Year: 2007

Until I started researching the Healthy House concept, I’d always taken such things as the need for a radon survey with a pinch of salt; as a necessary evil, a piece of unavoidable paid-for bureaucracy. Now I have a slightly differing opinion after developing an appreciation of the risks that radon presents. So when my…

Air quality is determined by the composition of the volume of air under consideration. Generally, the normal composition of air is 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, trace amounts of other gases, and around 1% water vapour. Substances not naturally found in the air or found in the air at higher than…

It is only over the last few months that I’ve become aware of the concept of the healthy house. This is a design approach that focuses on the effects upon human health of the design, materials, building alignment & layout of our built environment. In the best tradition of ‘Top-10 lists’, here’s my ten key…

There’s been some pay-back from the bramble clearing that we spent so many weekends doing. Nettles! …and where there are nettles there’s soup. Get over to mwnch ~ eat seasonally for the recipe and get cooking.

When working through the detailed design for the barn we decided to use oak beams to support the first floor rather than steels. That seems like a sensible decision; whilst costing more, from the perspective of aesthetics and ‘healthy house’ design the choice was clear. Now I’m trying to set the budget, the madness begins.…

From the Romans to present day, underfloor heating has been a good idea. Underfloor heating provides gently radiating heat from the whole of the floor surface. This radiant heat is similar to the heat from the sun, heating the occupants of the room directly rather than the air around them (must admit I’ve never fully…

The old cow or chicken shed that is to be our new kitchen was furnished with three wood framed loose-boxes. They made it difficult to gauge the levels of light that we’d enjoy in that the darkest, north facing part of the barn and still retained the sweet odour of chickens, the most recent inhabitants.…

Inspired to analyse the composition of my mortar, I improvised and placed a lump of mortar that I’d levered out of my wall in the strongest acid I could lay my hands on – white wine vinegar 8% acidity. The vinegar was surprisingly successful in dissolving the lime (with a rather attractive bubbling that makes…

Now often quoted in building or building part specification, a U-value is placed upon an assembly of components to rate how well that assemblage performs in terms of energy efficiency. It is important to note that the U-value relates to the performance of the assemblage as a whole. For example, the U-value of a window…

After my ‘introduction to lime’ course I have a great fear that I may be joining the ranks of sustainable / healthy / traditional / vernacular building fanatics – those guys who, have a glint in their eye (perhaps caused by a small fleck of caustic lime) and a passion in their speech when discussing…

I’m going on a course tomorrow to learn the basics of using lime, with a view to working on the pointing of the stonework at the barn myself. I’m going to take copies of some photo’s of the stonework which might help in asking sensible questions. I’m quite proud of my pretty stones (at least…

Through recent technological innovations it is now possible to insulate buildings to such an extent that no heating system is required to maintain comfortable temperatures. There are varying categories of super insulated buildings. Zero Heat Building This category of building, through insulation and draft proofing, requires no additional heat source, except for in extreme conditions.…