Carbon Cutters HQ
Welcome to our Carbon Cutters HQ - a five bedroom House (well,
three beds and two Offices) in deepest Buckinghamshire, UK. We
would not normally wax lyrical about a building if it were not
for the fact that it will become a model for what many (if not
most) people can do to make their homes low-carbon. The property
was purchased in 2008 and we moved in in May of that year. The
house is quite average in many respects but we chose it for a
couple of important features:
Hopefully the reasons why this was important
will become apparent. The property has considerable room for
improvement. Since it was built in the mid-1980's the previous
occupants had performed some cosmetic modernisation on the
interior but had, otherwise, made few practical improvements.
When we moved in we found the following horrors:
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NO Cavity Wall insulation
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NO Water Pipe insulation
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NO Immersion Heater insulation
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Less than 100mm of Mineral Wool loft
insulation
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NO Insulation Jackets around either Hot
Water or Heating Header Tanks in Attic
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Some very bad DIY plumbing
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The original 1980's Gas Boiler
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Rudimentary Heating controls/timer
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Built-in Kichen appliances of unknown
efficiency rating
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Gas Fire in Lounge to Open Chimney
 To
the previous owner's credit they had replaced the original
single-glazed window units with White PVC Double Glazing - but
that was about it. So we inheritted a house in fairly "average"
condition for its age. It reflected most people's priorities
over the last thirty years. Energy was cheap and Climate Change
was just a theory. (As an example the ceilings had been
punctured to install recessed ceiling lights. A very fashionable
idea at one time but a nightmare for anyone trying to make a
house air-tight to modern building standards.) We obviously had
a lot of work to do. It was an ideal opportunity to demonstrate
some best practice for the modern household and the informed
DIYer.
The biggest challenge for us will be engaging
a sympathetic Local Planning Authority. The House is in a
Conservation Area and Smoke Control Zone. Although this will not
impact most of the basic changes to the internal systems, it
would mean Planning Permission (&/or careful product selection)
for such work as:
Before we bought the property we had already
made an informal approach to the local Planning Authority to
ascertain their attitudes to Solar Panels. Good news - they were
sympathetic and stated that they were unlikely to raise any
objection. However later enquiries about lists of locally
approved Bio-Mass Boilers with the "Air Quality" Officer met
with a less-than-useful response. Clearly we were in for
interesting times. On the flip side we did have an interesting
advantage - as the property was of brick & flint construction
the walls wee several cm thicker than other houses of that era.
Take a Tour...
Let's tour the building in its "moved in" state:
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The Attic: It is enough to make you
want to run away screaming. What you see is what you
get. Less than 100mm of Mineral Wool Insulation between
the joists. The entire area was lit by one 40w tungsten
filament light bulb. The ceiling has been punctured in
no less that seven locations as the traditional ceiling
roses had been replaced by recessed ceiling lights. The
recessed lights are not that useful in distributing the
light around and make it a little challenging getting
CFL's that fit the recess. What is more the ceiling in
no longer air-tight. Air can leak directly through the
light fittings and into the attic above. You will also
see above the Hot Water and Heating Header Tanks. They
were not insulated - well, not properly. The 50 gallon
tank actually had some mineral wool just floating on the
top of the water surface. Just look at these pictures! I
didn't fake this. Oh yes, and I am not counting the
seven Bees Nests under the rafters. |
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The Heating & Hot Water system: Well,
where to start? The Boiler belongs in a museum. Just
what were people thinking? Have a look at those heating
controls in the second photo. The previous owners had
had them just switched ON all the time. No wonder
really. Most of the heat was lost on the way from Boiler
to Hot Water Tanks through uninsulated Pipes running the
length of the Attic space. On the right we see the
immersion heater. Yes it has rigid foam layer of
insulation. But we found out the reason why. This has
been replaced in 2003 for reasons unknown. Not a single
pipe in this Airing Cupboard had any Insulation on it.
The Cupboard remained a good way of cooking your laundry
not airing it. |
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Whilst we are on the topic of heating
controls - here is the Thermostat. Yes it is ancient but
this is probably the least of our problems. Now lets
turn our attention to all those Tungsten Filament Light
Bulb Spots. There were fifteen "R63" spots and nine
"R80" spots. Some didn't work but hat was OK because the
previous occupants had left a large bag of spares in the
Garage. Obviously they had needed them! Within our first
two weeks in the house two more bulbs failed. That is
one a week. Talk about throwing good money after bad. We
did find one energy saving lightbulb at the house - it
was fitted inside the outside light next to the front
door. Maybe if the money spent fitting recessed lights
had been spent on CFL's the previous owners may have
saved themselves some money. OK - enough bewilderment.
Let's take control.... |
Let's Get to Work....
Space precludes us detailing everything on this page so
please drill down through our sub-pages for details of each
major project:
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