 |
Click
here for our Eco tips
This blog is being written by Simon Marjoram our eco-barn project manager. He’s currently working on our Wash Lane conversion in Norfolk, where the BBC are also busy filming for their Current Affairs series, Inside Out. Simon’s a pioneer of eco living and is passionate about helping forge a green future for the building industry. The views in this blog are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Barnmasters. However, we are sure you will find them informative and at times fun as well as keeping you up to date on the barn’s progress!
Latest News from the Barn |  View
the live Blog
October
30 September
As a second job(!) i also run with my wife a small
shop , it is rather alien to me but I have started
selling Christmas decorations. They a rather cool ones
made from old CDs and DVDs, and some more made from
old circuit boards. If I had my way I wouldn't have
them out until December, but they aren't going to sell
themselves. We noticed in July that people were buying
Christmas presents already, I am not sure if this is
due to the credit crunch or just what people do. I
would forget where I had hidden the presents, I have
done this in December and then discovered the item
in the following summer.
The barn is nearing completeion though there is
an ever increasing snagging list, I don't know how
that works, but as fast as I finish the jobs more appear.
It's all work though. I have had to have a few days
away as I am now so far behind with all my other jobs
and customers are starting to get peed off with me.
Summer seems to be over so the wind turbine at the
barn will have to earn it's keep by charging the batteries.
20 September
Oh what fun we having at the barn at the moment.
The new owners have moved in and we still haven't finished,
though not unusually it can't be fun for them trying
to live and work with us lot banging about. We are
also still trying to iron out a few teething problems
with some of the technology, I hope that these will
be sorted this week. The only benefit of still
being there is it means that we are there to assist.
Like for instance on wednesday when a lorry driver
ripped the telephone line off the side of the barn,
we managed to improvise a telegraph pole with a ladder
and repair the cable with a couple of cable ties and
some connectors, broadband is a bit slower but it works.
I have recently increased my carbon footprint by
allowing my son to join a youth football team, for
some reason for away games we drive past several games
and seem to have to travel for a hour to
get to a match. Nevermind, but it does seem a bit daft
for a 40 minute game.
13 September
The new owners of the barn have had a rather hard
start to their lives in the barn due to the builders
using all the electric in the batteries. In the run
up to the move there was so many workmen and kettles
on site that the batteries took a real hammering, the
system has a generator as back up in the event of poor
weather but the outbuilding has yet to be completed.
This meant that I was unable to recharge the batteries,
so the new owners have had to survive on rather skimpy
amounts of electric. But on friday I managed to get
the generator connected and got some extra charge into
the batteries, so we used washing machines, dishwashers
and a little bit of ironing was done.
I don't have alot left to do at the barn but as
most electricians will tell you we are always the last
to finish as we have to wait until the builders are
finished and we all now what a nightmare they are.
I hope to start planning a small scale (15kW) wind
turbine system for one of my customers next week and
hope to keep a blog of it's progress.
I had a couple of customers come into the shop to
day asking about how they can convert their barn ecologically.
Anyone for Ecobarn II.
31 August
I actually had a day away from the barn today, it
has been a bit full on recently so it was nice to catch
up with my wife and son. Me and the wife have spent
a few hours ordering shop stock
ready for Christmas and sorting out other things like
food for us to eat. I am eating a rather nice vegetable
samosas as I type this. Most of the jobs at the barn
are now done, there are a few things on back order
at the wholesalers which should hopefully turn up this
week for me to install. The back up generator is due
very soon so that will be another job done. It is very
difficult for me to finish until all the other trades
have got done, for instance I still have to fit the
LED lighting in the kickboards because there are no
kickboards yet. But I am sure I will get done in due
course, if not I am used to working around people.
One thing that I do want to see this week is the boiler
runing, it looks a complicated bit of machinery and
it will be interesting to see it work. Most of my time
on site this week will be taken up commisioning the
systems we have installed, I have yet to set up anything
I have just got it working so I will be tweaking and
fiddling alot and almost certainly swearing. I became
an electrician because I always pulled things to bits
as a kid 'because I wanted to know how it worked',
so I am in my element with all this new stuff. And
I am guessing that I will in the long term I will need
to know the finer detail of the equipment at the barn.
I can't wait until 2012 as it is the proposed launch
date for the Nissan
EV a very advanced electric car, I kind of hope
that they keep the Nissan Cube as the chasis as I like
the shape. It does 85 mph and around 100 miles on a
full charge which having looked at other electric cars
at the recent Motor Show is quite good.
30 August
Carpets are down and a fridge freezer turned up
yesterday. We have now also got the solar hot water
running. It's going to take me a month to programme
everything there are so many controls, sensors and
bit of equipment in this house it's staggering.
28 August
The carpets are down the lights are on, it nears
completion.
Sorry for the lack of updates but the long days
are starting to take their toll.
20 August
Just back from Legoland now there is some descent
builders around there. Sorry to say that I got a bit
competitive in the car building though it all ended
with us winning one race each.
Back atthe barn it is all hands to the deck as we
enter the finishing straight. Still loads to do but
baths, toilets, lights everything is being fitted now.
26 July
I spent a little while yesterday in a local motor
bike showroom, an air conditioned one, so it should have
been a relief after spending most of the day in a loft.
But they had all the doors open, do people not know that
this means the units are trying to cool outside as well,
this is a huge waste of energy. I then popped into the
local Co-op to buy an ice cream to find the air conditioning
roaring away and once again the doors wide open. Air
conditioning uses a large amount of electric and there
seems little point in having these units running and
trying to cool outside as well as the premises, so if
you go into or work in a shop with air conditioning
always shut the door.
EDF have just increased their electric prices meaning
that it is even more important to implement those energy
saving tips I keep going on about. It also means that
if you buy a wind
turbine or solar photovoltaics you are going to get
your money back a hell of alot quicker!
25 July
Still not spending much time at the barn, just the
odd day every so often. I am getting on with the second
fix but am some what governed by other peoples progress.
So this week I have wired some stables, wired a kitchen
and today I am going to start to rewire a bungalow. All
very borring and very hot or at least crawling around
in a loft will be, nevermind it pays the bills.
15 July
Any more interesting discovery, (or not so interesting)
and I will let the world know.
05 July
This week I have been meeting people to discuss wood
pellet boilers, having seen a few now and looked at the
pellets I have to say that I think this is possibly the
way to go. With wood you are not reliant on other nations
for fuel (gas, oil) it has a little or no carbon footprint,
the pellets supplied locally are pressed from sawdust
and scrap wood from a local joinery factory. The sawdust
would have been used in animal bedding and then
end up in landfill and the wood off-cuts would have been
thrown away, and the best bit is that it is still alot
cheaper than oil which is the normal fuel use to heat
propeties such as this.
A green tip: make sure that your tyres are
at the correct pressure.
28 June
Busy week on and off-site. Knowing that the job must
soon be finished I am trying to get all my other jobs as
far along so when needed I can spend more time at the barn.
We lowered the turbine on Thursday and gave it a service
and made sure it was all in working order, we had to do
it quickly as the wind started to pick up and we needed
to raise it again before it got too windy.
24 June
The credit crunch is starting to bite businesses, I
read with interest that Debenhams now have a 96 day payment
policy for suppliers. This made me wonder, do you think
they would mind if I went shopping in their stores then
took 96 days to pay them? No, I would be arrested before
I got to the pavement outside the shop. So how is it possible
for them to get away with it, it has a knock on effect
throughout business as their suppliers will struggle to
pay their suppliers and so on and so on. This sort of thing
has always gone on and almost certainly continue but it
does n't help small businesses already struggling, I already
know of one small company closing due to this type of practice.
On a happier note the sun is shining and we are getting
lots of free electric, its lovely to go on site and see
the kilowatts increase as the sunshines brighter. It does
make me jealous as I live in a house that faces east to
west and is over shadowed by a lovely oak tree renedering
it useless for solar power. Nevermind, I will have the
consilation of helping other people.
19 June
Energy saving tips for the home
Did you know that 27% of all carbon emissions
are from our homes?
Most of the energy that we use in the home
is for either heating or lighting, so by reducing the amount
wasted we can reduce CO2. Even if you are sceptical about
global warming if you cut your emissions you will also
be cutting your energy bills, so think about it more
as a money saving exercise.
The best way of reducing your energy bills
is by making sure that your house is well insulated. There
is no point in me running on about efficient boilers if
the energy that it produces is gushing out of the roof.
Different types of insulation have different types of thermal
resistance so I won’t quote any depths, but I will
say the more insulation the better. About 12 inches of
fibreglass would be a good start, if you can get more without
compromising your lofts ventilation then all the better.
Cavity walls need to be insulated as well, though this
is a job for the professionals. There are also door and
window strips that can be fitted to stop drafts and heat
escaping.
In my experience older properties are a bigger
challenge as they never have cavities and very often don’t
have lofts, but there are still things that can be done,
mostly with the help of a competent builder.
Insulating your loft could save you £110
a year, insulating your cavity walls could save £90.
There are various grants available so check out the Energy
Saving Trust website www.energysavingtrust.org.uk or call
0800 512 012.
The options available to reduce the energy
used to light your house are compact fluorescent lamps
(CFLs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs). CFLs are
the most commonly used energy efficient light available
and come in all the shapes that you may need. In
fact there are very few bulbs that cannot be replaced by
CFLs. There are also many types of dimmable CFLs available
now. Yes, I know they cost more to buy but they will save
you money in their life time, plus manufacturers are this
year starting to phase out the production of tungsten light
bulbs.
LEDs are not yet up to replacing ordinary
bulbs but they are good or effect lighting and can be used
to change colour of rooms features.
If you would like more information contact
us at info@allthingsgreener.co.uk
14 June
There are so many things that I could put in this
blog that I simply can't for legal reasons and the electricians
client confidentiallity agreement, I have always wondered
why there is not an TV program called "Customers From
Hell" every tradesman has at least one. They are the
ones who call you on a Sunday or take weeks to pay you
but expect you to turn up at their whim or their houses
are a health hazard, some of the things I have seen would
turn the strongest of stomaches (please note that this
is not are reference to the Ecobarn but other jobs and
previous experiences). Then there are the stories
from site that stay on site. It's a laugh or most
of the time it is, it is getting harder as the first industry
to be hit by an economic downturn (recession) is always
the building trade, then suddenly all the builders, electricians
etc who were employed by companies suddenly become self
employed and are desperate for work.
The barn is making steady progress, and by the end of
next week we should have an ideas about the boiler. The
supply is in the shed ready for the borehole pump to be
fitted so we can finally have water from a tap.
07 June
Thursday after 6 days the wind turbine began to turn
again, the most reassuring thing was that though the weather
has been poor in Norfolk the solar panels have generated
enough electric for us to work with out the generator.
I don't think that the new owners will be using a cement
mixer and circular saw for 8 hours a day so I was glad
that the system coped so well with the lack of wind. I
have very nearly finished the first fix wiring now and
hope to start the second fix soon as some of the rooms
are now decorated.
My shop has sprung a leak and we currently have water
leaking in through the roof, so I do hope that it stops
raining soon as the carpet is getting wet, if the leak
wasn't in the door way I would put a water butt under it.
31 May
I spent yesterday onsite trying to finish the first
fix wiring, as it happened I didn't. I seemed to spend
most of the day on the phone organizing, but it has to
be done. There is paint on the walls and all the internal
walls are up so I no longer have any exscuse not to finish
the job. I will have to pull my finger out in
the next few weeks and get on.
21 May
I have had an interesting afternoon trying to teach
year 2 pupils about solar power, thankfully it was sunny.
I took several toys to show them and donated some solar
education kits, they had great fun building them and finding
out which way they worked best. They seemed most impressed
with my pictures of NASA's solar plane and not the barn.
I am having some time away from the barn as there is
little for me to do at the moment, I hope to be there next
week to carry on with the first fix. I have not taken any
pictures recently and know you will all be impresssed with
the transformation over the last few weeks.
The lady from my local council at the green event last
week was less than impresssed with the fact that I
take recycling home from the shop, they are not collecting
recycling from businesses, and business have to pay for
such services on top of business taxes. I personally would
rather have it recycled than going in to landfill so will
continue to take it home until they sort themselves out.
15 May
The barn is steadily turning into a home I will update
my photos soon.
I put the solar thermal panel (not the tubes as it will
not be filled for a while) on the roof yesterday. I have
still to wire the utility and a bedroom, then
the first fix is complete and I will have to wait for the
plasterer. The long job of decorating starts on Monday
when the painter starts, I would hate to have to do all
that cutting in around all the beams.
I am off to Diss today to take part in a green exhibition,
it's our first one and I am looking forward to meeting
some new customers and other green businesses. I also plan
to speak to my local council who claim to be environmentally
aware but won't recycle business waste from my local fire
station. I don't know if they are just awkward or want
to charge businesses for removing recycling but lots of
the local shop keepers take their cardboard home. They
have started a high profile campaign to get shops to stop
using carrier bags, big wow, all the supermarkets got their
names in the paper then carried on using carrier bags,
whilst all the little shops got in paper or material bags
at big expense and gained no publicity, and South Norfolk
are trying to put us out of business by charging for parking
in town (it will soon cost more to park here than in Norwich),
cheers South Norfolk Council you are definately working
for the comunity.
09 May
What a week to have solar panels. The sun is shining
the builders are all getting sun burnt and the solar panels
are working a treat.
I have been busily wiring the extension ready for
plastering. I am so busy that I have got to work there
tomorrow hence I am doing this on a Friday night. Things
a gradually moving on we now know what and where the borehole
pump and filtration plant are going, the underfloor heating
is down in the old part of the barn and the feather edge
is going on. We did think that the local farmer was going
to plough the garden for us this week but I think he has
been busy elsewhere, so the weeds are going from strength
to strength.
03 May
Just opened up the shop and thought whilst its quite
I would fill you in on my week. I have n't been at
the barn to much this week as I have had to get on with
a few other jobs, yesterday whilst working in someones
loft I was shocked to find that they had no insulation
in part of their loft, now come on people. Insulate, insulate,
insulate. I cannot believe that I still crawl around in
lofts with no insulation, though I have recently worked
in a loft with 300mm of insulation and it was a tad
tricky to find a joist to stand on, but with that
much insulation if I had come through the ceiling at least
it would have been a soft landing.
I also finished the pipework for a solar thermal system
that I installed on a roof recently, though this is a plumbers
job it was a doddle using flexiable pipe, now I just need
to wait for the plumber to complete the installation.
The barn will soon start to look better as the feather
edge is being appplied, it will start to look much tidier.
I have been carefully monitoring the systems to make sure
everything is working as it should be, my biggest problem
is making sure we use enough electric on-site even with
the kettle in almost constant use this is proving difficult
on sunny days, so I decided to turn off the solar electric
yesterday and run the site on the wind turbine.
The shop is going well I think it helps that we are
not diehard environmentalists (every little thing that
you do DOES help) and that we are
stocking a few of the fun things as well as the more serious
stuff. I have to say it is great seeing the kids standing
outside watching the solar toys all working in the
afternoon, though the solar powered cricket does get on
my nerves after a while.
Just to prove that every little thing helps why don't
you all walk to the local shops for a week, especially
on a lovely sunny day like today.
26 April
Well it is all up and running. Today was a very interesting
day as we set up all the charge controllers and monitoring
devices and this meant we could see how much electric was
being generated. Even a 7pm on an overcast evening the
PV is generating. The happiest man on site is Gary who
has been told he must use the kettle in order to discharge
the batteries, we have to do this as we do not want them
sitting fully charged, it will be different when someone
is living in the barn but at the minute it's down to Gary & co
to help by drinking coffee. You can't tell from the pictures
but the panels are very thin and very light in weight they
are fixed in to a frame (using anti theft devices so don't
even think about trying to remove them), the frame holds
them above the roof, all the wiring is hidden underneath
the panels. The panels, controls and batteries have all
been made to the specification of the barn and are farily
complicated as we have two incoming supplies (the solar
and the turbine) this all needs to be combined and utilized
to charge the batteries and then converted to useable electric
in the house.
24 April
Well its up and very nearly working, hopefully by 11am
tomorrow we will have it all commissioned and operational.
23 April
Relatively quite day today as we were let down by a
couple of deliveries so no PV yet but the sad techie stuff
inside looks good, the battery installation is completed
and the consumer unit is now connected to the inverter,
though it is not live. Rather alot of disscussing of how
things work and how I think they should work, all very
helpful, and very interesting for me. We have got the very
large armoured cable in ready to connect the wind turbine
to the charge controller. Its a bit exciting. We are though
all in the hands of delivery drivers so it might be a late
one tomorrow. And I finally know how the bore hole and
filtration systems will work and where they are going,
the water is extrated ( the water is only 5m from the surface)
and the iron and other stuff is then filtered through sand,
simple.
22 April
I don't know if a grown man should be excited by solar
photovoltaics but I am, once a technology geek always a
geek.
As you can see the frame is being put on the roof ready
for the panels to be inserted, lots of very complicated
equipment specially made for this job has been fitted inside,
the batteries are linked together ready to start supplying the
barn with electric. I like the inverters and
charge controllers they are designed for our barn and they
look impressive bits of kit, I am beginning to think the
wife is right and I should get out a bit more.
We have had a plumber on site today running in the pipework
for the kitchens and bathrooms so that the floors
can be laid and the oak flooring then laid on top, the
oak flooring and windows are all being treated with
organic linseed oil which gives them a lovely golden
colour.
21 April
Gary and I put the batteries in the battery store today
all 1.5 tonnes, now I have back ache. Tomorrow should be
the start of the micro-generation installation, I think
I might be taking a few pain killers to get through the
day. The underfloor heating installation has started as
well so it's happening at once as usual, every day somebody
new seems to appear to help or install something, apparently
we will soon have a decorator on site as well.
19 April
Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures of late but
I have been busy elsewhere. Next week though I hope to
be able to update every day as we will be fitting the wind
turbine and solar panels. So watch this space!!!!!
11 April
This is a small article that has been included in the
local parish magazine that might be of interest to regular
readers.
It has been quite a dry winter so we can all look forward
to a hose pipe ban in the summer, so why not help by
conserving water and fitting water saving devices. There
are as with most things some easy ways to do this and
some difficult ways.
One of the easiest ways is to fit a water butt, your
roof is a very large catchment area and you would be
surprised at how quick water butts will fill. Once
you have a water butt you can water your garden and wash
your car without fear. If you feel the need to
save large amounts of water you can buy a very large
butt or couple two or three smaller water butts together. Alternatively,
you could get a big hole dug in the garden and bury a
very big tank with a pump and then you will never need
worry about water shortages again. Though rainwater shouldn’t
be drunk it can be used to flush toilets, wash cars,
water the garden and wash clothes so think of the savings.
Other devices available that can help us save water
are products like the ‘water hippo’ which
can be placed in your toilet cistern so you save with
every flush. However, care needs to be taken when
using devices like this in toilets as you do not to cause
double flushing.
You can also get aerating taps and shower heads which
mix air in with the water flow to save water. Of course
some of these things are much easy to fit new rather
than retrospectively so if you are considering a new
bathroom or kitchen then it is worth looking into. Other
ideas include fitting a shower timer so you become more
aware of how long you are taking in the shower, or share
a bath (or the water at least!). It is also
a good idea when buying a new appliance such as a washing
machine to consider the water usage as well as the electrical
energy used. You can reuse household water to water the
garden, though not advisable for edible crops.
Other water saving devices includes the Eco Kettle,
the design of which helps you to save water and energy.So
you don’t have to splash out too much cash to save
water, just get a small water butt to start with and
then you can always join another one to it when you can
afford it.
I have had a busy week on site and off, I have now wired
the kitchen ready for it to be plastered next week and
have run in the last few wires in the main barn. The only
part not yet first fixed is the new extension, this will
be done in the next couple of weeks.
It's not long now until the micro-generation is
installed so we are (Gary at least) getting the battery
room ready, as we are not having a grid connection we will
be storing the energy produced in 12 very large batteries.
Away from the barn I have been catching up with all
the minor jobs that came in whilst I was away on holiday,
everything from faulty pull switches to smoke alarms with
flat batteries.
19 March
A busy day on-site today getting the turbine foundations
finished. It was not a nice day to do it, it was very windy,
with a bit icey rain, which just went to prove that this
is a really good site to have a turbine. I am not on site
for a couple of weeks but come April I will be dedicating
alot of time to getting the barn finished so keep watching.
10 March
I spent a rather windy morning on site finishing the
wiring for the master bedroom. Plastering has begun so
we are in the final stages so as to speak. Tomorrow morning
the guys are digging the foundations for the turbine. Hopefully
the extension will continue as this is the engine room
of the house, it will be where we store the batteries that
will supply the electric and where the inverters will be.
On this roof will be all the solar panels for the electric
and thermal. It seems to all be coming together rather
quickly now. If the pictures are not up to my usual standard
then I will blame it on the gales.
Eco tip of the day - very topical,
fit draft strips to all your doors and windows.
07 March
Spring is in the air. Time to start thinking about the
summer. I am going camping in the summer, probably North
Norfolk.
We start to plaster the Ecobarn next week. Perhaps we
should have lime rendered it but as with everything we
have had to compromise this is to large a project to lime
render. We should also be digging the foundations for the
wind turbine and I should be continuing with the first
fix electrics.
02 March
Things are starting to take shape at the barn with the
interior first fix progressing and the extension
rapidily going up. The new build is the most important
part as it will contain all the controls etc that
will run the house. The newspaper column continues and
we have now put these on our website if you are interested www.allthingsgreener.co.uk and
follow the link to my EDP columns that Ed and I do. I am
really busy with other electrical projects at the minute
so have been a bit lax with the Ecobarn updates, this will
soon change and hopefully I will be on site alot more. This
will mean more photos and info.
04 February
When it was suggested to me by Ed that it would be good
publicity to write a newspaper column, I was sceptical
that anyone would be that interested, when I found out
it would be hidden in the property section of the EDP (circulation
200,000). I thought that at the very least it would be
a chance to meet up with Ed in the pub every fortnight
and have a bit of a laugh. But to my surprise people
do actually appear to be reading it.
I apoloize for any spelling mistakes in my blog but
I cannot get the spellcheck to wok.
02 February
I have not been to the Ecobarn this week, instead I
have started rewiring a house in town. The house dates
from 1550 ish so it's fairly old, it does have one feature
that I have complained about many times before, bloody
low doors. The lowest of which is a staggering 1.27 metres,
that woulndn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that
you actual have to step up to go through it and being
a bloke I struggle to do two things at once. It is a lovely
house and the people make me plenty of tea so I am sure
that I will cope.
Yesterday saw the publication of the second newspaper
column (I unfortunatley don't have a link yet) that Ed
and I have done, much to our disgust we had to give
up half our column space to an article about Phil
Spencer. Never mind apparently there is no such thing
as bad publicity, how ever small and well hidden in the
property section it is.
26 January
The barn continues to progress, I spent yestereday on
site making sure that I hadn't forgotten any wires before
they start covering the walls. Next week the eco
insulation turns up, we used Cellotex outside so we
meet building regs without compromising the buildings integrity,
but on the inside we are using Isonat which is recycled
cotton and hemp. As I personally hate fibreglass and I
look forward to this sort of insulation being used more
often. It's a shame that we couldn't have used it throughout
but it would have meant adding so much to the size of the
building or hiding some of the features, this way we can
better building regs by possible 50-100% in places.
The extension is now well under way this is where the
plant and battery rooms will be so as soon as this is complete
the solar panels can go on and the wind turbine can go
up and we can start generating our own electric. The extension
is being made with a mixture of reclaimed and locally grown
oak and is being put together particularly well by Gary.
I watched some of it being fitted yesterday and it was
brilliant how all the joints fitted, if it was me I can
guarantee you would need huge amounts of glue and filler.
18 January
Today was a interesting day at the barn as John taught
me how to play the saw. I am not quite as accomplished
as him but with a little bit of practice I hope I can soon
play a tune like him.
This week I have started to first fix the main
barn. I do like working in barns but my goodness they were
built to last some of the oak beams are bloody hard and
take some drilling. We are fairly happy with they
way we have designed it, but we are constantly looking
for new ideas. Today we had a meeting with a LED company
they have developed some awesome lamps, they are rather
expensive but in 30 years time it's all that will be
fitted.
14 January
Well I have finally stated to wire the barn. I am wiring
it mainly so that in the event of bad weather the guys
have something to do (plasterboarding) inside. I haven't
got alot done today (sorry Ed) as it took a couple of hours
to decide where things were going, and then I helped(!)
unload some oak for the new extension. There is also alot
of thinking about where to run wires as I prefer not to
drill the oak to much, unlike modern houses there aren't
to many voids to hide things in.
I was informed on Saturday that I have got another rewiring
job in town, this one is a 500 year old house with some
beautiful well preserved features. As I have said before
I don't do new houses. Where's the challenge?
05 January
Happy New Year everybody
It's nice to see that after 60 years of using fluorescent
lighting (or to give it the name I was taught at college low
pressure mercury vapour lighting) that the government has suddenly
read the label and realised that there is mercury in low pressure
mercury lamps (CFLs and the long tubes). Any electrician worth
his pay should know that any fluorescent lamp should be disposed
of correctly, whether they are or not is a different matter.
So why have the Government suddenly come out with a scare story
just as tungsten is being phased out? Conspiracy!!!!! More
likely their rubbish WEE Directive is rubbish because every
company rather than take responsibilty for things pay
the fee to the Government and opt out. If you are worried about
the mercury, don't be it is minimal and when the bulbs expire
take them to the shop you bought them from (quote WEE Directive)
or get on to your local council and ask where they can
be desposed of properly.
There will be pictures of the barn this week as I have a
site visit planned for Wednesday.
19 December
Good day to you all. Sorry for the lack of ecobarn pictures
but I have not been on site for ages and do not want to make
a special trip over there just to take pictures. As I have
no Ecobarn news I thought that you might be interested in
what has sold the best in my new shop:
- The Greenglass
wine glasses.
- Ecover
refills.
- The eco
kettle.
- The Ellie
Poo planters.
- Megaman
lights bulbs.
The Greenglass wine glasses and tumblers have been a real
hit unfortunately even Greenglass seem to have been taken
by surprise so we have n't been able to restock. Never mind
though.
Keep it green.
12 December
I have finally got broadband in the shop so I can sit and
write this in between customers. I forgot my camera again but
I will put a picture on the blog. I also hope to go to the
barn soon to update the photos. I think that it has been busy
on site recently and the windows should be going in very soon.
We are now at that stage where there will be loads of changes
and the barn starts to look like a building again rather than
a horrible skeleton. We are putting some fat on the bones.
06 December
For those of you thinking of opening a shop selling solar
gadgets, check which way your window faces. My shop window
faces north this means that my solar Christmas lights
are charging but I have to run across the street to demonstrate
the different toys. Never mind, people seem to like the idea
of having an electrician in a shop selling lighting it means
that they get good solid advice. I also let them take a sample
bulbs out of my display to try at home, B&Q wouldn't let
you do that now would they.
As a tradesman you know when Christmas is coming as your
phone never stops ringing, can somebody reading this tell me
why you leave it until 4 weeks before Christmas to start projects
that will take 6 weeks but expect everybody to finish it for
you before Christmas. I have a shower and bathroom to
wire next week where the customer has ripped out the old suite
then realised he needs a qualified electrician to wire it all, his
wife seems to hold me responsible because I can't complete
it until next week. I am never ever rude to people but sometimes
people even try my patience, I would like to say contary
to what you might think builders, plumbers, electricians
etc are not sitting at home waiting for you personally to call
them. We all have lives away from work and we have other customers
to help. So when your plumber says that it will be next weeek
before he can get to you just think he might be trying to finish
someone elses bathroom or trying to have a few days with his
kids. So chill out and relax it get done when it gets done.
I hope to soon get details of some dimmerable CFL bulbs
I have found a company that manufactures them in candle shape
bulbs etc. I will put a link on the blog.
04 December
If you are having any electrical work carried out next year
then please have a little consideration for you electrcian.
Next year we have got a new set of wiring regulations to learn,
there are several changes and all these will have to be considered
when carrying out or pricing work next year. The biggest difficulty
at the minute is that until they are published nobody knows
the exact detail. They are published on 1st January (so come
into force then as well) but you can still use the older regulations
until July. I would therefore make yourself aware of the new
regulations if you plan on having any electrical or building
work done next year. This obviously has an effect on the barn
and is something I will have to consider, though we hope to
be finished by July(!!!!!!!!). I will update the blog with
some more wiring regulation detail as soon as I can.
01 December
It was the allthingsgreener shop opening yesterday. Everything
went very well though I have to admit to being somewhat surprised
by peoples interest in our shop. We have had enquiries about
nearly everything that we are selling and lots of people have
ask my advice about lighting which I found very refreshing.
There will always be those who just refuse to change but we
would all still live in caves and eat raw meat if someone hadn't
been inspired and fancied taking a cart ride to his mates BBQ.
I still say the best way to get people to cut CO2 emmissions
is to advertise the savings and make that the selling point,
by telling people you have got to do this and that you will
only alienate those who refuse to change.
I am hoping that we get some nice weather soon so that my
solar Christmas lights can get a good charge and I have the
delight of Christmas shopping tomorrow.
An eco tip: Turn off lights when you leave
the room. Sizewell C will be about 30 miles from my front door,
I know it makes the sea around it nice and warm but thats not
the point.
29 November
I have spent the day at the cottage with the low doors.
I managed to last 3 hours before I smacked my head on the kitchen
doorway. By the afternoon I was on the Neurofen not a
good day.
The shop opens officially in town tomorrow, I will be down
there tomorrow morning at about 7ish to get our sign up
above the door. We are still with out a lease though this is
only a problem to our landlords solicitor, who seems to be trying
to justify her self (and her fee) by bombarding us with letters.
Our landlord is just happy to have a paying tenant in his premises.
It all adds to the excitement of starting the new business.
An eco tip: It is something that we
will be doing in our new shop (I have no shame) and the tip
is to find a shop that does washing liquid, fabric softener,
laundry liquid etc refils, check out the Ecover
site. This way your bottle will get used loads of times
before it gets squashed and shipped of to the other side of
the world.
27 November
Just back from taking the new pictures and the barn is starting
to look fantastic. The next big thing will be when the feather
edge gets put on, then the barn will really start to look grand
once again. The roof looks so much better with no green tarpualin
and now the ridge is on it even looks straight. The first Eco
product gets used today and I have to admit to being slightly
nervous as I supplied it from my new
business, its Auro environmental
wood stain. It looks good stuff and I used the paint and
liked that, though I have to admit the best thing is the smell
or lack of smell. It is made from natural oils and ingredients
so the paints smell lovely and because it has no chemical binding
or drying agents it lets houses breathe. You can see why
barns are a popular choice to live in when you look at the
detail in the beams and roof, in most houses this age the beams
wood have been covered up by ceilings and plastered over. But
because we have to strip the building back to its timber frame
we can uncover some real quality craftmenship for all to see.
I will be have a unofficial opening of the shop tomorrow
to see if I can work the till and get things ready for the
official opening which will be when the Christmas lights get
turned on this Friday.
22 November
The wife and I should be in our new eco shop setting
up this weekend. The legal profession (not my solicitor who
has been brilliant) have done their best to scupper my plans
to have a good Christmas trade. Even I might struggle to sell
solar powered Christmas lights at Easter. All I have left to
order is some Eco kettles and a bigger range of compact fluorescent
lamps, at present I have a limited stock and I know the lady
down the road wants some candle shaped CFLs so I better get
on to that tomorrow.
21 November
Things are moving on with the barn most of the roof is now
back on. the insulation is on the walls (well above building
regulations) which are also felted and battened ready
for the feather edge finish. Some of the floor structure is
fitted inside. The footings are now in for the extension. I
am very proud to say that I the site electrician had a small
hand in all these things. Yes, I have been on site for the
last couple of weeks helping (???) out with some of
thes jobs. Because of this my arms have ached to much for me
to even think about typing this blog. All the foundations have
been mixed on site using the crushed concrete from the old
farm buildings, I take my hat off to Harry who has mixed them
all, mixing up with him was the hardest I have ever worked.
Ed he deserves a bonus. I liked fitting the tiles on the roof
because there is a lovely view and that was something completely
different from my day job.
I am also in the process of setting up a small shop selling
some of the things I have found whilst helping to plan the
barn. I have also found some really cool gadgets that I hope
might inspire a few more people to go solar.
29 October
I am back from a short break with my family in the
north. I spent a rather drab day watching Norwich City lose
to Burnley (Norwich losing is all to common these days). I
then spent three days in Yorkshire. I have to say that I was
very pleased to see alot of solar powered street lights and
signs beside the road. Yes it is sad that I was in a beautiful
part of the country and I noticed that but there you go.
I am currently starting a new business supplying some
of the things I ramble on about. I will be internet based
and I should have a small shop giving advice and
selling many evironmental products. I will be trying to make Norfolk
even greener than it already is. allthingsgreener
An eco tip. Shop locally. If you don't
the world will soon be run by huge multinationals with no local
interest. Use it or lose it.
22 October
The barn is coming along as you can see from the photos.
It is strange standing in the lounge area now there is finally
a roof on, it seems to have made the room bigger. The windows
are being measured this week and the timber is on site ready
for the floors (just in case it gets really wet again). I know
things are getting on as the discussions are about such things
as alarms and home entertainment systems. So it won't be long
before I start throwing the wires around.
11 October
I have had the privilage of working on site this week. I
have been getting the new site hut ready for our new generator
(the generator will run on bio-diesel). Its starting to look
more like a proper building site now, the rain has meant that
the mud is now ankle deep.
An eco tip. Only use timber that is FSC certified
and look for the FSC logo on other wood products and furniture.
09 October
Sorry for the name change but I have been asked to change
the name for reasons I will keep to myself for now.
01 October - "1st October"
I will actually
be working on site this week. We are finally taking delivery of our
new site office/tearoom, the old wooden shed that we have been using
is not ideal so having this will be a luxury. I have the task of
connecting up all the services and making sure everything is in working
order. So I will update the photos soon.
An eco tip. If you are giving
wind turbines serious consideration then go to the DBRR site to find
out the wind speed for where you live. Any speed above 5 m/s and
you should be okay. It will mean you can work out your annually output
and possible pay back time.
29 September - Rain stops play
Unfortunately work has slowed to a
standstill at the eco barn due to the fact that we have had rather
alot of weather this week. I went to have a look yesterday and it
was miserable weather and due to the fact we have got the roof off
there is no work in the dry to do, this meant everyone had to find
alternative jobs elsewhere in the dry. I didn't hang around bieng
an electrician I don't do rain and mud.
20 September - More Eco builds.
As if one ecological project isn't
enough for one electrician I am about to start on another one. This
one will prove that you can be ecological whatever the scale of your
project. It is a two bedroom flat above some shops in town, it is
a large flat but its a flat none the less. The lighting will be high
spec energy efficient, there is solar thermal, and recycled newspaper
insulation. It will be interesting to see how ecologcal we can go
with this project. We once again have the problem that we are working
with a listed building and this one is in a conservation area. I
will try to keep you up to date with this and see what details my
customer will allow me to disclose.
I continue to spend hours on
the phone or online trying to sort various things. It was interesting
to hear my customer today complaining about the lack of customer
care he has recieved from some companies. At least it isn't just
me. I get so fed up with people promising to do things and then letting
you down. Some companies have kept us waiting four months for estimates,
when I have chased them they then promise to get it done, they then
fail to do it again. Some companies just will not respond at all
to my questions and one company after three months has suddenly informed
me they are to busy to help, why couldn't they have saved us all
time by saying this at the begining. On a slightly different note
I have been trying to make some wooden capping to hide wires in the
old cottage I am rewiring. Plastic trunking looks awful in an old
building, so I have borrowed a router and have set up a little carpentry
workshop in my garage. I think it looks good, I am going see what
it looks like fitted next week. If it looks good I might even take
a picture of it.
12 September - Been busy.
I have been rather busy of late on
other jobs. Unfortunatley working on the Eco Barn isn't a full time
job at the moment (for me at least), this is because at this stage
it is all about making the barn structurally sound. It won't be long
before we have it water tight and I can get stuck in. I am spending
a lot of time on the phone and in meetings sorting things out. This
week I have met with JCC; a lighting manufactuer who will be helping
us with the lights for the barn. Lighting a barn is very difficult,
it is always best to get as much natural light into a house as possible
and with barns you inevitably will not be allowed many windows. This
makes chosing the right lighting plan all the more important, most
of the big manufacturers will offer a design service so I would recommend
utilising this service. As I have said before I work in alot of old
buildings my latest challenge should have come with a health warning
though. I have banged my head so many times on the low beams or ridiculously
low door ways. I have on more than one occasion put myself on my
backside and its begining to really hurt. Were people really that
short? Anyway, its a beautiful timber framed clay lump building with
some lovely original features such as an old oven and beautiful floors.
It is proving a real challenge hiding wires and incorporating all
the various regulations. Things are moving on with the Eco Barn and
I will let you now of some big developments soon. I am off for a
lay down now.
05 September - Building Regulation -Part L
The
conservation of fuel and power, I think this is one of the most
important building regulations, as do the government who have
recently updated it. This regulation concerns the prevention
of heat gain and loss, and the consumption of energy. It is very
dificult to say how much insulation you should put in as each
material has a different thermal value. All work will have to
meet the new requirments, so check out the requirements for you
insulation with builing control. Then put in even more. The part
that concerns me most in my capacity is conservation of energy,
this is in a nutshell the fitting of energy efficient lighting.
Light fittings should only take lamps with a luminous effiency
greater than 40 lumens per circuit watt, which means that you
must use fittings that will only except compact fluorescent lamps
(CFLs) or light emmiting diodes (LEDs) So ES or bayonet CFLs
are not acceptable, though if you really can't find a light you
like with CFLs try and compromise with building control. There
are more and more light fittings coming on the market that only
take CFLs, some can even be dimmed. I have got CFL downlighters
in my kitchen and I love them, and the best bit is they use 20%
of the electric halogens do. So if your electrician tells you
he has got to fit CFLs in 30% of all the lights (hiding them
in cupboards is not acceptable) in the new extension/ new house/
rewired house you can impress him and say " that must be Building Regulation
Part L". You could of cause really impress him with your
green credentials by insisting on 100% energy efficient lighting,
it will pay in the long run.
31 August - Some of my favourite buildings.
After
my recent moan about uninteresting buildings I spotted an advert
for a building soon to be built in London called the Strata,
I think it looks brilliant. This got me thinking about what makes
a inspirational building, is it scale, design, location, what
gives something that wow factor? I think it is different for
every person. So I came up with a list of buildings I have visited
that made me say wow, remeber these are buildings I have been
in or to see, not buildings I have seen on television or in a
book. I am one of those people who has to find out how things
work and why they work, so for me there is no real alternative
to having a look about.
- The
Gerkin, 30 St. Mary Axe, London, England.
- The San
Siro, Milan, Italy.
- Kiyomizu-dera Temple,
Kyoto, Japan.
- The
Royal Pavillion, Brighton, England.
- St.
Pauls Cathedral, London, England.
- The
Casino, Monte Carlo, Monaco.
- Edo
Tokyo Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
- Tate
Modern, London, England.
- Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy.
- The
Forum, Norwich, England.
The list
could go on, but these are my ten favourite buildings that I
have visited.
29 August - Building Regulation - Part P Did you know that
your electrician and your plumber are expected to know
building regulations but your builder is not, this is something
that I always find rather odd and frustrating. The amount of
times I have to help out builders or point out the possible problems,
they seem to rely on building control officers or architects(
I have found some architect aren't much better) to tell them
their requirements. Anyway onto my favourite Building Regulation,
Part P. Heard of it, well you should have as it concerns all
electrical work carried out in the home. I quote " reasonable
provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical
installations in order to protect persons operating, maintaining
or altering the installations from fire or injury". Basically
nearly all electrical work carried out must be done by an electrician
registered with one of the domestic installer schemes, such as
the NICEIC. There are still a few jobs that the keen DIYer can
do, if you are unsure then contact your local building control
officer or better still find a good electrician (we are out there),
it is the safest thing to do.
24 August
As you can see from the photos that I have taken today things are progressing, things are starting to be put back! Things are progressing off site as well, with us finally getting quotes from suppliers, and trust me when I say that having never had to do this sort of thing I have found this really tiresome. When you say you will call back, please call me back. Looking at the barn today made me want to start on the electrics, but it will still be several months before I finally get to actually do some physical work on the barn.
Some of you might be questioning the use of Kingspan insulation, it is something we struggled with ourselves. It isn't very ecologically sound due to the chemicals and energy used in its production, but it is a good insulator for the thickness. This means that we can maintain the characteristics of the building, and the bonus is we can meet Building Regulations and exceed them by adding more insulation. We will, where possible, use eco friendly insulation such as recycled newspaper or lambs wool.
You may also have noticed a rather large pile of crushed concrete in my pictures, this is from the old pig pens. This will be reused throughout the build and some is already forming part of the kitchen floor.
20 August - I have been on holiday
Sorry for no updates lately
but I have been on holiday, I have been camping, no not at Heathrow,
but in Sussex. I am rather anti-protesting I always find it rather
negative, it would be better if the protestors did something
positive, how about if they went through all the bins at Heathrow
to sort out what can be recycled, or changing light bulbs. I
fly and will continue to do so, I don't fly anywhere as much
as I used too, but that is my personal decision and not one forced
on me. I also feel some guilt in that my one flight a year is
to visit family in Japan, it is rather a lagre CO2 contributor,
and I haven't offset yet but I am looking into some of the schemes
to see if they are really worth while, so watch this space. I
do think that it would be better to spend billions on rail links
in this country rather than expanding airports and road links,
but the bottom line is that while using the railways are so expensive
people will use other options, be they planes or their cars.
It will take a strong politician to actual take action on climate
change and to make unpopular decisions, I will state now that
we will not meet any target that is set for reducing CO2, any
target met will be a fudge and will have been done by offsetting
which is just hiding the problem.
If we are serious about reducing
CO2 produced from energy production then we need to follow the
Germans, as they seem to have got renewable energy production
sorted, it is their fasted growing industry. The government here
seems to covering everyone in very sticky red tape, whilst protecting
the big energy companies, there needs to be a rethink before
we all pay the cost. We need to bring in tarrifs like they have
in Germany, if we were to scrap the over complicated and awful
grant system and replace it with a better buy back price for
electric generated by microgeneration, this would mean the pay
back time of equipment would be reduced and more people would
invest and hopefully it would take off. It is a simple and proven
solution but as with everything it will never get done, though
I would love to be proven wrong. I hope to get some new photos
on line this week as things are changing on site.
30 July - I need you to recycle glass
Next time you throw your glass
into the recycling bin you might being adding your own touch to the
eco barn, the reason is that we are hoping to use recycled glass
worktops. They are made from 85% reccled glass and the rest is a
resin which holds them together, I think that they are brilliant
because no bit will be they same and you can choose what colours
go into it, so it is very individual to your kitchen. Glass worktops
seem to be replacing granite in he high end kitchens, my hope is
that with green being the new black more people will think about
products made from recycled materials. When you do fit that new bathroom
what about recycled glass tiles, you can even get paving slabs made
from recycled glass.
I know that these things can be costly and they
are not to everyones tastes but its worth thinking about, after all
it doesn't cost anything to look. If you are having any work done
you could also try and sort out having any of the waste recycled,
at the barn it has proved more cost effective to crush the old concrete
than to buy crushed concrete, the farmer up the road has taken the
old tin roofing to use again, and we are going to make composters
out of any pallets we get.
25 July - I've been busy
I've been rather busy of late finishing
jobs before the school holidays, as I am self employed I will be
taking care of my little boy for the next 6 weeks. For this reason
I wanted to catch up with all my jobs so that I won't have to much
to do during the school holidays, and that way we can have a bit
of fun whilst he is on holiday. It didn't start very well, as on
Monday he had to sit in my pick-up for 2 hours while I had another
site meeting at the barn. Things are moving along steadily now, most
of the concrete and blocks from the old pig pens has been crushed
and is being re-used on site. In the words of Bob the Builder 'reduce,
re-use, recycle'. I have also been spending my time producing some
eco tips for a web site run by Ed, so if you want any eco tips then
you can see them at Barn Masters, I think I could have come up with
more so perhaps I will post some more on this page and on his site
soon. Looking at the Barn Masters website got me thinking of some
of the buildings I have worked in, I have in the past worked in everything
from Grade 1 listed buildings to mobile homes, but in the seven and
a half years I have worked for myself I have only wired one new build
house. All the work that I have carried out has either been extensions
to existing buildings, or rewiring and renovating older properties.
I always used to like new builds as they were easy and there were
no surprises, but as I get older I want the challenge and I now appreciate
the buildings and the workmanship that went into and is going into
them. It seems a shame that developers don't seem able to think outside
of the boxes they build, you could take a house built by them in
Manchester and it will be the exactly same as one built in Lowestoft.
We have some of the leading architects in the world, but seem to
build some of the most boring houses any where. It's about time some
of the new energy technologies were built into all homes and not
just an optional extra, more glass to make homes lighter, rain water
harvesting a standard, super insulated homes, these are all things
that are readily available at the moment. The technology and knowledge
is out there so lets use it.
12 July - Customer service.
I pride myself as a small business on the
service that I offer, I always turn up when I say I will and i always
return phone calls, providing people leave me their number, its surprising
how many people forget this after leaving a message. I am getting
fed up with companies not replying to my emails or calling back,
I think that a list should be started of the worst offenders. We
have made a decision to not use companies like this as I am spend
to much time chasing people who obviously do not want the business.
Yesterday I met the man who will supply the barns rainwater harvesting
system ( and sewage treatment plant ), he was a pleasure to meet
he was 10 minutes early and nothing was to much trouble, plus he
was also a Norwich City supporter. So whilst there are some poor
businesses, there is also some very good ones, you just have to look
for them and keep them secret.
13 June - The BBC come and do some filming.
Quote The BBC come and do some filming. Although we have been planning the barn
for a couple of months today was the first day I realized what a task we have
on our hands, and how I could look a fool. Today the BBC came and started to
film a diary of the project, as I have been sorting out lots of the ecological
things on the barn it will be me that looks a twit if it fails.
To design a house that is not connected to any public utilities is not to big
a task, but this is a four bedroom luxury barn conversion, not a little cottage
in the mountains of Wales. I am the electrician and was given the task of sorting
out wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, solar hotwater systems and a zero
carbon heating system simply because I am the only person on site who knows what
a kilowatt hour is. It has been an interesting challenge and we hope to prove
that it is possible to meet the challenge of global warming without giving up
all the luxuries of moden life, and to show how we could all do somethingto help
the enviroment in hich we live in.
For instance if we all had some form of micro generation built into our homes
there would be no need to build any new nuclear power plants, we could all have
solar panels, wind urbines or a combined heat and power boiler in our houses
and contribute to the national grid. There are ways to produce energy for local
communities this would cut down on the huge loses caused through the distribution
and production of electricity.
|
|
|
|
BarnMasters | Swan Yard | 70 King Street | Norwich | Norfolk | NR1 1PG
