Sallygardens Smallholding

Define Sustainable Building

I'm in a bit of a quandary. Since moving into our Irish farmhouse two years ago we have renovated it slowly and now we are at a crucial stage of decision making. Living sustainably is something we try our best to do in all aspects of life.  Its all very well knowing the buzzwords but there's still a lot of ambiguity when it comes to applying those definitions to the reality of everyday situations.

We want to build an extension. Or at least I think we do. It all began with the simple and innocent thought that we'd love to have a sun room or conservatory to sit in during sunny days, even in winter. We began to think about how we could apply sustainable principles to this new venture ... perhaps we could use passive solar gain from a sun room to heat the rest of the house? With this initial thought we had unwittingly opened up a pandoras box. Do we go down the architect route and get something really very special in appearance, high tech in energy efficiency performance which would reduce our lifetimes energy consumption and score high on Irelands new Building Energy Rating scheme. The architect could solve some basic household problems while we're at it by designing something that would give us a bathroom upstairs and a toilet downstairs ... at present there is only a single bathroom/toilet which is downstairs. This plan is very attractive yet extremely expensive coming in at around €100,000 and involving the upheaval of probably the best part of a year in a mobile home on site while the work is being carried out, plus the sale of my late mothers house to fund the project.

But there is another approach to building sustainably. Why spend such a huge amount of money to get a toilet upstairs? Is it worth the investment just to avoid a trip downstairs to the toilet at night every so often, is it ridiculous to even consider such a payout? But its not just the toilet, there's the sun room. Couldn't we build a little sun room ourselves for a tenth of the cost? Would using  natural local materials be a far more efficient approach, efficient in terms of production and transport of the materials, but then again not so good in terms of long term fuel savings? That is the million dollar question. Its a question that Peter Cowman of the Living Architecture Centre asked himself and now offers solutions to those who wish to design and build their own living space, mortgage free, with local materials. Funnily enough, he lives just down the road from us.

 

The quandary ... high tech high spec heat insulating materials that have high energy costs in their production or lower efficiency local eco friendly materials on a small scale. Perhaps the pros and cons of each individual project need to be considered.  What do you think?

Biofuel & Basketweaving Willow

We spent a very sunny afternoon planting 1,500 willow whips in the far corner of our field. Rather than just putting an evenly spaced square plot we designed it with a very aesthetically satisfying organic curvy edge ... after all, it will be part of the view from our bedroom window. Then we thought, 'lets make this a fun place to walk and play as well as a fuel and basket making resource' .... so we laid out three twisty footpaths that lead to a central circular grassy clearing just the right size for a family picnic, or a secret quiet retreat.

As well as the fast growing species of willow which is ideal for multi fuel burning to heat our home, we have also  planted among the copse  a couple of hundred brightly coloured species perfect for basket weaving.

Some are a blast of sunshine yellow, others a fire blaze of oranges, we have earthy peaty chocolate browns and rich ruby reds. Now all I need to do is to learn how to make a basket!

In a month or two the willow will begin to sprout into leaf, making our design easier to see on the ground. It will be 4 or 5 years care before they are ready to begin harvesting for firewood, but much sooner for taking whips to make baskets and willow sculptures. Our friend Brenda will be running a course this year on how to make a living willow sculpture, you can have a look at the one she made for us last December here.

Biofuel Willow

I have completed, or at least started, one of the things on my New Years list! A sunny gap in the weather coupled with enthusiastic children, and a willing husband, all resulted in 40 willow cuttings being planted up for our biofuel crop. The sawdust from the pile of log cuttings in our yard, that has angered me by finding its way into every corner of my home on the soles of our shoes, actually came in handy. I shovelled a few wheelbarrow loads over to the field to use as a mulch, to help suppress the weeds around the saplings, giving them a head start.

We 'planted' (poked them a few inches into the ground, buds facing upwards!) each willow cutting about 1 1/2 foot apart, then the girls stomped down the mulch.

Empty wheelbarrow, only one true purpose in life for that ...

Solar Panels

Five months ago we invested in solar panels. We knew we wanted to do this for both the environment and our pockets. Although it’s a technology we knew the basics about there was a lot to learn, and so the decision to go ahead was a little scary! Dan embarked on a relentless mission of discovery. His first port of call was the Sustainable Energy Ireland website for a list of solar panel suppliers and an application form for our grant.

Having a degree in Physics was an enormous help, assisting Dan to cut through the general sales pitch and dig down to the nitty gritty of best performance and value for money options. Once Dan was happy he had connected with a competent fitter we went to see one of his installations, and arrived on the doorstep unannounced! The family were delighted with their panels performance, but also with the workmanship and follow up so we excitedly launched ourselves into the next phase!

It took a day and a half for the panels to go up on our roof. The house was left in immaculate condition, they actually cleared up after themselves! Teething problems meant they had to return a couple of times but they always came within a day or two, and bang on time.

Since then we have not had the oil on for about an hour in total. The summer months we had a piping hot 300L tank full of water every day. A regular household tank is normally roughly 60L (hubby informs me). Once it became cold enough to light the fire, our hot water was heated by our back boiler and topped up by winter sunshine. The insulated tank water hasn’t dropped below 20C, even on the coldest days. We burn Dans timber waste from his workshop and also buy in a little sawmill timber waste for burning too.

Later this month we plan to plant up a third of an acre with willow to coppice on rotation, which should mean we produce our own wood fuel within five years. We are practically oil free and in that respect we are saving a lot of money. We are also saving in ways I hadn’t anticipated … there is no need to boil a kettle for washing up, there is no need to use an emersion heater as theres always hot water to wash my hair, and its bliss to have hot water for washing hands and face on winter mornings. The laundry is also a money saver as there is always hot water in the tank, therefore the washing machine is not heating water itself. Ditto with the dishwasher. We are saving an alarming amount by not having an electric shower, yet I can have a deep hot bath or long shower whenever I want.

At first I wondered if the panels would ruin the appearance of our old farmhouse roof, but infact they are not visible from the front of the house, only the side. Even so, I don’t notice them, and interestingly, neither do visitors until I point them out! Then ensues a long conversation about solar panels generally followed by a household tour of water tanks, pipes and switches of which we are very proud! Taking a long hot bath has never been so easy on the conscience, or the pocket.

Wall Insulation ... Temperatures Rising

This week our Irish farmhouse is in DIY turmoil. Living in a house that requires ongoing renovations in between our normal working lives while rearing two small children is no easy task. Every so often we launch into the next job on a long evolving list, knowing that for the couple of weeks it takes to do the job, family life and home will be in turmoil and covered with a thick coating of dust.

The task in hand is to insulate the walls upstairs. Cue the arrival of a most obliging and helpful Father-in-Law. Yes I do seem to have more than my fair share of wonderful In-Laws, don’t I!

Our house is built from cut stone. In winter the stone loses its heat, especially at the external corners where the wind whips around the edges. The resulting internal cool walls then become coated in condensation at night. This provides the perfect conditions for the growth of a sinister looking black mould. We can cure this by either refraining from breathing at night, or by insulating. We chose the latter, thus temperatures won’t drop low enough to cause condensation on the walls anymore. We did a lot of research into hemp-lime plasters which did look like a great insulation option. In the end our one week tight time constraint dictated we use dry lining cosy board instead. Eco options are not always feasible. First, it takes quite a bit of research to source what your after. Try and find a one stop shop like Ecoshop or Sustainable Ireland with many of the options under one roof. Then it takes a good while to digest all the information you receive and mull over which options suit your house, budget and time constraints. We always try to meet and talk to people who have been living with the various options, and in doing so have met some fantastic characters and made new like minded friends. At first I found it very difficult to abandon some of the eco-options, but unless you are time rich and cash rich, many of these solutions just seem to creep beyond reach. I have come to accept that we can only do what we can, and as long as we have done our research on all the options, favouring the eco options whenever possible, then we are on the right road. I have sought to ease my feelings of guilt about not going for hemp-lime plaster insulation with the fact that we installed solar panels a couple of months ago!