gravelld

Something to consider. There's a stat that goes something like: 90% of all cars are not being driven 90% of the time. I have no citation for this. Just heard it. Maybe it's rubbish. However, if it's true, then IF self driving cars become a thing, that's going to allow the possibility of far, far fewer cars. And what this means is that carbon reduction targets can be met even if cars are still relatively polluting. We won't need extra generation capability, because the massive waste of producing all these piles of metal doing nothing will no longer be required (as much). I think sometimes we tend to overestimate technical development in the short term and underestimate how it can restructure society in the long term (I know, I nicked and paraphrased that, but it's true).

Good luck, but please don't call it an eco house Some nice overhangs for the glazing, have you been following Juraj Mikurcik's build?

Corner bead on the back of a van, pull it off... scrrratch... whack it up anyway.

In City Hall or...?

We have that, but they are not ordinary house flies, they are "cluster flies" round our way. Normal fly spray does not kill them, you have to get them with other stuff (standard Ebay issue). The thing with cluster flies is that they are actually pretty harmless AIUI, they don't lay eggs in food and so forth.

Thanks @Dudda interesting to hear more opinions on the Compacfoam option. My understanding is it's very rigid.

I think this really depends on what the extent of the work is. Someone here: http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=15252&page=1 got 1ACH on their work and two others are mentioned. If you're going fully tea cosy (roof and walls) I think you can go a long, long way. I am aiming for 3ACH on my own project.

Did you do the TB analysis for comparing the brackets with frame? Plywood's lambda is a lot lower than that metal's... Just wondering.

Thanks for this. What's wrong with the plywood box method in your view? I also found this: (Advance to 3:15) Here they use something called Compacfoam that the window sits on, instead of the bottom brackets.

What was your air test result and how much air is the MVHR actually moving? Is this timber frame or masonry? What type of insulant?

This.

Is there a section in SPONS about AT? That's where I'd expect it to be. I find it incredibly frustrating this kind of best practice info isn't easily available. AFAIK, S+C does the job over most of the wall, then tape onto penetrations like joists. Can't say I'm overly keen on S+C lasting a long time, in which case you could use a membrane e.g. Intello.

Great thoughts, thanks. Something to chew on and experiment with. Not sure about the mirrors though ;-)

That's a great site, thanks.

The plot overall is about an acre, but the house isn't perfectly in the middle. It's closest to the edge where that gable is, with about 10m of garden before the fence and then open fields. I don't want to sound like I'm putting obstacles up - I greatly appreciate your suggestions. Two troubles with this type of planting may be the shading - first there are overhead high voltage power lines running parallel to that fence, just inside the field. Second is that I'm trying to optimise for solar gain so they would need careful positioning. Yeah, the use of colour is an interesting one there. Might be beyond my own abilities! Can you explain what you mean by "making the gables a rustic colour without softening the 1st floor bright white" - do you mean the 1st floor of the gable, not of the gable, or what? Making the gable a more rustic colour while having the other walls bright white?

Thanks for this very considered help. I want to take the opportunity for renovations to change the appearance of the house how we'd like. I'm quite conflicted in my mind on this. On one hand, I believe in design and art and pushing the boundaries and not putting up, mindlessly, with the vernacular. On the other hand, this is a renovation, not a new build, and I don't want to tack something on without it looking harmonious. The village in which this is situated actually has a mix of styles which I think allows a bit more free reign. I don't own the land and I don't really care whether people can see the house, hardly anyone walks along the footpath anyway. I was actually thinking vertical cladding originally as I thought horizontal made the house look more 'squat'.

The dormered elevation isn't actually part of the house, it's a separate garage with room above.

In our case, the house is more toward the top of a hill, so there's either daylight behind it or fields/trees depending on which side you're looking from. The worst perspective is across fields towards the back of the house, viewed from a footpath. The backdrop is some distant trees and sky. A protruding gable sticks out, and this gable is all rendered, so maybe that's the issue - there's a high wall:roof ratio. I feel it does stand out a lot. It was the top half (and all along the house) that I had planned on cladding. Ok I've attached a terrible photo but the only one I can find at short notice. Note the dormer to the right is actually an outbuilding - a garage with a room above. The sun is shining on the gable I mentioned which gives it a lighter colour; it's really a greeny grey. Interestingly @Lesgrandepotato the current colour is a greeny grey, not a million miles from your original colour. The "vernacular" is ironstone.

Beautiful house, well done!

Great thinking, thanks. The idea of a pergola is interesting because I'm aiming for a high standard and was also considering how I will deal with overheating. I was already considering a "stub" free standing pergola projecting out from a large sliding door, for example. On some modern medium rise builds you see vertical metal wires being installed with plants grown up them. Is there a name for this? I would imagine these need structural consideration because once the plant gets large, wind forces may be pretty significant? Thinking about it (sorry for unstructured post) am I just handing myself a big maintenance burden, trimming the plants each year?

As part of our EWI renovation work we need to choose how EWI is applied and then how the covering goes on. The current house is all rendered - it's alright, but a bit stark and a bit of a boxy monolith in the rural setting. We initially liked the idea of cladding the first floor to soften the look. The trouble is, cladding systems for EWI are much more expensive (installed cost) than sticky EPS and render systems. Any other ways to "soften" the look of a rendered house? Planting? Trouble is, the planting would have to extend high, and I don't want to compromise the walls and add a maintenance burden.

I'm guessing they don't have the time to enforce quality. We all know the regs are pretty weak in certain areas, but I don't think they even have the resources to enforce what regs do exist. Which is pretty good news for some (probably most) and so not sure why it will change.

There are proper products for air tightness: http://www.ecomerchant.co.uk/walls/airtightness-products/service-grommets.html

I found if you up the thermostat overnight it would be ok. But then, that's an oil one. Were you using the E7 version?

Only two good things to say about Agas. They do cook beautifully. Different way of cooking, but it's quite fun learning. The electric ones are at least efficient at the time the energy is demanded (whether you actually need to use the energy, so whether they are efficient at the point of use, is another matter). Better than the standard oil ones, which are about 55% efficient. Can't see them working well with PV - the energy demand would be off the scale greater during winter. Look at the numbers here: http://www.agaliving.com/aga-range-cookers/aga-running-costs and that's the optimistic manufacturer's "MPG"!