delays and delays

Our original plans were to start building work in January 2010. It is now August. We had to go back to the drawing board and review the plans when we realised that the drains for our house and those of out neighbours were in the way. Routing around the drains would be a highly complex task, so we have looked at how we can make best use of the space we have and the basement will no longer have usable rooms. Instead it will function as a storage and laundry room.

Taking our time over the plans has probably been a good thing, as we have been able to consider the options carefully. Now looks as though main work will start in January 2011, but hope we can get the top floor finished before then.

Geothermal heating will not be a good option as we will not have the drilling equipment that is necessary for it and it seems that directing the heat laterally requires an enormous amount of space to produce the levels of energy that would be required in the house.

Still thinking about whether to collect rainwater. I worry we will have hosepipe bans in the future, but Chris still doesnt think it will be worth doing.

I havent put any posts up now for a while, but hope we can get some interesting info up once things start to happen.