now offering you free, friendly 1-2-1 advice as part of our Xi Platinum Service.

Our tech team have been involved in Self Build for over 30 years and have discussed every issue that you’re now asking yourself. What insulation? Passive or NZEB? Passive Foundations? How Airtight? What renewables? Can I have a stove? Can I add a cat flap?

We’ll look at your plans, do the calcs, and complete a DEAP Energy calculation for you as guidance. Then in your time, by phone or online, we’ll discuss ways of achieving an affordable ‘A’ Rated home that suits you.

There’s 8 of us, all technical, all local and all friendly to chat to – and we’ve been involved with more self build projects than most. If you speak to Francis, don’t ask about the cat flap – he’s a doggie person.

Xtratherm’s free, friendly 1-2-1 Self Build Advice Service - Let’s Keep Talking.

Contact the team who can help you with your project +353 (0) 46 906 6050

xtratherm.ie

Projects SPRING 2021

NEW BUILDS

32

RENOVATIONS . EXTENSIONS

Guided by fate

L shaped house built around the views.

56 44 20

Going solo

Built a decade ago, this energy efficient home stands up to the test of time.

Victorian triumph A kitchen extension and attic conversion project.

The 80/20 rule

A hand-on, cost effective DIY renovation project.

68 Picture perfect 78 The hobbit house Nestled in the woods, this house was built to preserve the landscape.

An underground house with a bee and butterfly friendly roof.

See your home featured in Selfbuild magazine by emailing info@selfbuild.ie More photos of these projects available on selfbuild.ie SPR ING 2021 / S EL F BU IL D / 19