UKC

Got the plans, the land is sorted but............

Questions for the UKC intelligentia.

How long would it take to build?
How much would an eco house cost to build?
Are there grants to help build it?

I know these questions are open to vagueness but has anyone built an eco friendly home?

Glyn

In reply to Glyn Jones:

Straw bale house?

In reply to Glyn Jones: YOu decided against the Herne Bay pet hotel then?

In reply to ranger*goy: Underground

In reply to woolsack: It stank!

In reply to Glyn Jones: i would suggest if you're serious about building an eco-friendly house then you should consider employing an enviornmental design consultant/consultancy. There are a lot of eco/enviornmentally products & construction methods out there. The bulk of which offer negligible gains in most uses or are unsuitable to most applications. The thing an effective consultant will do is point you in the direction of what is most suitable to your requirements. Whether that be sollar panels, ground source heat pumps, biomass boilers or plain old decent double glazing. Another thing is to not get sucked in by the hype as the most effective things in building an "eco friendly" house really come down to good quality construction & materials. Having an airtight house with decent double or triple glazing will significantly more enviornmentally effecient than a regularly built house with a ground source heat pump, wind mill & sollar panels will ever be.

F4S former building services consultant who dealt with some of this stuff in the past.

In reply to Glyn Jones: I reckon if you really did your homework and got all materials imported and a good architect you could do it for half to 2/3 the price of a normal build.

In reply to Glyn Jones: Good guess on the town then!

In reply to Glyn Jones:


made of straw and sticks, space-frame and modern Hi-tech off the shelf materials?
building yourself? managing the build? can afford a large team of builders and a manager?

'eco house'. there are many interpretations.
a stick hut in the woods with no electricity is pretty eco friendly if the fuel is correctly coppiced willow for example.
the other end of the scale is a modern very well insulated house where everything is efficient.


? i think there are more grants for improving existing poor properties, but honestly i've not looked that closely.


no. i'm renovating an old french farmhouse. i'm making it reasonably well insulated, though since it consists of aluminium and plastic multilayer materials i'm sure that's not very environmentally friendly to produce. aluminium is very energy intensive to produce and leave giant open cast mines in someone else's backyard.
we use little fuel however, and i chainsaw all of it locally myself.

In reply to Glyn Jones:

how about a tent? Cheap to put up and no lasting scar on landscape.

In reply to cas smerdon: Already own three tents - want to expand

In reply to Glyn Jones:

>
http://www.yurtshop.com/?gclid=CKmLuvWry44CFQralAod9kxPCA
this expanded enough for you?

In reply to cas smerdon: Fan-bloody-tastic!

I want one!

Hi Glyn,

My sister and bro-in-law have almost completed the build of a timber frame "eco house" (for want of a better term) in Somerset which is reasonably near you.

As you can imagine with any build they are rather busy, so you'd have to visit them. If you are seriously planning something email me and I can put you in touch and you can go for a look-see.

Paul.

In reply to Glyn Jones: Hi Glyn

Im just renovating a timber frame place.

Have a look at the Centre for Alternative Technology website where you can download PDFs and /or buy books.

Ive got a couple of good ones down at the cottage - but the title eludes me - emasil me and Ill send you the titles next time Im down there.

Better still - take a day to go and visit CAT - it will inspire and inform you and give you some hope for humanity.

In reply to David Hooper:
PS Good luck with your project

In reply to The Crow: Thanks for the info - going to see if I can speak to the people that have designed the structure and see if I can get info about the build etc. If it still seems attractive then I'll email you.

Glyn

In reply to David Hooper: Cheers David

Done a bit of research into this area as we are thinking of building our own place.

Have a look at www.buildingforafuture.co.uk
and
www.earthship.co.uk/organisation.htm

The eartships are interesting as they are totally self sustained, no mains water, gas, electricity and off the top of my head a 3 bedroom house costs about 70K to build