Ecohouse Conversion Diary
In January 2006 I was unaware of the serious nature of
climate change although I had been studying the deterioration of pastures and
the advance of the desert in
In February 2006 I joined the BBC Climate Change experiment to add my PCs to the 200,000 others involved in modelling the changes in climate. As a result I became aware that this would threaten the happiness of my grandchildren and deserved serious study.
I enrolled in an Open University Course called Climate Change Modelling and joined a Yahoo Group on the internet called ClimateConcern. The former was very limited in its scope but the latter has provided a mine of valuable information gathered by those far wiser than I. I have been increasingly aware of the seriousness of the problem and the difficulties facing any solutions.
I have formed a WIKI to enable others to co-operate with me to assemble facts and opinions regarding the evidence, outcomes, damage, and possible solutions. I am certain from the past year of studies that the damage is still being underestimated by governments and by the majority of the people in every nation and the prospect of action in time is still remote Please add the facts you have to my climate study Wiki at http://u3aclimatestudy.pbwiki.com/
The following facets of the problem require urgent attention.
1. Better scientific measurements of the damage being caused and likely in the future
2. A better informed press and public
3. More radical action by governments
4. Technological advances in renewable energy at breakneck speed.
5. More case studies that can show what is possible.
I reject the minor savings the individual can make as ineffective and cosmetic, but if they are well documented they can form the basis of future legislation. For example the energy I can save by solar power generation may then be used extravagantly by someone else. However, by documenting my home solar project I can prepare for the promotion of solar energy country wide.
This is our motivation for attempting an eco-house which I hope will be an energy neutral conversion. This may not pay for itself in my lifetime but it could be a model by which the government could calculate the subsidy necessary to make every home carbon neutral.
Having just purchased a house which will benefit from a substantial extension I will record the steps I am taking and the problems I am encountering in the hope they may be valuable to others.
We chose the house because we wanted to be nearer to our grandchildren, but
also wanted to live above the 75 metres contour as this could well be the sea
shore in 200 to 300 years time. I wonder when estate agents will start to
factor this into the price of their houses. Also the house could benefit from
an extension and other improvements to the frontage and interior. This enables
us to accommodate the disruption of changes to the heating etc. as part of the
larger works.
The starting point
Even though I have spent the best part of a year studying the problem I find it quite difficult to know where to start. We have purchased a property which could benefit from an extension because it is quite a large house downstairs but has only 3 small bedrooms upstairs. The loft is cramped and only rises to 4 feet so a major extension would provide a first floor the size of the ground floor and could add a second floor. This could enable the roof to be turned from facing East and West to facing North and South and so being more suitable for solar generation.
Do I start by getting an architect to look at this? Is it better to research the methods of heating, like ground source or solar, first, and then call the architect to fit the building round the equipment?
I have decided (
On the Eco-first web site I found details of the Ecobuild Exhibition at
A visiting architect asked why the standards expected in 2050 were not being applied to new builds now. No adequate explanation was given. Unfortunately the architect concerned was planning to leave the country shortly.
We chatted on the Baxi stand and they exhibited a range of heat pumps for use in ground source heating. They introduced us to Polypipe as one of the companies who specialise in underfloor pipework for ground source projects.
The Polypipe stand exhibited their new underfloor pipe panels which are only 75mm thick and suitable for use in existing buildings without needing excavation.
Another stand claimed to use Baxi pumps to produce complete solutions including solar and ground source products to suit the situation
Food for thought
The exhibition was encouraging and we started to explore what we had learned. The Polypipe panels appeared to be too thick for our existing floors as 75 mms would raise the floors above the doorsteps and reduce the ceiling heights to the detriment of the property.
My cousin's son Alan Pither has taken an interest in the project from the start and has now offered to calculate the heating requirements based on the glazed area and the other building specifications. This may be delayed until the proposed changes are clearer.
The RIBA was contacted to recommend suitable architects for the project. They proposed 3, and 2 of them made contact. One had already converted part of his house to become more carbon efficient and was very interested in the project. I provided him with a resume of the project. He asked to visit so that he could prepare a proposal.
The other worked differently. After receiving the resume he asked to visit to discuss the project for which he would charge £75 plus travel and VAT. Both are planning to come on Thursday 3rd April.
Ideal Home Exhibition
This was disappointing from an eco point of view. There were no products on display that were designed to help such a project. For example an enquiry on the Anglian Windows stand about triple glazing costs resulted in a blank stare and an assurance that they did not do them.
The futuristic house was rather better and offered leaflets on ground source heating and a range of interesting products.
Architects
We had no experience of discussing projects with architects but thought we had made our ideas quite clear in our set of notes (Appendix 1). Briefly we were trying to extend over a flat roof to add value to the house and at the same time get as near zero carbon as we could.
We had watched an episode of “Grand Designs” and been horrified by an architect who insisted on the use of materials she clearly did not understand. Both men who visited made us confident that this would not happen to us. We saw pictures of their work and were impressed with its attractiveness. They suggested ideas for our project which we discussed and made clear their scale of fees which varied from 18% of the contract price to “hopefully within 11%”. One expected the project to be over £100,000 and the other, in the report we later received, expected a total cost in the region of £200,000. We could build a new house for that!
It became clear that the methods that architects use to estimate costs might not be appropriate for our project. A cost of “between £1200 and £1600 per square metre and less than that for refurbished areas” did not give us much of an idea of value for money. They appeared to prefer larger building contractors with a good management structure and indicated that the 30% extra that this approach would cost would be worth it. How important would this extra cost be on our project?
The formal sequence of events (Appendix 2) did not appear well suited to our project unless the architect had a lot of experience in integrating the components we required.
Other architects we contacted through friends mainly thought such a project was beyond their capabilities and we appreciated their honesty. However it seemed we would pay dearly for relatively little practical experience of the methods we were planning to use. Was there another way? We needed an architect to gain planning approval and really wanted help with the appearance of the finished building but were not keen to pay fees on top of solar and ground source costs.
Initial Estimates
I decided to try to put together some of the individual costs of the features we wanted so that we could reduce the margin of error. We had noticed a local builder, Mr Philip Munt, completing the house opposite in very good time since we moved in. We phoned him up to see if he would be interested in the project.
He was very helpful and although he had not worked on such a project was very keen to try. He was aware of a ground source heating project completed in November 2006 in Waterperry. The owner was keen to share his experiences with us and said he wished he had known what he now knew. He purchased ground source heating to feed existing radiators and solar panels to provide hot water. He now realised that he could get hot water from his heat pump and the solar was not needed.
He described the process of digging trenches 1 metre deep 50 metres long in the back garden and said this had proved difficult due to the weather and the slope. However he was pleased with the supplier, Ice Energy in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. He did not have any idea of the costs of running the system yet but would let us know when his electricity bill arrived.
Mr Munt also recommended two architects who he found were good to work with so we phoned David Foale who was very interested in our project and agreed to meet us on April 13th.
Solar Century
One of the important features of our project is that the eco
features should blend unobtrusively with the house for the widest possible
appeal on resale. For this reason the Solar Century T21e tiles which clip
together with standard tiles to make an integrated roof appear to be the best
option. We met them at the Eco-Build exhibition at
John
was very knowledgeable on all aspects of energy conservation and provided the
facts and advice we needed. He had a marvellous computer program on his laptop
which enabled him to calculate the likely annual power generation from our roof
facing South East with a pitch of about 30 degrees. It was part of our plan to
gain more loft space by increasing the pitch of the roof to perhaps 45 degrees
and this appeared to make very little difference to the power we could expect
of about 1641 KW per year from a Sanyo 10 panel system costing in the region of
£12,297. The good news is that the government grant could pay for 50% of this
cost.
He
warned that a Solar Century tiled system would be 30% more expensive but their
prices were currently being revised. He provided pictures of his installations
and we saw some more on his website. It really seemed important to pay the
extra to enable the house to blend well in the area. It was also important for
us to generate more electricity than we currently needed as we knew the heat
pump could be extravigant. As a result we
provisionally planned for a 60 tile Solar Century system costing £10,000 net of
grants and generating 2400 KW per year.
Could we afford it?
Our theory is that by the time we want to sell the house eco-houses should be selling at a premium and we would be able to recover the building costs. However we are pensioners and I am 72 in April 2007 so we would have to find someone interested in lending us the money to do this. We have a little income from a property Lanzarote but not enough to justify a mortgage based on income. Our building society which we had been with for 40 years and had just repaid was not able to help due to their need for repayment by age 75 and income based lending requirements.
I have noticed the high rates offered by the Coventry Building Society to savers for some time so we decided to open one of their over 60's saver accounts. In discussion the manager agreed to consider lending to us for the project and she was personally eager to learn how we would achieve our objectives.
In principle we had purchased a 3 bedroom house for £315,000 and hoped to turn it into a 4 bedroom eco-house worth in the region of £450,000. Having about £40,000 available, we decided to ask for £80,000 which she agreed to submit as an interest only mortgage with her recommendation to head office.
We also asked if the
Gathering information
We had seen Ice Energy heat pumps at the Eco-Build Exhibition and sent them details of our project. We decided to follow this up when our neighbour had confirmed that they had been good to deal with. Having phoned at rather awkward times and requested a visit by email I eventually spoke to Adam Cusick on 13th April. He explained that they would first give me costs over the phone based on the details I had submitted and then, if I was happy, would do a site survey costing £500 which would be refunded out of the total cost if I went ahead. This seemed reasonable, with the other safeguards he mentioned, as they must be inundated with time wasters.
I do like a company that starts with the costs instead of concealing them until the end of the negotiations! Factors like the usage of hot water and the size of my garden were taken into account and we arrived at a cost of £7058 for a 7kw system with a 400 litre hot water tank. A grant is available of £1500 making the net cost £5558. To this should be added the cost of digging the trench 1 metre wide and 1 metre deep for 50 metres. We estimated this at £2000 but I rather look forward to hiring a digger and doing this myself!
A heat pump uses electrical energy to produce heat rather like the back of a refrigerator gets hot when the fridge gets cooler. Adam said they expect to multiply the heat value of the electricity 4 times. He was expecting we would use the existing radiators to do this but I had heard that even better results could be obtained by using underfloor heating pipes and running the system at a lower temperature. The installation would cost more so there is a trade off.
The time scale for Ice Energy was 2 weeks to get a survey, 2 weeks for the ground works and 8 to 10 weeks for the heat pump making a total of about 12 weeks from the go ahead.
A new architect
Our meeting with David Foale proved to be a landmark. He had recently become a member of the Eco Building Association and came armed with their magazine. He saw this as the way his work should develop and proved to be most knowledgable and willing to share his knowledge. He was keen to work flexibly with us to save costs.
He liked to manage projects rather than just preparing designs, but appreciated that I had spent considerable time researching the components of the project so was happy to do what was needed and leave to me what I could do. In particular he felt a competent builder like Philip Munt would be able to undertake a project like this by discussing minor issues with me and with minimal involvement from him.
It was clear that we would rely very much on him for the design work and planning application and after that a bill of materials would be prepared so that we could all see what was being achieved for the money. This would enable builders to tender and a good result to be achieved. He suggested Cherwell would be asked to appoint a building officer for a fee of £350 who would attend and approve each stage as it was completed.
We covered a lot of ground discussing double and triple glazing, the planning difficulties of raising roof levels, the problems of ground source heating distribution, timber cladding, the valuation of properties at the design stage, relationships with estate agents, the disadvantages of Bradstone block buildings, stresses in lintels and many other matters. All this time was given freely and we had entered a new relationship.
Costs appeared likely in thousands rather than 10's of thousands and the project appeared viable again!
Warmroof
We were impressed with the potential of the roof sealing systems which spray foam onto the underside of the tiles for insulation and cleanliness. Having tried to insulate lofts in the past you have a dirty job and difficult decisions to make. If you insulate the ceiling deeply the loft becomes unusable for storage and remains dirty. The tank and pipes are in danger of freezing. Insulating the pitch of the roof is much more satisfactory but very time consuming as all the insulation needs to be supported on battens or plasterboard. Plasterboard is the better choice as it keeps out the dust and improves the appearance.
We found 2 roof sealing contractors at the Ideal Home Exhibition, Warmroof and Sprayseal. The first is a franchise and the local agent came to assess our project on the evening of April 13th. Mr Bob Bullen was a friendly man with a great deal of experience as a roofer. He preferred to quote for the whole of the tiling and sealing together but it was important for comparison purposes to have his “new roof” quote for the sealing alone. This was £7300 for 130 sq metres of roof requiring no remedial work. This seemed rather a lot and we resolved to compare it with more conventional methods. He promised that 100 mms of coating would achieve 0.01w/sqm/degree.
The leaflet prepared by Sprayseal, the family firm, promised 0.2w/sqm/degree with 95mm of coating which appeared a little more likely.
Underfloor heating
The discussion with Bob Bullen explored the problems of wall and floor insulation. Although he was not offering these products he recommended extruded polystyrene as the most efficient insulation. In walls it can only be used in new builds (or new extensions) and it can be used under floors if protected by a concrete screed. He has used it effectively in his own property.
This leaves me thinking that the walls in the extension could be thicker than the floor below to increase insulation and also give an attractive overhang to the front facade.
While looking at the walls to gain an idea of the current cavity fill, if any, Bob commented on the Bradstone which is currently out of favour with planners who prefer real stone facades to reconstituted stone. We looked at our house through new eyes and understood why it would not suit everyone. Having said that we were very happy with the condition and appearance of the walls which have weathered quite attractively.
Living in the house
We
purchased a house almost obscured from the road by uninteresting bushes, with the exception of one glorious forsythia.The small rear garden was narrowed by an
overgrown fir hedge. We vowed to clear the front garden as a first priority but
of course matters inside prevailed.
Outside we removed some of the bushes in the front while leaving the forsythia to enjoy its last year of bloom!
We cut down the fir hedge and, to avoid pollution, had it shredded to make wood chips to lighten the clay soil. You can see the part used pile of chips behind later prunings. We ground the stumps of the hedge and of some other trees felled by our predecessors to make way for the ground source trench if needed (or for cultivation). The chipper and the stump grinder cost us £350.
Our grandson Olly worked hard to smash up a concrete coal bunker and we used the rubble to extend the driveway.
The steepness of the drive was becoming apparent and as a result we started to plan for the house to stand above a lowered driveway making it more imposing.
Blending the solar tiles
The Solar Century datasheet lists 7 tiles which are compatible with their C21e tile. As our objective was to achieve the nearest colour and texture match we looked on their websites and provisionally chose Marley (Eternit) Modern Anthracite as a very black and slightly shiny tile very similar to a slate.
Another architect
Mike Gregory heard of our project and contacted us today. He was recommended by an architect who said this type of work was not his forte. Mike too claimed to have no experience of this kind of project. We are coming to the view that we need to separate the visual and space planning part of the project from the eco-equipment part so that we can divide responsibilities better. We have agreed to see him on Wednesday 25th April.
Ground Source Heating
I have been wrestling with the problem that a heat pump works most efficiently if it can be run at lower output temperature. This is why new builds have massive underfloor pipework installations. In an existing house it is not usually practical to rip up the ground floor to a depth of at least 75mm to install such pipework so the existing radiators are usually used.
I have come up with the idea that pipes in the walls could be a useful alternative with several advantages.
· My wife does not like to feels heat under her feet.
· Floors are always tiled or boarded and often carpeted thus reducing heat output.
· Internal walls would heat two rooms
· as a nail in the wall would puncture the pipes a thin steel sheet could be laid over them which would give better heat conduction and dissipation. Paints suitable for radiators or vinyl papers should be satisfactory decoration.
I must discover any existing installations and their problems.
Hot water cylinder
Although our heating and water system will probably have to change I though I would experiment with the existing cylinder which has the old fashioned red felt jacket for insulation. How easy is it to improve the heat retention by injecting foam beneath the jacket?
My first attempt was poor as I was quite concerned I would be overwhelmed by the foam, which expands to 30 time its volume! My short squirts beneath the tank jacket sounded spectacular but only left a small patch of foam stuck to the tank!
The foam set in the tubes of the applicator and took 20 minutes to clean out! At my next attempt I determined to use all the remaining product to avoid the cleaning job at the end.
Yes, that went better! The foam stuck well to the wettened tank and sealed the jacket better, particularly at the top where the insulation is most needed.
Michael Gregory – Architect and Illustrator
Michael had received our proposal from Alan Clarke but was not able to see us before. It was a most valuable meeting as he had studied our proposal and identified well with our objectives. He was most generous with his advice on all manner of matters.
· A hole to examine the foundations should follow the wall down until the edge of the foundation is detected and then should extend outwards and downwards about 12 inches to determine the depth of the foundations.
· Ground source heating buried in the walls appeared to have some merit and should be explored.
· Even though Anglian Windows said that ventilators could not be fitted after installation his opinion was that the steel reinforcing of replacement windows occurs only at the corners so holes could be bored to fit ventilators.
· A surveyor would calculate and report on a structural beam for a sum in the region of £90.
· A surveyor might not be needed for the changes proposed to the roof if prefabricated trusses were used. These are available in the shapes to permit a loft room in addition to the standard truss. The hipped effect can be achieved with successively smaller trusses.
· He would consider reversing the staircase to make the best use of the view at the back of the house to benefit 2 bedrooms rather than a bedroom and bathroom.
· Worcester Bosch should be considered and the cost of a borehole investigated as this would lead to less garden disruption.
· Roof insulation with a polyurethane foam sealer as is marketed by Warmroof has fallen out of fashion because of the strain it puts on the roof tiles. If they are held rigid as the roof flexes in the wind or snow they are liable to crack and replacing them is relatively expensive. We could not take this risk with solar tiles so must reject this option.
· The life of the newer materials has not yet been proved and we should be cautious in using them at critical points. Even replacement windows may deteriorate faster than we expect.
As evidence of his work he produced a file of drawings which he had used to gain planning permission together with the full drawings for the builder. These were beautifully hand prepared and quite a work of art in themselves.
It was difficult to gain a clear idea of the cost of his work. He was prepared to undertake the whole job for a percentage, but he did not suggest what percentage. His draft planning application would cost in the region of £500 as long as there were not too many changes. This appeared to take one half day but that was probably the drawing after the principles had been agreed.
He said the work on the large sample project he did had cost £4500 which appears very reasonable. He said he preferred to charge for the time he spends per half day, but did not say what a half day would cost.
I am inclined to think that his advice would be very valuable and will try to retain his services as a second opinion. In order to do this I will send him a cheque for £150 for studying the project attending today and ask if he would be willing to attend some meetings for a similar fee.
It also occurs to me that should these notes be published he would be an excellent illustrator.
I have talked to one or two people about this idea and they seem to think it has merit if David Foale is in agreement.
Which first on 27th April?
I am conscious that we are going on holiday on May 9th so have only 2 weeks to do what is necessary before a 3 week break. With that in mind I phoned Adam Cusick of Ice Energy to see if a survey costing £500 was the next step to take. He warned me that by ordering a survey I was committing myself to the purchase of a heat pump with a total cost of £5500 after grants. He was required to make sure that I had planned and costed my ground works and understood my plumbing needs before he accepted a cheque for £500.
He said there was no hurry to fit in with my building plans and the surveyor would be more useful after we had a clear idea of the building structure. I respected him for this caution.
At least David Foale has agreed to have a key and start the drawings while we are away so there can be some progress.
How good is my insulation?
I do want to apply the most effective insulation to my house as this will save energy and enable me to run my ground source heating at a lower temperature. At the moment I don't know what is the best cavity wall insulation and I don't want to rely on the salesman to tell me! I probably want to know the effectiveness of my walls and floor now and to be able to measure how much better they are after they are insulated.
How could I do this? If I could measure the surface temperature of the outside walls, the inside walls and the objects in the room I should be able to get a good idea of how much that wall was cooling the room. I started looking on the internet for a surface thermometer and read an article saying these had been replaced by Infra Red (IR) thermometers which could very quickly measure the temperature of a surface. Then looking on Ebay I found one for £10.56 including postage. Having a little birthday money I invested.
Energy usage
I have just received my first electricity bill at this house. It was much too high, based on an estimated reading, so I decided to take a customer reading. The meter shows a day and a night reading and I was surprised to find that we had used 400 units in the night and 420 units by day. Was there a leakage or some equipment I had been leaving on.
My meter flashes each time it uses a watt hour of electricity ( one thousand flashes to make a unit). As it was evening now was a good time to calculate the night time usage. I counted the seconds between the flashes and found about twenty. This worked out at 180 watts of load so I started turning off some things like computers, TV, VCR, freezer (in case it cut in and upset my measurements) and PIR lighting. I left one 25 watt bulb on so that I would not have to wait too long for the flash!
This time it was 60 seconds between the flashes so a 60 watt load of which 25 was my lamp so only 35 for the microwave and cooker which we do not turn off because we would have to reset the clock.
That sounded about right but really encouraged me to turn off those appliances at the wall each night and during the day when not in use. Oops, did I remember to turn the freezer back on!
Progress on the driveway?
A passing Irishman noticed the part completed driveway as he passed and offered to tidy it up for me. He plans to use the grade 1 binding gravel they use on the motorways to overlay my rubble and crush it down with a heavy roller. He offered to do this for £200 and it may be worth the money as I was expecting to pay £100 for the materials and use the car to crush down! I asked for his card and he did not have one. I asked if he was local and he said yes and mentioned a village 4 miles away at Arncott. I may be a fool, but it will have to be renewed when the builders have finished anyway.
Update on Solar Costs
I made a call to John Hill to get an update on the prices of solar tiles which he had said could be coming down. He informed me that a new arrangement for grants was expected by the end of May which was expected to limit grants to £2000 per KW peak with a maximum of £5000. Planning will have to be obtained in advance and the grant must be used in 6 months.
He said the current scheme was due to end in December but at the current take up the funds would last 2 years.
He promised to send the latest details on the Solar Century tiles and said that the Anthracite roofing tiles were a very good match for the solar tiles. He said the glass tiles keep clear with the rain and do not need any cleaning to remain effective.
Ideas from ITV “Grand Designs”
We now watch “Grand Designs” whenever convenient even though the motives and priorities of many of the clients are quite different from ours. Tonight we noticed that a builder was using quite a thin (20mm?) board for insulation under the tiles, which was expensive, but the equivalent of 100mm of sheepswool. The board was called an isocyanate board and I determined to research further. Isocyanates were an ingredient of the foam I had used to try to insulate the hot water tank and I suspect this is the kind of material used on modern hot water tanks too.
Second meeting with the architect
This meeting was to get the project moving while we are away on holiday. First David Boale took us to see some of the work he had been involved in locally. There were interesting ideas completed in a cost effective way. Some properties which were quite ugly had been improved and others had been extended in a sympathetic and pleasing way. Materials had been appropriately natural stone, timber and rendered brick.
On returning to his office we were pleased to find he had drafted some floor plans based on our estate agent copies. They were initially quite different from what we had in mind, but as he explained, they appeared to achieve our objectives very well. As a family man himself he could envisage the requirements of a modern family buyer much better than we could.
He had moved the staircase to make better use of the view from the rear of the house by siting 3 bedrooms there while the front of the house was extended within the existing roof line with 3 dormer windows. This dramatically improved the appearance at the front but did not provide as much additional space as my draft. As a result we agreed to try to raise the roof line, even though this might cause planning difficulties, and provide enough headroom for a loft room later. This might be acceptable as the next door roof line is already 1.5 metres higher than ours. A porch was also discussed.
We agreed to go ahead on this broad basis to draw up some plans which might be submitted for a planning opinion.
David asked for more details of the solar I was interested in and I agreed to send him the data.
Decorating
Some decorating and minor repairs are needed to make the house habitable for this year. We have done the 3rd bedroom as an office and the guest room and have started the small cloakroom and the kitchen. It's some time since I have done any decorating and I find I am a bit out of practice. I'm making the same mistakes I have made before. For example I use Fine Surface Polyfiller far too much under the mistaken impression that it will give a finer result. In fact iit is a very specialised product for smoothing very fine imperfections in the surface. The problem with using it more widely is that it is very hard and difficult to sandpaper.
I have just started using a sanding block again and have been getting some much better results with standard, mix yourself, fillers. They are softer and sand down to leave a very true surface which paints without any imperfections.
I often make the mistake of buying paint bargains too. When you put time and effort into preparation and application it is surely worth paying a bit more for a good quality paint that goes on well. I am trying the Dulux Flex range as it claims to cover fine cracks even when the ceiling moves a little. I will let you know if it works.
Insulation – do we
have enough?
General advice suggests that money spent on insulation is generally better than money spent on technology to achieve a zero carbon house. The problem is that the effectiveness of the insulation of a wall or a roof depend on estimates based on the materials used and the way they are put together. I want to measure the effectiveness of a wall in some way. The materials are measured in watts per degree per cubit metre of material (U value) but the complex structures in roof, floor or walls are difficult to estimate. I thought if I could measure the surface temperature of the inside and the outside of a wall there may be some calculation that could be made to indicate its effectiveness as an insulator.
With this in mind I searched the internet for some instrument that would measure the temperature on a surface, fearing it would then be too expensive. I was amazed to learn that surface temperatures are now measured using an infrared laser device and that they cost about £7 on Ebay with £6 postage from Hongkong!
My device arrived last week and a good opportunity to try it out came when we had a cold windy night outside in May and used the heating. I made the following readings:-
|
Surfaces |
Reading C |
Comment |
|
Inside |
|
|
|
Radiator |
38 |
|
|
Internal Glass
Door |
18 |
Catching
radiated heat from radiator? |
|
Carpet |
15 |
Cooled from Underfloor |
|
Internal Wall |
16 |
Probable air
temperature |
|
External Wall |
15 |
Cooled from
outside |
|
Window Inside |
12.8 |
Ordinary double
glazing |
|
Outside |
|
|
|
Wall |
6 |
Damp and windy
conditions |
|
Window |
6.8 |
|
|
Away from house |
5.0 |
|
|
Water surface |
1.0 |
Interesting!
Evaporation effect? |
Related Conclusions and Questions
1 The surface thermometer is not accurate enough for any but broad conclusions
2 Bear in mind the walls are cavities not filled and the floor is parquet carpeted.
3 An 11 degree difference between inside and outside is the minimum for any conclusions.
4 A ceiling measurement should be taken to complete the picture for each room
5 The floor (carpet) and the external walls cool the room to an equal extent per sq metre.
6 The inside window temperature of 12.8 differs from the room by 3.2 degrees indicating over 3 times the heat losses compared with the walls per square metre.
7 If the windows are conducting heat at 3 times the rate of the walls this should make the outside of the windows much warmer than the walls but they are only 0.8 degrees warmer.
8 Does the amazingly low temperature of the water surface make sense? Can it be repeated? What does it mean for wet roofs and walls?
9 The method could be used to identify gaps in the insulation in the walls and floor but will not indicate U values at all accurately.
Insulation Materials
I don’t know much about the relative merits of insulation
materials. After my experience with the Warmroof salesman and being bewildered
by the options I did an internet search and came up with the material
Polyisocyanurate. A visit to the local builders merchant and I had a product
booklet to study but he would not give me any idea of price until he knew what
quantities and thickness I needed.
Flat Roof
Half the flat roof has looked cracked since we moved in but now we have had some heavy rain it is starting to leak in two places. I had bought some sticky black stuff expecting an emergency like this so in a break in the rain I tried to seal the worst places. A had some success but as I walked on the roof the water oozed up from below so it was clear there would soon be more leaks. Rather than do work on it I planned a tarpaulin to cover it for the time being. This gave me another reason for having a chat with our preferred builder.
Keeping the Builder
up to date
I feel in general that if you consider others they will consider you. This rather runs across the conventional approach of designing a building and then putting the work out to tender. I wanted to find out a convenient slot in our favoured builders programme and then aim for it. He popped in and we talked a bit about the relative cost of pitched dormer windows which concerned me.
He explained that he had had a large job deferred until next year so it would be advantageous for him if we could start to work in August or soon after. We agreed to aim for this.
We mentioned our problem with the flat roof and he agreed to pop a tarpaulin over this next week.
Our
Then we left for 3 weeks holiday in Lanzarote. You may condemn us for our use of air travel at a time like this. Yes I do believe that air travel will need to be rationed as part of a scheme to reduce carbon emissions by 90%. However I don’t believe that my failure to fly would accelerate that legislation. I would like to be able to lead on every front but this is too much for any private individual of modest means. My priorities include visiting my grandchildren in Lanzarote but I am changing my habits to visit for longer at a time and less often.
If I can show that an ordinary house can be made carbon
neutral and more attractive then I will have contributed significantly to the
future for my grandchildren.
Back Home again
Weather has been good so we have given the garden a blitz. We removed the overgrown forsythia which divided the front garden in two, removed the gate behind it, and cut back the neighbour’s overhanging beach branches with his permission. I have a little bag of logs to give him! Now we can get the feel of the front of the house.
I continued my study of insulation and conductivity. I learned at school that most materials like metals that conduct electricity also conduct heat well. I thus assumed that ceramics and concrete that did not conduct electricity would be similar in not conducting heat. I needed some better information and found it on the website of a wood stove manufacturer.
Common K and R Values Chart
|
Material |
K value |
R Value |
|
inches-K value .84 |
|
inches-R value of 1 |
|
per
inch |
|
|
|
|
|
Micore 300* |
0.43 |
2.33 |
0.5 |
0.43 |
|
Wonderboard (cement board)* |
1.92 |
0.52 |
2.3 |
1.92 |
|
Common
Brick |
5 |
0.20 |
6.0 |
5 |
|
Cement
Mortar |
5 |
0.20 |
6.0 |
5 |
|
Ceramic
Tile |
12.5 |
0.08 |
14.9 |
12.5 |
|
Marble |
11 |
0.09 |
13.1 |
11 |
|
Air
Space (ventilated) |
0.7 |
1.43 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
|
sand
and gravel |
1.7 |
0.59 |
2.0 |
1.7 |
|
Drywall
(gypsum) |
1 |
1.00 |
1.2 |
1 |
|
Rockwool
or Fiberglass Batts* |
0.3 |
3.33 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
This gives me a lot of food for thought in planning under floor heating. Ideally we need highly conductive materials like marble and ceramics on top of the heating pipes as thin as possible and the best insulation possible below the pipes. Carpeting and wooden floors will make the heating system less efficient and energy will be wasted.
Meeting with the
Architect
David Foale presented his plans for the project. With his approval I invited Michael Gregory to the meeting and it worked very well. One plan was presented along lines we had previously discussed which involved enlarging the present roof forward and placing three dormer windows at the front. The plans below were presented as providing better usable space upstairs without raising the roof line. Both architects claimed this was important if the plans were to be approved easily and quickly. They also replicated the 33 degree pitch of the existing roofs in the extension gable which the planning officer would prefer.
These were
plans in pencil on A4 paper and it can be seen where some alternatives were
discussed.
I was surprised initially by the total change in appearance David had achieved. I was expecting something much more traditional and the low pitch and triangular appearance of the front took a little getting used to. However the low pitch flat extension roof to the South West would present the solar tiles to the sun very well. If needed there would be an area of South Easterly roof as well. A porch had been added which echoed the roof pitch and could enable a part-carport in front of the garage. If our neighbour approved this style of roof could be repeated over her garage to good effect.
I awoke with concerns
I was concerned that the triangular windows and modern front of the house might not be suitable in an Oxfordshire village which treasured its traditional styles. Also how would the neighbours react to living beside such a dramatic building? Would anyone looking for a village house consider such an unusual one?
I doubted whether the large en-suite would be valued more than an extra bathroom as 3 bathroom houses are becoming quite popular. However the galleried hall and light well limits access to the en-suite area by others in the house so this could not easily be subdivided.
I started to take opinions over the weekend. My son-in-law liked the design but shared my concerns. My daughter disagreed and loved the design saying she would love a luxury bathroom. My daughter in Lanzarote said the design was not too modern, unless executed in stainless steel!
Kevin and Sue next door said they liked it very much, so it looks as though I was wrong to worry.
Even so I wrote to the architect to delay submitting the plans for planning until the other neighbour had been consulted on her return next week.
This gives me a week to take some more opinions.
Viewpoints
Our daughter suggested a similar house had been built in Long Crendon, an attractive nearby village. We visited and took some photos you can see below.
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It was evident that a traditional village with much stone and thatch could also blend with modern features and a very modern house.
However we needed to know what made our village so attractive and the styles that were incorporated. We are on the edge of the village so you would not be expecting a cute village green house anyway. We took the photos below.
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