The Pinnacles, Beaminster

Mark & Louise bought their two acre plot on a hill overlooking Beaminster in 2018 with planning permission. Much of the work for the build was done or managed  by Mark in his spare time.  The house is an oak timber framed building.

The house has Ground Source Heat pump heating: Trenches 1.2 m deep were excavated on the front lawn and  150m of coiled pipes were buried before the grass was reinstated. The EVO heat pump feeds underfloor heating throughout the house, and a hot water cylinder. The Renewable Heat Incentive subsidy scheme will pay a substantial part of the costs ofthe system. The heat pump has a COP  of around 4.2 (for every unit of electricity used, 4.2 units of heat are produced).

The windows are made by Ideal Combi, many mounted on triple track sliding machanisms so the windows can be rolled right back in summer, South facing windows allow for solar passive heating, but overhanging roof eaves prevent summer sunshine overheating the rooms when the Sun is high in the sky.

The house has a sewage digestor system and all fresh water comes from a well in the grounds.

Mark and Louise plan to install solar panels on a South Facing bank across the lawn, and the cable for this was laid at the same time as the ground source pipes.  Future plans also include cladding the outside with Siberian Larch.