Plans? DIY?

[ABCwarrior]

Our house is all timber construction, larch cladded. We'd like to extend it to one side to form a decent sized living room, maybe 6mx5m. It would literally be like adding an insulated large pent shed on to the house, and the existing overhanging eaves of the roof above mean it would be simple to make watertight during construction.
Should I get an architectural tech or architect to draw up the plans or should I get the walls and floor sections(the house is on stilts) done by the contractor who built the originals, would they draw up the plans as part of a package? I plan to do most of the work myself(I'm a stonemason with HNC building so this is fairly easy), but then I think...hmmmm...could I do the plans myself? Biggest pitfall I can see relates to various regs and environmental requirements on U-values/insulation. Walls on the house are 300mm thick insulated so would keep this the same regardless....I'll be doing all the founds myself, whether that entails pads like the existing build or strip founds.
Just trying to keep things cheap but want this put up quick. I'll also be doing all the sheet metal roofing to match the existing.

Any advice appreciated!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I wouldn't get a builder to draw up the plans, you could ask some who they've had experience of or have dealt with in the past and then employ them direct. Otherwise a technician is all that's required. Looking through your local authority's planning applications online can be a good source of finding technicians etc.

You can do the plans etc yourself, plenty of people have done so on here. You can do hand drawings or download some free basic cad software.

Same applies to the regs, you'll either have to read up on them to familiarise yourself with them or you could just get someone to do the drawings for you which will cover all the regs.

Your post is a little ambiguous tbh.

 

[mointainwalker]

Hi ABC

Hope the previous big probs you had have been corrected now and house comfy ?

Can you tell me if the larch cladding is traditional in your area or was it part of the "sustainability " package ( as I recall ) for the house. Is it an expensive method of weatherproofing ?

Thanks

 

[noseall]

I've read loads of drawings but would not wish to produce any of them. Especially design scenarios relevant to b'regs.

I engaged an architect when having an extension built at home.

 

[garyo]

I drew up my own plans. Doing the plans isn't that difficult, but it implies you know what you're designing and the construction methods involved. My builds (two extensions so far) have all been fairly simple traditional cavity wall, cut roof affairs.

You need to do your research though. The chaps on here are a great help in working through the various construction options, and I'm lucky in having a co-operative building control dept that are happy to send me a letter detailing the eight (!) things I failed to show on the plans like the dimensions of my soakaway, confirmation that I was actually going to use lead flashing in places, calculations for trickle ventilation.

I find doing the plans is a nice job for winter, before breaking ground in Spring. They you really get to think through the process, do some 'quantity surveying' type calcs, etc.

Gary