MY GREEN PROJECT

[kellys_eye]

This thread should be for comments on green projects that you have completed yourself and offer pro's, con's and, where applicable, pricing information for others to refer to.

[coofercat]

I insulated our loft (a lot). I've posted about this before, but when we moved in, there was fibreglass insulation between the joists, and some laid across the joists, but most of that had been squashed down by our predecessors storing boxes up there.

I started out buying some 2x4 from the local timber merchant (Acre Lane Timber, Brixton, London) which was much cheaper, and came in longer lengths, and had a far friendlier cutting service than the local B&Qs/Homebases. I laid this 2x4 across the joists where I wanted to board down. I just used some nails diagonally into the 2x4 and joists to hold them in place.

Where possible, I recycled the old fibreglass insulation, and put it between my bits of 2x4. I then put some old shelves, doors and a few other random bits of sheet wood on top on my 2x4 (again, just nailed down). I've now got a few paths and "islands" of boarded surface around the loft - very handy for the incredible amount of crap we have up there.

Next, I went to B&Q and Homebase and bought some Earthwool (it's a grey coloured, carbon neutral version of the fibreglass loft insulation). At the time it was about £5-£10 for a massive roll due to government subsidies (not so easily available at your local trade store, by the way). I probably spent about £50 in total, and then laid out loads of that over the top of the joists in the loft. I got the depth (from ceiling below the joists to top of insulation) to be about 280mm (although in a lot of places, it's deeper than that). I also ensured that any of the old insulation was doubled up to be at least as deep.

The insulating part of this work took me about a day. The boarding work took much longer, mostly because I was shuffling boxes and stuff around on the boarding as I was working. I'd recommend an empty loft, but if that's not possible, then try and tidy up as much as you can before you start!

Since I store stuff up in the loft, I wanted to keep the temperature of the loft down in summer and up in winter. Once you've got the normal insulation down, the loft can easily get to 40C in the summer, and 0C or less in winter. Another few quid buys rolls of silver, quilted insulation (again, from B&Q/Homebase). It's really easy to work with - you just staple it onto the roof rafters. You have to leave a big gap at the top and bottom (for building regulations), in my case, the gap at the bottom is about 2 feet (because I didn't want to climb about too much) and about 150mm at the top. Putting this stuff up makes the loft lighter (because whatever light you have reflects around), Most of all, it keeps the temperature down on the hottest summer days by 5-10C and keeps the temperature up in winter by about 5C.

By far the best thing to do is the regular fluffy loft insulation - that made a massive difference to the comfort of out flat, and has reduced our need to heat the flat. It's also kept the place cooler in summer. The rest is optional, and helps us, but not necessary for everyone. Given how cheap insulation is these days, it's more than paid for itself by now.

[handyman]

Got cavity wall insulation put in late 2009 (£100) and after more than 1 year our direct debit for gas has went from £39 pm to £30pm (its still too much, and I think it may go down again). Under 1 year to pay off

[charelluk]

I have just bought an ebook from one of those review sites telling me how to get electricity for my house from wind n solar power. It looks really easy to follow so I'm gonna give it a go! Hope it all goes well. Will let you know if it does!


Link removed by admin (possible spam)

[DIY_Tipster]

sounds like a good job you have done there COOFERCAT sounds like you took your time and now have a great space to store things both in the Summer and Winter.

[mrgreen]

Before you go opening up your wallet, there are loads of energy saving measures you can get for free using government schemes like ECO funding - most commonly loft and cavity insulation, in some cases solid wall insulation as well. There's also the green deal, which doesn't get you stuff for free but helps with the cost.

Check what you can get for free here -Link removed. Mod 2. (Big fat disclaimer - i work for this company!)

[moderator2]

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[thescruff]

Before you go opening up your wallet, there are loads of energy saving measures you can get for free using government schemes like ECO funding - most commonly loft and cavity insulation, in some cases solid wall insulation as well. There's also the green deal, which doesn't get you stuff for free but helps with the cost.

Check what you can get for free here -Link removed. Mod 2. (Big fat disclaimer - i work for this company!)

You do realise it's our money you are giving away and making a big profit at the same time.

gov.con steal the money in stealth taxes from the working class, then dish it out in money making rackets under the heading Green, renewable, etc.

[Lana]

followed my house renovation to adapt it to the needs of my disabled mother, I have bid farewell to my storage heaters and replaced them with the economy radiators.
the background: house is all electric only, no options for gas. used to have two storage monsters ( 3.4 and 2.5 kw) and had to add few mobile heaters her and there as the heating wasn't effective enough, particularly in the evenings when needed the most. used to have economy7 tariff and "surprise!" more then 70% of my electricity was consumed during the night, "coincidentally" so when the storage heaters were charging.
read a lot about replacement options and despite of sceptical reviews went with economy radiators.
Results:
each room gets heated to the temperature set at the programmed time period. (for example, my bedroom kept at lower 16C day time, then heated to 19C for an hour before me going to bed and for an hour in the morning, the living room has different schedule and so on). the timers and temperature sensors seems to work very precise (had an independent temperature sensor to double check the heater's readings and they were both the same)
I have noticed the different "sense" of the heat, no more too hot in the morning when the storage charged fully and no more chill in the evening when most of the heat stored has gone.
I have noticed how my night electrical consumption dropped to the almost non existence, which might be more reflective of our lifestyle that we don't tend to wander around switching various electricals all the smae time at night
I have gone off the economy7 tariff and despite of everyone trying to convince me this was the cheapest way to heat the house, my electric bills didn't increase a single bit, in fact, while the electricity costs were raised this season, my bills remained within the same figures as last year's. this is also with the added heaters/per additional rooms. (I have now 5 radiators various capacity)
I consider the change a success. Besides the increased comfort, fully controlled radiators are very neat, esthetically pleasing and take a lot less space compare to the storage heaters. they are also plug-and-go things, so can be bought and installed by yourself, no problem.
price-wise they are not particular cheap, but when I did my comparison tables, I discovered that for similar capacity storage heaters I would have to pay the same. I have chosen economy radiators because they are more flexible to my requirements for heating. so far, one winter's gone, no regrets.
I used haverland radiators. and a little "topping" - got one remote control (works with any of them) and truly enjoyed those moments back in the winter time when I could just test the room temperature with one foot out of the blanket and if it felt chilly, raise the temperature by a simple click - one degree up in two minutes for the master bedroom size room - purrrfect!
If anyone is interested in more details or have questions - message me, I've done so much of research on this topic, I hope I can help.
Lana

[reganathome]

Nice one Lana sounds like all that work is paying off, just goes to show what you can achieve with enough research.

[bmbtimberwindows]

I haven't got any Green project till now.

[Bikergirl]

On e of our ex neighbours comes and flat and cat sits for us if we're away, and she asked why we had the immersion heater on economy 7 when we have an electric shower. Since then, we turn it on for 15 mins in the morning to give us enough to have a morning wash and wash up the breakfast things, then another 15 mins in the evening to wash up after dinner.

Our energy bills have gone down by about a third. Sometimes, just thinking about what you have and how you use it can be as much of an energy saver as installing something new.

[Razor]

On e of our ex neighbours comes and flat and cat sits for us if we're away, and she asked why we had the immersion heater on economy 7 when we have an electric shower. Since then, we turn it on for 15 mins in the morning to give us enough to have a morning wash and wash up the breakfast things, then another 15 mins in the evening to wash up after dinner.

Our energy bills have gone down by about a third. Sometimes, just thinking about what you have and how you use it can be as much of an energy saver as installing something new.

Totally agree. Most people that have new boilers would save more just by fitting proper controls - then when they really have to change the boiler they already have the new controls


BTW don't tell anyone it's a gas person secret shhhhhh

[steviejoiner74]

I turned the heating stat down to 18 degrees and had cavity wall insulation done which was only 100 quid. Both measures save me around 15 quid a month on my gas bill.