Only a small percentage of people build their own homes, but whether you do or don’t, the building industry can switch to greener materials (like straw bale bricks over concrete). Straw bale homes are as safe as wood and naturally insulated, yet we burn colossal amounts of waste straw each year, which could be used to build clean cheap homes on brownfield areas.
If you’re planning to build your own home, find suitable materials from Ecomerchant and MicroLouvre (a woven fabric from scrap metal that lasts 60 years to remove the sun’s heat with no power needed – it’s fire-rated and can even be used to shade traffic lights). Good books to read are Green Home Building and Building with Straw Bales.
low-carbon clay plasters from Cornwall
Clayworks (Cornwall) is a company that makes low-carbon clay plasters (with natural pigments and minerals) to plaster and colour walls in one. Founded by two experts who wrote books on cob building and natural plasters, find 88 ready-to-mix-with water colours sold in compostable bags. All allow buildings to breathe and regular temperature, don’t use in wet or shower areas nor on doors that may be moved (read product safety info). If your house is already plastered, read the post on better brands of house paint.
make your new house energy-efficient
New homes these days have to to be energy-efficient so read up on how to affordably insulate your home (includes info on how to prevent birds nesting in chimneys – never install installation until they have moved on). A quick way to reflect heat back into rooms is Radflek (which lasts 60 years, due to laminate coating – just clean with a damp cloth now and then, and use sticky hooks to fasten in tricky places). Oil-powered radiators are safer than convector heaters (that can overheat old people and dogs).
If renovating a heritage home, CosyGlazing is an affordable lightweight alternative to glass , which is easy to remove and approved for most sash windows, to reduce heat loss by 70%. It adds a second layer, but you can still open the windows as usual. Approved for Grade 1 and 2 listed buildings, it can be removed for cleaning, as it’s fixed with high-tech magnetic strips and be made to match colours. Plexiglass is shatterproof, and seven times more insulating than glass.
big ideas for the Tiny Home movement
If you’re on a budget, an American idea that is becoming popular in England is the tiny home movement, where people build small but perfectly-designed homes (often on wheels) that feature on mod-cons, and you can take them with you, if you move. They don’t ‘increase in value’ like most homes, but they are far more affordable, and are very popular in the US island of Nantucket (30 miles from Cape Cod) where most properties are over $1 million.
Read The Big Tiny. This is the story of Dee, an American who had spent years doing up a big dilapidated home in the Pacific Northwest. After having a heart attack in a grocery store (age just 40), she sold it and built/built a tiny home. Today she has a far better quality of life, it takes 10 minutes to clean her and her bills are around $10 a month. And in the evening, she sits on her (tiny) porch and enjoys watching the sun go down with her dog (and a cold beer).