ollibees

Insulation inundation

• By Julia Pankratova
• 2013, 11 August
• No Comments

We had lots of it over the past few weeks! And there will be more to come. It’s in the walls and in the roof and in our hair and up our noses! We are using EcoTherm in one 50mm layer to insulate wall cavities and in two 75mm layers to insulate the roof. The stuff is not only great for warmth / coolness but is also a great sound insulator. It does not come cheap, but hopefully will pay off for itself in a few years when our energy bills are reduced to a minimum whilst still maintaining comfortable temperatures throughout the house.

The first half of the roof is now almost finished apart from waterproof membrane cover going on top of the insulation + tiles / slate. We could have easily by now moved into our new semi-finished master bedroom had we had easy means of getting there. The final design of the staircase is yet to be sketched up on a napkin down the pub! 🙂

The living room is now semi-finished too. This means that PHASE 2 of the house build can commence! The kitchen is now out and temporarily installed in the new  living room, alongside an old sofa, an old piano and a dining table. We now have a comfy kitchen/diner/living space and last night watched TV whilst sat on the sofa for the first time in 2.5 months! It felt lush! We did fall asleep within 30mins totally knackered though… 🙂

PHASE 2 means taking down and rebuilding the second half of the roof as well as knocking down external and internal walls to open up the hallway and  kitchen-diner and remodelling / building new utility room and a family bathroom. Lots more steal beams are expected to be erected over the next two weeks vertically and horizontally. That will then hopefully allow us to order the next lot of windows, bi-folds and doors.

PHASE 3 means finishing off the snug + study extension.

Our hybrid heating system of solar thermal panels, wood-burning back boiler stove, gas boiler (as back-up) and heat storage is undergoing design. The mains water pipes and electric cables will have to be moved this week and the water tank will be going too. It looks like we may be having our last hot shower tomorrow morning for a few weeks…!

So far, by living on the building site as well as shifting stuff around from room to room as we progress – we saved quite a few quid on rental and storage! It is very much doable, depending on what one can put up with. It can be tough at times whether it’s the constant dust and rubble and noise, or when mains water, gas or electricity or all three go, but so far we managed to stay sane and find the bright side of things. Having the vision of the final result, staying closely involved and getting stuck in whenever possible helps too!

On the green-fingers side, our lawn had its two mowing sessions so far and is looking great. The plan is to get more top soil to finish off the second half of the lawn as well as wild flower meadow banks. All Charlottes have now been lifted out of the potato bags and eaten with great pleasure. Carrots and beetroots are happily sitting in tubs and adding to the rainbow of colours on our dinner plate. Tomatoes, chillies and aubergines by the shed are all fruiting but not quite ready for harvest.

Tonight we have some friends over for a barbie : a chicken from the Winchester Farmers Market deboned and grilled with lots of veg from the allotment : courgettes, squashes, potatoes, elephant garlic as well as other home-grown produce. I hope we get a visit from the moths like we did last night who noisily hovered and drank nectar from our lilies providing us with much entertainment during our al-fresco dining…