Jumat, 04 Maret 2016

Here's What You'll Need to do to Build Your Home From Scratch

When it comes to looking for a new home, you have quite a few options. A lot of people like to shell out for a newer, better place and make a move. Some elect to work on the place they already have, and make modifications. But, perhaps the best way of getting a new home is to build your own from scratch. This really is the best way because it allows you to customise the place and get it exactly how you want it.

The major advantages to building your own home are that you have a little more versatility to do what you want and the cost. See, it’s so expensive to buy property these days, and for a lot of people it can never be a reality. However, building your own place can often work out significantly cheaper than buying. This is excellent for first-timers too because you will be able to work on the home and ensure you make a profit in the future. There are a few things you’ll need to know if you want to build your home from scratch, and that’s why you need to look at this list to help you moving forward.




Draw up Plans


The first thing you’re going to want to do is draw up plans for what want to do. Head over to http://www.floorplanner.com/ and use their services to try to construct some house plans. To begin with this is pretty much going to be working out the plot and size you want. The finer details you can work out at a later date. But, at this stage what you really need to know is the size. This is so you can work out what size plot you need to start building on. Now, you figure this out you’ll need to have an idea of how you want the home to look. So you might think about roughly sketching this out. You might even think about getting the plans professionally drawn up. You basically want something you can present to people with decision-making authority.

Get Permission


Once you have your plans draw up you’re going to need to look at getting planning permission. Now, this can be somewhat convoluted depending on the nature of the build itself. Now, if you want to extend on your property, you will often need planning permission. But, because you are building from scratch things are a bit different. You’ve secured the plot yourself and should have no problems building on the plot of land. However, there might be things that you are not permitted to do during the build. You’re going to have to speak to the relevant authorities about the planning permission and see if you need to get any. Figure out what you can and can’t do, and this will help make your build a lot more straightforward.

Speak to an Architect for Ideas


When you’re trying to come up with ideas for your dream home why not speak to an architect? They are experts when it comes to things like this, and can give you some great ideas. If you’re lucky enough to have an architect in the family, then you should make use of them. But you can always bring one in as a consultant, or visit a firm. Architects will be able to offer some cool design ideas and suggestions. And they will also be able to give you advice about how to integrate different things and make the home a bit more efficient and practical.

Save Up Cash


Building your own home might be cheaper than buying one outright, but it’s still not cheap. So you need to make sure you have enough cash to do what you want to do. So, if you are planning on building your own home, you need to make sure you start saving. The sooner you can get around to saving up the better. This is something you need to sit down and plan together as a family. It might take you a while to save up and get to the amount of money you want to have. So you need to make sure you start as soon as possible. You might even consider taking out a loan to help finance it as well. But you will need to cross that bridge when you eventually come to it.

Decide What You Want From Your Place


It’s also important to think about what you want to get out of your home. Because this is going to be a DIY home, you can do anything you choose. So decide how you would like it to look and what features you want to have. This is vital for the planning process so you can engineer and design the home perfectly. If you don’t know what you want from your place you’re going to run into problems because you’ll be making things up as you go along. This is often a recipe for disaster, and hardly the best way of constructing the home of your dreams.


Integrate Greener Living


Because you are building your own place you can basically do whatever you want. So, this is the perfect opportunity to integrate a greener way of life. Things like solar power and LED green lighting can be adapted into the home as you build. This is great because adapting your home to be more energy efficient can often be tricky and expensive. But, doing it as you go is going to save you plenty of cash, and won’t cost any extra work. It equips the home to be more energy-efficient as well as adding some value and visual appeal to it as well.

Security System


You’ve also got to make sure you address security as an important part of your home. It’s essential that you make changes to try to make your property more safe and secure. You have to prioritise your home security these days. And, as you’re doing a home build job you can customise your security. You’ll be able to add in whatever security system you need or want. There are so many different things you need to figure out to make the home secure. Think about adding in CCTV cameras as well as an amazing intruder alarm. You might want to fit an electric gate on the premises as well. Make security a priority and you’ll benefit from it.

Build a Garage


Think about what other features you can add to your property that will improve your life. You’ve got to consider what changes can benefit your property. And, as you are building and developing things yourself you may decide to include a garage in that design. Think about the size and shape of the garage you want to have. This may well depend on what you want to use the garage for. Take a look at http://www.garagedoorservice.com/ and choose the right kind of garage door. This is an important part of the process, and will help make your garage look at lot better.


Look to Make a Profit on the Home


It’s important to look into the future and try to think about how you can profit from your home. This might seem curious to suggest considering the fact you haven’t built it yet. But, you need to think of your home as an asset for the future. That means you’re going to need to come up with ideas that will help you make the home more valuable in the future. Your home will increase in value as the years go by, but you can make additions to improve it and add value as well. Think about going for an extension because this will add value. You also need to think about trying to make the property greener because that is going to add money as well.

Try to do a Lot Yourself


The best thing to do when you’re building your home from scratch is to try to do as much as you can yourself. You want to oversee the entire process yourself and take charge of everything. That way you can get the home exactly the way you like it. Head over to https://www.youtube.com/ and check out some ideas for building your own home. Of course, there will be elements you’re not going to be able to take care of yourself. And that means you will need to bring in professionals at some point. But, you should try to do as much as you can yourself. It’s the best way to cut costs, and to work towards getting the home of your dreams. Maybe you could make a list of the things you won’t be able to do yourself so you can prepare for that as early as possible.


Building a home from scratch has become a popular option for many people these days. And that’s why you need to make sure you decide what course of action you want to take. Buying a home can be so expensive that you may decide building one makes more sense. There’s so much more you can do with your home if you build it yourself from scratch. However, as a visit to http://www.freshome.com will show you, there are a many mistakes you’ll need to avoid. But, on the plus side, you have a blank canvas to work towards getting the home of your dreams. And that is one of the major advantages of building your own home from scratch these days. You’ll need to know how to proceed in order to build the perfect home for you.

Rabu, 02 Maret 2016

Roof Lanterns: modern design, with a long history


Roof Lanterns must be one of the most significant trends in home improvement and interior design to happen in the last few years. It is very easy to understand their appeal and increasing popularity. Roof lanterns give the interior of a modern home a welcome boost of natural light, as well as being a visually appealing new feature, from both outside and inside the building.

But because they seem to have had this huge burst in popularity in recent years, it would be easy to only think of them purely as a modern lighting solution. That is however not the case at all, roof lanterns have been a feature of great architecture since the middle ages. Many of the great renaissance churches and cathedrals still impress us today with their beautiful lantern roofs and domes. The eternally beautiful Baptistery in the heart of Florence for example features a wonderfully understated roof lantern in the centre of its breath-taking golden ceiling. And what is the iconic dome in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral but a spectacular example of what a roof lantern can add to a building.

As architectural techniques developed, roof lanterns became a popular addition to manor houses and stately homes. Vaendre Hall near Cardiff for example features a lovely lighthouse style roof lantern. Eventually, by the Victorian age, roof lanterns began to be commonplace features in more modest homes and buildings, bringing in much needed natural light into narrow corridors and dimly lit stairwells. They are a common feature on the roofs of 18th century terraces and town houses in many European cities such as Paris.

The roof lantern went out of fashion somewhat in the early twentieth century. But in the last forty years, huge developments in building materials and engineering have seen the use of glass as a major feature of modern architecture. From the now famous domed roof lantern on top of Berlin’s Reichstag building, to the Shard and Gherkin that dominate the modern London skyline, the desire for natural light is at the heart of modern building design.

The resurgence of the roof lantern as a desirable feature for ordinary homeowners was therefore perhaps inevitable. The modern Atlas aluminium roof lanterns are a great example of the best of modern day roof lantern design. At only 40mm thick, the sturdy aluminium frames have an incredibly sleek slim line look, in keeping with the desirable uncluttered look of the modern home and are designed to let the maximum amount of natural light in.

Our renaissance forbears were probably less concerned with the issues of “thermal efficiency” or “U-values” than we might be today. The modern aluminium framed roof lantern can wear its green credentials with pride. It is designed to keep the home well insulated, especially when combined with efficient double glazing (the Atlas lanterns can deliver U-values as low as 1.2-1.5 W/m2K). Furthermore, the modern roof lantern owner doesn’t have to worry about leaks, damp and wind-proofing in the same way the owner of a period home owner might. Today’s roof lanterns require very little maintenance and will easily deal with the harshest weather conditions year after year. As with so many trends and innovations, whether in architecture, product design or technology, new solutions are usually the result of taking old solutions and simply improving on them.