warrenpeace

hi everyone ,
can anyone guide me to info needed for building your own home in hungary .
my partner of 8 years is hungarian and now that she has grandchildren in hungary we have made the desicion to live in hungary .
i have bought a plot of land but would like to build my own house as i have the time to do this .
we have her family in budapest who are going to help and have built their own homes .
but i would like to be prepared for all eventualities and worse case scenario of left to do it all myself .
once plans and permissions have been granted/obtained i believe that a construction diary has to be submitted online during the building process . is this to keep the building/planning officers in the loop . has anyone built their own home and used this process , any pointers to what to expect would be great guys .
what other restrictions would there be to building my own home .?
have renovated and extended many of my own homes in uk so although it will take some time i have the skills to complete this . as i have time i want to save on labour as we have a flat to stay in when work will start .
good people i will be searching the threads to try and find as much as i can but pointer or new info on this type of undertaking would be great .
great to know there is an expat comunity in hungary , i have many hungarian friends and my partners family in budapest and i fully intend to do my best to integrate and learn the language (no easy task as i am still trying to master english after 50 years ) , but good to know there are others on the same journey .
many thanks guys

Peter_in_Hungary

Whilst I have not built my own house I have been involved with several building projects.
You are right about the online building diary but you will also need to employ a building inspector (UK term) felelős műszaki vezető Hungarian name, who has the task of seeing that everything is properly built to standard and they have the legal responsibility and liability for this task.

Have you decided what type of house you will build? Build to building regs (no choice there) or go a bit further to get a house that is cool in the summer and requires virtually no heating in the winter by design (and why not do this as it won't cost much extra when building). And then there is the construction type, standard block, reduced thickness block and additional external insulation or perhaps timber frame? Do you have plans yet? If not then you need an architect that is sympathetic to your building aims and construction type.

And - as it happens there is a building exhibition at Szentendre near Budapest (until the end of September) that shows the results of an international universities competition for innovative home building looking at sustainability, energy efficiency, function and construction amongst other criteria. See sde2019.hu (there is an English language option)

scrubbedexpat142

Following on from Peter's suggestions you may want to seriously consider timber frame - but to a higher specification than the cheapened down anglicised version now common in the UK.

Many moons ago I was involved with a company that exported many timber frames into Europe - mostly based on a block built ground floor with garages, utility rooms & (in Switzerland) nuclear shelters with timber framed upper floors - worked well.

warrenpeace

peter/expatrick ,
thanks for the info gentlemen . the exhibition would be right up my street to visit as it appeals to my geek side and also what i want to do with the house i build . i dont know if i can re arrange things in london to make it out in time but i will try . shame as my partner and i love Szentendre village .
have been looking into building styles and material performance for this for a year or so and am leaning towards the ytong system .
500mm block external wall , dont like 2 skin systems and believe they will be a moisture trap in the future if not maintained . the single component wall with >25 "u" value of the ytong blocks seems perfect . my days of humping and laying large medium/high density blocks are behind me and this system seems more achievable for me to construct .
i poped into xella in budapest in may this year as my partner was staying in the area . even though i had no appointment they were kind enough to give me a 10 minute talk and they said once my revit design for basic outline of house is done we will have a meeting where we can discuss what they can do for my project and cost , logistics etc .
still have not rulled out other systems and have be looking at my partners familys houses that have been recently built ( porotherm blocks ) and discussing the pros and cons .
still leaning towards the ytong as it cuts out the problems the family had with labour and quality as the "u" values are only achived if the installation is done correctly .
dont see me standing by watching people throw brick walls up when i can be doing it myself .again would prefer a high thermal insulation single component wall i can build myself .

expatrick , thanks i will look into the timber houses but i think it would be something i would need to sub out as i have little experience of these houses and yes the anglicised version seen in england may be the reason for my aversion to this system , but i will star to look into this more .

peter , the felelős műszaki vezető you have to employ , does he just have to come to sign off and inspect at certain stages of the project as i will not be flooding the job with labour to complete quickly and will be taking my time . so how do i employ and pay this man ( ie one of payment or paid by visits )
.
i look forward to any thoughts you have on the preliminary plan i have and any info is worth its weight in gold when working i another country , so thank you for taking your time .
ooo i really want to go to the expo now . if i make it i will report back on my findings gents .
also i will buy you guys a pint if i go and you are in budapest at the time .
again thanks for taking the time to help gents .
as this develops i will keep the forum updated on progress, issues and hope this helps others .
regards
warren

warrenpeace

also ,
if anyone has experience of ytong house building or knows of any in the budapest area that would be open to letting myself and my partner visit , we would be most greatful.
any info on members building their own houses and the materials /technique used would be great if you could share as although i am leaning towards ytong system i am open to investigating all types of construction and its pros and cons in hungary .
thanks everyone .
warren

FenTiger

Interesting read about the different systems. I never knew the blocks/bricks I have seen on most houses were called porotherm clay blocks/bricks!

warrenpeace

hi Fen tiger ,
i believe that is what they are called . they are thin bed laying system but i have seen hungarian new builds use these blocks with 10mm mortar beds ??? not sure why it seems a lot of extra cost when they are designed for a thin notched mortar bed .
i am still in the process of researching different systems with regards to ease of construction for 1 man and a labourer ( ie the mrs lol ) .
am looking to complete sale of house in england before xmas ( fingers crossed ) and start building in spring .
if between now and xmas i can get to budapest 2 or 3 times i am hoping to talk with architects and start the drawings and permit side of things .
as i have said , the ytong seems to be the best one system almost flat pack option that is within my skill and fitness range and i hope in october to be in budapest for my partners birthday so i am hoping to have initial talk with them regarding cost to build my design .
i believe they can also provide plans and help with local permissions etc but i will have to wait until last week in oct to have a full discussion and get the info .
will update on my progress , but am still looking at other systems .
just takes time to do a half accurate take off and bill of quantities to be able to compare the differant systems .
so am hoping there may be some people who have already done a house build with the various systems who could shed light on the system , ballpark cost , ease of diy build and how they like their houses now .
as i said , iwill update the thread as i get more concrete answers and how they affect my decision
regards
warren

Peter_in_Hungary

There are several types of orange clay blocks, some designed for thin bed mortar (actually adhesive) and others meant for traditional mortar so you have to be sure what is in use. The thin bed mortar systems require the thin mortar to achieve the rated U value.

For timber frame I was thinking of a 1 off built on site rather than a bought in lego kit which would give you the shape/design you want rather than the catalogue options. Timber frame can be good but attention to detail is needed otherwise condensation within the walls can rot out the timber in a few years.

The felelős műszaki vezető aka building inspector will (should) give a charge for the job with a %age up front and the rest on completion. If you are going to take a longish time to complete then it would be best to let them know the aprox. time scale.

I would not use ytong at 500mm thick (AFAIK ytong uses a special adhesive mortar and doesn't take screws well so it can be difficult to hang shelves etc.) I would favour a porotherm block at about 300mm thick with 200mm EPS external wall insulation (EWI) which will give a U value of about 0.1 The EWI can (should/must) link up with the loft insulation which should be 300 - 400 mm and will mitigate the cold bridge of the cast in situ concrete ring beam supporting the roof.

The 'standard' building methods here are different to the 'standard' building methods of the UK. No one here uses double skin walls (cavity walls) and the use of cast in situ reinforced concrete ring beams is universal.

With a new site you can get the electricity installed with a meter on the boundary with a socket in the meter box so that you can build and later you can wire up your own consumer unit and house wiring if you are competent. Gas has to be done by a certified fitter. Water (after the meter) can be DIY. There are no cold water storage tanks in the loft here. everything is off the mains including the electric hot water storage tank which you will have unless you have a gas combi boiler so mains pressure hot water but it doesn't need the safety checks as in the UK (and you don't hear of problems either).

warrenpeace

scrubbedexpat142

This - but I would add that the panels need to be made and "racked" in a workshop & (simple) jig - not "stick built" as common among the Yankees!

FenTiger

I know exactly what you're saying. Neighbours of friends of ours have an American style timber framed house. It looks so out of place with neighbouring properties. Even worse it's quite tall compared to our friends house and built quite close to the boundary it now blocks the sun where they like to sit outside! The plastering looks awful due to the neighbours using some sort of block sheeting panels on the exterior.

scrubbedexpat142

True but luckily timber frame doesn't have to look like timber frame - provided, as you say, careful attention is paid to the choice of external skin.

scrubbedexpat142

To be honest, as the OP dislikes cavity wall construction (& I sympathise with that) timber frame may not be suitable in this instance.

Jack_Russells4ever

Can I ask what is wrong with the thicker Porotherm blocks that have insulation sandwiched in the cores? I think they are about 44 or 45cm thick? Seems like they would be better than a thinner one for our winters. Just asking

FenTiger

I agree greater attention needs to be given to the external skin. It is actually only one side of our friends neighbours house which looks really poorly plastered and this is the side which faces our friends property.
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