The Housebuilders Bible has advice on buying materials from page 326.
A list of sites that seem to have stuff that I like or could be useful for the house.
- Also see the general resources page and off-site house manufacturers blog post.
Demolition
- Asbestos Survey for building demolition (with samples being taken and sent off) carried out by Shield Environmental Services Ltd
Build
To ‘First Fix’
First fix comprises all the work needed to take a building from foundation to putting plaster on the internal walls. This includes constructing walls, floors andceilings, and inserting cables for electrical supply and pipes for water supply.
- http://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/ – “committed to offering leading edge products for low energy buildings.”
- http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/lifeedited-home-electronics-entertainment.php
This is a nice article on tips and appliances to push your home electronics and entertainment in an environmental / green direction. The article includes advice on Best Options for Streaming Media. - See my notes on ‘Getting Wired‘.
- Heating system.
- Slate external window sills
- YPRADO GRP windows, chosen RAL colour for frames,
- MVHR
- Have the exhaust vent first convert to a hot water heat pump
- and second vent to near the Thermodynamic Panels?
- MVHR :: A Passivhaus perspective
- Shower – how flush ?
- Sort out the house being on mains sewerage
- Pipework seals (for pipes passing through the building walls)
- Stairs
To ‘Second Fix’
Second fix comprises all the work after the plastering to a finished house. Electrical fixtures are connected to the cables, sinks and baths connected to the pipes, and doors fitted into door frames. Second fix work requires a neater finish than first fix.
- GreenSteps for eco paints, low energy bulbs, water saving, natural insulation, doors and windows.
- Green Roof
- Entrance door mat
- Bamboo flooring, slate & bamboo flooring
- “Modern” kitchen elements
- Hot tub(s) – top deck Dutch Tub, front garden sunken wooden tub.
- Insulate around a sunken outside hot tub with Recycled Foamed Glass Insulation, cork or something else (trying to avoid polystyrene).
- On or in the wall between the dining and lounge – charging station
- Landscaping
Post Build
Furniture, fixtures & fittings
- Designer furniture straight from the makers to your home | made.com – seems to be good prices.
- “We cut out the middleman and save you 50-80% on high street prices”.
- Furniture and interior ideas | mydeco.com
- “The UK’s widest range of furniture, interior design tools & ideas.”
- Organic cotton bed linen
- Pro’s and con’s of different carpet types (for rugs)
- Crucial Trading “are people with a passion for creating natural floorcoverings that are a design statement in their own right. We believe the natural beauty of our floorcoverings, flooring, rugs and carpets breathe life and warmth into any room.”
- Guest room tips
- Living area bathroom mirror
Sculpture & other Art
- Cut outs from rusting metal sheets
- Saw some work by this artist at the Eden Project and thought it could be amazing to get him to do one based on Pebbles!
http://www.hubcapcreatures.com/
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/british-artist-turns-lost-hub-caps-into-amazing-animal-sculptures.html 
Also see the sculptures by James Corbett, made from car parts.
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/steampunk-animals-by-james-corbett-the-car-part-sculptor.html
Project Suppliers:
For now, I’m putting them in chronological order (first, so oldest, first):
- ra-studio for initial sketch proposals and then further architectural services for planning application.
- MJS Planning & Design for initial sketch proposals.
- Nationwide Surveys, St Austell, Tel 01726 72980. Did a survey with all the levels etc. This is then handed to the architects etc. who can then see all the slopes, levels, features etc.
- CEC (Cornwall Environmental Consultants Ltd) for a bat survey. It’s a Cornwall Council requirement that you have a survey to check if bats are present in or near the development in a way that means allowances do or don’t have to be made
- Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine subscription for all the articles, house “eye candy”.
I’ve looked at a few magazines and this one stood out for me and what I’m doing. - Bodmin (Cornwall) based ARCO2 architects and Eco-Fab builders.
These 2 Bodmin based firms have overlapping ownership, management and teams. - Asbestos Survey for building demolition (with samples being taken and sent off) carried out by Shield Environmental Services Ltd