Retro-Fit! Signals Brand New Way of Eco-friendly Living!!!

A Bath man is proving charity definitely does begin at home...with a brand new energy-saving and climate kind project called a 'retro-fit' of his two-storey house.  Retired social worker, Ozzie ffield is in the final leg of a six month project in Pulteney Gardens that has seen wall insulation, underfloor heating installation, an extension and so much more.  Editor Emma goes to meet him.

"We're preparing to open our home in September as a sort of cross between a showhome and a museum.  We will be displaying our retro-fit, and showing the steps we've taken to reduce energy loss, energy usage and energy bills.  Ultimately lowering our carbon footprint." says Ozzie - as we stand in the newly plastered sitting room - very recently a building site. 

Ozzie and his wife Mary's 'retro-fit', is a method of converting pre-1920s housing stock with practical energy saving work - using methods such as insulation, structural work, solar heating (carbon friendly) and even architectural changes. 

Working with agencies such as Transition Bath and professionals including Professor Francis Moran of Bath University and architect Jonathan Hetreed this has been a labour of love for Ozzie.

(PICTURE:  OZZIE FFIELD)

"The idea grew and grew for me over a period of time.. Two things flowed together - one was how important it is for us to reduce our carbon output and the other was linked to the fact we bought a house which faced south at the back.  We therefore wanted to replace the downstairs toilet and coalshed with a picture window to improve our living conditions.  We wanted to obtain solar gain from our south-facing position and enjoy sipping coffee and doing the crossword or be able to work at home while not wasting heating.

"In my teenage years I had been concerned about the poverty in the third world and in particular a monk  who alerted us to the injustice of the divide between the rich and poor – northern hemisphere/southern hemishpere at the time. 

"I came to realise that climate change is a big issue when people in poor countries, Africa and Bangladesh were asking aid agencies such as Oxfam, Cafod, Christian Aid, Tearfund to lobby for the prevention of climate chaos during the early 2000's.  I realised the biggest problem of all is simultaneously rising sea levels and much more frequent drought and loss of crops.  People from these affected countries wanted to persuade rich governments and rich countries to stop being profligate with their carbon emissions."

Three Projects - One House!

(PICTURE BELOW:  WORKMAN REMOVING ORIGINAL WOODWORK TO RECYCLE ELSEWHERE IN THE HOUSE & BELOW: OZZIE DEMONSTRATES INSULATION WIDTH IN SITTING ROOM).

Divided into three projects; 'retro-fit', an extension and training materials for the future, Ozzie's believes the first way of  improving the heating efficiency of any home is insulation!

"Take the sitting room for example, the first thing to do in any house is to increase the insulation. So we took off the plaster and put in thick insulation to about 110 cm, and replastered and we'll restore the coving. 

"The second thing we did was replace the gas fire and the central heating and hot water boiler, which was sited behind the baxi gas fire.  We had to take out the front fire first to get to the Baxi, these have been replaced, while keeping an original fireplace.

"Thirdly because we knew it would be carpeted we decided to put in underfloor heating with a concrete screed.  The underfloor heating heats up the concrete and acts as a storage heater. Everything works together to keep the warmth and reduce the amount of fuel used to heat it up.  The concrete floor is good because you don't need such a high level of gas to heat up underfloor heating as is required with central heating radiators."

Standing in the sitting room there is no perceptible spacial loss with the extra wall insulation.  The work has also ensured insulation against 'cold spots' in the wall which borders on neighbours, traditional areas of vulnerability according to Ozzie.  "If it gets cold these areas could cause condensation – so we've protected against coldness by adding insulation to envelope heat in that area."

Ozzie believes the Baxi boiler and gas fire were 40% efficient and the new condensing boiler will be 80% efficient. 

"I plan to look at how much energy has been used in project work in order to save energy. The underfloor heating is made up of copper tubes covered in plastic - the plastic protects copper from cement erosion and now we don't have any radiators downstairs." says Ozzie.

Upstairs

Walking upstairs, Ozzie explains that Bath Stone is actually very thin (around 6 inches) and he has used metal struts to hold new insulation in place between his walls and the elements.  "The solar panels we have now, are filled with a fluid which conducts heat to water, and contributes to heating our hot water supply."

The last piece of the jigsaw for Ozzie is the production of materials for the teaching and informing of others also interested in retro-fitting their home - or simply using some of the techniques Ozzie has learnt, used and got experience in.  "I want to network with people from different faith groups and agencies who will support retro-fitting." says Ozzie.

"The beauty of this project is that we have learnt from our small mistakes as we have gone along.  Its the little things - like the order in which you do the work on a room, so that life is simpler  - that  we have learnt.

"Bringing your house up to current levels of sustainability is a bit of a minefield. There are conflicting views sometimes about what is necessary, what is best practice, on a couple of occasions the work almost stopped as we were confronted with a bit of minefield.  It was very confusing to find there aren't absolutes as to what is best to do."

Exhibitions

Ozzie hopes to go to exhibitons with materials about his living project - which is perhaps a cross between finding a new carbon-saving lifestyle as well as a new home.  "When we open in September we will take people through our home illustrating what techniques, architectural changes, energy sourcing changes, insulation and structural work we've used.  It will be very interesting!" he says.

(PICTURE:  FINISHED LOFT INSULATION)

• Coined term 'Retro-Fit'...this applies to housing stock (pre 1920's) which is pre-cavity wall insulation.
• By 2050 70 to 80% of housing in use will be the same housing that is around now.
• By 2050 carbon emissions need to be dropped dramatically
• Carbon emissions need to be 25% less than 1995 emissions by 2050 (Copenhagen).

Decor

In keeping with its Victorian roots, Mary plans to pick up some style tips from this era, but is going for a very classical, modern colour scheme.  "When I took the wallpaper off I found the wall was painted dark green.  I like the Victorian tiles and cornices, and am choosing traditional Georgian pale colours like classic blues, creams and ivories.

"I'm planning on having a strong red feature wall in the master bedroom with warmer creams, terracotas and more modern colours particularly for the big space at the back downstairs - whites, creams, blues."

Energy saving costs varies according to each house.. but Ozzie advises insulation as the first step in energy saving, carbon reduction work. 

Do you want to visit Ozzie's living project by appointment only?

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Transition Bath

For Ozzie's insulation sources, Contact: Kingspan and Celotex

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