Building a home - to live in!

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Building a home - to live in!
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anneka

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 158

Posted: Mon Nov 01, 04 8:50 pm Post subject: Building a home - to live in!

Due to some luck and family constraints, my husband and I are building our own home attached to my Mother-in-laws house. In a lot of respects we are in an extremly enviable position but there are some downsides too. We will not own our home outright and it has taken us 5 years to get as far as we have - deep holes in the ground!

We want our home to be as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible - and cheap to run in the future. We have decided on several things which although making the project initially more expensive to build will reduce running costs and hopefully deliver us the most self sufficient manner of heating and lighting our home.

The structure of the house is timber frame, with an incrediblly high U value (down to masses of insulation) and will have triple glazed argon (don't know if thats good) filled windows.

We are installing a rainwater harvesting system with uv filters so the water can be used for baths and showers as well as toilets and washing machines. We will be running the lighting as long as we can fathom the system properly from batteries which will be recharged by a wind turbine and a small solar panel. The larger solar panel tubes are probably beyond our budget, my MIL has them on her roof and they were fantasitally expensive to buy and install, I don't really think that she will see the return on them in any way other than as a benifit to the environment, I'm not knocking the technology - just the cost. We are also looking at geothermal heating but are unsure about this as we have yet to talk to someone who actually has it - but have family in Sweden where it is common so hopefully all will become clearer.

We will have underfloor heating and a heat exchanger for ventilation (see insulation) - we are undecided as to wether to get a solid fuel range (there is an oil fired range which can do hot water, underfloor heating and cook) - but again we could get these things from seperate appliances cheaper.

Would be extreamly grateful for any suggestions with regard to the various items above, any experience of any of the above will be gratefully received. We want to be as efficient and as self reliant as possible, so any more ideas please let me know. I by return will - if anyone is interested - keep you posted as to how the building goes and what we eventually end up using. Be warned as we are doing most of the work ourselves and are lucky enough not to be living in a caravan all winter it may be a while before its finished.

Anneka

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Nov 01, 04 9:31 pm Post subject:
I'm not sure how much you have read, but there is a reasonable article about heat pumps in the Nov Country Smallholding, it's been done by the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) so you may have the details already. (Let me know if you need any info from it). I would certainly like to be kept up-to-date with progress as it's something I'm very interested in for the future...

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Nov 01, 04 9:35 pm Post subject:
Too my limited knowledge solar power should be a very good way to go, as really the tech in very cheap. The trouble is the way it is sold is very dear Sounds like a fantasitc project though, we would really appreciate you writing some more on it for our projects section jema

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 04 10:08 am Post subject:
If you look in the web links section there's some links to heat pump/solar & small scale wind turbine sites. Sounds great, good luuck with it.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 04 6:25 pm Post subject:
try https://www.greenshop.co.uk/ they have books and info on power sources. There is also a sister company that does the rainwater harvesting systems you need! https://www.rainharvesting.co.uk/ sounds very exciting - good luck - have you also checked your local council website for grants for these things!

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 04 7:24 pm Post subject:

Anneka have you thought of solar tiles? I know they are not cheap, but if you take of the cost of regular tiles (which you wouldn't need) and take into account the grants available, I think they are quite reasonable. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company (my uncle works for them

) but I will ask and let you know.

With solar tiles you could just go for as many as you could afford. You may even be able to add more later, but I'm not sure about that. Uncle reckons it's worth doing if you replacing (or in your case building) a roof as you save on the other materials. I beleive the grant is around 50% of the cost.

Sorry - short on details - I get them for you!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 04 7:41 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

my uncle works for them

Is that Uncle Bulgaria?

(Sorry. I couldn't not say it.

)

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 04 10:04 pm Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

wellington womble wrote:

my uncle works for them

Is that Uncle Bulgaria?

(Sorry. I couldn't not say it.

)

Ha Ha, Uncle John actually! Like the toadstools!

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 11:14 am Post subject:
For the build, consider using lime-based products rather than modern portland cement and gypsum materials. They allow a house to breathe, reducing the need for for environmentally-unfriendly polymers in the fabric, and are also carbon neutral, absorbing as much CO2 from the air to cure as was produced in their manufacture.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 7:29 pm Post subject:

Quote:

For the build, consider using lime-based products

There was an article in Country Smallholding about that as well a few months back.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 7:49 pm Post subject:
There is a lady, who advertises in our smallholder groups magazine that has written a book about lime builing. I will get the details if you are interested.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 7:55 pm Post subject:
I would be very interested.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 8:03 pm Post subject:
Now I'll have to find it!!!

anneka

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 158

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 9:42 pm Post subject:
Thank you WW, I think that we are restricted by the planning as far as solar tiles go, I am not sure but I will look in to it. Planning on having some kind of solar panels, should be installing rainwater harvesting tank soon as well. Anneka

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 04 9:44 am Post subject:

For lime-based building techniques (and general self-build help), try these sites:
https://www.lime.org.uk/ (Ty-Mawr Lime: The firm I use, based in Brecon. V competitive rates, v helpful and they also offer training courses)
https://www.womersleys.co.uk/ (Womersley's: A good source of lime-based render and plaster)
https://www.stastier.co.uk/ (St. Astier Lime: The main importer of hydraulic lime, which will set even under water - essential if you're pointing lower walls in a damp area)
https://www.mikewye.co.uk/ (Mike Wye: Another major supplier of lime products and advice)
https://www.thelimecentre.co.uk/ (The Lime Centre: ...and another!)
https://naturalbuildingproductscouk.ntitemp.com/index.htm (Natural Building Technologies: A good source for green building materials and advice)
https://www.ebuild.co.uk/ (very good reference site for self-builders and renovators, with a particularly good forum and Q&A pages)
https://www.buildthedream.co.uk/ (another self-build site, though not so green-friendly)
https://www.buildingconservation.com/ (E-Build: Aimed mainly at the conservation of existing buildings, but has explanations of techniques applicable to new builds, and also a suppliers' database)
https://www.ihbc.org.uk/ (The Institute for Historic Building Conservation: also mainly aimed at conservation, but with good advice for anyone working with traditional materials)
https://www.spab.org.uk/ (Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings: Again, conservation oriented, but the techniques are applicable to new builds.
The main lime book is Building with Lime, by Stafford Holmes and Michael Wingate (about �25) , which has everything you could need. A cheaper alternative, and almost as useful is Lime in Building, a Practical Guide, by Jane Schofield (about a fiver). You can get both of these through Ty Mawr or SPAB - or probably from Amazon.

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