Kevin McCloud webchat - Monday 20th June - 1 - 2 pm

[RachelMumsnet]

He's been at the top of our webchat wish list for too long, so we're v excited to announce that we'll be joined next Monday (20th June) by Kevin McCloud who'll be answering your questions between 1 and 2 pm.

Designer, property developer, writer, eco-campaigner and television presenter, Kevin is best known for the Channel 4 series, Grand Designs. Kevin has a strong interest in sustainable building and his company Hab Housing's core aim is to construct beautiful, environmentally friendly housing. He's joining us in his role as ambassador for the Great British Refurb Campaign, which is committed to rallying the Government and business to help make every home in Britain as energy efficient as possible. The campaign is supported by Knauf Insulation, which has provided all the insulation products used in the campaign's eco-refurbishments to date.

Kevin is happy to answer questions on how you can green-up your home and eco-home design as well as chatting about his life as a campaigner, designer and broadcaster. So whilst we try to spruce up MNHQ, you put the date in your diaries to join us on the 20th. If you're not around at 1pm, please send your questions to Kevin in advance to this thread.

@BoffinMum

I thought I would follow on with another question. Kevin, for those of us doomed to living surrounded by Privet Drive style architecture in thin-walled, slightly naff houses built by greedy developers in the 1980s and 1990s, land of the pastiche Victorian door handle, the stippled pastel bathroom tile, and the fake marble kitchen worktop, what can we possibly do to improve our lot, given the current financial climate?

Home is what you make it. Form a community group. Tear down your privet hedges. Plant up the roundabout with wild flowers and give over half your garden to a communal space with a shared shed and vegetable plots...

Funnily enough, these are all things that my company, Hab (Happiness Architecture Beauty) is trying to weave into housing schemes that we are building. Retrofitting them into 1980s estates is maybe the next step.

Hello Kevin

Can I ask whether solar panels are A) really as eco friendly as they are made out to be and B) save enough money from bills as to be worthwhile?

@SoloIsAHotCougar

Oooh! another GD's fan here!

I have not had my loft insulated because I have no storage space as it is, so to lose the loft as well...? no!! I also have passed on cavity wall insulation and incidentally, my Mum's house has never been colder since she had her's done and she's had cold/flu over and over since then. Coincidence?

I was wondering about the possibility in the future of having a third bedroom put on top of my single storey extension, but instead of a brick/block structure, I was thinking of a conservatory type of thing. Not sure if that would be environmentally more friendly than the traditional type and whether I'd end up freezing cold/boiling hot in the weather extremes. What are your thoughts please?

In answer to the second part of your question Solo. That would probably only make a usable bedroom for about four months of the year. Otherwise, as you say it will be too hot in summer and too cold in winter. A single storey extension of glass like this would still have to comply with the thermal part of the Building Regulations (the law governing what and how we build), and it would likely not be possible to do that with a very heavily glazed conservatory type extension. The short answer is no I'm afraid. Build it in timber as it's the easiest way - a lightweight structure that's easy to build and which can still be superinsulated. If you want large areas of glazing, invest in triple glazed units with a low u-value (as low as 0.7 from firms like Energain) or even units made with thin plastic laminar sheets embedded into the unit (from Shardaglass). and don't forget to add external shading to the extension over large windows to reduce overheating in summer.

@HarrietJones

Yes, but expensive and it was somewhat forced on me...

@missmartha

Is it greener to use a so called 'green' insulation product such as sheep's wool, hemp, insulating fibre board etc.in smaller quantities where space is limited or is it better to use a modern high grade insulation product?

I'm thinking here of a product such as Celotex that gives you a much higher insulation value for a given thickness.

People seem to shy a way from products like Celotex because they seem less eco-friendly, but they are much more efficient insulators.

Are you better off saving more energy or saving less and using a more environmentally friendly product to do it?

Cheers

Well, I think it's horses for courses. I've used a combination of urethane board (like Celotex) which is a petrochemical product, together with thin multi-foil insulation in a barn roof where space was scarce. I've used breathable wood fibre board on old walls and conventional mineral fibre wool in my attic as well as sheeps wool. In my site boots I have liners made from possum fur (considered a pest in Oz)

hi kevin, longstanding fan here(since age 10).
when i was at grand designs live in excel there was a microhab and the following year a similar instalation althought the latter was covered in shingles and looked less like the aluminium box the year before.(although ironicaly shaped more like a rocket)
these micro habitats seem to be the lowest carbon emmision footprint housing around, what do you think of the future of this sort of habitat, given that they are typicaly less than 3 X 4 metres? possibly as a city pad with your main home being in the country as they are adequate for this purpose in the space of less than 90 sq feet.

as a follow up question is there any particular reason you know of as to why these microhomes have not caught on? i recal at grand designs live that tiny metal box retailed for 50 thousand pounds,with the flatpack 4 bed house next to it being sold for 60, but i have seen countless advertised for less than ten thousand and some people boasting $6 yearly heating bills.
(some are even styled similar to your favourite grand design)

Great! thank you! Do I still need all the usual planning permissions etc for a timber structure?

@VenetiaLanyon

Hello Kevin,

If you had to choose your own ultimate pad, would it be a) restored old house (e.g. Victorian/Georgian/older) b) barn / industrial building conversion c) brand new house of your own design? Would it have contemporary or antique furnishings, and where would it be?

Thanks

Well Venetia, I've stopped asking myself that question. Because a bit like a window shopper, having seen so many of other people's projects I've stopped coveting them. I'll tell you what I like: a view of the sunset; an orchard (Slack Ma Girdle is my favourite variety); a glass of something and a hammock.

Possums are not considered a pest, they are. I'd take the bats in the loft over a possum v. roof rat fight anyday...

Hi Kevin

Do you keep in touch with any of the "projects" you've featured on GD?

There were certain people who you obviously made a connection with.

@Spirael

I can't believe no-one has asked this yet... What's your favourite biscuit, Kevin?

Fantastic. I've been waiting for this. My favourite biscuit is... A plain chocolate digestive with half a banana sliced on top of it. It's the unrivalled combination of potassium, chocolate and sugar that gives me that hit.

Poor possums. I am sure they consider us a pest too.

Glad you saved the bats though.

I like what you are doing re the green/eco thing, will you go the whole hog (excuse pun) and go vegan?

@VenetiaLanyon

Follow-up question; have you ever wanted to weep because of what some idiot has done to a perfectly lovely building?

I've wept over two of them: the church in Dudley with the entombed swimming pool in the middle of it (in a bittersweet way this project saved the stained glass), and the boat on the Medway. We should never have filmed it. It should never have existed.

< must buy chocolate digestives, if dh asks I'm blaming Kevin>

That biscuit sounds delicious! I wonder what it would taste like grilled slightly, so that the chocolate had begun to melt and the banana caramelise.

Flaming hot Spirael! blisters spring to mind!

2 quick questions if you can squeeze them in:
What in your view is the best modern prefabricated house on the market (like the huff house, which seem nice but a bit ugly?)

Any advice of how to control echoey acoustics in a room with no curtains, carpets and stone floors?

Thanks!

@madhairday

Hello Kevin

Can I ask whether solar panels are A) really as eco friendly as they are made out to be and B) save enough money from bills as to be worthwhile?

Hullo Madhairday - our Great British Refurb mantra would say "concentrate on the cheap and easy wins first". Loft insulation, draught proofing, etc before the more expensive technologies. But, it has to be said that solar thermal heating for hot water is relatively straightforward and the payback on investment is reasonable. And thanks to the government's Feed-in-Tariff payback on photovoltaics is now possible.

A great deal has been said on the web about how PV panels never recoup their material and carbon investment but many of these rumours are based on a single flawed study from 1996. All the studies since suggest an environmental payback of between 3-7 years in use.

But to emphasise, fix the walls, floor, roof first, then look at where you get your energy from.

I actually loved the entombed swimming pool. Not for the design, but for the love the dad was showing his family, especially his son, by doing it all himself, with no money and little support. Just singleminded dedication to his family.

Def right on biscuit (although I'd lose the banana)

Actually, I'm wondering how I'd get half a banana on a digestive at all!

Hoi, Justine, stop flexing the 2 question rule!!

Follow up, my arse.

OK, I'll get my coat. I've asked two questions and you've ignored them both. I'm obviously extremely dull.

@OOAOML

Do you ever look at the vast expanses of glass and steel built by couples with small children and shudder at the thought of endlessly wiping off fingerprints?

Hullo OOAOML - Yes, and at the end of a filming day, all I have to do is climb into a car and go home.

@Binfullofmaggotsonthe45

Hi Kevin,

I live in a fairly eco friendly house in Switzerland with under floor heating and a system that burns woodpellets and recycles the heat around the house through a venting system. Therefore, to conserve energy you keep the doors and windows closed.

The problem is is the humidy. At 8% it's practically non existant! Our first winter in the house caused the family and the majority of guests respiratory problems. Our natural skin rugs are cracking and drying and an Indian dining table now has a large crevice running through the centre as it dried out.

Something we didn't even think about moving from wet and wonderful Wilts!

It's an open plan house, so to have humidifiers running would be costly, we'd need some pretty large scale numbers of them to cover each storey, and really defies the whole enery saving ethos.

Do you have any suggestions to improving humidity naturally, or in an energy saving (and money saving) format?

I'd be really keen to hear your thoughts. Thanks also for a very enjoyable program, what makes it special are the relationships you form with the home owners, and the passion you exude over the projects undertaken.

The traditional solution was to use miniature troughs of water suspended near or on radiators or a stove, but you don't have either. Other than cooking rice all day I can suggest a number of small strategies; a pail of water or jug near the inlet vents will help humidify the air, as will hanging out your washing indoors!; You can manage your personal levels of hydration by drinking more of course and if you have a bath leave the water in overnight and the door open. Having lived in the Alps these are all strategies I can recommend.