Improvements and Measures

To massively reduce the amount of energy used for space heating we installed very high levels of insulation: 200mm of Rockwool Cavity in the walls, 380mm of Rockwool Rollbatt in the roof and 200mm EPS in the floor.

External Wall Insulation (EWI) is typically rendered and sometimes clad with brick slips. We used regular bricks and foundations plus we extended the roof to cover the new wall. The wall ties are basalt and have very low conductivity. We calculate that the new walls will have a U value of 0.12 W/m2K.  By using the existing palate of materials our works are in keeping with the original architecture. The original bricks used to build our house are no longer available so we matched the size and texture then once the new walls were built we had the bricks tinted or painted to match the original walls.

To reduce our heat losses through draughts we made the house very air-tight.  Where possible using wet plaster and often pro clima tapes and membranes supplied by the GreenBuildingStore.co.uk.

We installed a Paul Focus 200 supplied by the GreenBuildingStore.co.uk. This unit will ensure we have good levels of ventilation without losing heat. The warm damp air extracted from the house is passed through a heat exchanger to warm up the incoming fresh air.

We replaced all the windows with triple glazed argon filled timber windows supplied by GreenSteps.co.uk with very low U-values of 0.9 W/m2K.  Most are inward opening tilt and turn.  On the ground floor there are three large sliding doors.

We installed 12 Sunpower 327 Watt panels with a PowerOne inverter back in March 2012.

 R-ECO.coop supplied and installed a split east/west solar hot water system with one 3m2 panel on the front roof and two 3m2 panels on the back.  We were going to install evacuated tubes but decided on flat plate roof integrated panels from ViridianSolar.co.uk.

 R-ECO.coop supplied and installed this large 300 litre stainless steel hot water cylinder, made by Thermal Integration, with multiple connections for various inputs and outputs.  Our inputs are solar thermal, the wood burning boiler stove and an immersion meter.  Our outputs are underfloor heating on the ground floor, radiators on the first floor, towel rails in the bath/shower room and domestic hot water. We have a plate heat exchange on the domestic hot water and unusually a plate heat exchanger on the solar thermal. We utilise the coil at the bottom of the cylinder for our heat dump circuit which runs under-floor heating in our log store.

R-ECO.coop supplied and installed a Morso DB15 wood burning boiler stove to heat our water over the winter. It can generate 9kW to water and 6kW to the room. There were only two boiler stoves that comply with the DEFRA smoke control regulations and were of a suitable size. We chose the more contemporary looking stove made by Morso.co.uk.

 R-ECO.coop supplied and installed JG Speedfit underfloor heating pipes in the new concrete floor slab on top of 200mm of EPS polystyrene insulation.

Most of the lights are dimmable LEDs from SaveMoneyCutCarbon.com including downlighters in the kitchen, living room, hall and lobby, LED globes in the dinning room and bedrooms and an LED flood light in the back garden. The LED downlighters are 5 watts and the LED globes are 10 watts. The LEDs have a very long life expectancy and offer significant savings over Haelogen and incandescent bulbs.

We installed Hansgrohe water saving showers and taps from SaveMoneyCutCarbon.com.  These mix the water with air to give good performance but with a reduced flow. In the ground floor shower room we have an Ifo ES4 dual flush 4/2.6 litre WC supplied by the GreenBuildingStore.co.uk. In the family bathroom we have a Galerie Flushwise dual flush 4/2.6 litre WC by TwyfordBathrooms.com. We installed an Eco Water Saving 105 Classic Due double ended steel enamel bath by Kaldewei.co.uk. It has an average displacement of 70 litres and a 30 year guarantee.

The units were supplied by Unitech-Oxon.co.uk, the door and drawer fronts were cut from sheets of bamboo plywood supplied by MosoBambooSurfaces.co.uk and the appliances are Miele. The worktop is made from recycled glass by Resilica.com.