Nearing completion

We have just got back from a week in France having inspected the work carried out to our little house. Last time we saw it was last July when it didn’t have a roof on. So with so much work completed it was amazing to see the transformation. There are now three bedrooms, a bathroom and an en-suite shower room. All the first fix electrics and plumbing work is complete together with the plaster boarding work.

Some of the exposed stonework has been pointed and both the new window openings formed. Although alot had been done there remained second fixes to the electrics and joinery works the fitting of the bathroom equipment, tiling and floor finishes as well as the last major structural alterations of forming two external door openings and the fitting of the kitchen.

It has became evident but to no great surprise that we aren't going to be able to finish the work within our budget. Unfortunately having to fit an entire new roof and renewing the whole of the first floor coupled with a poor exchange rate has taken its toll on the bank account. We always set out on this project with a budget “set in concrete” so we agreed with our builders to finish off the first floor works and all the second fixes including the staircase together with the plumbing, hot and cold water and heating services. 

A temporary kitchen will be fitted so we will be able to use the house from the end of June. The remaining work will be carried out by ourselves which will be the tiling work to the ground floor, remainder of the pointing work to the ground floor and painting throughout. We shall take the flat pack kitchen over to France ourselves build it up and pay the builder to fit it, hopefully towards the end of the year. The installation of the doors will be done next year.

We don’t see this as a set back but as an opportunity to do a few things ourselves, something that we have not been able to do so far. This will also save us a bit of money and help with overall costs.

Super foil insulation

Reflective foil insulation for roofs has been around for a few years and is something that has been used in our new roof.  Generally in England for roofs to comply with the U values laid down in part L1A of the Building Regulations using fibre glass based material requires thickness's up  to 250mm.

In our roof because of the raised tie the area where there is a slope in the ceiling there is only the full depth of the 70mm deep rafter were insulation can be placed. Bearing in mind that a 25mm air gap is required over the insulation then there is only a maximum of 50mm available for insulation, well short of what is required.

The answer for us was to use reflective insulation fixed to the underside of the rafters prior to fixing of the plaster board.

So what makes reflective foil insulation so high performing when compared with glass fibre materials. The answer is radiation and conduction. Reflective insulation is made from layers aluminium foil, wadding and air bubbles and works by reflecting radiant heat and is around 95% efficient. Whereas traditional materials such as fibreglass blankets relies on its ability to resist the passage of heat by the trapping of air in its mass. Reflective foil is may times more efficient  as a insulator and does this with far less material.