Category Archives: Solar thermal

Now 2016 and just over 3 years

Yes, over 3 years now and still going strong.  Now starting to burn some of the -relatively little – left-overs from building the house which I cut down to size and stacked last spring. The off-cuts from the cladding – … Continue reading

Posted in Cladding, Log burner, Solar thermal | 2 Comments

Another article – and wood usage update

Those who follow these things will by now have seen an article on this house in the June issue of Self Build & Design magazine.  This was an interesting experience, in that the journalist, Debbie Jeffery wrote the article based … Continue reading

Posted in Log burner, Solar thermal, Thermal Store | 2 Comments

It’s catching (on): as heard on BBC

Some recent excitement: at very short notice I was contacted by a producer – John Neal – of You and Yours from the BBC.  He’d heard from Touchwood Homes that they had a client who made money from his fuel … Continue reading

Posted in Electrics, Solar PV, Solar thermal, The project history, Ventilation, Zero Carbon House | Comments Off on It’s catching (on): as heard on BBC

Autumn (and Summer) 2013

July, you’ll remember, was very hot.  After a winter that went on and on, there was a very short spring and suddenly we were in summer.  The thermal store got up to 95°C and the solar thermal panels were about … Continue reading

Posted in Electrics, Solar PV, Solar thermal, Thermal mass, Thermal Store, Uncategorized, Ventilation | 2 Comments

Winter and Spring 2013

More grovelling apologies.  I’ve been sitting on this for months without publishing it and now (round about Christmas 2013) have finally got round to doing something about it. Well, quite a winter (meaning early 2013)!  This was a severe test … Continue reading

Posted in Foundations, Solar thermal, Thermal mass, Thermal Store, Underfloor heating, Windows | Comments Off on Winter and Spring 2013

Week Thirty one to end October ’12

There were apologies here because I hadn’t kept this up to date.  So some progress now (end May 2013) at long last! Last autumn and winter we really got very busy indeed and keeping this up to date was a task … Continue reading

Posted in Electrics, Ground Floor, Plumbing, Solar PV, Solar thermal, Ventilation, Zero Carbon House | Comments Off on Week Thirty one to end October ’12

Weeks Fifteen and Sixteen

The week after Easter was only a short week, but seems to have continued very busy.  Tacking—putting up plasterboard—got underway.  The intention is to tack the downstairs ceilings first.  This will allow the Warmcel 500 to be blown into the … Continue reading

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Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen

 Got rather behind with this – not keeping it up to date – sorry.  Here goes: OK, things have got pretty hectic.  First was Alex and Andy the electricians arriving—as expected.  What I’d failed to do was ask what I … Continue reading

Posted in Electrics, Solar PV, Solar thermal | Comments Off on Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen