Planet Savers blog

Having carried out all this work in the bedroom, I was looking forward to trying out the eco-paint. We had elected to use earthBorn Paint after trying the samples we picked up at Eco St in Wendover.

Last night we got the room ready and applied a watered down base coat to the plaster. It went on like any other emulsion but with one fantastically noticeable difference: THERE WAS NO SMELL!!

It really doesn’t smell at all. We did not have to open the windows to clear the air of chemicals. It was wonderful :>)

We have a wood burning stove in the house so, with good insulation, the right double glazing and curtains, I hope this will provide most of our room heating requirements.

Hot water, though, is another issue. We have a roof with an uninterrupted south westerly view which just cries out for a solar panel.

I’ve been looking around and discovered that many of the systems require an electric pump. This seems to defeat the object to me. My object being a certain level of self sufficiency and as low a carbon footprint as possible.

Solartwin seem to be saying all the right things on this score, so I shall be following up on this one.

Before that, however, I have to solve a conundrum. A solar panel infers the need to store hot water, which means I can’t get rid of the hot water tank currently taking up too much room in my bathroom. A condensing boiler would have got around this but I am convinced of solar powered hot water.

The bathroom would currently show up as bright red on an imaging photo on account of having very little wall lining and much of the external brickwork being openly displayed along with the floor boards and plumbing. Yes, it’s a tad leaky on the heating front.

Before I can install the solar panel I need to sell my flat to raise the funds, but I can’t sell the flat until I move out of it. And it seems daft to move in to the cottage without getting the bathroom finished. So… I think I need to move the hot water tank before I can move on…

…at least, I think that’s where I am!

What a difference ?!

Having taken all the wall paper off the bedroom walls, we battened them out and put a layer of expanded polystyrene called Jablite between the battens before putting up the silver backed plasterboard. The room was instantly warmer.

We were doing this over the last freeze so I am confident we will be saving a lot on heating this room.

As of 20th December, Bobbie and I became owners of a new home.

We have a little cottage set in three quarters of an acre on the side of Pednor valley – so it’s quite a steep garden.

Our resolution is to live here as sustainably as possible and manage the land the natural way: organic, permaculture, and biodynamic methods will be used.

However, it is a bit daunting getting a new home and trying to be eco-friendly. Where do you start? We have books a-plenty on projects that start from the ground up (our original intention). But to start with an established dwelling that has a lot of features you are happy to live with, seems quite a different matter. After much investigation and chat with various people, we have come up with the following plan:

Step 1: INSULATE
Built in 1926, the house has solid walls. Having stripped the wallpaper we found that much of the plaster was more attached to the paper than to the wall, particularly on the external walls. So we decided some serious cladding was called for. We are about to fix battening for silver backed plasterboard, with a layer of insulating material between the battens. This should cut down on heat loss.

Step 2: HOT WATER AND HEATING
The house has a wood burning stove which is fab in my book. It also has a back boiler but this was disconnected when central heating was installed. This is something I’d like to investigate reinstating if at all possible. There is a tank for hot water which keeps itself hot just in case we might need it – probably not the most efficient use of energy! So we are going to look at replacing the system with something more eco-friendly – and also more space saving.

Step 3: RAIN WATER HARVESTING
With a garden this size and a meter on the tap, this will be very important. I also had dreams of using bath water to flush the loo. However, according to a booklet on water management produced by the CAT,  if you have a water feed, use it but use it wisely. There are a lot of issues in storing bath water which I will have to look into at a later date.

Step 4: PLAN THE GARDEN
Get to know the garden first. That’s my motto. At this time of year, everything is frozen and a lot of it still doing it’s own thing underground. I look forward to Spring when it all bursts through. Plus the fact, it’s only by being there that you can begin to see how you interact with the space: where the greenhouse will go, the garden shed, the vegetable patch, the herbs, and so on. I’m really looking forward to this part.

That’s about as far as it goes for now. The insulating materials have just arrived so work commences…