Green renovating

Old houses are draughty inefficient places - and very costly (or impossible) to 'fix'. They do however tick the box of 'reuse' rather than 'buy new'. They also make us feel a bit more earthy and in touch with the planet. Let's face it most people simply have no option - they have an old house and no desire or capability to move.

New houses appear to offer the opportunity to get it all right. Perhaps you can even create a carbon neutral house and not only do (more than) your bit, but also save a bundle of money in the process. So the next step is find a plot of land, a pot of money and a friendly local authority. You'll either be worthy of a TV show, or more likely realize it's bloody difficult to achieve this dream.

For me, a new / old house was the answer. My husband (Lenny) and I are just completing the renovation of a 50's bungalow in Guernsey (British channel islands). Local planning restrictions decided this for us because we would have had to rebuild to match the old (very unexceptional) appearance of the house. That would have been extremely wasteful. I'm not going to recount the entire process - that's documented in another blog. I am however going to list some of the nods to environmental concern we are proud (and a little smug) to have built in:

1. Condensing boiler (reused existing)
2. Underfloor heating throughout (water based)
3. A mechanical heat recovery ventilation system
4. A small drying room which the ventilation system exhausts through to allow us to dry out clothing.
   
5. An unheated buffer zone at the front of a glazed SW facing gable to collect solar gain and either distribute around the house in winter or exhaust in summer
6. All energy efficient light bulbs in communal / living areas (mixture of CFL and LED)
7. Pilkington K glass and solar control glass throughout (except glazed gable to enable no 4 above)
8. Air shower systems which make a lower water pressure feel like a higher water pressure by mixing air in
9. Aluminium windows throughout (wood was no good here because we're so exposed to sea air)
10. All A / AAA rated appliances
11. An aluminium guttering system (not PVC) with water butt
    
12. A veg patch to partially supply our needs
13. Used reclaimed floorboards, reused our roof tiles
    

We also believe we've got a house which exactly fits our needs. We know our strange habits and have designed around them. We have found a good balance between our desires (modern comforts) and constraints (money and planning) and attention to the environment.

We tried really hard - but still got a few things wrong, simply couldn't change some and made a conscious decision to go against some recommendations. Here are some examples:

1. We really liked Indian Fossil stone and ordered it for our patio - and forgot to ask about the source and didn't consider the transortation required. We now have a beautiful patio which I feel a little guilty about each time I look at it.
2. We installed a water pump to improve the pressure - because its really bad on top of this cliff. Using more water is of course not very green. In truth it actually doesn't increase our presure to any noticeable degree. It will enable 2 people to have showers at once which doesn't use any more water than 2 people having showers in succession - so my guilt is eased here.
3. Lots of rubbish was generated on site - the hardcore etc was taken to be reclaimed and the extra roof tiles were reused on another house and any waste metal was recycled. Everything else went to landfill. Landfill is in short supply in Guernsey.
4. We used a quite a bit of mdf despite saying we wouldn't. It's cheap and easy to use (money was getting tight).
5. We'd love to have added a power or water heating system (ground source, wind or solar) - money simply didn't allow for ground source and local authorities weren't keen on any wind system being above ridge height - Duh! We might be able to revisit this one later.
   

It has been exactly like any other design project I've been involved in. Design is ALL about working within constraints. In my business they are usually commercial feasibility, technology and resource. The house has been constrained by our needs, desires, budget, local planning, accessible reliable information on environmental issues, and possibly our collective imaginations.

This got me thinking - hence this blog is born...