Archive for Dilemmas

Dilemmas – bathrooms

September 13, 2008 · Filed under Budget tips, Dilemmas, Eco tips, State of our house · Tagged , ,

The room that is closest to completion is the bathroom. And very proud of it we are too. When we moved in we had a tiny shower room with barely enough room to turn in. We converted what was an ungenerous second bedroom and now we have a bathroom large enough to swing a cat. Several cats, possibly simultaneously. If you were into that sort of thing.

From an eco point of view, adding a bath doesn’t make much sense. The biggest environmental issue in the bathroom is water usage and, as anyone who can quote tired statistics will tell you, showers use a fraction of the water that baths do. This is something I have always had issue with. It is taken as a truism but really is only accurate if you have a short shower. If you spend half the morning in there shaving your legs and waiting to rinse out the conditioner you may as well have run a bath. If in doubt, try putting the plug in while having a shower (obviously this only works if your shower is of the over-the-bath variety) and see how high the water level rises. If you’ve got kids you’ll know that it is virtually impossible to wash a small wriggly five year old in a shower without saturating yourself. And two separate kids’ showers add up to more than throwing them into the bath together. Not to mention the hours of entertainment they spend in there. When you’re sitting in the bath you aren’t consuming any energy at all – I consider it a low impact activity. If yours is a power shower, you can forget the moral high ground – they are energy vampires.

Does all that sound like justification? Well it is. Dilemma or not, we got the bath. Showers are great for waking you up and getting you clean but there are times when only a long soak in a bath will do – for instance when you’ve been self-building all day and every muscle you didn’t know you had aches. But of course we tried to do this in as low impact a way as possible. Having sourced the bath we wanted – a British-made one to save on air miles – Donald went to collect it only to find it in bad shape. When could we get a replacement? Not for three weeks. In the end the plumber sourced the bath as he was booked in and couldn’t wait. So, another compromise. There are other ways of sourcing baths for an eco house – salvage is a fantastic way to re-use period furniture and fittings and will usually be cheaper than getting a reproduction. We didn’t go for this option as we felt that claw baths + kids = big puddles to clear up after bath time.

Our eco points come from re-using what was there. We moved the existing toilet, sink and shower into the new bathroom. We even took down and re-used the wet wall from the shower, painstakingly chiselling off the adhesive and silicone. We sanded the floor boards, which came up lovely, so we can seal the gaps and stain them – no need for new flooring.

Having a nearly complete room means something else – I finally get to indulge the urge to decorate which has lain dormant amid the rubble for so long. However, the rapidly diminishing budget means I can’t indulge it as much as I’d like. Sigh.

First thing I wanted was funky taps for the bath. On holiday in France last year, the apartment we stayed in had mixer taps with a thermostat that had a push button control. This meant that the bath filled at an even 38o – saving the hassle of adding a bit of cold, then a bit more hot, then another drop of cold. If you wanted to go hotter than this you had to depress a safety button – so no accidental scalds for the kids. The other button controls the flow to reduce water usage. We took a note of the brand – Hansgrohe – and went searching for them. Turns out they aren’t stocked by any supplier in Perth. Donald tracked them down at the Ecobuild Conference in London and priced the taps we wanted. £400. Ouch. Not being in the habit of giving up, I went online and discovered that Hansgrohe UK have an ebay outlet – http://stores.ebay.co.uk/hansgrohe-uk. We got exactly the taps we wanted (Ecostat) for £100 including postage.

Then I turned my attention to tiles. I fancied glass tiles and figured that it must be possible to source some made with recycled glass. Again, I searched the internet. Again, our ideals and budget clashed. We found some gorgeous ones at Bottle Alley Glass - a huge variety of shades and patterns – but the price! At £150 per m2 we had to pass. There was a crowd in Glasgow who only did bespoke at £200 per m2. At the same time I priced ‘designer’ glass tiles from conventional sources at approx. £100 per m2. Which brings us back to the eternal question – why do manufacturers of recycled products charge a premium when their materials are so cheap? But tenacious as ever (ok, stubborn) I managed to find a product that proves it is possible to be both economical and ecological. Original Style produce glass tiles in England using traditional methods – so they are quality tiles. One of their ranges – recycled glass matt mosaics – is billed as their ‘economical and environmentally friendly’ range. It is available in a limited range of colours – white, black/grey, blue and green – but it’s a start. And lucky for us, the green ones work really well with the existing wet wall. We ordered the three m2 we needed for the bath surround for the grand total of £66. Not per m2, that’s the total. That brings them in at less than 20% of the cost Bottle Alley’s tiles. Maybe not quite as funky and original but, y’know, for £22 per m2 I can live with that.

Our bargain Hansgrohe Ecostat taps

Recycled matt mosaic tiles from Original Style

Comments (1) »

Dilemma – flooring

September 11, 2008 · Filed under Dilemmas, materials · Tagged , , ,

When we started this project we understood that at certain times the best environmental option and our meagre budget would clash and we would have to compromise. Well, this is one of those times. When we got planning permission for the extension, one of the conditions was that the floor of the kitchen would be concrete. Given that we were building down a level and the Perth area is liable to flooding, we conceded on this point but decided to make it feature. When the concrete was poured, we scattered recycled glass chuckies with a view to sanding them down and sealing to create a funky kitchen floor.

That was Plan A. Being, admittedly, novices at this we misjudged the timing and added the glass too late. As the concrete dried, the chuckies rose to the surface and our perfectly flat floor became pocked. We cleared the loose chuckies and held out hope that the remaining ones were deeper set and would shine up nicely when sanded. But we underestimated the power of glass. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that they broke the industrial strength sander but they certainly held their own. When we gave up on it as a bad job we were left with a green and grey lunar landscape.

One evening, while wilfing on the internet, I stumbled upon our Plan B - a clear resin floor covering with recycled glass screed in a choice of colours, pre-mixed and ready to pour. And then I lost it. We have wasted many hours online searching for this site (which I could have sworn I’d bookmarked) to no avail. If anyone out there knows of which I speak, please let us know and soon. We haven’t quite given up hope, but we’re close.

We started researching alternatives and came up with Plan C – marmoleum. Linoleum, marmoleum’s more industrial cousin, is often used as a generic term for vinyl but they couldn’t be more different. Vinyl is basically plastic so it uses petroleum products in its manufacture and will never biodegrade. While often used as a more allergy-friendly replacement for carpet, it is not recommended by the British Allergy Foundation because of the harmful chemicals it contains. Linoleum on the other hand is made from all natural materials – the word lino comes from linseed. It is everything that vinyl isn’t but to the casual observer there is no obvious difference once laid. This is where the budget comes in – the difference is in the price. Not only is marmoleum more expensive, it is much trickier to fit and requires specialist tools.

Now, Donald’s Dad is in the trade and he has very generously offered to provide our flooring – which makes a big difference to our budget. He was happy to source cork flooring for the kids’ rooms – cork being possibly the most sustainable floor covering there is (more on which later). He was able to source marmoleum (it is manufactured in Fife) but it was a big ask – he hadn’t fitted it before and didn’t have the tools. So we looked for Plan D – would the cork work in the kitchen? No, he said, not where it’s likely to get wet. Plan E was recycled plastic tiles but we couldn’t find them in anything other than bright industrial colours. As the floor was so uneven, before we could lay anything we had to use a self-levelling screed which raised the level of the floor. This meant we couldn’t consider local stone or tiles as it would make the floor too high. And then there was vinyl.

Even if someone out there comes good with the recycled glass resin, it’s too late now that the screed is laid. We have made our compromise, chosen a vinyl that looks vaguely like stone and Donald’s Dad has ordered it. We console ourselves with the thoughts that a/ this means we will finally be able to install our kitchen and b/ as easy to fit as it is, vinyl is also easy to remove should we find our dream floor in the future. There are now vinyl recycling schemes so it won’t end up in landfill or we could freecycle it.

We are very happy with the kids’ floors. Cork has a bad name due to the dodgy ’70s tiles we all grew up with but it has since undergone something of a reinvention. It is now available in a variety of natural shades and patterns and is laid in click-lock planks (like laminate). It is soft and bouncy underfoot, making it ideal for the rough and tumble of kids, and it has great sound insulation. Where cork stands out from other wood flooring is its sustainability. Our cork flooring comes from Portuguese Cork Oak. The trees are not harvested but coppiced which means that new growth is removed to make the cork while the tree is left to grow and absorb carbon – a bit ‘eating your cake and having it too’. We’ll post photos of the cork when its laid. Once the flooring is down it will really start to feel like home.

Comments (4) »

Dilemmas – kitchens

July 2, 2008 · Filed under Dilemmas · Tagged , ,

One of the things you learn very quickly is that there is never one obvious eco-friendly choice, there are just greater or less than desirable options for you to deliberate on. Even on green building forums there is no consensus about ‘definitive’ eco materials. There are so many factors that have to be considered and how do you compare one against the other? There are those that argue in favour of concrete – it may be carbon-heavy in production but then you have a highly thermal efficient building which will ’payback’ that carbon in heat savings over its lifespan, which may be hundreds of years. Anti-concrete arguments include the fact that its production is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions (some estimates put it at 10% worldwide) and that this isn’t acceptable, whatever its lifetime analysis. It’s also not reusable or biodegradable at the end of the building’s lifetime. So who is ‘right’? It comes down to informing yourself and then making the best choices you can with the resources you have. Any effort towards sustainability and energy efficiency should be welcomed.

This post is about a typical ‘more questions than answers’ scenario. We’ve been trying to source our kitchen and finding sustainability isn’t even on the radar. Only one manufacturer (Magnet) is working towards developing a sustainable unit ’soon’. Ikea, on the other hand, at least have a sustainability policy (and an agreement with the Woodland Trust to plant trees). But Ikea don’t manufacture their kitchens locally. To keep prices down they have factories in countries with low labour costs which transport the kitchens around the world. So, do we go for sustainable kitchen units with a lot of air miles attached or do we buy British-made units with no traceable source for materials? 

Another issue, when you’re on a tight budget, is cost. Comparing the kitchen we want (including appliances) from Ikea to a similar one from Magnet, the difference is about €3,000 – even with Magnet’s very generous sale prices. Presumably what you get from Magnet is better quality workmanship so it should last longer – and longevity is important. But Ikea offers a 25 year guarantee on their units compared to Magnet’s 15. 

Magnet only fit ultra-efficient appliances such as AEG and NEFF, while Ikea offer A-rated Whirlpool appliances. But what appliances to go for? The choice for cooking comes down to gas or induction hobs. Gas is more efficient than regular hobs (we can find figures for that) and induction hobs are more efficient than regular hobs (we can find figures for that too) but how to you compare gas and induction? 

We know that grid electricity is hopelessly inefficient (for every 100 units of energy produced, only 22 are actually utilised by the end user) so do we go for gas, which is more efficient but is a non-renewable resource? Gas is also cleaner than electricity – 1kw of gas emits 0.194kg of CO2 versus an average 0.568kg per 1kw of electricity (depending on the source). But, what if you are signed up to a green energy tariff or supplier (as we are), making our electricity greener than gas? That would make induction seem a better option. Again, cost is a factor – the induction hob would cost around £500 more.

And what about future-proofing your supply? If gas and energy prices continue to rise and finite resources such as oil and gas run out, what will they be replaced with? We have already decided to stay on-grid as it is impossible, with our resources, to make a suburban semi self-sufficient in energy needs. Micro-renewables such as wind turbines and solar panels are not suitable for our setting – in a natural dip with little south-facing roof space in a fairly dark part of the world. There is much debate about whether it is an efficient use of resources to invest in ‘micro-renewables’ for individual households rather than in vastly more efficient wind farms or decentralised community-based energy schemes. We’re also hoping that biogas becomes a viable alternative to natural gas without disruption to the supply network. 

Only one thing we know for sure and that’s what counter top we’re going for. Imported granite and timber from non-sustainable sources are obvious no-nos but what’s the alternative? We sourced a very funky counter top made from recycled glass. Not that this is a cheap option, despite it being made from a very cheap raw material, but this is one of the luxuries we’ve allowed for in the budget. It will be the centre-piece of the kitchen and boost our green credentials, whatever else we decide.

At the moment, we’re leaning towards Ikea and still debating the gas / induction issue. We would welcome some feedback on this - please do send us your tuppence worth.

Comments (4) »