As the weather turned better we poured the concrete and got the footing laid. The guys from P&O brickwork got stuck in and put ten brickies on the job to move it forward at an amazing rate. The construction is block and brick throughout. There isn't a stud wall in the whole place. For those people who judge the quality of the house by tapping the walls this house will give them the dull thud of solidity throughout.

This mass of masonry will cut down on noise transmission through the house and it also creates a thermal mass which takes time to heat up and time to cool down. Temperature fluctuations in a house like this will be minimal because you aren't heating the air but the house itself. The floors are also solid concrete which cuts down on noise transmission.

By using Bison hollow concrete beams you can put the upper walls anywhere you like rather than having them directly over ground floor walls. This gives you a lot more flexibility in the room layouts because you can just build straight off the floor. Even in the loft rooms there are no stud walls. The dwarf walls are brought up in Thermalite blocks.

It is easy to see that with so little timber in the construction the passage of fire will be a lot slower. In fact with oak fire doors throughout it is unlikely that a fire would spread much beyond the room I started in. I should just add that the mortar for all the above ground brickwork is supplied by Euromix in a hopper. The hooper is topped up by their tanker and delivers consistent mortar throughout.

The only problem with the hopper is that it struggles first thing in the morning with a 2 phase electricity supply. The motor is at the limit of the temporary supply we have on site. We tried to get a 3 phase put in but there was a long waiting list for the engineers so we stuck with the 2 phase.
Once the mix is under way it seems to cope a lot better but that first bit out is a problem.

Product links:

• THERMALITE AIRCRETE BLOCKS  - Offering high compressive strength & thermal insulation, plus fire & moisture resistance.
• BISON BEAMS  - Composite steel beam with hollow core or solid slabs provides a cost efficient solution for steel frames.
• HANSON BRICKS  - UK's leading manufacturer of quality facing bricks, specialist bricks and cladding systems.
• EUROMIX  - A range of dry concrete, mortars, renders, floor screeds and repair mortars.