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DIY Projects: Double Insulated Heavy Drapes & Pelmets
Double Insulated Heavy Drapes & Pelmets We're probably all aware that amongst the most thermally effective window coverings are heavy lined drapes and box pelmets. The pelmet is very important because they eliminate the airflow going down behind the drapes. One...
DIY Projects: Sealing Up Heating Outlets
Sealing Up Heating Outlets About a year after we stopped using the central heating system, we decided to have a go at blocking up the outlets. What you see here, is a typical ceiling outlet of a heating system. You might see a silvery part inside, or if I open these...
DIY Projects: Bedroom Lighting
Bedroom Lighting In the bedroom, there are quite a few energy-efficient features to see. Starting with the drapes, the lighting treatment, an example of sealing up heating outlets, improving cross-flow ventilation and draught proofing a walk-in robe. When we first...
DIY Projects: Retrofit Wall Insulation
Retrofit Wall Insulation One of the questions that we had was, “What exactly is in the walls of this home?” When we looked, we discovered a high-quality reflective house wrap. And while it was really good quality, it was not very well installed. It was not fixed to...
DIY Projects: In the Study
DIY Projects in the Study Working in a study can be a reasonably uncomfortable experience. For a start, you’re just sitting sedentary. If space is cool, you’re soon going to be feeling frozen. There are a few things that have been done here to try and alleviate that....
DIY Projects: Lighting Upgrade in the Kitchen
Lighting Upgrade in the Kitchen One of the things that we did really early on was dealing with the lighting. We had about 40 of these halogens downlights fitted in a gimbaled fitting (that is they had the ability to tilt). But they were all 100% flat on the ceiling,...
DIY Projects: Replacement Cooktop
Replacement Cooktop When we came here, this was an electric cooktop. We did change it for a gas one that runs on LPG. This has been here quite a long time now, and it is slated for replacement. LPG or piped gas is not sustainable and not great in terms of greenhouse...
DIY Projects: Awning Window Treatments
Awning Window Treatments Well as you can see, these are the kitchen window. We have a few things going on here. Firstly, as well as developing ecoGlaze (secondary glazing) in this home, we do continually test other things, and on this window, we’re testing one of the...
DIY Projects: Better Acoustics – Suspended Circle
Acoustic Suspended Circle Being of Italian extraction, when we get together we can get quite boisterous, and we’ve got a lot less soft furnishings in this room than we used to have. So again, lots of reflected sound. And so that’s why we’ve added another Horizon...
DIY Projects: Better Acoustics – 3D Wall Tiles
Acoustic 3D Wall Tiles Here’s something that we’ve done quite recently to this home. You can see behind me in these red tiles. These are called Quietspace 3D tiles, and we’ve put them up in conjunction with a hanging feature above me. That’s called a “Horizon Circle”....
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