Very excited to see the final plans from Simon Ward Architectural Design . Now we have to work out how it will be possible to attach a glass juliet balcony to the first floor window. We have sent these plans to the structural engineer, David McCarthy from Gawn Associates , who is working out the requirements for steels for the new dormer extension.  

We had hoped the old oil fired boiler would get us through this winter until we were ready to install a new MVHR system with air to air source heat pump, and wood burning stove. However, its not to be, and 2 weeks into our project it has died. The fuel supply pump inside the boiler (not the water pump) died and would be quite costly to replace. We were also low on oil in the tank so would have required a new delivery of oil. So we decided it was time to take out the central heating system and fire up the open fire. We checked the chimney to make sure it wasn't blocked and lit our first fire. These open fires are hugely inefficient and it amazes me just how much heat goes up the chimney! I pretty much spend the whole day in the living room working on my computer and have to constantly pile new logs onto the fire to keep it going. Its not the most environmentally friendly way of heating the house but it will get us through until we can think about a new system. Skirting board makes v...

 We have started to tackle the overgrown garden whilst waiting for the architects plans to come through. We have pulled down a huge amount of ivy and brambles to reveal some apple and plum trees clinging on for dear life. We hope they will revive. We have also removed some suckers that have grown into full blown trees, and some large overgrown christmas trees, to let some more light into the garden. These will cut into logs to fuel the wood burning boiler stove next year.

  On Friday 2nd October we moved into our new house that does not yet feel like a home. We have holed up in one room that we will try to keep dust free. Here are some photos of the rooms. As you can see they haven't had much love and attention since the house was built in 1968. The house is ideal for a passivhaus style renovation. The photo above shows the front of the house, north facing, with no upstairs windows. At the back of the house there are two dormer windows in the front two bedrooms. We are going to extend this dormer to the roof line and bring down all the internal walls. We will have a large glazed, south facing window along that wall creating solar gain into the open plan living area. The downstairs kitchen, dining room and lounge will become our 3 bedrooms. We have hopes to install an mechanical ventilation heat recovery system (MVHR) with a built in air to air source heat pump, in which case we need plan the design and the ducting at an early stage of the renovation...