Lots going on and we are well behind on the blog, blame the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, so there is much to catch up on. Last weekend we spent a productive morning working out how we wanted the kitchen to work and also discovered our secret weapon – Plywood!
Continue reading “Kitchen Musings”
One of the many things we have to work out is how to insulate the ground floor. The Architects Matt and Elly, are helping unpick the mysteries of what you usually take for granted since it’s buried in the ground. It’s all a balance between making sure the building doesn’t sink, cost, achieving un-interrupted insulation, minimal thermal bridges, and it turns out dealing with radioactive gas.
Continue reading “Starting at the bottom”
With the help of the Hydrock engineers, we’re working through options for energy sources for hot water and heating. The fabric first approach of going large on insulation and preventing leaky air flows in the building (no period house draughts) means that we shouldn’t need much in the way of space heating. We will though be wanting a hot shower and so will also need an energy-efficient way of heating the water.
Continue reading “A Harry Potter Box”
So its time to talk money. You’ve all seen the TV and the tricky conversations that start with “so how much will all this cost” and end with some mumbling about savings and how “we’ll work something out”. Obviously our project will be very different and run to budget but as gold taps and a monorail are pricey essentials we do need to give this matter some thought.
Continue reading “The unmentionable”
Thanks to our brilliant removal people Monday went remarkably smoothly and after 20 years we are now back living in the centre of Bath. It’s very exciting to be back with unlimited access to cake shops but even more importantly we can now move ahead with the build stage.
Continue reading “The city is paved with seagulls”
After a few hiccups we have finally exchanged on our house sale so with an equal mixture of sadness and excitement we move out on Monday!
Continue reading “The next chapter”
Things have been rather hectic over the past couple of weeks but not due to the project hence the lack of posts for a wee while. We have instead been flat out selling this house and getting ready to move into a flat while our project progresses. I appreciate this news will be disappointing to you Grand Design watchers and caravan fans out there.
Continue reading “Distractions”
The complicated design work on the house continues. The non-material amendments are back in with the planners for approval and it looks like we have a solution for the steel that won’t compromise the buildings energy performance which is great. We have also been feeding some alternative thoughts into the design process.
Continue reading “A different design perspective”
In part one we introduced our architects, Matt and Elly from Arbor Architects, and since then the team has grown again with a fresh crop of experts being roped in to help out. They are all local to Bath and Bristol too which is great.
Continue reading “Meet the Team: Part Two”Some of the many, many Pinterest pictures influencing the design process.
Yes, we’re quite fond of wood.
