Being a Log House owner in Ireland can sometimes be a challenge. The climate for instance differs greatly from many of the more Northern countries such as Canada and Finland. That is not to say that Log Houses are unsuitable to more temperate climates. In fact as a green alternative, they are the most natural.
But most importantly, as anyone who lives in a traditional will testify, there is a sense of Living in a Tree”. This was my comment on the first night of living in our Log House in the West of Ireland. If you spend more than a day away from your home and return, you are greeted by the wonderful scent of wood.
Being a natural product, a log house needs to be cared for sensitively and naturally. Log Houses provide a breathable home environment so it is important that only natural products are used when it comes to preservation and treatment. Your local hardware stores wherever you are are unfortunately the last place normally to start looking.
There is a network of people who own or build Log Houses and if you are in that club, then there will be no shortage of advice. Ask A log House owner a question about there house and chances are they become a fountain of information.
Michael Dutton of the The Tsarina Imperial Dacha company in East Ayrshire, Scotland is one such fountain of information. Michael is Managing Director/Company Secretary/Designer/Log Smith of The Tsarina Imperial Dacha Company. If you click on the company name where it is highlighted it will link you to the site.
Michael designs and builds Log Homes and other products using mainly timber form Scottish Forests. We were in contact with him recently regarding preservations and treatments for Log Houses in temperate climates such as Ireland or the UK and found him an invaluable source of information.
Incidently, if you are considering designing or building a Log House in Ireland, let us know, we might be able to point you in the right direction. CONTACT
We get frequent requests here at House Design Online for Free House Plans. OK, reality is that if you are looking for something cheap on the internet, you will get just that something cheap! At House Design Online we want to promote the idea of people taking control of the design of their own homes. By engaging in the design proccess, you are saving money but you are also ensuring a higher standard for your build.
There are a few sites out there however that offer “Free House Plans”. One such Stie is FREE GREEN House Plans.
The Beauty of Free Green House Plans is that they offer different options. They have 1,000′s of professionally designed ecological House Plans available for Free. The Free House Plans are sponsored. This is in fact a useful service. It just means that by clicking on any product such as furniture, accessories, building materials – you can find out the name of the supplier. There is a discount arrangement if you chose to purchase any of these products but absolutely no obligation to purchase. They then also have a premium facility where for a nominal membership fee, home owners of architects can download unlimited plans.
Free Green is an “Open Source” venture with benefits to both home owners and people in the design community. Most importantly Free Green promotes the best practivce in ecologiacl architecture
Wednesdays from 7th October to 11th November | 7.00 – 9.00pm
€180 (10% reduction Cultivate and ÉASCA members) | To book call: 01-6745773
This course uses Patrick’s popular book, The Energy Efficient Home, as the core reading. By the end of this series participants will have the confidence and knowledge to make the big decisions in managing a new build or renovation. Dr Patrick Waterfield is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Energy Institute. He is the author of 14 conference and journal papers and numerous periodical/magazine articles.
Session 1 | Site and Built Form – Microclimate, Passive Solar Design
Session 2 | Construction and Renovation – Materials, Insulation and
U Values
Session 3 | Features and Elements – Windows and doors, extensions,
conservatories, sunrooms and attic conversions
Session 4 | Heating and Ventilation Systems – Hot Water, under floor heating, heat pumps and natural and mechanical ventilation
Session 5 | Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency – Solar thermal, solar PV, biomass, wind, lighting appliances and best use of
daylight
Session 6 | Energy Rating and Wider Environmental Issues – Water Saving, Recycling, Building Regulations and Energy Auditing
The site has recently been updated with new information on the speakers giving presentations at the Symposium.
The Symposium will offer a broad insight into the wide ranging possibilities of the Hemp Building
system and the contribution hemp materials can make to the world of Low carbon and Natural building.
As we search for ways of reducing our CO2 emissions and addressing the issues of energy peak and food security, Hemp is proving it has a lot to offer to the production of resources.
The 1st International Hemp Building Symposium will highlight the innovative ways in which hemp materials can be used to make Hemp Fibre insulation, Hempcrete made of Hemp-lime or Hemp-clay, and Hemp Plasters, together with the design, construction and the lifestyle benefits of living in such buildings.
16-18th September 2009 in Kenmare Bay Hotel, Kenmare. Co. Kerry, Ireland.
Designing and building sustainably is often an afterthought or at most a “consideration” for many people. “We would like to have an ecological house but ….” Solar panels for water heating are sometimes given the same consideration as a sun roof in a car, “would be nice”.
Renewable energy technologies and type of building materials need to be part of the design package. If they get relegated to “add on” status, then they no longer become useful and may well just appear as expensive optional extras.
One of the essential considerations when designing a home for yourself is “future-proofing” at design stage. We may, for example like to plan for a time in our life when we are not as agile as we are now so that we have fewer steps and good space at ground level or consider possibility of changes in lifestyle enforced by the global economic downturn, where prehaps a space could be easily converted to a workspace for home office or for childcare.
Similarily our design needs to enable our family home to be more resilient to a time when we will no longer afford be dependent on fossil fuels to meet our energy needs.
Picture yourself and you family, where you will be in a decade or so from now and to consider what you need to include at design stage now.
Congratulations to Peter, Alanna and all involved in the Eco Living Festtival which took place over the weekend. The festival took place in the scenic little village of Drumsna on the banks of the majestic Shannon River near Carrick-on-Shannon in Co. Leitrim.
There was something of interest for anyone interesting in ways to live more sustainably. I was particularly interested in a demonstration on how to build your own wind turbine. Suprisingly, it doesn’t seem to be so difficult, especially when explained by the people at Eirbyte.
Is it practical? Is it affordable? Is it sustainable? Yes to all, I would say. Lets all step out of the mode of mass production for a moment. Yes we could order something like these from China. But what is every local community started to teach local people how to build turbines locally.
The blades are manufactured using timber and many of the other componnents could be derived from recycled materials.
According to the people at Eirbyte, one doesn’t need to be an expert, many of the skills are taught at workshops throughout the country.
Within most local communities however, we havethe expertise, We have carpenters, welders, electricians, mechanics and engineers, many of whom are underemployed at the moment. By consolidating these skills, local communities could become more resilient.
For more information on the Eco Living Festival and on building your own wind turbine, please follow the links below:
It is interesting how many people who would dearly love their own home are put off the design process by their perceived lack of knowledge. We could equally say: “what do I know about walking”. Walking is a natural process, It wasn’t learned straight away. As children we tried and stumbled and tried again and stumbled again.
The ability to walk for most of us is an innate ability. As children we develop many abilities by a process of trial and error and of course play and imagination. Our ability to design and make a house for ourselves is innate also. (more…)
If you are interested in strawbale building, there are a couple of websites that might be of use.
The first is Strawbale.com and is dedicated to anyone interested in building their own straw bale house. The site has offers on Strawbale building resources including very useful instructional DVDs. If you are brand new to straw bale or a straw bale construction specialist there’s something for you at StrawBale.com.
Another useful site is Amazon Nails , which has a wealth of useful information and resources for anyone considering strawbale building.
Check the events calendar for details of upcoming courses and events on strawbale building
A new Social Housing project in Dublin, Ireland is applying rainwater harvesting, solar panels, sheep’s wool insulation and using on-site communal composting as part of a new initiative by Dublin City Council to provide sustainable social housing and replace the homes originally on the site which were demolished in 2005.
In addition, much of the timber from the old apartments was recycled and used again in construction, while two previously used Georgian doors create an archway into the central garden area. Twelve stainless steel water casks are used to collect rain water in the courtyard, while large amounts of sheep wool are inserted into the external walls to provide added insulation.
The energy-saving features are expected to reduce fuel costs by up to 70 per cent and cut CO2 emissions by over 50 per cent.
Workshops Basics of Cob Building 7 day intensive workshop – Morayshire, Scotland
Inspire yourself and tantalise your senses during a week connecting with the earth at a beautiful rural location in Scotland. During the week you will discover how it’s possible to use the ground beneath your feet to sculpt your own cob building.
During the week you will be helping to sculpt a small building with stone foundation, cob walls and roundpole timber living roof, the structure will be completed with lime and earth plasters . You should leave the course with all the skills necessary to begin a small earth-building project of your own.
Hemp Lime Construction – Public Talk with Professor Tom Woolley
Eco Minimalist Houses and Building Using Natural Materials
Another in an interesting series of talks by the Cultivate Centre takes place at the Cultivate Centre on Monday evening, June 8th 2009.
Professor Tom Woolley who is a professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of the Environment at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales will deliver a public talk entitled “Eco Minimalist Houses and Building using Natural Materials”.
Hemp lime is a composite construction material that can be used for walls, insulation of roofs and floors and as part of timber-framed buildings. It provides very good thermal and acoustic performance, and offers a genuinely zero-carbon contribution to sustainable construction. Hemp masonry is breathable and is able to absorb and emit moisture, leading to much healthier buildings. This talk explores the current and potential uses of hemp lime in Ireland today.
County Tipperary’s “Little Belfast” is going green in the hope of attracting some new residents.In these challenging times, what with the economic meltdown and global warming, you might find yourself searching for simpler way of life.
Residents of a village in the Republic called Cloughjordan think they have found a way to escape the rat race.
They are building their own eco-village and hope the venture will breath new life into the area.
Led by ‘Amazonails’ Strawbale building experts this course will look at the history and use of straw bale buildings, different techniques, planning considerations and how to build. There will be practical workshops on the load bearing method, plaster and render preparation, and lime and earth finishes.
Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 9AZ, UK
ONLY A FEW PLACES LEFT SO BOOK NOW IF YOU WANT A PLACE!
This course is suitable for builders, architects and anyone who wishes to undertake the refurbishment of an existing building with minimal environmental impact both on-site and in use.
It accepts that 99.9% of us are never going to design
and build our own eco-houses, and outlines best practice (and the compromises involved) in eco Refurbishment.
The first Eco Living Festival will take place on the weekend of June 6th/7th at the Drummsna Community Resource Centre, Drumsna, Co. Leitrim (on the N4 near Carrick on Shannon).
The weekend event will have a packed program, with many speakers from across the country, as well as demonstrations, local produce stalls, nature walks, field trips and hands-on permaculture gardening practice in store.
It will be the showcase event for Permaculture Ireland this year, where we offer the public many positive solutions to global problems – solutions that can start in our own homes and backyards.
With admittance pricing at a meagre €5 Euros (€10) and many sustainable living ideas to be had, who cannot afford to come along to our Festival?.
Do we really need all these new “green technologies” in order to be more energy efficient?
Not necessarily is the view of a group of academics and sustainable energy practitioners who suggest that money spent on micro-renewable energy systems would be put to better on extra insulation and draught-proofing
Speaking in Trinity College at the Trinity Week Academic Symposium “Low Carbon Society: Waste Not Want Not in association with Trinity Haus, it was suggested that attempts to make buildings more energy-efficient by installing expensive “green technologies” have resulted in the rise of “eco-bling”.
The symposium heard some expensive technologies such as photo-voltaic cells, which take energy from sunshine, can take up to 50 years to pay for themselves in saved energy costs. However, photo-voltaic cells often have a useful life of just 20 years, making them effectively “eco-bling”.
In his lecture, “Nega Watts – the antidote to Eco-bling” Howard Liddell of Gaia Architects said preventing heat loss was by definition among the best ways to achieve energy efficiency.
He said he had never seen a heat pump in operation which offered a return as good as three units of energy output for each unit which went in, yet these were regularly advertised as “four units of output for one unit in”.
Photo-voltaic cells which make energy from sunshine offered a 50-year payback, but all too often have a 20-year useful life.
He was critical of new housing schemes which advertised “10 percent of energy from renewables” when research showed clearly the best way to achieve energy efficiency was simply to reduce waste.
This is valuable advice if you are designing your own house. Be wary about what companies out there are trying to tell you. Always ask from where salespeople are getting their figures and check them out yourself.
Passive solar homes are designed to take advantage of local climates by maximizing the energy from the sun to heat and cool the home. In the northern hemisphere, the sun’s path passes through the southern sky on its daily trip west so a passive solar home has the highest percentage of windows is on the south side. The sun warms the home in the winter, and shading devices, such as overhangs, are designed to block the sun in the summer months to reduce the amount of cooling necessary. Passive solar design creates an energy efficient, comfortable home that reduces energy consumption that save money as well as valuable resources.Passive solar design can easily be incorporated into any architectural style given you have the proper site. Such design strategies have been used effectively for hundreds of years. There is a small increase in the cost of construction, but the home has lower annual energy and maintenance costs overall.There are many benefits to passive solar design for the homeowner and the environment. By reducing energy consumption, the homeowner can save money on utility bills and help prevent air pollution from electricity generating plants that burn fossil fuels. Passive solar design elements make a home comfortable year round while bringing in natural light from the increased glass on the southern side. Natural light reduces energy consumption and provides a visual connection to the outdoors.This book provides the fundamentals and components of passive solar design. A collection of floor plans that work in a variety of sites in North Carolina are also included in this book. The passive solar house plans in this book are affordable homes that are less than 1300 square feet and focus on energy efficiency.
A unique opportunity to learn some practical natural building skills and have a holiday experience of a lifetime would be an Eco Holiday at the Boghill Centre at the foot of the Burren in beautiful North County Clare on the West Coast of Ireland
The Boghill Centre is a residential activity centre situated off the beaten track, in a natural bog land setting between Lisdoonvarna and Kilfenora. SEE www.boghill.com
Although it is only two miles from Lisdoonvarna and four miles from Kilfenora it has a quiet and secluded atmosphere, making it the perfect place to relax and unwind.
They are running a series of Eco Experience weeks during June, July and August 2009. This summer the series of Eco Experience weeks will centre around Cob building. Cob is an ancient building material that has been used for construction since prehistoric times. It is made by mixing clay-based subsoil with straw, sand and water. This earthen mixture is then ladled onto a stone foundation and trodden onto the wall by workers in a process known as cobbing.
An important starting point in designing and building your own home is a visit to self-build exhibitions which are happening in most towns.
The Self-Build -Entend & Renovate show is happening at the Galway Racecourse, Ballybrit.
There will alsobe a full programme of seminars delivered by professionals from the construction industry covering topics such as Building Energy Rating, Planning Permission and Passive Housing.
If you are thinking of building or renovating, the Seld Build shows which are held at different venues throughout Ireland over the year. You get the chance to talk to a number of suppliers in the one place. It’s also a good place to haggle.
If you have a sketch or a plan bring a few copies along.
So what exactly is a “Passive House” or “Passivhaus”. How do we achieve “passive House Standard”. The concept is relatively new but, what was just a concept a few short years ago is quickly becoming a standard.
Passive house construction should be the only option for new houses being built in any region where houses require heating. Passive House is not however limited to construction in colder climates. (more…)
House Design Online has launched a new service “Outside the Box TV”. As the page title suggests, we want to suggest ways to think outside the box when it comes to “design” and “architecture”. Many of the homes that we live in are no more than boxes, whose primary function is to contain us, supply us with bedding, water, food processing and sanitation. Of course there are many who lack even these essential elements but our homes, no matter how basic have many other roles which have been neglected in modern architecture.
Out of the Box TV features video clips of innovative green architecture and sustainable building design. The clips are from around the world.
Oustide the Box features Ireland’s first EcoVillage which is under development at Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary as well as some of the work of architects Peter Cowman, Joachim Mitchell and others who are challenging the preceptions of modern architecture.
House Design Online is delighted to welcome another new addition to the online community for green architecture.
The Green Palette provides an “Architectural Information Centre” where green architects can post details of their “Green Projects”.
The Site will ultimately act as a networking site for green architects.
Presently the site offers a portfolio of some excellent green architecture projects and a facility for green architects to upload details of their projects to the green projects gallery.
These very innovation green projects are mainly based in the United States of America at present but there is a facility for green architects anywhere in the world to upload.
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