Are you planning to renovate your home? Are you on a limited budget?
Then you have choices to make – loads of them. What type of kitchen you want; where to put plugs and light switches; whether to go for double or triple glazing. The list is endless, so get your thinking cap on as soon as possible.
Your touchstone
First and most important – decide your priorities and how you want to rank them. Some options are:
- Budget – how much and when you have it to spend
- Design – how you want the house to look once the work is finished
- The feel of the house – what materials you want to use and how they’ll impact the comfort of your home
- Climate impact – carbon emissions in the build and the home in the future
- Energy efficiency – how much energy you want to save on a day to day basis
Getting the order right
In any build there will be some things you can only do at the start; others you can do at any point in the future.
Insulation is a perfect example. To get the best results, you need to go back to the brick, so it’s a messy old job. Which means it’s highly unlikely you’d come back to it at a future date. Plus it’s cheaper to do it alongside other changes.
Same with insulating under the floor. What are the chances of you moving all the furniture and lifting floorboards when you’re nicely settled? 10,000 to 1 against I’d say! But when you’re knocking down walls already then you’re set to go.
Same with airtightness. If you want a truly energy efficient house, then airtightness needs to go alongside your insulation. No point in putting it off – you’ll be disappointed with the result for many years to come.
This is making the fabric of the house your prime focus.
Design of your house
The bit we all want to do is the design – choosing carpets, furniture, lighting, curtains, bedding – all the elements that will make your home look and feel wonderful.
It’s easy to focus on – after all it’s the environment you’re going to live in and look at for a long time to come.
However:
Design relates to outward appearance of the home and can be changed, which means it is inevitably influenced by fashion. You’ll love a particular wallpaper now and in three year’s time you may wonder whatever possessed you. Thankfully there is plenty of opportunity to repaint, replace rugs or carpet, even change a kitchen.
While sitting in my extremely dusty, overcrowded front room – the only space we had available with any vestige of comfort – I longed to look at lighting and sofa’s. It was so tempting because it would mean we were nearly there – and I so desperately wanted to settle and get clean.
It was much less appealing to explore options for insulation or learn about the importance of airtightness. But, boy, I am glad we stuck with it. Now that we’re saving 75% of our energy usage, while being warm for the first time ever in this Victorian terrace, I’m so pleased we kept going with the fabric of the house – insulation, airtightness and ventilation.
Our touchstone
We decided on our touchstone on the fateful evening when we knew we had to retrofit the whole house. It wasn’t what we had set out to do, but as we learned more, it became the only option. We wanted to make the house a legacy for future generations. (You can read more about the touchstone in my book Beginner’s Guide to Eco Renovation)
That meant a touchstone that read:
- Climate
- Budget
- Design
Carpet’s, sofa’s and paint colours could come at any time. Insulation, airtightness and ventilation had to be done now. I absolutely wasn’t going to go through this again – it was now or never.
Now that it’s all done, the struggle has faded alongside the dust and mess. Just like childbirth – we forget the bad bits and just enjoy the outcome.
So stick with fabric first – get the basics right first – then you can relish the search for cushions and carpets. I can guarantee you won’t regret it.