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PROJECT: Green Home Diary

SUMMARY:

To reduce the energy consumption and CO2 footprint by up to 80%. Why ? Because resources such as oil and gas are dwindling; CO2 is slowing killing life on the planet; we want the next generation to have a chance of surviving; and this will help save us money.

WHAT’S GOING TO BE DELIVERED:

• An very well insulated extension to increase the living space.
• Conversion of the garage to a utility / bike rooms.
• Insulation across the rest of the house.
• Some form of heating.
• Some form of savings on electricity.

Phase 1 - the ground floor and extension.

Phase 2 - Insulate rest of the house.

Phase 3 - Solar hot water panel.

Phase 4 - Photovoltaic panels

Phase 5 - Rain water harvesting.

ASSUMPTIONS / CONSTRAINTS / RISKS

1. Kitchen must not be disrupted.
2. First floor rooms must not be disrupted.
3. Rob will be available to do a majority of the work himself.
4. Risk: Rob may not know how to do some of the work.
5. Risk: Overspend.
6. Must ensure that certain infrastructure is in place to minimised disruption at the later stages.

BUDGET / RESOURCES

• £60K for phase 1;
• Use own labour to reduce costs.
• Use Buildstore to get discounts on materials

APPROACH

• Cover experience risk by employing one man builder with expertise and flexibility.
• Produce a feasibility study.
• Get an architect / consultant who has ECO experience.

ACCEPTANCE

Rob & Sue will personally inspect the work and manage the level of quality.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

For suppliers, to be done verbally and confirmed via e-mail.

Starting point is brick cavity wall.

Render Cladding

The rendering is done first before installing the rainscreen cladding above it. Note, there is a gap between the galvanised lath and the insulation.

A: Celotex Insulation 110mm

B: Counter Batten 50×38mm is fixed in place by Helifix Fixings 230×8mm fixings at 250mm intervals (for tiles) and 300mm intervals (for render). Counter battens fixed at 400mm centres.

(Not shown) Main Wall fixing for Celotex insulation 5 per board.

C: Breathable membrane (Klober permo forte)

E: Weber Galvanised lath 2.44m x 1.22m

F: Render

H: Weber Full System base bead (size to accomodate 110mm+38mm+lath+render)

J: Existing DPC extended (L)

K: Stop Batten to support batten (B) (not shown)

M: Coated Extruded Polystyrene

(Not Shown) (M) will also have batten, lath and render.

Tile based Rainscreen Cladding

A: Celotex Insulation 110mm

B: Batten 50×38mm fixed in place by Helifix Turbo Fast 8 220×8mm fixings at 250mm intervals (for tiles) and 300mm intervals (for render).

(Not shown) Main Wall fixing for Celotex insulation 5 per board.

C: Breathable membrane (Klober permo forte)

D: Batten applied over membrane (C) and screwed to batten (B)

The tile cladding is then applied to the batten (D). Cedar cladding will only be applied to the top of the ground floor window. Render will be applied underneath.

G: A stop batten is attached to support the battens (B) (How is this attached to the wall ? What size ?

(Not shown) The last cedar board is pushed out by an arris cut horzontal batten.

The good news is that we got planning permission for phase 2 which clads the outside of the house & roof with (yet more) insulation. The compromise was to:-

• Lower the Solar Hot Water panel (will still work efficiently)
• Flatten the PV on the flat roof (boo!)
• Use tiles instead of cedar down to the top of the ground floor window.

So its official - the “alien Feature” has gone (according to the planning officer) and we can now proceed.

Now we need to save up our cash to implement it.

Click on the picture to get a larger view.

The plans have been updated to replace the cedar with tiles; the solar hot water panel has been lowered and the PV panels have been flattened unfortnately resulting in less efficiency. This addresses the issue that the roofline resembles an industrial landscape, and the look of the building with the tiles will match the other houses in the close.

Celotex is 1.2m long and if the space is larger then 2 pieces are required. This clip show you how we did it.

Day 3 consisted of more insulation laying and plumbing work to accomodate rainwater harvesting and a more efficient hot water supply. In particular, a hot water supply to the wasking machine (which only has cold at the moment) via a special mixer tap. This will reduce the amount of electricity used for heating the water. The washing machine also receives rainwater.

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