Lego that Dream

There is a deeply engrained instinct amongst mankind and in the natural world to build something to call a home.

This starts off in our earliest years when we are comforted and reassured by being swaddled in a tightly wrapped blanket.

As toddlers there is a thrill to make a den in a cardboard box or under a bed sheet stretched between the living room armchairs. Great play value can be had from setting up home under a table in the great outdoors under a bush or in the sturdy boughs of a tree.

After moving into a brand new house that my parents had bought in 1973 the clearance and levelling of the former building site to create a back garden yielded forth enough bricks and planks to fashion a hideout that the Vietcong would have been proud of. There were no thoughts of how unstable a structure it was as a consequence of loosely laid bricks and precariously spanned and unbalanced scraps of salvaged timber. You do read about unfortunate deaths from crushing under tumbling walls so I count myself blessed to have survived such a fate.

On an Outward Bound Course in the English Lakes I had to spend a damp, cold spring night in my home made bivouac which was nothing more than clear plastic sheet held in place above my head by a straggling line of rocks on a boulder edge and at my feet by short pine branches skewered into the peaty ground. The lean-to shelter was largely ineffective against the weather being fully open at both ends. It's transparency did not really assist in trying to get to sleep.

Teenage years and the inevitable indoor lethargy that comes with it meant that the urge to build was confined to playing with Lego bricks. The 1970's version of Lego was basic in choice of brick size and detail and so far detached from the latest creations which include famous architectural landmarks such as Frank Lloyd Wright's own designs and large scale streetscapes with multi-storey shops, hotels, restaurants and municipal buildings.

I partook in all of the aforementioned pursuits and activities.

This aspect of my nurturing and upbringing certainly had an impact and influence on me because for the last 30 years the Built Environment, not so much bed sheets, boxes and plastic sheets, but out in the real world of bricks and mortar has been my career and livelihood.

I am therefore able to pass on my knowledge and experience to those who have compelling and burgeoning thoughts to take the nesting instinct to the highest possible level in building their own new home from scratch.

My best advice is just don't even think about it if any of your answers to the following questions are YES.

1) Do you currently live in a perfectly good house?
2) Are you married with dependants?
3) Do you have a full time job?
4) Are you evenings and weekends quite busy at the moment?
5) Would you knowingly jeopardise your own and your financial health?
6) Would you consider that living in a caravan for a year or more would be a backward step?

You may feel that I am being a bit ridiculous in formulating my Self-Build Affinity Test but I can validate all of the questions from having dealt with individuals who were seduced by the theory of a Grand Design but found the reality to be really something quite different.

Three specific cases come to mind amongst many others.

That first tentative sketch of what would constitute your dream house could have been a doodle on a fag packet, in the margin of a notepad during a boring business meeting or drawn in the steamy residue on a window pane when deep in thought in the car in a traffic jam.

Savour that moment. Your idea will be pure. Simplistic but beautiful in concept. It can be built and it will serve you and your family well for more than just your time on the planet.

Unfortunately, in the subsequent phase of being passed to an Architect and other meddlers all innocence, practicality and sense will evaporate.

That was certainly the reality for one Client of mine and some 10 years after digging out the foundations he has yet to move into the property. It is unfinished and he resides in the static caravan on the site as he has done for a decade when initial expectations for the build were 12 to 15 months, tops.

The main problem was in the design.

Quite a futuristic fusion of  traditional and conventional methods and materials with outrageous glass atriums, facades, ramparts, finials and parapets. Neither my client nor his experienced main contractor could make the contrasting elements join and connect together in a waterproof and weatherproof form. The impasse eventually came down to a fist fight, on the rubble strewn frontage, between the builder and the architect in a matter or professional disagreement. Things went downhill from there and to the present day have remained firmly entrenched in the valley of despair.

The motivation to self build may be out of a character trait to always achieve perfection and in every miniscule detail. This can cause a project to overrun significantly in time and costs.

The next house in question does remain as a personal favourite- a Cube House- and I regularly take any work experience students to see it because of its uniqueness and wow-factor.

If it was actually finished and capable of being lived in it would tick all the boxes.

It is now 6 years since I first visited the red oxide metal superstructure. It has subsequently been clad to two elevations wholly in glass blocks and in composite panels around the other main openings. In true self build style it has only been worked on during evenings, weekend , academic vacations and main Holy Days. Every part of the house has been skilfully crafted by the individual concerned , sporadically assisted by a family friend in the heavier and labour intensive jobs.

Each of the glass blocks had to be sanded to an opaque surface finish out of modesty for any late night back-lit naked lurch to the bathroom and to minimise the hazard of being incinerated, like an ant under a magnifying glass , from the rays of the sun. Internal finishes are to an unprecedented tolerance in the modern era. Mitre joints tight and snug. Cabling and pipework are meticulously arranged like a work of art or a schematic representation of an urban mass transit system.

I did comment to my Client, and I accept that it was a bit facetious, that Barratt Homes had built an  entire estate of 140 houses in the time it had taken for the Cube House to reach its current and still unfinished stage. It was meant to be a compliment to his attention to detail but he did not take it as such. I will have a work in progress to show my students for a few more years to come as long as he does not see me down his street as I am no longer welcome.

A golden rule is do not be too ambitious.

Take the Ikea Principle as a warning. You may only intend to go to that Swedish Emporium to pick up a catalogue and browse but you are highly likely to come away with a big blue shoulder-slung bag full of light fittings, assorted picture frames, Daim Bars, a patterned cotton throw for a settee, a Survivalists supply of tea lights and a lot of stunted lead pencils.

In much the same way the budding Self Build-er may attend one of those Homes Exhibitions with the thought of just getting a few ideas, picking up a few trade leaflets and speaking with like minded persons and experts.

The terms eco-friendly, energy efficiency, thermal insulation, 'U' Values and sustainability are bandied about in polite company and like Chinese whispers they become the "must have" components of a new build scheme.

For the last 2 years I have been inspecting a house slowly emerging out of a hillside up in North Yorkshire. I inherited the job from a former colleague whose own involvement covered a similar period before me.

The house will be fantastic if it is ever finished. It is made from Polystyrene insulated concrete forms which, prior to being encapsulated in natural stone, resembled a large box in which an industrial sized washing machine might be delivered. High tech wizardry will control an air source heat pump, re-circulation of air, under floor heating, piped music and wireless broadband. Rainwater will be harvested in an underground tank for the laundry room. Solar panels will reduce energy bills to single figures per week.

This blend of ideas is however expensive and it has proven difficult to manage the build and carry out the project in the strict progression it requires.

The hillside from which the house protrudes has also been problematic to stabilise and drain effectively and that has also been a surprising money pit for the original budget. I admire what the husband and wife team are trying to create but they have physically aged, become mentally fatigued and almost skint in the process to date. I do enjoy the prospect of driving up to see the latest small incremental works but have great sympathy for what must be a spiralling sense of pressure on a couple doing their bit for their family and to save the Planet generally.

In conclusion, appreciate and embrace what you live in now and if you have an urge to build a dream house I can recommend the current product range to be found in the building blocks aisle at your nearest toy store. Enjoy........