Stoneyside, Ryall

Chit and Lucy bought a concrete prefab building with the intention of replacing it with a new house. Both were closely involved in specifying and designing the house, and acted as project managers on the build, which took two years of planning and one to build.

Chit is a qualified environmental professional ( click here for his website) and used his knowledge to produce a highly efficient house (CSH 4/5, heating 36kWh/m2y). Insulated clay bricks finished with lime render, and triple glazed windows (argon filled low E glass), and 30mm of rock wool insulation make this an easy house to keep warm. The house is heated with a wood stove producing 2kW of space heating and 6kW of water heating, backed up by an LPG condensing boiler. Water is also heated with solar thermal panels over the garage.

The house is pressure sealed and has mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR), which preheats fresh air from the stale air which is vented. Solar PV panels are installed on a garden shed, and rainwater is collected in a 5000litre tank for use with toilets, washing machines and the garden.

They have lived in the house for seven years and have a wealth of experience of what has worked well and less well in their house.  Time-lapse films of the house being built can be seen at this link and this one).