How can I calculate house size in square metres?
Asked on 29 December 2013
1 Answers

If a house’s area is given as 150 sq m, what’s included in this? Does it comprise the total area of all rooms, including garages and conservatories, or just the ground floor footprint?

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What options to change a Bradstone exterior?
Asked on 4 October 2013
1 Answers

We have a 1970 house, which has an exterior of rough cast Bradstone. We would like to change this but was told that render isn’t an option because it wouldn’t stick to the porous Bradstone. Is it possible to completely remove the Bradstone and replace it with block and render (planning accepted)? Or are there […]

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Would a self build or barn conversion be cheaper for first time buyers?
Asked on 23 September 2013
1 Answers

I have read a few posts regarding mortgages for self builds but have a few questions around barn conversions. Here’s a little bit of a background: We’re first time buyers with joint income of around £55K with around £15K deposit. Potentially we have access to free barns and land. I’d like to find out a […]

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How much will my foundations cost?
Asked on 23 August 2013
1 Answers

We are quantifying the costs for a couple of alternatives to extend our bungalow in order to decide which method is preferable. The ground slopes away and, in order to extend at the back, we would prefer to site the extension approximately 80cm lower than the level of the existing building. The foundations for the […]

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Can I lay two heat pump ground loop coils in a single trench?
Asked on 26 July 2013
4 Answers

I wish to lay collection coils for a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system. The recommendation called for 600m of collection coil in 4 trenches 150m long. If I where to widen the trench from the initial proposed 300mm to 1.2m, could I lay two coils in the same trench thereby reducing the number of […]

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What is a stage payment self build mortgage?
Asked on 16 July 2013
1 Answers

The mortgage table you regularly print in the pages of Build It magazine refers to guaranteed advance stage and arrears stage payments – what is the difference between the two?

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How can I minimise capital gains tax on a self build project?
Asked on 12 July 2013
2 Answers

This may well be a question for the “Ask the Experts” section of the magazine. Presently I am looking to purchase a plot of land in Scotland with the intention of building a house there to ultimately sell on. When it comes to the selling the house my obvious aim will be to maximise any […]

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What are the pros and cons of building with insulating concrete formwork?
Asked on 4 June 2013
0 Answers

I recently bought the July 2013 issue of Build It, in the letters section the star letter mentions an article in a previous issue about Insulated Concrete Formwork, I’ve had a look for back issues but they are all sold out. Does anyone have the list of contacts for ICF given in that article or […]

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