So far this year has not gone too well. In my previous post I ended last year with the steel brackets for the house stashed away in my shipping container and reasonable hope that, weather permitting, construction would start early this year.
More...Hmmm, better have an update on how things are going with the house before the date clicks over the next higher digit.
More...Martin Holladay has just posted an article on the Green Building Advisor site: Solar Thermal Is Really, Really Dead.
I mostly agree but think there's a lot more to be said. It's a complicated subject and it's easy to get bogged down in detail so he's done well to simplify things for clarity but maybe he's gone a bit far and there are few other things people can usefully think about.
More...Specifically, do the sort of metal devices that Europeans tend to screw to their walls and run hot water through in order to heat their houses radiate much heat, as opposed to transferring it to the room by convection and conduction? Similarly, what proportion of the heat emitted by underfloor heating is in the form of thermal radiation?
Of course they radiate some heat. However, it's commonly said that they work mostly by convection and conduction. I think that's right and it's quite reasonable to call them convectors for this reason. Unfortunately, some people get a bit carried away with this and say that radiation is completely negligible. I don't think that's quite so right.
More...I see a lot of confusion about infrared when it comes to interactions with buildings, astronomy and so on. Here's a bit of a brain dump to refer to in such cases which I hope will throw some light, of various wavelengths, on the matter.
More...I can now drive on to my land. Starting Wednesday last week the contractors (JW Sinclair) put in the entrance, track, and parking and turning space and cleared the topsoil down to clay for the house site.
More...I'm busy waiting for the structural engineer to come back with design details and the roads department to issue a road opening permit so I can get the contractors in to make the entrance, access track and parking area to the north of the house.
In the mean time I've been mucking with vegetation a bit. Not the greatest use of my time but it at least gives the feeling of getting stuff done which is better than getting frustrated at the rate the year's slipping by.
More...In the past there's been a lot of confusion in discussions on the Green Building Forum (GBF) about the ability of OSB to impede or allow the transfer of water vapour. This is quite significant as OSB is a handy and cheap material for wall and roof constructions where movement of water vapour is a significant concern (although by which modes and in which directions is also a bit controversial).
Somebody using the pseudonym “A.L.” on the Navitron Forum sent me some references and discussion regarding my concerns about my roof build up following on from discussion on the GBF: Ventilation gap under sarking board which might throw some light on the inconsistency of quoted OSB vapour performance values.
More...After a couple of rather numeric posts it's time for something a little more entertaining. I've previously shown some images of the planned exterior of the house but not said much about the interior design so …
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