Damp proof courses are a routine requirement for many old houses when you buy them. Surveyors reports will nearly always find some damp and hence will stipulate the need for a damp proof course to be installed. But is it …
There are a range of issues with insulation and a major overlooked factor is decrement. Insulation values are normally measured in U (the lower the U value the better the insulative properties). This measures the thermal resistance of products from …
When you look at embodied energy carpets don’t come out very well. Lots of energy can go into them in the form of: Materials Bleaching Dying Manufacturing Transport So how can we get to lower ‘carbon’ carpets? Well there are …
When doing improvements at home there is always an element of waste created. This might be in the form of plasterboard, hardcore, old furniture, wood etc. Much of this can be recycled at municipal recycling centres and this is a …
Ely and Caerau are wards in Cardiff and are part of the Welsh Government’s Communities First scheme. They have been working hard to make the project sustainable in the longer term and part of this drive has been to create …
ACE Solar Panels – FREE electric (when the sun shines!) Read more »
Old floorboards were natural draughty. When they were installed we didn’t have tongue and groove flooring and the boards were not always particularly straight. Time, wear and tear, moisture content changes in the home etc have all contributed their little …
Chimneys need to be draughty in order to work, but if you are no longer using them they will represent a major element of heat loss in the home. However many people want to keep them intact either for aesthetic …
Eco DIY is expanding the boundaries of influence. Where once we were limited to high quality paints, we now have a growing range of other accessories to assist the Eco minded family. Eco Solutions is a UK company making a …
A compostable paint tray? A way of rejuvenating dried up paint brushes? Read more »
When we think about energy efficiency one of the first things that we look at (or through) are our windows. This is actually a really expensive option for improving energy efficiency compared to its return. We generally only lose around …
We often forget that water has an embodied energy (all that pumping around the system and then cleaning it all up afterwards) and so it is a resource that we need to look after. But how best to do this? …
