air tightness

‘Build tight – ventilate right’ Building Regulations

The subject of ventilation is fully incorporated into the Building RegulationsThese are the legal regulations which govern how a house is constructed. (not to be confused with Planning Permission which is about whether you are allowed to build the house at all or what it might look like) [...]

Larch and Lime passivhauses

Larch house entrance

Although not self built, the two passivhauses at Ebbw Vale may be very relevant to many self builders. Built in 2010 as show houses mainly for the attention of housing associations, they are attractive and innovative while being relatively modest. The 3 bed Larch House is clad with a locally sourced [...]

Windows

multiple glazing Types of sealed unit

As a minimum try to use sealed units with a spacing of 16 or 18mm. rather than 6mm. This is the optimum gap for heat insulation. However the frames need to have sufficient rebate for this. See window design. Use a filler of argon gas rather than air. [...]

Construction

The elements in a building are roughly divided into two parts

the envelope of the building like walls floors, doors etc. the services such as wiring and drainage.

Thinking of a house as a number of elements is the traditional way of organising the construction process and works well around the various trades involved. However [...]

Part L and SAP (England)

The Building Regulations, part L, is the section which covers energy conservation for new buildings (with part L1A covering new buildings and part L1B covering existing ones)

At present there is a period of transition which is well explained in an NHBCThe National House-Building Council describes itself as being “the leading warranty and insurance provider [...]

Energy

January 2011

Energy use in our society is almost always associated with pollution and habitat destruction so all types of energy use are worth looking at:

While a house is being built reducing embodied energythe total amount of energy it takes to make a material (or a building). See more on embodied energy of [...]

Green Design

October 2011

Background

If you are thinking of building a green building then it pays to be aware of where this whole process is going

Eco-house design is a fairly recent development which started getting off the ground in the UK during the mid 1990s.

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Although you will probably end up using [...]

Regulations / standards

Permissions and regulations

The two main permissions you will most often require for building work are Planning Permission and Building Regulations consent.

Planning Permission deals with the overall issue of what kind of houses are permissible in which area. The planning officers are employed by the local council.

Building Regulations deal with whether the building [...]

Window design

There are many purposes a window can serve and several of these have important ecological considerations:

Letting light in Collecting solar heat Providing a view Acting as a door The visual character of a house

Windows may have associated drawbacks to consider:

They may let in too much light at certain times Too [...]

Doors

Khan made this beautiful doorway in the attic of her house

Good external doors are quite hard to source in the UK because we have had a poor tradition of insulating and draught proofing them. This is why eco-house builders often use the imported Scandinavian and German ones which are available here.

There [...]