An interesting story on Wales Online today that raises more questions for me than it answers for me…

Wales has it’s first ‘carbon free’ house. The house is built along PassivHaus lines on a small estate in Ebbw Vale from mainly Welsh materials. It has PV panels so generates its own power and has managed to achieve level 6 in the Code for Sustainable Homes.

However, it still has energy bills of £50 a quarter. Not sure what that’s for, perhaps electricity connection or standing charges (although the article does specify ‘energy bills of just £50 a year’). As such, I’m not sure what ‘carbon free’ means – perhaps I’m being cynical and perhaps some more research is required…

Let’s get in early this month…

I’ve mainly been occupied with repointing the external walls. I didn’t do any repointing last year, but want to get it finished this year so I’ve got my hands full. It needs completing before the weather turns colder so I probably have until the end of September to get it done. I had forgotten many of the small skills and techniques that I’d developed previously – Which tools to use when, how to get mortar into that shaped joint at that angle, the fact that when I try to twist my arm to push mortar up into a diagonal over-hanging gap to my left, I pull a small muscle somewhere deep in my forearm and always to keep a bucket of water nearby. Anyway, after I guess 20-30 hours of pointing through July, much of what I had forgotten has come back to me. I’ve also, at last, come up with a mortar mix that I’m happy with – 1 part lime putty : 2 parts sand : 1/2 (half) kiln dried sand (for colour and to dry down the mix if necessary) : 1/2 sharp sand.

I’ve also put in a 9 inch wide concrete plinth at the base of the back wall where there is no path – it gives me a clean line to repoint down to and generally tidies things up. I need to do the same at the foot of the end wall and build a small retaining wall between the plinth and the path at the back of the barn.

The internal doors have been installed. I wasn’t really very keen on the idea of doors. I didn’t like the idea of being boxed in and the openness of the barn being reduced. However, happily, I like them now they are in – a bit of privacy is nice occasionally, we can close the door on the second bedroom which is still basically a storeroom for tools and materials and pretend it isn’t such a mess and the doors work well in the main bedroom / ensuite, allowing us to keep things darker for longer in the mornings (which is good with a two year old who likes to get up with the sun). It also helps that they are lovely looking doors – oak with chrome fittings. I’ve not taken any pictures of them yet, must get my finger out…

No further progress in earth-moving in the to-be back garden.