Straw Bale House Construction - The House That £100K Built - S01 EP5 - Home Design

[Music] we just can't get a mortgage and round here the  house prices are so high [Music] come on baby i haven't asked him whether  he thinks i'm stupid or brave [Music] i haven't got any option you got to  do it you got to do it wow [Music]   so tell me what your reaction is to this  i'm quite surprised i'm quite liking it   or you can get the whole section of the  plane as a ready-made bitter building oh what have they done i've got some drawings actually  it's as good as it gets how much money have you got left let me see no point crying over at cardboard cottage [Music]   this has been my dream since i was probably about  16 to be as self-sufficient as i can [Music] in terms of materials i don't expect this roof  to cost more than maybe 150 quid so how do you   build a house with no drawings do you trust that  it's going to be beautiful yes absolutely [Music]   i just wonder how they're ever  going to make any progress   why did i leave that nice house which have  your central heating would be wonderful [Music] most people who take on a self build are taking  on the biggest challenge of their lives but i'm   on my way to west wales to meet a couple who  have set themselves even higher standards trying   to live off the land while they're building the  house and to do it with almost no money [Music] it's been my dream since i was probably about  16 to to be as self-sufficient as i can [Music]   the whole process of sort of from seed to plate i  just find really wonderful i think it's something   very gosh i can hardly even describe it  because it's so deep ingrained in my life   one of the first things that you notice is  that you don't get this chunk of money going   to your bank account at the end of every  month and take some getting used to [Music]   the condition of our planning is to be  able to support ourselves 75 percent of   our needs from the land it's more than  a full-time job isn't it there's never   a bored moment there's never really  a time for sitting down relaxing we're actually standing on the the plot of land  on which we're going to build a low impact timber   frame straw bale home well this is our kind of  like our driveway and this is the floor plan all these logs that you can see lying  around are the frame for the house   the shell of the building might cost four and  a half thousand pounds something like that   you know it's it's not a lot of  money really but it's time and effort i don't want to have this really austere   sort of hard life for the rest of my life you know  i want to show that actually you know we can be   comfortable we can flick a switch and have the  light on we can turn on a tap and have hot water   you know i won't want all  that but in a low impact way [Music] [Laughter]   and we're standing on the side of your  future home i can see a beautiful view   when the weather's a bit better probably reveals  itself in that direction but just tell me a bit   about what the house is going to be like for you  guys certainly the central element of it will be   circular and then square sec all right rectangular  sections off that i think it's important that you   know some of us try these things and see how  it works and but but also we're not actually   you know it's not hair shirt time we are  actually trying to design a house that is   comfortable to live in rather than just  thinking about okay well we don't want to   use fossil fuels therefore we're going to freeze  in the winter and we're going to do this you know   so but you've got to think differently about how  you do things like that you [Music] know [Music] so in the summer it's nice and cool in there  but in the winter it keeps the heat in as   well which is great so it's just the perfect  yeah material really and it's like building   with lego as well so you're just right  yeah they're quite big big blocks right   so hopefully it's going to save you  some time certainly time yeah [Music]   this is one you made earlier yes yes it's our barn [Music]   well this is amazing really striking thing about  this are these extraordinary lumpy walls we have   here tell me what's what's behind this render  well behind that render is hay and straw is   what's actually recommended for building people  don't recommend using cake a straw will be what   you'll use it is what we'll use for the house we  wanted to try it because it was here it was in our   five-mile radius and it's a big experiment to  see how long it lasts and like all experiments   i mean i i can see a few cracks and i hate to draw  attention to it but i mean you're sort of learning   as you go throughout the build of this yes  which is why really we wanted to do this first i   am getting excited actually yeah this is like  oh my god we're really going to build a house [Music]   in a conventional build uh you know very definite  plans drawn up but with an eco thing like this   you're working around the materials that you have  so things can change because we've got no hard and   fast picture of what the building is going to be  like it'll change over time that's great [Music]   at the moment we're just laying out the roof um  so we can decide where we want to put the posts   once we've done this we'll then know how big  the central bit of our house is going to be   just try and visualize it in six  months time all right go into yeah then post the   yeah i can't really see it that's it because  we're off to some kind of [Music] accuracy [Music] i suppose in this country we we always conceive  and act out buildings in a very conventional way   materials are made for us by other people we  go to shops and we buy them and buildings are   expensive things that people with skills build  for us but actually i feel really excited by   the idea of a couple going it alone you know with  minimal skill minimal money just going about the   building of their own house and living the dream  and i must say the last thing that i think jane   wants is to be living in a failed experiment i  mean it needs to really you know come to fruition   in a way that's robust and can be a house for  life you know i must confess that alarm bells   are ringing you know there's no drawings there  doesn't appear to be any kind of plan how they're   going to go about this thing so i worry at the  moment that they're going to be able to do this this is the worst kitchen i've ever had   and it's having lived three years now in a caravan  i can't believe it's that long but three years in   a caravan without proper washing facilities we've  got sink and you know to be able to have a shower   or a bath my goodness it's just made me realize  as well how much i really need my house now making the frames good and then putting  the bales in really quick and then it's   just applying the render or whatever  the finish just takes forever [Music]   there are certain bits where it's  quite important to get it right   and so we've got so far so far so far  you can do it with an axe bash away   but that last couple of millimeters has got to  be right so it fits nice and tightly together   i'm used to um pieces of wood that are all plained  and square edged and um you know i'm not used to   working with the wood like this and a lot of  that's going on eye training your eye to see   um you know and going on intuition rather than  measuring and i find it really really hard god i think she's doing fine yeah and  it's just that self-confidence thing   when you do something for the first time you  don't want to make a mistake whoa i'm not sure oh   i'm not sure that we've got this one in the right  place oh no that will be sticking out about three   centimeters and we've got about a centimeter or  so in there which i don't think is good [Music] this is um stock orchard street it's  a it's a house at the end of a fairly   unassuming cul-de-sac in north london  and this is the home of two architects   of jeremy till and sarah wigglesworth who  have used it in a way to kind of figure   out what kind of technologies work really  well for a sustainable building in a city [Music] this part of the building is made out  of straw bales it's insulated with straw bales   this is one of the first buildings to really  use strawbells one of the first modern buildings   what straw bales are tremendous  for is insulation but then the   enemy of straw bales is moisture and any kind  of rain and so they coat it in a thin screen of plastic [Music]   what they've got right here is the envelope  of the building it's highly insulated   ventilation works naturally you know it's it's  a building that doesn't get too hot in summer   doesn't get too cool in winter it gets all those  basics right and once you've done that then you're   free really to create the space you want to  create if you look at the window reveal you see   just how thick these walls are you know there's  really serious insulation in there that's keeping   the temperature in here really consistent and  not losing any heat at all i also like their   furnishings it definitely betrays an attitude to  reuse and to to making do with what you can find   this is not not a million miles away from jane and  andy but perhaps there's a bit more of a kind of   pop cultural sensibility here you know you  can take stuff from an industrial site from   a building site as well as from the forest  it's about you know using what you can get [Music]   this building took quite a long time to build it  took four years it was anticipated to take two so   double the cost was six hundred thousand pounds  which you know for the amount of space here seems   to me to be pretty efficient but in jane and  andy's terms is just another universe [Music] it's kind of fantastic site  has to be said i mean faces   due south looks across the  valley you know kind of stunning [Music] sights it looks ambitious and actually it's  much harder than it looks you know there's a   kind of joint a three-dimensional  joint that's been cut up there   that someone's really had to kind of think about  and it's quite a complicated thing to do even to   put up a frame that looks as simple as this  i guess it was my sight i'd want to really   quickly get the frame up get the roof on and get  a covering on for winter so they can get in an   environment that they can actually do work  when it's kind of raining or windy or cold   actually one does have to be highly organized  going about building a specifically a low-cost   dwelling so what are they going to achieve by when  how much is that going to cost how much can they   do themselves you know so how are they actually  just going to go about it in a practical sense   to build a house a beautiful house hi i'm piers  and i'm andy good to meet you hi okay [Music] so how do you build a house  with no drawings yeah it's   re really the the form of the house  is is determined by what comes   yeah out of the woods really i mean potentially  using a kind of ad hoc method to kind of build is   very exciting you know it's also as you probably  know quite dangerous it's hard you know it's hard   to kind of predict and preempt and absolutely and  i guess what makes me a little nervous is just the   kind of how do you forward plan if you don't quite  know what you're building this stage is is very it is time consuming yes and sometimes you  have to redo things and yeah but but how   do you know it's gonna be beautiful  unless you can draw it and judge it   and you know um i mean do you trust just  being able to make it up as you go along   you do you trust that it's gonna  be beautiful yes [Laughter] [Music] the critical thing is finding  a strategy that allows you to   be in in three four five months time and i  would focus on getting a shell that i could   move into and put a roof on  reasonably [Music] quickly actually what i would do is build a simple  barn but i in a way i would do one that you can   move into and then finish the other but i think  doing everything all in one go is potentially um   overly time consuming but fundamental to  it i think should be a construction that's   simple and quick really but we've done  simple and quick before you see yeah so i like the idea of of incorporating found  things into buildings but quite often the   acts of incorporation involves a hell of a lot of  work well i see i think it involves less work than   the complex connections that each of these things  have i mean look at that looks so time consuming   that frame you know and what you're doing out  there is quite a high skilled thing i wonder   whether there's a way of just slightly rethinking  it so things can sit on top of one another and you   know you can simplify the connections and you know  the site feels me slightly kind of abandoned and   i worry about the momentum is slightly kind of  waning definitely yeah you're absolutely right you know we're sitting looking at  the beginnings of a building that um   i'm hearing you're going to be living in by march  we're not going to be living in there by march   andy's being very optimistic yes i think the  thing is i'm just like you i share all those   concerns about the time scale and you know  a lot of this kind of the ways and means of   doing it are in andy's head but that's not  being really necessarily translated to me [Music] at the moment we're having the the debate about  the indoor toilet and i don't particularly want   an indoor toilet billy ray says i've  got to have one james wants one so   where are we going to sit with that  you know it's called a tree bog   and the reason they're um called a tree bog is  you plant trees around them and the roots from the   um trees and things around it they'll suck up  those nutrients you're not having to handle it   at all it's absolutely fine sort of using  the toilet on a nice sunny day you know in   the day time whatever but i must say on those  cold winter nights sometimes it's holding in having not had an indoor toilet  for three years it just seems   it seems very very odd to me to  go inside to go to the toilet now andy's not quite as bothered about those things as  i am you can really sort of put up with them you   know washing it in a bowl and you know the rest  of it and yeah but for me it's a massive massive thing [Music] [Music]   if you ask norman foster what his  favorite building is it's a boeing 747   it's his favorite piece of architecture  they're incredible things that they're   so precisely built they're so beautifully  crafted beautifully made they're beautifully   engineered jane and andy made some sensible  choices today they could get some finished   sections of their building or semi-finished it  is quite cutting edge that could be incredible   hi jane hi earth how are you doing good  to see you hi andy hi good to see you so here we are up on the top floor of a 747.  i've been on very few airplanes in my life and   it's very strange i enjoy the the slack paradox  that what you're trying to do is build something   out of incredibly local materials that are very  low in embodied energy and there's a very strange   issue with being on an airplane which is right at  the other end of the scale from what you're doing   i actually really like that all these i hadn't  really thought of that side of it until we're   here we're sort of having this conversation  but i quite like the two kind of extremes   i'm very keen to use other people's rubbish in  the building yeah and you know if you look at   it in terms of embodied energy sure this  energy has already been spent absolutely   yes throwing this away we'll take it all off the  hands you know yeah the insulation i know you can   get for nothing they will fill a skip for it and  it can just be bagged up and taken away or you   could get the whole a whole section of the plane  for not a huge amount of money so a few hundred   quid you get a huge section of this plane that  you could use as a ready-made bitter building   there is the whole issue of the loo as well and  you could potentially get this this whole lu pod   and put it into your house and  where are you on the loo debate oh let's start with an easy one what's what is  the toilet debate well he wants to go outside   he likes the idea of this but i say look fine  he can go up to the garden but i you know we'll   have an indoor one and he's not using it in the  winter [Music] how about this as your front door i don't know it's pretty cool but [Music]   so i guess i i had this idea that you could  take this and put it on its side and maybe   even make it your front door so you walked in   through this wow or something that's brilliant  i love it it would feel really like a hobbit   house it's like little round hole yeah how on  earth would we make a door to go i do not know [Music] we're just looking at the rear pressure bulkhead  rear pressure bulkhead here yeah this is the sort   of shape that i'm interested in and the pattern  as well and just the fact that it's uh just the   construction of it's just amazing yeah it's  beautiful yeah and i was thinking about this   aperture that i've got what am i going to fill  it with and it could possibly be something like [Music] that let's let's do a deal on the bulkhead  [Laughter] what are we 50 quid i have absolutely   no idea if we said 250 quid and we'll cut it  out for you does that sound like a good deal   below how much low 200 that's as low  as i'll go 200 to get a coffee with it i i don't have no clue i think  it'll answer quite a lot of problems   you're the one who's got the money and it's  his birthday okay happy birthday [Music] i do quite like the idea of taking something  from uh sort of a fairly high technology thing   and putting it into a tatty pile of sticks that  we're sticking a field in the middle of wales just bring on your tat we'll use it we'll  make a house out of it that's the idea [Music] worldwide opportunities on organic farms [Music] you contact a host who's got a farm or  a small holding and you do usually sort   maybe four or five maybe six hours five days  a week and you get food and board in return [Music]   we've had gale force winds constant rain apart  from when it snowed yes so it's just been   set back after set back in terms of the weather our water supply froze and you know we're trying  to cut enough wood to keep the fire burning   to keep ourselves warm um the build is just a  small part of everything else that we're doing for the first time um since probably nearly a  year we're actually haven't had to buy some veg   and then sadly about three days ago the  fox came and had more than half my ducks   and now i'm nursing one duck and he seems to  be recovering but we were planning to eat him   but i just can't bear the thought of doing that  now i'm nursing him back to his health it just   feels really wrong there are times when  i do think that i think oh what am i what   why did i leave that nice house in  sheffield and central heating would be wonderful i cried it brought tears to my eyes this email  popped through and oh my goodness i'm like wow   and i literally have tears in my eyes [Music]   the toilet debate is still going on and   we'll see so the jury's out on that  but we're having an indoor one oh yes somebody say when you ready simon [Music]   it's really exciting i can't believe it once  the roof is on it'll feel like a proper building   it's an amazing day for me i'm just  completely overjoyed it's wonderful [Music]   one only 23 more to go so if we can get that up  i'll get the forks yes you got it chris [Music]   all right can we hold it there yep [Music]   the charlie stick is a temporary feature in the  middle there and that is supporting the initial   rafter that went on the first one and then the  first one is then supporting the second one   and the second one supporting the third one  but by the time you come all the way around   they're all supporting each other and the state  can come out and that is the moment of truth   uh in terms of materials i don't expect  this roof to cost more than maybe 150 quid oh that feels quite good [Music] we nearly have a complete roof wow so now um   we need to take this pole out past the floor  moment of truth i'm sort of like really excited   already when they sort of get that stick down  i suppose in theory it could all come down i don't even want to think about the  possibilities of what might go wrong and which way do i jump if it all falls down oh it's coming down doesn't seem to be going anywhere [Laughter] oh thanks everyone jen and andy are kind of attempting  the impossible in some ways i mean   when architects talk about doing sustainable  buildings they always talk about the need to   spend more money not less and jen and andy have  got one of the smallest budgets we've seen for   for their house i'm really worried  that they can't square that circle [Music] hi jake hi yeah how are you  how are you good to see you   yeah you too working hard you didn't  bring the sun with you then yeah   terrible weather it's awful out here but  you still you still got a smile in here [Music] because the weather's been like so bad so  things like getting the timber out of the wood   like we have to wait for um the chap he's got  the big dumper truck so we could borrow that   and of course on sunny days he was trying  to get his work done right right you know   because they've you know it's like this knock  on sort of effect so not only is it hard to   build in these conditions but it affects all  of the resources that you're hoping to yeah [Music] yeah so tell me how far you think you  are from from actually moving in   to me it just i kind of i haven't got a kind  of end kind of sense of an ending at the moment   it still feels like there's just so much to do  i do feel pressure because of the conditions of   our planning and if after five years we have not  proved that we've made you know 75 of our needs   from the land then in in theory they could just  you know kick us all off and build those a place   or something trying to be self-sufficient trying  to trying to generate power trying to grow food   all of those things are things that we take for  granted you know most people take for granted but   you're really trying to you're living really up  close to how these things are actually made and it   must be tremendously hard work it is tremendously  hard work and you know particularly um when it's   cold and we want to be warm so there you've got to  source wood you've got a chop wood you've got you   know seasoned wood and you've got to forward plan  these things so you need to be thinking about next   winter's wood now you can't just focus on the  build i don't particularly mind that but you know   i will mind it if i don't have a house to live  in you know i would really like to be in a house   for the winter yeah yeah i mean another winter  in a caravan it's just grim it's really grim it's really difficult to see how they can move  forward because they're not going to get big   influx of cash to solve their problems that's not  their philosophy i think we have to accept you   know people watching this process have to accept  that this is the way they want to live and if it   takes time then it takes time they want to be in  here but for them you know this is their lifestyle   working on stuff you know being self-sufficient  and this is what it means it means slow some   of those agonizing progress it exhausts me to  imagine what their daily life is like maintaining   a you know a fair sized small holding here animals  vegetables trying to be off grid in terms of power   trying to source their own water sourcing all the  building materials managing a volunteer workforce   all of these things just are are just too  much i think just so much of a challenge   i just wonder how they're ever  going to make any progress [Music] [Music] well this house is a really interesting  architectural phenomenon because   you know it's built with sustainable principles  but actually when you when you look at it it looks   like a quite lovely place to be  it's got these huge picture windows   facing this fantastic view and  it for all the world looks like a   building that's all about enjoying this landscape  but embodied in here are some of the principles   that jane and andy have been trying to conform  to about sourcing local materials about having   low embodied energy in the production of building  materials and of course having a building itself   that's well insulated that doesn't use too much  energy so so it's an interesting combination of   eco principles and also a building i think  that's quite successful for its [Music] site [Music]   the owners have decided well look we want  a great view we want a great double height   space lit by these huge windows so we're going  to have great windows but you can't source these   from within 10 or 20 miles of this  site in scotland these are windows   that high quality high performance  products and they've come from denmark [Music] i think the other thing you notice  right away in here is the the care   and attention that's been paid to the  details and of course the timber frame   is is beautiful in its material but these  wonderful pegs that hold it together and   and the carpenters marks that are left here very  prominent you know to me tell a story of pride   in this kind of construction in the craftsmanship  and you know i think that adds a lot of character i think for jane and andy and especially jane  maybe this can give them hope because you you   know you can imagine them too finally sitting  in a place that's well insulated that has   nice acoustics that you can cook and and  enjoy a meal in and you still enjoy the   landscape and know in the back of your  mind that yes it's a low energy building   people often ask me if i have any advice  to a self-builder and i say yes well the   best piece of advice is don't right is that  just because it's it's just difficult and   a tough process i think because probably most  self-builders completely underestimate the   impact it's going to have on their lives their  relationships their health their finances [Music] the idea was to try to use very low cost  material namely flagstone that is sold by   the ton for users crazy paving and how long did  it take you this this intricate pattern about 18   months not not all all the time but uh i averaged  about eight stones today and what for you was the   importance of investing that kind of time in a  thing like that it grew on me and it became my   um i suppose my uh the the piece of the building  that i really wanted to put my heart and soul into   and so it turned from being a flaw  into being a a work of art if you like   it sounds like the message is in a way not to lose  sight of the things that are really personal to   you so this is a really impressive building it's a  beautiful building it's a lovely place to live but   tell me how long it took you well we started  building the frame the skeleton of the building   in mid 2004 right so nine years ago wow it took  you nine years and we're not finished yet [Music]   this has been a real learning day for me  about just what it takes to get through   a project like this i think jane and  andy's expectations were were high   about how quickly they might  be able to get this thing done   but this building proves that the parameters  the conditions they're trying to conform to   are just too much and whatever they do it's going  to take them years to get anywhere near finished [Music] building a house can break you even  if you employ a team of contractors   i've known relationships disintegrate i've known  people go to the brink of madness trying to build   a house and they're trying to live off the land  and build a house with the worst winter i can   remember this is about the first sunny day we've  had every second is critical days like this need   to be seized you need to be working 18 hours with  as many people as you can possibly get [Music]   honestly so we've got two options we can either  incorporate star like this and then run and this this is in this direction  here yeah so we can run these primary   or the subframe out straight like that yeah so we need to simplify it because we don't  want to have loads and loads of posts coming   into one point because it's too busy so  we need to make a we need to make a square   yeah and you won't see this structure  either will you so it doesn't need to   be beautiful it needs to be quick and efficient  yeah simplicity is the key isn't it there isn't   a great stack of timber so this actually is  a very efficient use of material yeah [Music] it's really good when volunteers turn up  you've got skills and stuff and it can really   kind of move it forward i actually  feel quite confident that we could   have a floor down by the end of today [Music] amongst ourselves we've thought of  quite a few different ways of doing it   so we'll just see what we end up with here  and that's kind of the i mean this is a really   collaborative building anyway so everybody  who's come has brought something different   it's all sort of on the hoof so it turns into  something that you weren't quite expecting anyway   fortunately i've got no fixed ideas about anything  at all so it's it's quite easy to adapt so what   we're doing is instead of building a beautiful  but complex structure like this we're doing a very   very simple structure because you're not going  to see it so there's a pair of beams that'll run   across this and a single beam either end and then  we can just lay the joists on top of that very   quickly with no cutting no fiddling around so andy  we're going to get the floor down today oh i think   so yes so i've got to get you plumb now there's  a real buzz about it today actually and it feels   like a lot is getting done and it's kind of really  really really lovely that someone else is doing it we've got something that's different to  what i envisage we'll see how it turns out   but as you can tell i'm not too precious  about things and we're going to have   something a floor that's roughly the right  height roughly the right place [Music]   i'm just going to be interested to  see what it looks like when they've   done it because they seem to be shoving an  awful lot of wood down just for the sake of   saving a few saw cuts but we'll see perfect jane i was wondering if you could step up  if it holds my weight tell us what you think oh yeah it's different but  it's very straight lines and   because i would never thought of putting a  double beam in which has saved a lot of work i tend to fall into the trap of looking at  the materials i've got and not have as many   supports as we will have to have and you've done  it a different way yeah yeah there we go [Music] i'm probably working very very inefficiently  because i'm tired and because sometimes it's   a bit miserable you're on your own i suppose  i just think of all the work we've got to do it's turned out to be a totally different  shape to what i was thinking about at 8   o'clock this morning work worse or better  different it's just different [Music]   all i can feel is the weight of their burden of  this building that's really dragging them down   i can see how desperate jane is for  the house she needs to be in this is   crushing her but at the moment i've no idea  when she's going to be in the dry [Music] [Music] my tendency as an architect is to  really try to push things forward   we got the floor down but this is andy's  baby he needs to nurture it he needs to craft   every little bit of it at his own pace  and this isn't the project that i'm used   to where there's a strict program  and things need to be moved forward [Music] hiya hello hi [Music]   hi how's it going thank you all right yeah really  well thank you nice to see you good to see you really well how are you hi andy  good to see you how are things   okay really well you're progressing with the  build slowly slowly but surely yeah yeah but   you haven't quite hit the deadline though of that  you were hoping to with the completion no nowhere you've obviously been putting in a lot of work  here in the garden is just abundant and you've got   a small army of volunteers on site today and four  volunteers i think at the moment so andy um what   what has led to the delay for completion and  how how far behind in your mind are you from   from where you'd like to be i think we're  probably at least six months behind i would   say something like that uh and what did you  say six months i think is yeah too optimistic so there's loads of change here since i  was last here it's really exciting to see jane would you what do you think um when you  when you see this does it start to take a bit   more shape in your mind um i i like the beauty  of it and that's that does excite me actually [Music]   presumably this will go up fairly quickly once  you know you have the base in place and yes the   strawbells go well i am a little worried about  doing this now and that we know we're in the   autumn and the winter coming how long would it  take you to get the walls up here do you think   a couple of days but then you've got  a roof in theory to put on haven't you   that's that's we've got to have everything  ready this is my one i think you've got in   we've got a no none of this scratching our  head and working no but once we've i need   it laid out you know like a lego instruction  really but is it tantalising seeing this and   knowing that actually with a fair wind a bit of  labour you could actually be in the warm and dry   or are you happy i guess to just let it  take the pace that it will and i think   that's probably an important thing to do  now really what let it take the place yeah   it feels like it's quite urgent for you  though like you you're not you're not   quite willing to let it just take as long as  it takes well i just want the damn thing done [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so this is the installation from kimball isn't  it yeah it's reclaimed salvage from an aircraft   and what are you doing with it here so  what's happened was that's been stored   in bags under top on some pallets  and when we came to use it   it's got damp this is what's held up now the  roof we thought the roof would be on by now   i do like to try and find a use for materials  that i find you know like wombles aren't we   can you tell me a bit about how much you've spent  so far on this build less than 1500 quid on what   we've done but that's absolutely astonishing  i mean 1500 quid what does that buy you a   flat screen tv or something you know you've got  most of a house for it it's kind of astonishing   see what you can do when you don't  watch tv that's absolutely astonishing   i was expecting this to be a low-cost bill but  i was really flabbergasted when they said they'd   only spent 1500 pounds i mean people spend that  without thinking these days as a champion of   low-cost building i've been flawed by this project  i mean i've really seen what's possible for very   very little money and i'm i'm in awe of that  they could just take both of us at the same time   of course it can now we've we're using carpet to  make a little envelope for the aircraft insulation   he needs to obsess over every detail he needs  to work it out he needs to think it through   and this way of going about a project isn't  for everybody but it is for andy [Music] it feels relentless at the minute it's been  so slow that we both know that we're going   to be building again next year all year again  the same but i mean it's like i just want the   end of the building to stop i mean how does it  feel that that now the build has been delayed so   you might not meet your your aspiration of  being in for the winter i yeah that that's   a bit of a setback actually yeah yeah but we've  done what three winters in that caravan already   um yeah i mean i always thought it  was optimistic um andy saying that   we'd be in there by christmas and clearly  we're not gonna be in there by christmas the guy i met in scotland he'd said it took  me nine years and it's still not finished you   know that that was the reality of the process  i think if i thought that was gonna be another   nine years i might actually go back to sheffield  is there a in your mind a threshold i think in my   mind probably another two i think i would be  going absolutely crazy if um yeah it went on   any longer than that yeah i really do not  want it to go on any more than two years   so this is my last winter in that caravan right  yeah absolutely absolutely that is my cut-off looking forward to to the completion of this  because you know you can't live forever in a   caravan what was that deadline for you  that was another two years winter 2014. you think you have no worries good no worries  but confidence i so happy to hear that yeah we're definitely having an indoor  toilet we'll have a his and hers door   and he's never he's never using the  indoor one in the snowy winters evening [Music] we desperately need the house where to start our  family in our own space [Music] how much money   have you got though 60 grand top whack so that  there seems to be a problem there if this couple   fails to do this it's sending out a message that  good quality affordable housing is unachievable [Music] justin's getting very stroppy  and obviously everything's my fault it should be watertight but how is  water managed to get in beyond that [Music] [Music] [Music]   you

Channel: Banijay Home and Garden

Views: 87,705

Keywords: Banijay, Banijay Home & Garden, DIY construction, Home and garden, Kieran Long, Piers Taylor, UK house construction, affordable housing, architectural design, budget home building, building on a budget, ecofriendly construction, first-time builders, home design innovation, home renovation, property development, self-build projects, straw bale house, sustainable living

Id: gD3HilyYnUw

Length: 59min 30sec (3570 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020