Kitchen table

We looked for a kitchen table for our new kitchen but were suitably unimpressed with everything we saw.

Time to build our own again.

Top tips for preparing your self build home for winter

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Let's say that you just build a home, and with the winter approaching fast, you need to figure out how to protect your home over the cold season. What steps can you take to ensure that you don't suffer any home damage in the coming winter season? Here are a couple of different things that may help you with preparing your home for the winter.

Tip #1: Insulate the Pipes

One of the most common causes of weather damage in the cold comes from frozen pipes. How does this happen? Without pipe insulation, the water on the inside of the pipe can freeze. Learn about the signs of frozen pipes here. As it thaws, however, it puts an incredible amount of pressure on the pipe, and this can cause it to burst. One of the first signs that you have a frozen pipe is that you have reduced water flow. You could also find that you have no water whatsoever. Frozen pipes won't always crack or burst, so thawing is one of your best choices. Let the pipe thaw out with the warmth from the home. You will need a lot of patience, but with time, you can get it.

Eco-Friendly Considerations When Building or Retrofitting Your Home

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I found this interesting as a house with this type of design was built just down the road from us. In fact it's our nearest neighbour on the one side of the road (but still a mile away. 

In today's green conscious housing market, the need for sustainable homes has become more and more apparent. To combat climate change it is essential that we use new design models, improve existing housing, and retrofit existing homes.

With the technology that we have available today we are able to make our homes much more energy efficient and eco-friendly. This is a boon even if you aren’t concerned with green living. You are able to get the same aesthetics, health, safety and comforts that traditional homes offer, all while saving on energy costs. This energy efficiency is fundamental in designing an eco-friendly home.

If you are interested in building or retrofitting your home for green living, then continue reading to find our top 9 considerations that you should keep in mind.

What is Passivhaus Design?

Passivhaus Design is the design standard for construction is used in order to make a home that maintains comfortable temperatures via the use of minimal energy input. This is done by utilising human, sunlight, and appliance heat. These drastically reduce the previous need for traditional space heating.

This kind of design takes the shape, size, and orientation of the home into account. Materials are used that provide for better heat prevention, as well as natural heat recovery and ventilation systems that help to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of the building. In order to meet the standard of Passivhaus Design, the energy required to heat a space must be less than 15 kwh.