Episode Information Dorset: An Idiosyncratic Home

Date Published:

13/06/2008

Amid 55 acres of organic farmland in the New Forest, Lizzie and Mike set out to build an idiosyncratic home.

They wanted a house that would reflect their love of travel and eastern cultures, yet blend into the very English countryside around them.

Their first proposal, for a wooden Japanese house, was refused planning permission, but after three years of adapting their ideas with architect David Underhill, they were finally ready to build.

Their ingenious design was in three sections: a living wing, a bedroom wing and a romantic tower.

The living wing would stand on stilts and have sliding walls set into a huge oak frame. A glass walkway would link it to the second wing, which would contain a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. Both these wings would be single-storey, a fact that helped Mike and Lizzie finally win planning permission. The tower, accessed through another glass walkway, would have a basement for laundry services and a shower room, a middle room and a study on its top floor.

No Contingency

Organising the build proved complex. Because wood, steel, glass and concrete were being used together and demanded different building techniques, Mike and Lizzie had to hire several specialist contractors. Project manager Graham Davies was employed to co-ordinate it all, with Mike working alongside him to research and design the interior.

Lizzie, who runs an organic food business, organised the finance - a build budget of £300,000, provided by their savings and a large mortgage. They had no contingency fund in case things went wrong.

Great Oak

Their existing house - a converted chicken shed - was demolished to make way for the concrete pillar and plinth foundations. After six weeks, these were completed, and another team of contractors built timber frames for the walls.

Meanwhile, five great oak roof trusses were being made off-site, and Mike commissioned ten poles of Douglas fir to hold them up. The poles had to be unusually large to support the 0.5-ton trusses, and they would form an important part of the interior design. Turning them on lathes made them perfectly round and brought out the grain.

Final Measurements

Three months into the build, the poles were fitted to the concrete plinth. Steel plates, inserted into the bottoms of the poles, were bolted into position, with a gap left to allow for future adjustments.

Such joints were a key feature of the build. Wood moves as it ages, but steel does not, so the builders used an ingenious system of flitch plates - made-to-measure steel joints over which wood slots like a sheath. The trusses were winched on, the builders took final measurements, and the load-bearing structure was bolted into its final position.

Ingenious

Work proceeded fast. Breeze block and studwork walls were added. A few difficulties were ingeniously solved - for instance, a steel bar was inserted behind the wood-framed sliding doors, to stop the wood warping over time. Softwood rafters were fixed and stabilised with plywood boarding, then the expensive zinc roof was fitted.

Once the main wings were watertight, internal walls were plasterboarded and two kilometres of cabling were laid for a computer-controlled lighting and sound system. Finally, it was time for the all-important interior. Throughout the build, Mike had planned out the detail and exhaustively searched for the right fittings and finishes.