Do it yourself sustainability.
Lecture Notes from Lecture delivered to students in April 2007 as part of MSc Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies program at the Graduate School of Architecture at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales.
Douglas Beal. March 2007.
Introduction
With only a few opportunities for new build and hardly any of those realistically definable as eco each year it is essential to focus on the eco-renovation of existing housing stock. Properties ripe and ready for refurbishment or conversion (a perfect time for ‘ecofication’) are rare and tend to go to cash developers. Regular mortgage slaves end up with tidy looking used houses at premium prices; even though thermal properties may be poor. With irrational property inflation people are financially stretched and have no time or money to afford a team of eco- consultants and builders to sort out their superficially sound home. What is required is state organised help, advice and incentive to encourage environmental DIY. The government would get better national carbon reductions, with public money, if they helped the people help themselves.
What follows is my existential journey, with particular focus on this course, a DIY house renovation and its wider implications. I hope it offers some illumination on the trials and tribulations of trying to do up a house with the environment in mind.
“Although I speak from my own experience, I felt that no one has the right to impose his or her beliefs on another person. I will not propose that my way is best. The decision is up to you. If you find some point which may be suitable for you, then you can carry out experiments for yourself. If you find that it is of no use, then you can discard it.” Dalai Lama.
My history
By the early 90’s Kids on the way the time had come to make a nest. Shelter was our priority. Space had already become unaffordable for me in the UK, we settled over the channel, 30 miles into France for affordable space and to be in control of our internal and external living space whilst been relatively free of a commitment to excessive personal debt. With a barn, £20K and a family on the way, I couldn’t afford a builder, architect or project manager, economizing was of essence, so I had to learn everything. DIY was the only way. We had no water, electricity, sanitation, windows etc, but with the old bus and caravan that acted as my seasonal mobile UK home parked outside, a Portaloo and a shovel, it was a start.
Seasonally traveling back and forth to work long weeks at festivals, paying the ferryman by hook or by crook, and collecting anything that resembled a building material, piece of furniture, tool, clothing or anything for that matter, that I could beg, borrow or find discarded or for a song, I used to try and make our home more habitable. Unaware of building to de-construct, re-use of materials and all this environmental building stuff, my first attempt at wiring, when I was eventually connected to the grid, was a series of extension leads tacked around the barn (festival inspired electrics). Septic tank and drainage installed by hand, salvage toilet, bath, sink, etcetera. Eventually second hand Rayburn and radiators. Surviving on seasonal work and occasional laboring (simultaneously acquiring skills for DIY) thus leaving lots of time to work at home. Generally, I built to deconstruct because I knew it was temporary or I was not sure if things would work and I could modify things more easily later. £30k and 4 years of DIY and odd jobbing, we had two 4 bedroom wings to the L shaped barn. Not a bad start environmentally, just a major lack of understanding about the thermal properties of buildings and the importance of insulation.
I got a little more confident over the years at D.I.Y, more valued on my festival forays, could more easily pick up odd jobs, sold my first home for a reasonable sum, which along with a modest mortgage enabled me to DIY develop, with odd labourers, my next site, a half hamlet with 7acres (that fate led me to, at a give away price), to the extent that through tourism, it just about supports the family.
However, The building work was looking more professional, less of the build to de-construct and re-use malarkey, more familiarity at the builders merchants with new, regular (often nasty) building materials (More aware of the need for insulation, just a lack of understanding of embodied energy concepts, pollution, off-gasing, breath-ability, etcetera), things were speeding up and with a keen eye for quantities and costing, having ago at all trades and making all design decisions, a tight budget could be maintained.
Something seemed wrong however, I was drifting from my maverick roots towards ‘professionalism’, fortunately another quirk of fate lead me to do the UEL MSC Architecture course held here at CAT. This time around university seemed more relevant on my journey through life and I realised how little I knew about our homes and their link to the environment.
My thesis study
As part of the aforementioned MSC course held here, it was necessary to do a thesis, I chose to assess the activities of British people, who had chosen to make the same lifestyle choice I had and moved to the same part of Calvados. Theoretically, I should have interviewed myself, however, as I spend enough time in introspective analysis already, I did not. So the previous extended story about myself can be seen as relevant and not just egocentricity. I am the most known yet un-questioned subject in the study. I felt it was important to choose a thesis subject relevant to me?
I chose the 2 geographically defined cantons (parishes, areas), one of which I was living predominately at the time, so as to be as objective as possible with my research methodology and to save on travelling too far a field to conduct the interviews and assessments of the properties. 27 families kindly let me in to size up their homes and ask lots of questions. This represented well over 80% of those asked and known to be living in the area. I felt it more important to go for quality and not quantity and to see the dwellings and living conditions, this gave an impression a thousand questions could not have on a mail-shoot. Obviously such a small sample has its limitations.
I was trying to get an ecological footprint and an assessment of the thermal properties and energy use within these homes. I was also trying to find what was driving people to make such choices.
Observations of subjects
• Personal info and drivers.
• Choice of property and project management.
• Choice of materials (including reclaimed)
• Thermal properties of homes
• Means of heating
• Thermal comfort
• Goodlife (veggies, rainwater harvesting, etcetera)
Summary of subjects
• ‘Affordable space migrants’. Work secondary. People want space and land. (the subjects and many of the 1000+ guests that have stayed at mine can not find a solution in the UK.) This is in contrast to the 300,000 apparent French, or the numerous EU’ers looking primarily for work.
• Economic necessity rather than a strong commitment to a DIY philosophy drove them to taking a key role in their projects development. It offered an escape from their perceived unsatisfactory situation in the UK.
• Accepting lower standards of thermal comfort is a reflection of the excessive cost and effort incurred to maintain previous expectations. Many had adapted.
• Environmentally inclined choices inspired more from tradition and thrift.
• Definite lack of understanding about the importance of insulation and the dangers of mixing new materials in old homes.
Conclusions (from study)
• Need to find an ECO-DIY renovation model. Especially for Brits in France doing the ‘country living trip’, unaware of insulation and dealing with humidity and damp. Insufficient language skills or desire to make use of available info. There can’t be that many different types of wall/floor configurations in old houses, real choices and real solutions required for diyers/general builders.
• More connection to the environment around you, how your building is linked to outside, may help reduce impact and raise general environmental awareness. Same thing applies to fuel type. Cutting, stacking and managing your own firewood (most popular energy source for space heating within study) makes you more aware.
• Mixing traditional with ecological is essential in renovation.
• People prepared to leave UK for a home improvement.
As one of these people
• Having had my eyes opened by studying and visiting here at C.A.T, as well as being involved with MPF (Maisons Paysannes de France, who encourage the sympathetic renovation of property by using traditional methods and materials.) It has become necessary to try and re-define my approach to renovation.
• It has to be affordable on my limited budget therefore I have to carry on in DIY mode.
• Moral dilemma, what to do with our property now? I feel obliged to make amends and improve the property I own, in order to reduce its environmental impact.
My renovation
The only way I can afford, financially, to take on a project is by predominant DIY. This involves all the design, planning and building work. It also gave me an opportunity to begin to understand new skills and develop old ones. I did have to use two specialists on the job, but it could, perhaps should, have been avoided. I generally have a labourer.
After completing the MSc course and thesis, I had no option but to apply this newfound knowledge to the renovation of my latest project, a stone terraced house/shop.
The objective was to try and reform a building (fortunately, it was in a shabby state, then there is no option but to seriously refurbish), which basically comprised of an old ground floor shop and badly laid out living accommodation, in to a multi level dwelling (functional house). A complete loft conversion and the linking of an outbuilding to the main house to enlarge the property were deemed necessary. The conversion of spaces such as barns or derelict buildings is easier, as it offers a clean slate.
The shop front was kept, just in case I needed one or at least so it maintains an option of commercial/community activity in a village where many commerces had disappeared. The premises had been used as a bar-tabac/grocery for about100 years. ‘The shop’ was reduced to 20% of the ground floor and left as an unheated space outside the thermal blanket, provisionally acting as a porch/store leading directly on to the pavement.
In terms of energy in use, I wanted the house to perform as well as possible on renewable energy. I also wanted to keep the embodied energy and development energy to a minimum. It had to be affordable and I wanted to explore how a budget is apportioned. I also wanted to try and make all my decisions with the wider as well as my immediate environment in mind.
In terms of thermal efficiency as much insulation was laboriously squeezed in available or created spaces. When dealing with existing structures compromise and imagination is required.
• Excessive insulation (Average of; 350mm in roofs, 150mm in external walls, 100mm hemp/limecrete in ground floors. Variety of means and situations. I have being employing a variety of methods of light-weight (internal dry-lining / external cladding) and middle-weight (cast hemp / lime) insulation installations. As well as keeping some heavy weight mass in key places.)
• Installation of a bio-mass/solar heating system.
• Re-use of materials from site (or wherever) and solving problems without having to buy newly manufactured materials can reduce the overall environmental impact of the project. (These things cost more time, but in some cases, financial costs can be reduced, neutralized or even negated by materials savings.) AKA eco-mising.
I also wanted to explore.
• Attempts to use natural, non-mechanical means of ventilation and humidity control. Add on, mechanical, if necessary after.
• Eco-mising in order to spend on renewable energies and essential items like roofing materials and windows.
• See project as an experiment, eg extension no plastic damp proof membrane, mix wood shavings with lime, extreme reduction of the use of mastics, glues and other ‘quick fixes’.
• Rainwater harvesting, well use, water disposal etcetera
• Explore De-constructability. beginning to see building as storing materials.
Project details
Planning application was required primarily for the loft conversion as roof windows were used on the main house existing roof. Ironically, a less demanding notification of works was all that was required for the extension to the rear. The only real stipulation was the use of zinc on new low-pitched roofs.
Roofs
Having never worked with zinc, I casually employed the sons of the village roofer to help me a few evenings, thus learning whilst getting the job done. All other steel roofing was either a justifiable (planning permission perspective) replacement for the corrugated tin or asbestos sheeting that already existed. A grey color, closest to zinc, was requested by the historic monuments people. The top metal roof was made up from four different types of reclaimed materials. The frame supporting the solar thermal panels used some reclaimed materials. The sheet roofing material is lightweight and requires less timber to support it, the walls of the building itself, in some places, were best left with their existing load.
Existing roofing materials that were deemed to have some life left were kept. The premature replacement of roofing materials is often done to increase resale profit and is questionable from an environmental perspective. On purchase the building had 7 different types of roofing material.
Zinc gutters were used for their durability and the fact many existing supports could be cleaned up and re-used. It also fitted in with the local practice.
The slated finishing detail around the extension was a solution in response to the fact the metal sheets, as they were, fell short of the space to be covered. Rather than buy an extra meter wide length to be unnecessarily overlapped or cut the detail evolved. The slates are reclaimed from fitting roof windows. The glass slates, cut out of reclaimed glass on site, help reduce shading and create a solar clothes drying space. All zinc flashings and fixings formed from roofers scraps.
The tapered hip and the positioning of the solar panels were not on the originally approved plans, but were a response to an open dialogue with the neighbours on each side. They became concerned about shading as the reality of the project dawned upon them, as I tried to explain it. As to whether I get reprimanded by the planning authorities is worth the gamble knowing the elasticity within the French bureaucracy. For me it is more important to appease those affected by the project than the state.
A previous owner had allowed a roof support beam to be cut in order to fit a dormer. Some sagging in the roof structure had appeared. In order to redress this a framework of timber was used. This frame was also designed in a way to support layers of overlapping insulation to reduce thermal bridging. If structural repairs give the chance of improving the thermal performance of a building, the opportunity must be seized. Currently this does not seem to be the case.
Walls
Any existing wall that was exposed to the outside was dramatically improved thermally. Depending on practicality and or appropriateness, this was achieved by external cladding or internal dry lining. Stonewalls between adjoining neighbours were predominantly given an average of 80mm of a hemp and lime mix. This was applied as a thick render or cast and left in a lightweight timber framework. It is hoped that this will act as a humidity buffer and responsive mass whilst offering some insulation. This method was deemed particularly important on the ground floor level and was generally finished of with lime render and paint, so that it could breath and let any damp rising through the old walls escape. When some modern building solutions are applied, this damp can been left trapped, hidden and become hazardous, as was discovered to be the case in this house when polystyrene backed plasterboards were removed.
New walls for the extension were made lightweight from timber, non-load bearing, with practically no foundations and highly insulated. An existing lump of concrete was found in the ground, which was thought to be sufficient to support a not too stressed corner post. A hidden well was discovered on the boundary line, it was bridged by the wall and left accessible. (Both unpredictable discoveries that received spontaneous low impact environmental design solutions)
A small wall to house the well and pump controls was made with cast compacted earth from my garden and then rendered with lime. I hope to experiment later at using the well for cooling purposes in the summer.
Generally, un-plastered Fermacell boards were used and fixed in a way so that they could be removed for later modification or re-use. The exception being the ceiling of the loft conversion where ordinary plasterboards were used, these had conveniently been placed in the loft with some rolls of glass-wool insulation when there were big holes between floors prior to the CAT MSc. They had to be used and were finished off with a textured mix of left over plaster and emulsion paint from a variety of sources.
Existing interior walls were re-organized, any new ones were timber stud partitioning boarded with Fermacell or clad with wood. All wood shavings created on site are to be mixed with lime and earth and cast around a timber frame to partition off a provisionally unventilated down stairs bathroom.
Floors
The shop front floor has a concrete floor, the demolition of which would have been difficult. I decided to tile it with cheap Dutch, glazed terracotta tiles. Rather than using tile adhesive, I used a sloppy lime and sieved sand mortar. The use of Cement based products are an almost irreversible decision, realistically unnecessary in home renovation or arguably new home build. Deconstruction becomes difficult. In this project I only used 80kg of cement, over half of which was leftovers given to me.
The already existing ground floors were uneven concrete. To bring them to a desired finish level, I laid an average of 70mm of hemp and lime mix, before applying a lime screed and tiling with cheap Spanish terracotta tiles. (For several months I tried, unsuccessfully, to find reclaimed tiles. New locally produced ones were prohibitively expensive.)
In the extension floors I had a little more space to play with, so below the hemp and lime layer I put a layer of 20/40mm gravel with a 50mm agricultural drainage tube running through it, that vented to the outside. The idea was then to make a stack pipe with the outlet and thus create air movement under the solid floor.
Having found using lime mortar as a tile adhesive slow, I tried a traditional method of laying the lime screed, with a lime and water slip and the tiles all at the same time. This method accounts for the irregularity in individual tile thicknesses and proved to be far quicker.
All non ground floors already existing in timber only required modification and cleaning, all salvage timber was re-used.
Windows
All the windows, except for the glazed shop front, had to be replaced. For time and cost reasons I decided upon pre-manufactured, standard size pre-glazed wooden frames. Having used a particular manufacturer before and been sufficiently contented with their products I decided to select from their range. Instinctively, I choose wood. One choice was 71% accredited FSC exotic hard wood, with or without low E & argon gas, the best of which has a u-value of 1.9. (The store manager said that some of the wood they purchased in south America, was from unaccredited sources, often from tidying up after forestation and destined as fire wood, these small pieces could be used, he felt it was better than them being burnt as waste.) The FSC labeling drew me to the product and I bought a couple of windows and managed to get a knock down price ex-demo patio door.
However on reflection, for the majority of windows I made another choice, non-FSC French oak with a u-value of 1.6. It seemed better to buy a better product locally sourced and locally accredited, ‘Chene de France’, than go for the FSC. Not that I am critical of such accreditation schemes, it is just that I am beginning to see low quality timber products from far away places with green credentials that I would not recommend buying.
Whilst looking into my choices, I could not help looking at their PVC windows. They had a u value of 1.2, they are probably made partially from recycled materials in France. Could it be possible, in a life cycle analysis, with the savings on heat loss, maintenance and transport miles etc, that the best choice environmentally (out of a mainstream catalogue) could have been PVC?
Timber
For structural roof and frame timbers such as batons, rafters, beams etc I chose either French or Scandinavian pine, as was available on the day, from my local timber/builders merchant. This was treated on the premises, however to avoid this process you had to buy each section of wood by the pallet, as they dipped it this way. For me on any section this was far too much. I only collected a few bits at a time, as I passed on certain days.
On occasion I have to buy wood from the D.I.Y store and here I look out more for the eco-labeling.
I knew of a green oak merchant, not too far off my route, when asked about his affiliation to any environmental accreditation agency, he informed me he was the fourth generation at his mill and felt he did not need labeling, they had obviously not depleted their local resource! I went off with his son to get some planks cut.
Later on in the project I noticed a wood merchant, without deviating from my path, he had some seasoned chestnut from a local forest. By this time I had given up asking for credentials or paper work and found cash got a good discount too.
On the way to the local hospital, after slicing my finger whilst cutting wood, I saw a hanger full of seasoning timber at the side of a furnisher maker’s huge workshop, I chanced to find out he was giving up after 43 years, his timber and tools were for sale. The site was being taken over, buildings demolished, to be re-developed by the local PVC merchant. The inspiration for my kitchen began as we milled some seasoned beach. For me this was the best find and I will stock up for future projects from his unwanted stock. Does this count as reclaimed?
It is best to re-use as much wood as possible found on site, or reclaim from neighbours or anywhere. Even a piece of driftwood was used for two windowsills. Salvaging and processing reclaimed wood is time consuming. It is also a time when you realize the importance of building to deconstruct. Painted wood with hidden nails can play havoc with your tools as well.
The timber structural work for the extension, loft conversion and as a general rule is screwed together. (Use quality screws, stainless in areas particularly vulnerable to moisture). When the professional roofers came to cover my structure with zinc, I let them do their thing. As far as woodwork was concerned, this involved only a few contra-batons, these were fixed with over long ribbed nails that split chunks out of the back side of my lovingly posed timber boarding. This damaged the wood and made future salvaging difficult. Often, hidden behind the visually apparent, often superficial, skin of a building is a lack of care for the job and those that may have to deconstruct. It takes too much time and costs too much money.
Finishing
By carefully saving everything that might have a possible re-release of life in the demolition/site-preparation process, as well as off cuts and scraps from the build/development process (including delivery systems), when it comes to the finishings you find you have an abundant supply of materials. When designing details use this resource for inspiration. Do not be afraid to mix woods and other materials. I probably ended up with twenty different sources of skirting board. No interior doors, handles or trims were bought specifically. Car boot sales, junk shops and other people’s waste can have a purpose. Accepting imperfection and inconsistency can be an environmental choice. Often finishing woodwork is filled and painted to hide shabby, quick carpentry. This is no more than vanity. Even though it is nice to aim for, there is no technical need for precision at this stage.
What this implied in many cases, whether a roof or a kitchen, was the design choice is inspired by what is at hand as a consequence of the work in progress. This makes it difficult to predict beforehand how the job will be done and what the estimated cost will be, in terms of both time and money.
Plumbing
For all sanitary plumbing I use push fit easily de-constructable plastic. This makes modification as well as re-use easy. The well water recovery system for the toilets and washing machine was a good example of the benefits of using plastic plumbing, as a DIY plumber I had teething problems with the system, these could quite easily be modified.
2 out of the 3 toilets to be used on site are reclaimed. A Low cost, 3 or 6 liter flush toilet, though not intended too, can be used to offer just a splash of water to accompany urine. An old urinal found on site is destined to be set up for discreetly pissing in the garden.
In order to benefit from trade discounts and government grants in France you have to use a professional. I wanted to combine solar water panels with a wood-burning stove for my domestic hot water and space heating. Having been disappointed by the response of professional options in my area, I decided to nurture my own heating engineer to help me with my system design. I persuaded him solar and bio-mass is the future and I was prepared to be his first project. This would work out cheaper than DIY and I would surely learn something from a professional.
Having discovered half the energy in firewood is in the gases that are only released at high temperatures and if left un-combusted you could be polluting your atmosphere far more seriously, I needed to find away to store the energy from a hard fire for later. This is achieved by the incorporation of an accumulator tank, a 300-litre volume of heat transfer fluid (predominantly water), which is heated via the back boiler in the stove. From the accumulator tank you then circulate to your radiators. In the morning a timer can kick in, and even though your fire has gone out, you can still appreciate it.
I chose Weishaupt flat plate solar collectors, because they seem to have what market there is, amongst professionals in the area sown up. The plumber liked the professional back up this manufacturer offered.
There were already three old cast iron radiators on site, these had to be incorporated; the plumber supplied me with three other reclaimed ones. A new towel rail and small radiator had to be bought new, as they could not be found reclaimed. I let the plumber connect them in his own way. He uses copper with great skill, forming and bending the pipe without the need for small fittings. However, this rapidly depleting resource is not, realistically, easily re-used or modified, more likely recycled. I feel copper should only be used where essential and I can’t see the sense in painting the pipes. Through out the project I tried to make the pipe work accessible. The plastic piping would not be suitable near the burner or solar panels. If possible I find it best to try and design all plumbing and heating systems with the least amount of pipe work.
The time spent cleaning and servicing reclaimed radiators combined with a good second hand value makes them more expensive than some new radiators. They have no manufacturers guarantee.
What seemed to be an old motor vehicle inspection pit discovered in the garden was cleaned out and prepared as a rainwater harvesting over flow by using chunks of concrete and rubble generated in a demolition phase.
Electrics
About 20% of cables used were found on site. Cable runs, where possible, were laid in such a way that they could be replaced, modified or re-claimed at a later date. Some fuses, sockets, switches and light fittings were reclaimed. Most electricians would be reluctant to do this. Low energy light bulbs were used throughout.
It was hoped to cover the extension roof with non-integrated, grid linked photovoltaic panels in order to generate enough electricity to neutralize electrical demand. As of July 2006 the EDF (Electricite de France) will pay 0.56 euros per kwh for panels integrated to buildings and 0.3 euros if non-integrated. As I investigated their definition of integrated I realized my plans did not count. This was frustrating as integrating into a very low-pitched steel roof is difficult. It would also mean the panels would be at a less efficient angle to the sun and I have been led to believe they perform better if cooler on the underside ie not integrated. I did find out that if they were integrated into an outbuilding this would be acceptable, so they have now been rescheduled for phase 2 of the project, the re-development of out buildings. Like the solar water, the pv/edf/grant deal has to go through professionals, so again I have to find a way round this. This is quite disheartening as it has been a year since I first started negotiating with my plumber. As I write, I feel he has abandoned me, leaving me with some major problems. I am beginning to regret involving a professional.
I am sure I am not the only DIY enthusiast out there, who would only be too happy to go down this renewable energy road alone with a little encouragement and perhaps back up at key times from some sort of state environmental building service. Being at the mercy of inconsistent professionals is not my style. I can see why uptake is slow.
Ventilation
Options for heat recovery ventilation and air movement were left open. Though provisional vents and openings were left in readiness. When I ripped out the old kitchen I found dank spaces behind kitchen units and polystyrene panels. The new kitchen is designed to move out with the removal of 4 screws. It is also designed in a way that creates constant air movement behind it.
The wood burner draws air to feed the fire from outside the living space through a flexible perforated pipe that runs hidden around the edge of the floor near the foot of the stonewall. This is intended to simultaneously create air movement and draw off humidity from a particularly vulnerable area in an old part of the building.
It is hoped that the hemp and lime mixes will buffer some of the humidity and have a stabilizing effect on variable conditions. So far I am impressed at how they work around window reveals, for example, an area often susceptible to the bad effects of condensation.
Kitchen
Having been guilty of fitting several melamine/chipboard kitchens, whilst helping a French neighbour get started in his enterprise several years ago, I am relatively familiar with the design and products available in the general kitchen market. When it came to the kitchen in this house I wanted to avoid the above approach. I had allocated a practical space within the building, with provision for services. I already had a slightly damaged, but functional second hand oven, fridge and a make shift camping hob. I also had a few oak doors waiting in the shed, claimed from a misorder a few years ago.
The design process really started with the chance finding of a stainless steel table, with inserted sink, in a commercial reclamation shop in a town I pass through regularly. The beach wood mentioned previously became the worktop, frames, shelves, etcetera. Using every scrap of wood, you find yourself creating wall cupboards with a base shelf of beach, a panel of oak from the neighbours garden, a pine floorboard cut out of the floor for the staircase becomes a shelf and it is all trimmed off with scraps of chestnut from the exterior cladding. The materials available dramatically influence the design. £300 plus time?
Furnishings
As much as possible is sourced second hand. It is often the case that the build quality on older stuff whether it be cutlery, tools or a table is of such an original higher standard than much mass produced modern stuff (even with green credentials), it will probably out live the new.
Project conclusions
Not perfect, some mistakes and contradictions. It was difficult giving up bad habits, cement, squirty polystyrene foam, glues, mastics, indiscriminant nailing. It has been a sort of rehibilitation project; perhaps we should have eco-rehab for builders addicted to perceived quick fixes. Getting trades people set in their ways to think differently would be hard.
Whilst living and working in a house it is good to focus on certain areas, but having a general overall flexible plan. Prioritising areas and allowing buffers, if you get stuck or need to reflect whilst waiting for fate to bring you a low impact environmental solution. Take your time to understand why you need to do what your doing, what you have before you and how you can re-arrange it. Adapt to the surprises the building or development process throws up and allow your design to change. (It may be beneficial). The building, neighbourhood and the builder engage into an on going discussion. Visualize your space when chilled out, don’t just superimpose what you see in a catalgue or at a show.
The good thing about being in total control of your own project, (except for the professionals) particularly in France without site visits from building inspectors, is the freedom to be responsible for decisions made in own home. However this does allow a lot of people to make serious mistakes, myself included in the past. By making things more reversible now, I can more easily undo mistakes made in the present.
It would have been easier to build a dwelling from new, more materials, probably less time, however I must account for the learning curve factor and experimentation delays. Overall the environmental impact will be less, as this particular house has been environmentally re-deemed and there would have been no chance of it being demolished and replaced with an eco-build.
Tidy and segregate waste as you go. Organize your salvage and materials. Question how anything found on site can be used (reuse recycle combust) before leaving site for another home, recycling station or general dump.
Do not be afraid to recruit help from anyone, family or friends of any age. My kids love going on roofs and mucking in (when it takes their fancy). Hopefully some of my philosophy will rub off on them when they are confronted with their housing needs.
I basically concluded there were 3 ways of reducing the environmental impact in my
project.
1. Insulation and an efficient renewable energy heating system to reduce energy in use.
2. Particular attention to the embodied energy within materials, but essential to explore the possibilities of re-use and reclamation of materials on and around the project.
3. The way we do it. Rationalisation of journies. Design on the hoof with what you find and see around. Build to deconstruct, not only for future users but, possibly, for yourself.
General Conclusions
• Need a more holistic, organic approach, with an ability to transfer cross trades. Job demarcation of trades can lead to repetitive stress, physical and mental. (In the hierarchical pecking order of an enterprise it is easy for the initial, perhaps eco, good intentions to be diluted down with negativity from a ‘shit end of the stick’ worker.) Involving people more in the whole process they become less alienated.
• I feel a comparison between my house renovation and my thesis. You have an idea about what you are doing. As it develops, thoughts evolve snippets of information turn up and influence your direction. Things develop as you do it. For me, renovation is like this, I feel we need more creativity in the building art. Most of the time, the creativity is done before the creation.
• More spontaneous design and build. . Keep an open mind to modifying your designs. Suprises the building, people and your neighbourhood throw up. Think laterally, things may have many uses than for their intended. Be experimental
• If you need ‘professional’ assistance, find workers who are open to working with you. Not just for you. Good Luck! (A lot of what professionals do is easy, and their skills are required for only certain parts of their work. However insurance restrictions and perhaps wanting to hide the true nature of their skills hinders mutual involvement).
• Involve yourself with your neighbours, community spirit & local knowledge is invaluable.
• It is easier to organise re-useable materials and waste with cross trade efficiencies.
• However, it is even easier to just over order new and dump ‘waste’, (bill the client for the lot!). Labour costs for sorting site rubbish can be higher than throwing away. It can also be cheaper to order too much, than to be caught out with too little or work out exactly how much you need. (possibly 20% of new materials wasted) Needs synchronized tidy up of variable wastes, organization and management of waste, if not DIY, time consuming therefore costly. (Organization and storage of salvaged materials for possible re-use space and time consuming. Segregated skips costly and impractical, particularly in urban areas. Unless waste is well sorted, it has to go in general landfill bin).
• Keep within limitations. think of materials around you and the skills of those available, friends and family. Work swaps. When visiting friends in Slovakia, I was impressed how several families had got together in the 70’s, behind the iron curtain, to pool their skills and help each other build their homes.
Pros
• By doing every thing yourself (DIY) you know exactly how much hidden energy use is involved in doing the job, which is not accounted for in the embodied energy calculations for specific materials.
Cons
• Grants for improvements, renewables and insulation restricted through professionals. DIY-discrimination. Restricts take up.
• There needs to be stepped incentives. No grants for renewables until insulation improved. (Burner sales in Paris suburbs are up 6 fold, due to 50% grants for woodburners, people are not adding extra insulation or decommissioning their oil fired boiler, probably just setting the mood with a nice fire in the evening)
• Hard for designers and builders to plan in detail, with materials as yet undiscovered.
• Percentages are made on materials sourced, therefore professionals loose money on ‘ecomising’ under present system.
• Using new materials gives assurance for insurance and complies with norms giving trades-people a security.
• It is easy to get a mortgage for house or development if professionals, with a predefined design plan, involved.
• Need elasticity in rules and regulations in our own homes. Does it really matter if a recycled staircase needs a plinth to make it fit or a ceiling is a little lower to insulate better. At least in our own homes we should be allowed. The same rules that stop shabby property profiteering, restrict self expression. If one felt a gortex suit was all the insulation they needed in their own home, it should be their right. (Even professionals in France, on pre 1956 buildings, can get away with imagination and their work remain insured)
• Be careful of a’la carte eco building It is not so much the materials as a whole philosophy; recycle, reuse no waste, on the job low impact inspired design. Locally if available. When you have to specify new, make sure it is appropriate and preference environmentally as best you can. Do not beat yourself up for compromise, due to budget or a lack of perfect finish(it is a reflection of those who helped, a signature. Nothing is perfect. Avoid green commodity fetishism at the expense of local labour.
• Danger house may end up not looking newly renovated and ‘normal’, potential devaluation. ‘Bodge’ needs redefining in certain situations as ecological building innovation. (Often professional scaremongery/bullshit discourages innovation and thrifty solutions. You have to use the right fixings etc. Yet, so much crap out there that is professionally installed eg foam spraying bullshit, damp injection systems in old stone walls, concrete slabs and cement renders in old houses, foils that do not do what they say on the can, building to de-construct can look unfinished or even modular, people seem to like hidden fixings).
• All of this puts more onus on creativity and spontaneous common sense of builder. This may clash with others involved in the project. Rigid regulation and planning is restrictive for spontaneous recycling design.
• Be prepared to get lost in time.
My workmate has knick-named me “eco-miser”
Eco-mising
• Asses what it is you need, in terms of its function and material properties. If possible, seek and salvage an alternative. Save £s and reduce Embodied Energy in your project. Obviously this is not meant to be applied across the whole project, though I am sure it could be possible, it would require extreme dedication and be extremely time consuming, you could make your own roof windows, solar panels etc, I just strike my own balance. Don’t drive around for weeks in search of a reclaimed nut.
• Design from and make do with what you’ve got (both material and human resources.) Keeping your eyes open around, accept things as best you can create, perfect finishes, are often only skin deep and blemish quickly.
• Delay spending as much as possible until you are sure there is no alternative.
• Reduce potentially ‘unsustainable’ personal debt.
Working on my home in France involves regulatory bodies that allow the individual more freedom within their own homes. A comparative analysis with the UK would be a good basis for study, focusing particularly on the environmental implications, however as yet I have not had the time, so I can only offer a few notes.
Le Republique
• Private projects, DIY planning < 170m2.
• Free from building inspectors.
• Make an un-insulated house if you want. Even though theoretically free to not insulate, they French consume twice the insulation products per capita
• Mortgage did not require a survey.
• Land seems readily available for urbanization, and it seems to be the majority not the minority of it that goes to individuals
• Serviced building plots from 9€ m2
• Projects hardly refused. I have had a few problems with planning authorities, but so far, there seems to be a lovely elasticity.( touch wood). Things turn out OK. Normally rural urbanism decisions made locally, schools and services, rates managed locally. Decentralized development. Obviously the Arrondisments of Paris may be more regulated.
• Broader DIY culture. Diy shops bigger range, in store magazines promoting lime renders and washes, rainwater harvesting, solar panels, hemp for insulation. You can order a wood-burner, pellet burner, they will organise an installer, VAT reduction, paper work for 50% tax credit. I recall at one time a particular store allowed you to take your salvage building materials in and they sold them, on your behalf, at a seasonal in store fair.
• 50% grant/tax credit on renewables until 2009, available on principal residencies, €8000 per person, €16000 couple.(every 5 years). Available to all who want it. Not like UK lottery, it seems.
• It is still affordable to drop out and live the ‘goodlife’ in France without too much hassle.
Reflections from a DIY-site.
At times, lost in the mind numbing tasks of grading your own rubble on site by hand to make your own aggregate or kneading hemp and lime on to your stonewalls, convinced it was the only true environmental builders choice of the day, gave you time to reflect. Below is a selection of reflections from site, totally unverified or researched academically.
Sustainable?
• Earning capabilities can’t meet housing costs, whilst maintaining quality of life.
• Over prescription hinders personal innovation and development.
• Need more hands-on involvement.
• More localized land release for a variety of DIY home developments.
• Green commodity culture, another fad?
• Technological solutions for social problems?
• Education and info at point of sale?
At last, the IMF and World Bank seem to have realized, tied aid, just leads to more debt and problems within developing nations. Though our problems in the UK are not really with absolute poverty, relative poverty can be as equally problematic. It seems to me as an outsider, it is excessively priced here for most people to realize the most modest of housing dreams. Tied to an excessive debt. This is an unsustainable scenario, especially for younger generations. Powerless, with a lack of money to ever fulfill dreams, no contact with an out side space etc must lead to the desire for immediate gratification in the form of consumerism of the mind, body or material. Or even worse abuse of others.
I wanted to expand the concept of alienation, and how the hands-on involvement of providing our own shelter (DIY) is an essential part of (our species being) best not denied. However, I am sure it seems a struggle to survive, with spiraling personal debt, the inevitability of inter-generational mortgages, people will end up going to their graves leaving financial burden to their off-spring, (if they can afford to create a window to make them in), never having understood the building they lived in or dirtied their hands in the soil around which it stood. Pursuing careers in our buoyant economy as alienated accommodation slaves, comforted by commodities and virtual pass times. Times may appear good but eventually when all manufacturing is subbed to China and services to India, what are we going to do then. Dense urbanization boomed with industrialization, it’s a shame those who want to go back to ‘peasantry’ can’t, unlike in France. With some climatologists and futurologists predicting apocalyptic horizons, it is best to nurture some DIY skills (broadest possible sense) in preparation for survival when our present civilization becomes past!
The only solution must be land release for environmentally sympathetic development. Decided locally for local needs. The UK is farcical, fisherman who can’t afford to live by the seaside. Farm-workers commuting from the city. Until major issues like this are sorted out waffling notions of sustainability are nonsensical. Land not just to be grabbed by developers (even eco ones), but allowing individual plots, diversity of choice, giving a richer variety and allowing wider tolerance of each other. Even starting with a caravan, evolving to a shed, whatever. More hands on, more DIY, Self maintainable, affordable, experimental, most of all sustainable. France allowed me, a foreigner, a sense of freedom to do this. Prescribed formulas, homes with no connections to the outdoors or any elements we can maintain or modify, isolates us from our immediate environment. Many people in densely populated areas are tending to jet set, to get out of it and probably end up having a greater eco footprint than someone tinkering in their isolated (no integrated public transport) rural retreat.
Trickle down dilution of green-ness, in to green commodities market and culture, may have a negative effect. Green gadgets in a few years will be out of date rubbish. Do we really need free trade hemp handbags from the Himalayas? Just think twice about buying any thing new. As science improves energy efficiency of appliances and things, we still consume more, what happens when we get to a 100% efficiency. The problem needs an alternative approach, likewise the understanding of our housing needs and approach to renovation and building. What exactly, I don’t Know, but Eco-mising DIY, has helped me escape the rat-race.
Doing it yourself
The Cost of my project if done by builders would be prohibitive. It would have been very difficult to find some one to take it on, and do it the way it is happening. There are a lot of confident professionals out there, but not many prepared or capable. The embodied energy would be far greater and nobody has the same passion and positive energy to put into their project than themselves. The satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself is immense, well, it still does it for me? Costs to have had the builders in would outweigh the house value! I am not knocking professional fees, although some take the piss, it is just presently a preserve of those who can afford it.
Property prices are over inflated in UK, people have enough on paying mortgages, let alone paying out for eco-refurbishments. The only solution is DIY. Refurbishing a place to the extent I have, is quite a challenge and extremely time consuming. There are no incentives to encourage people to help themselves, that I know of, make environmental improvements to their homes. There is a desire to do DIY, but often it is only manifest in the shallow end of environmental importance, areas such as mood setting, ambiance etcetera.
Environmental DIY needs defining and funding for public education.
Benefits of DIY
• Using my time for DIY I saved at least £65,000. Based on ordinary refurbishment costs Architect, project manager, builder, gardener, etcetera of £650 per m2. (170m2 at 1000€ m2, minus costs 70,000€, total 100,000€. If I had taken a mortgage to pay for the development over 25years, I would need to repay 200 000€ . I would have to go to work and earn +20% for tax and NI loading. This is a saving of 240,000€ and assumes you had the 70,000€ to play with and you owned the house in the first place. Achieved in 2years?)
• Getting the right people to do the right job can be difficult?
• Energy saved whilst working at home. Reduction in builders embodied energy.
• Greater understanding of home (immediate environment) = less maintenance and future modification costs (less service call out contractors embodied energy too) +greater awareness. More sustainable.
• Invaluable skills learnt, sense of achievement seeing the fruit’s of ones labour.
• Physical exercise.
• Keeps you warm and reduces heating costs in winter.
• You do not have to do everything yourself. (It amuses me when I see articles in self-build magazines in the UK)
• Nothing more green on your site, when building, than innovative DIY.
Any worries about the state bad DIY’ers leave their homes in, on re-sale, are the same as those for bad professionals. This should be made apparent in a ‘home buyers information pack’ or survey perhaps?
I find as you do environmental DIY, options open, your imagination wonders and you start thinking of wider issues, no waste, design from crap, inspired from materials, perfect finish? Best you can, skin deep, fake tan, you become obsessed, insane, lost in a time warp having forgotten why you are wondering around with a hammer, an empty milk carton and a handful of dirt.
A need for a system of support for those who want to help themselves
(Perhaps all the following things are going on and I am unaware, lost in my own eco-renovation void, but I do occasionally listen to radio four and I have not heard mention.)
We need:
Free independent consultant space on environmental building and simplified DIY guides in DIY and builders merchants. (not just “this product is your solution, sir”)
Grants, reductions in rates and tax breaks for people who, by whatever means, can prove to have reduced the environmental impact of their homes or property.
Free courses, for those who want to understand how their home links to the environment and what they can do about it. (You can do courses in whole lot of other useful things)
Financial reimbursement to reduce the cost of environmentally benign insulation materials, when shown installed in accordance with the above course, for example.
Demystify environmental building issues and regulations.
The above issues need to be on the national curriculum. Even play school.
General eco-building and renovation apprenticeships and college courses need developing, along with the re-vitalization of traditional building method apprenticeships.
Income tax exemption for eco-renovators.
Financing
Need to make this affordable, appealing.
Assess what you spend your money on and whether you need it. See how much you can redirect into reducing the running costs of your house. (insulation) Need for an organic development of project, can’t afford now, develop as you earn or have time. Incorporate a suitable option to add on renewables at a later date and subscribe to renewable supplier in the interim (if an option, July 2007 here) As you live and work your renovation let it grow in your mind.
Epilogue
As this project has developed I have felt myself evolve. Thinking more and more of how I could have reduced the energy involved in the project and this reasoning has spilled over into my life. Consumerism of new manufactured materials, or things, is the root of environmental problems. Before I would have made a list of all the things I needed and got them from the DIY store, now I tend to loose the list and finish something that does not require the purchase of new commodities, until I am sure there is no other option. I must confess I am at an advantage in that I have hoarded a lot of junk in my life. Now is the time to find a use for it.
The main problem I have found is labour intensity. Many traditional and eco building solutions take time. Modern manufactured solutions are designed to speed up the process.
If I had wanted to maximise profits on this project, it was certainly the wrong way of going about it. In terms of the end result I am still a little nervous about some of the non-mainstream methods, but the house has a different feel, and warms quite quickly. (I have even watched the internal temperature rise, as night fell, with no other input than three kids running about the place.) I was hoping to have had more quantifiable, analytical technical data than this, but at the moment, for the above mentioned reason, I have not had time. The same applies to detailed costs of the job. As there is no incentive to sort my receipts, other than for calculating the embodied energy of the project, I have decided to do this on completion of the job, whilst snugly monitoring the new heating system.
One of the main things I have learnt is to accept responsibility for what happens in my house. Assuming professionals or merchants (and their approved building materials/methods) know any better than myself, was a mistake made in the past. This is not to dismiss their knowledge, it just means really thinking over what they are proposing and make your own decision and accept the consequences. I also tend to adhere to my own rules and regulations and leave health and safety issues to common sense. I am probably not technically allowed to do half the things I do, I did used to worry about this, I may even get my come-up-ance one day, but I have to live with that.
DIY is more than the sad act, unnecessary consumerist Sunday past time it is often perceived to be. It could be defined as making your own jam, growing your own veg, making your own clothes, putting a shelf up, repairing your roof, doing your own accounts and creating for your own retirement. All of these things have a financial gain (loss) to time spent ratio and you would probably find the building side more beneficial financially compared to food production. Everything also has an environmental implication. Setting up a small veg plot, with all the latest products from a garden store, may involve more energy than you hope to gain from growing your own. You may be doing the planet more of a favour by lining your curtains or insulating in someway. Paying into a retirement fund, you may be inadvertently supporting the decadent lifestyle of a suit or two and some energy consuming businesses.
Throughout the project a variety of people have lent a hand, whatever their skills their chance help has had an effect on the creative process. I feel it is important to be prepared to accept this kind of design input from whoever wants to offer it. It offers a unique signature on the project.
By doing this MSc course my practical skills have not been enhanced, what it has done however has backed up a building philosophy, inspired by my grandfather and the Wombles, of ‘making use of the things that everyday folks leave behind’. A philosophy that was beginning to wane in me, due to a perception of professionalism, I find in renovation, it is not so much how the bits are put together, but, how they react with each other, those existing, our-selves and their impact on the local and wider environments.