The house is really lovely and warm (and not drafty) even through the cold winter months –Heidi Upshon
WOOD FLOORING FEATURES THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE AND SITS ATOP UNDERFLOOR HEATING POWERED BY AN AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMP
It’s too early to tell whether the house will
achieve all the Upshons’ aims in keeping their energy bills low but it scores very close to Passivhaus standards. It has underfloor heating in every room, powered by the air-source heat pump and two solar water panels on the roof, coupled with 4kWh of photovoltaic panels pro- ducing electricity at feed-in tariff rates. In common with many Passivhaus designs, the house is designed to be kept air-tight – a com-
project costs
Overall cost of project: £428,000 Value of property now: circa £650,000
What was the high point of the project “The high point was when the first panels of the new house arrived. It was astonishing to see how fast the build moved forward, and all our friends and neighbours stood together watch- ing the house being erected,” said Heidi.
The low point was: “When we found the leak in the basement, and knowing that, having seen the house complete including the decking, we'd be back to walking around it on scaffold- ing planks.”
Contacts • Turnkey home: Hanse Haus
www.hanse-haus.co.uk • Kitchen: Mayflower Kitchens
www.mayflowergroupuk.co.uk • Log stove: Nibe Contura from Hagley Stoves
www.nibe.co.uk www.hagleystoves.co.uk • Flat rooflight: IonGlass
www.ionglass.co.uk • Rainwater harvesting tanks: Rewatec
www.rewatec.co.uk
• Sewage and pumping systems: Direct Pumps and Tanks
www.directpumpsandtanks.co.uk
plete opposite to their old home, which leaked its heat like a sieve. To avoid problems with stale air and humidity, the house has a con- trolled air ventilation system that extracts stale air and allows just enough fresh air to ‘bleed’ back into the building to maintain a comfort- able temperature. “The house is really lovely and warm (and not
drafty) even through the cold winter months,” said Heidi. “We did light our woodburning
stove just once when we first moved in but it quickly became too hot and we found ourselves opening the windows.” Indeed, the Upshons doubt that the underfloor
heating on the ground and first floors will get much use, although the chillier basement may need it in cold weather. The rainwater recycling has already impressed
Laurie and Heidi. It’s currently plumbed to the toi- lets but the washing machine, which resides with the system’s controls and pump, will also be used with softer rainwater in due course. Since they’ve moved in and sold their old
house next door, Laurie and Heidi have added their own refinements. For example, the low light levels in the basement needed supplementing for Heidi’s craft workshop, where she creates gorgeous stained glass among other art for the house, so a daylight-balanced strip light has been installed so that she not only ensures the colours of her work show true, but she can avoid SAD (seasonal affective disorder) in the long winter months! Laurie and Heidi both say the decision to
embark on the project, despite taking over two years to reach fruition, was worthwhile. The house, say the Upshons, is truly all theirs and matches their lifestyle perfectly, something that can seem impossible even when buying a house from a developer.
selfbuilder & homemaker
www.sbhonline.eu 25
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