Hello from the west of Ireland,
well i have been dropping in as a guest and reading lots of posts over the last few years whilst i have been renovating a very remote derelict cottage. forum information has been very helpful so thank you to posters.
I have used sheeps wool warm roof loads of tapes draftproofing tin roof with breathe menbrane wood stove with rads lime plaste and pointing 1 gable utilising hemplime plaster some recycled materials recently an aquatron and vfrb and hfrb all diyed. has been a learing curve and alot of work and still not finished life goes on.

I am justabout to start updating a 3 bed semicavity blokwork with brick north wall house with basement/crawlspace very drafty single glassed windows from the 70s and we have just had our first baby would like to seal and insulate this house asap and move in in the next 6 weeks with little money.
so from lime cottage too drafty blockwork new principlas problems and solutions.
so the mision is to try and update comfort levels heating costs with low vocs condensation and meterial costs fast without scuppering further work on house to make it better

mane jobes to be done include
insulate attic
insulate basement and crawl space
poss cavity fill or some iwi on priority walls
window install double glassing but probably not till end off summer.
build large deck raised about 2m with the hope of one day building a sun room ontop of it
change open fire with back boiler to stove ,pro not till end off summer
remove old carpets draft proof posible install vapor barrier and some sub floor as is all suspended floors with particle board if can leave the particle board would be cheeper but will see
ventilate all rooms there no vents
and other things im sure


thanks in advance and if i can offer advice from my previous mistakes and success i will try
Happy new year

I suggest you try and make one room "nice", insulated, warm and dry - dust free as possible, perhaps with a sort of double door like on clean rooms. You and the baby (congratulations!) will need a little refuge now and again.

I like Seascape's ideas.

For this winter try the cheap double glazing film for rooms you're trying to heat. Quick and easy - uses a hairdryer/ fan heater to shrink the film and works well.

thanks
yeh probably a sucker for punishment but love making stuff...

Would be great to have the time to spend on making creative things not just working and building..
hence the move closer to town and sea alot less time spent in tha van burning diesel (I HOPE) more time personal pleasures...

but it wont be much fun if i dont get some insulation in quick.
I have alot of ends of gaffa tape from work so as temp fix is good but would question the longterm use.
Main drafts seem to be between scirting boards carpet and wall. the walls are block work with i think dot and dab plasterboard. Not the best..was thinking of pulling the carpet pulling the scirting board making the sub floor good(checking it) then poss using expanding foam around sub floor and plasterboard if there is no gap cut 20mm off the bottom of plaster board fill with foam and hope the foam seals behind plaster and around floor, let it set cut foam back and replace skirting ( not sure on flooring but some form of wood cheeper better natural better if it could float would be good)
ref vcl could this be laid ontop of the particle board sub floor taped to plasterboard (not sure how you could put a floor over this as it would puncture it unless it was floated?)
could pull up the particle board lay a vlc over joists then put ply down ,would this be alot better?

Think i will do some iwi because the internals have dot dab plaster board i presume i better off ripping it off and attach insulation to block work rather than onto old plasterboard ?

when working with joists ends into cavity walls is accepted that best practice now is to 6/1 sand cement around joists to kind of air tight them to walls?
I have some nhl3.5 lime could use this as would probably breath dry better still?

considering cavity fill in future not sure yet..

Just been talking to local builders trying too find REFURB TRAY VENTILATOR for attic b4 installing the insulation mentaing air gaps all the merchants say dont stock them and rarely get asked for them but found some one whow has

http://www.hambleside-danelaw.co.uk/roofing-ventilation/products/eaves-panel-ventilators/universal-roll-panel-ventilator-hd5000.php

not designed for renovation but might be of use?

they can order this do people recommend using these types of thing of is there a stander way that easily gets around the problem ie snug insulation maintaining air gap ease of installation?


http://www.hambleside-danelaw.co.uk/roofing-ventilation/products/eaves-panel-ventilators/universal-refurb-tray-ventilator-hdurt.php



i have just asked questions about different things should i start threads for individual aspects ?
thanks



<blockquote><cite>Posted By: SteamyTea</cite>Hello Ocean
The sooner you can insulate the attics and floor space the better, probably the cheapest thing to do as well. Do rememeber though that if you insulate over/under/around wiring you may have to change the rating for that circuit. Generally not a problem, but is fairly quick to find out.

yeh was thinking about that you mean change the rcd/ rcb what ever there called to a lower amp?
can you just slip a flexi duct over the wires and say just change the ratting on the lighting circuit I haven't really properly investigated what up there wire wise yet?

cheers

Hi Ocean,

I am just about to renovate a cottage in Kerry and I want to use 100mm hemp/lime insulation on the inside face of the external walls. I noticed you said you have used hemp before. Where in Ireland is the cheapest place to get it, what sort of price is it, and how much did you use in the mix? Like you I am trying to do this on a shoestring so I was thinking of making up my own lime putty, have you done this yourself? Any advice would be appreciated