August 31, 2008
· Filed under Rants · Tagged government advisers, reckless lenders, sleep
Long time no post. The pace of the build just now leaves very little energy at the end of the day. But we are making progress and will post soon. However, I just need a wee rant about the housing market… When we talk about sustainable building we usually refer to the materials and construction methods but the current housing crisis is a result of unsustainable practices too. While we can blame the Americans (and why not? they did start it) we have to accept some responsibility for the mess we’re in.
For the past few years, the Government has stood by and watched the market ‘regulate’ itself. The result of this unfettered capitalism is that banks lent money to people who couldn’t afford it on the misguided premise that the housing market would continue to grow indefinitely. They packaged up this debt and sold it on, making profits on their own recklessness. And now that these unsustainable practises have come back to bite us all in the ass, surely those who perpetrated them are accountable in some way.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “We are looking at a wide range of options to further support the housing market in the current climate, working closely with industry and lenders.”
‘Industry and lenders’ wouldn’t be the first terms I would describe those who exploit the vulnerable to make money. ‘Scam artists’, ‘con men’ and ‘fraudsters’ spring to mind. Do they have to give their ill-gotten gains back? Are they facing investigations? Fines? Prison? No - instead the Government is asking their advice on how to help the people they exploited.
On a more positive note, last night we moved the kids into the extension and slept in our own bed in our own room for the first time in months. Best night’s sleep. Ever.
August 17, 2008
· Filed under Budget tips, Eco tips, materials · Tagged FSC, PVC, Segal method, timber windows
Windows often work out as one of the biggest budget-blowers in an eco build. If you’re happy to go for standard uPVC double-glazing you may get off relatively lightly but if you’re eco-minded uPVC just isn’t an option. PVC is cheap and durable which is why it has become a favourite material of the building industry. [Note - none of the savings in production costs have translated into lower house prices.] Apart from encasing your home in plastic, the downside of PVC is that it is a source of phthalates and dioxins. Both are known to leach from PVC products and have been banned from children’s toys as a result. They also escape into the atmosphere when disposed of in landfill or incinerated. So that would be a no then. For more information see www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/.
The only sustainable type of window frame is timber but again, timber is only sustainable if it comes from well-managed forests (where trees are planted to replace the ones harvested) and hasn’t travelled half way round the world. So tropical hardwoods are obviously out but where do you reckon the cheap patio furniture on special offer at your local supermarket comes from? The only way to guarantee your timber is ethical is to buy only FSC-approved sources. And that is where things get expensive. Not every supplier stocks FSC timber and those that do often charge a premium for it.
We managed to source windows from Rembrand Timber in Dundee (http://www.rembrandtimber.com/). They’re Swedish, which is almost local (Dundee is nearer to Scandanavia than to southern England) and come straight off the boat at Dundee. They are Traryd Fonster, FSC-certified and triple-glazed. They have a u-value of 1.5W / m2 oC – which means that they will make our house energy efficient to run. These are top of the range windows. So what are they doing in a low cost project?
One thing you don’t skimp on in an eco build (or any build if you’ve got any sense) is windows. They are one of the most important factors in making your home warm so you don’t need to use as much energy to heat it. They also ensure the house is properly ventilated so you don’t get condensation or damp problems down the line. It wasn’t a difficult decision to make. It was, however, one of those rare occasions when it was actually cheaper to go for the greenest option.
The trick is to buy them ‘off-the-shelf’. Windows are manufactured in standard sizes. Unfortunately if you’re replacing windows, you’ll find that most houses don’t come in standard sizes. Which means the windows have to be custom made to fit. The big advantage for self-builders is that you can choose the sizes of your windows. Donald did his research before he drew up the plans so all the windows in the extension (and luckily, two in the existing house) are built to standard sizes. Even our very sexy triple panel back door was off-the-shelf. If you are working with an architect, make sure you are clear on this issue - it will save you a fortune.
The Segal Method of contruction works like this on a bigger scale – it plans the entire house around materials in standard sizes to keep costs down. Building an extension on to an existing house meant we were more constricted than someone building from scratch but it is an option to consider if you are self-building. Unfortunately, our front windows are enormous, non-standard sized, badly sealed, poorly vented, aluminium 1970s double glazing and will cost us a fortune to replace but it’s not an optional extra if we want the whole house to be energy efficient, not to mention warm this winter.
August 12, 2008
· Filed under State of our house · Tagged relief, wood fibre boards
Is it just me or is the house smiling?
Sometimes the weather forecast doesn’t get it quite right. Between showers on Sunday and an unexpectedly fine Monday, Donald was able to get the rest of the wood fibre boards up. We now have a roof, windows, gutters and walls so we are (almost) weatherproof. Ideally we would have got the render on to make the walls actually watertight but there were just too many jobs that needed to get done at the same time. Tonight, storm warnings have been issued after torrential rain over much of Britain and Ireland so I think our luck has run out. But we’re getting there.
Tomorrow we may even blog about something practical, like the fantastic eco materials we’ve been using or how well we’re doing on the budget. As always, if there’s anything you’d like to know more about, please ask.
August 9, 2008
· Filed under State of our house · Tagged climate change, depressions
It’s fair to say that the weather hasn’t been our friend throughout this build. In April, when we were digging the foundations, it was unseasonably warm and there was no escape from the sun. In June, when we had no roof, torrential rain flooded the floors. The floor of the kitchen still hasn’t recovered from that. In July, the sun beat down on the slater as he worked on the roof. We arrived back from Ireland on 5th August to rain. And more rain.
Unfortunately, Donald hadn’t finished putting up the wood fibre boards on one of the external walls so the hemp soaked up the rain like a sponge. Which it then released into the floors of the bedrooms. The slater wants his scaffolding back and it’s costing us a fortune but it was going to come in handy for rendering the walls. That has to be done on a dry day and there haven’t been any dry days this week. So we checked the long-range forecast (with thanks to the Met Office):
UK Outlook for Thursday 14 Aug 2008 to Saturday 23 Aug 2008:
The unseasonably unsettled weather is set to continue across for much of the period, courtesy of low pressure systems moving in from the Atlantic. This means a continuation of the often rather cool and changeable weather that we have got accustomed to of late.
So we’ve decided to give up the scaffolding. We haven’t a hope of getting the external walls finished in the next two weeks. Donald managed to get the guttering up, which will make some difference to the hemp, and we will try to get the remaining boards up during the dry periods between showers. However, we have a moat around the ground floor which is threatening to reach the threshold of the kitchen, which won’t help the kitchen floor. We hired a de-humidifier to dry it out but the thing had a leak and left a bigger puddle than it dried. When we returned it and complained we were offered an alternative but they didn’t have any in stock due to the weather – half of Perth is under water.
I’m sorry if this post is a little negative. You could say that the weather has dampened our spirits. Or you could say that sharing one room, having an ‘open plan’ bathroom and big gaps around the window frames in unseasonably cold temperatures have worn our patience a bit. But the real reason we are a tad depressed at this moment is that weather forecast. Our motivation for building this extension in a low impact way is to do our bit for the envionment. To tread lightly on the earth. To reduce our carbon footprint. To boldly go where no eco-cliche has gone before. But reading that forecast sitting at my computer wearing a fleece and woolly socks in August it struck me – we’re too late.
Even if the world community managed to cop on and make real changes very soon, the damage is already done. We are reaping the effects of it already. Even the very best international agreement on climate change, which is not binding and to which very few countries have adhered in any meaningful way (Kyoto), only commits us to keeping CO2 emissions to 1990 levels. We managed to do a fair amount of damage before 1990, so this only commits us to not being any worse than we were when we didn’t know what we were doing. The sad thing is that there are still a lot of people who can’t see or won’t admit that the climate is changing. Worse are those that know but don’t care enough to change. The worst are the world leaders who play politics with the planet as if it was a bargaining tool rather than a collective responsibility. When the history of this time is written, our children will wonder at the peculiar mixture of greed, denial and inertia that stopped us acting when it could still make a difference. On grey days in August with no prospect of sun for weeks, this makes me very sad.
August 4, 2008
· Filed under State of our house
On the eve of our return home, it’s time to admit that the house won’t be finished by the time we get back. This is what we had planned:
July 2008 – Slates on roof. Windows and doors. Hemp batts arriving. Gill and kids move out for the summer. Exterior – wood fibre boards and render. ‘Wall slap’ from old house into new. Move bathroom. Install kitchen. Electrics. Plumbing. Heating (thermaskirt).
The actual state of the house is as follows:
The slates are on, the windows and kitchen door are installed. The hemp is in the walls and the wood fibre
Hemp-stuffed walls
boards are up – awaiting render. Wall slapped but not reconstructed. The bathroom has moved. The electricians have wired the house but can’t put in the sockets and switches until the internal walls have been plasterboarded. The new bathroom is plumbed and the pipes in place for the new kitchen. Heating is a long way off.
The bathroom has been moved into the back bedroom and the bath, toilet and sink have been installed. However the shower can’t be installed until the wall has been reconstructed. At the moment there is still a rather large hole in it leading to the new part of the house.
Well-ventilated bathroom
The kids’ bedrooms are almost done, meaning they have windows and walls. The joiner will finish the plasterboard next week. Donald has constructed the stairs into both bedrooms and they look great BUT there are no stair rails yet so aren’t safe for the kids to use when making a midnight trip to the bathroom. That means that we are all going to be camping out in the front bedroom for the first few days.
The kitchen – sadly, we have no working kitchen. The waste pipes have been moved to the other side of the house so the sink in the old kitchen no longer works. There is no new kitchen because the floor (which is concrete) has not yet dried out since the heavy rains a
Stairs with big drop
few weeks back. Until the floor is dry we can’t put flooring on top of it. Without the flooring we can’t install the kitchen units and we need the floor level before we can put in the stairs. So it may be some time before we are eating anything other than microwave meals and making regular trips to the laundrette!
