“We soon came to realise that we wanted a more contemporary look externally than the timber and tiled roof exterior we had planning for” –Eve Jervis
weight of tiles we were catering for. We had to cover the trusses with tarpaulin until a decision was made.” They were glad that they had held onto their
vision for a metal finish for the roof. It looks like slate, but reduces the weight of conventional tiles by around 70 per cent. The roof also features integrated photovoltaic roof lights. Unfortunately the six-week lead time on the
Profile 49 Britmet roofing panels caused a further delay, but eventually the property was made watertight and double glazed four metre windows were craned into place. “There were three huge sheets of glass which
had to be manoeuvred by six people into the openings,” says David. “The saving grace was good access and very understanding, supportive neighbours. It’s a private lane with shared responsibility for the upkeep, so we tried to cause the minimum disruption.”
Making savings
One of the key elements of the property is a plant room at the back of the garage, with the lighting and heating systems all located together and easily accessible. The property is kept at a steady all-year-round temperature of 23 degrees and there’s no condensation, as a result of having under floor heating, extra thick insulation, a heat recovery system and argon filled, triple-glazed windows. “It’s very different to our previous home which
had awful heat loss,” says David. “We have saved a huge amount just in electricity and heating alone. We did consider having a stove in the corner of the sitting room but we didn’t particularly want to lose the space and we felt we didn’t need the extra heating.” They also initially considered a ground
source heat pump, but agreed instead to an air source heat pump – which was almost half the price to install. They made further savings on the staircase
which leads to a light, open plan mezzanine where David has his office. The first quotes they had were around
THE MAIN EN SUITE BEDROOM HAS HUGE FEATURE WINDOWS THOUSANDS WERE SAVED ON THE STAIRCASE BY SHOPPING AROUND
selfbuilder & homemaker
www.sbhonline.co.uk
21
LOW POINT Waiting for planning deci-
sions. We soon realised we wanted to change the look of
the house from the outside so it was quite a nerve-wracking
time, waiting to see whether we could actually have the design we wanted
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