Creating a Healthy Home: How to Self Build a High-Quality & Comfortable House

CLOSER LOOK Do natural & sustainable materials cost more?

Compared to standard building materials and finishes, the more natural and eco-friendly products are likely to have higher upfront costs. However, as sustainable materials become more accessible, the cost will eventually match that of standard products. For example, some hemp blocks are now competitively priced with their concrete alternatives.

Take into account the product’s composition and how that affects its performance. “When it comes to insulation, you have to consider the density of the material to determine its value,” says James King, Unity Lime’s managing director. “Wood fibre is more expensive than standard insulation, but you get a lot more material and therefore a higher thermal mass.”

NEED TO KNOW Mitigating overheating

Although getting in daylight is one of the most important considerations in your home’s design, too much can have some negative implications, such as glare on your TV or computer screen when you’re working from home, or lack of privacy from vast swathes of glass. Most importantly, you want to strike a balance between maximising natural lighting and limiting overheating in the warmer seasons for a more comfortable internal environment. In fact, Part O of Building Regulations requires all new builds to take measures to prevent excess solar gain in their design, so this cannot be dismissed. Here are some expert tips on how to combat the unwanted symptoms of letting in too much daylight:

• Create an overhang or extend the roofline above windows to provide shading. “Think about what your roof is doing in relationship to the window and create some natural shading to avoid overheating, whilst still ensuring light comes in when the sun is lower during the winter months,” says Ben Mailen, managing director at Mailen Design.
• “Use solar control glass to reduce UV light and prevent heat from entering your home,” says Matt Higgs, managing director at Kloeber. This is a special coating for the glass that absorbs and reflects infrared radiation to stop the building from overheating.
• Set windows deeper into the wall. “This creates an alcove rather than having the window flush to the external wall, so you can gain a bit of extra shading before the sunlight comes in,” says Ben.
• Incorporate internal and external blinds to reduce solar glare and enhance privacy. “Venetian-style blinds alter the angle at which the light is coming in, so you can still illuminate the space and avoid direct sunlight,” says Delphine Dryer, director at CDC Studio. “Incorporating external blinds on rooflights helps limit solar heat gain, but it can also be good for home cinemas if you want to project films on the wall in the day.

QUICK GUIDE Interior design ideas for a better home

As an advocate and promoter of the circular economy and regenerative design principles, Mathew Freeman, director of Freeman Studio and former president of British Institute of Interior Design, shares his tips on curating an decorating scheme that’s inherently ‘better’:

• For fabrics, aim for natural products. Look at product labels for linen, cotton, hemp and try to avoid any petrochemical products like polyester, nylon and acrylic. Natural fibres will biodegrade or can be recycled. Petrochemical materials have no long-term solution to their end of life; over time they break down and become microplastics and nano plastics finding their way into our bodies, via water and food.
• De-mist pads on bathroom mirrors are one item I highly recommend. You can be more efficient and won’t have to wait for the mirror to de-mist.
• Include lots of storage in living spaces so you can be organised and put away activity related objects and be able to reset the space and feel calm at the end of the day.
• A good balance of lighting that can change the mood of the room, suitable for family dinner, add sophistication for date night, be bright for cleaning and just enough when relaxing and watching a film.
• When selecting furniture, choose from different periods of time, to build a patina into home. It’s much more relaxing to do this than to have everything new and then feel pressure to maintain it.

CLOSER LOOK MVHR Key considerations

Designing and fitting MVHR requires a considered approach – whether in a new build or retrofit scenario. Here are some key things to consider when planning MVHR for your project:

• Location The MVHR unit will need to be plugged in and, because it requires a condensate trap to collect moisture, it will also have to be plumbed. So, wherever you place the unit needs to have an electricity point and access to the drainage system. Maintenance-wise, the filters will also need changing, so it has to be accessible. Having a plant room is ideal for this, but if not, the unit can be wall-mounted in a utility room; an easy-to-reach attic space; or a specially built cupboard.
• Ductwork The ducts will need to connect to the outdoor atmosphere to allow fresh air in and stale air out. The ducts for MVHR are also quite large – typically 125mm in diameter. So, you will need to ensure they can be hidden effectively, whether that’s in the floor structure, loft space or ceiling voids. Posi-joists, engineered beams or beam and block are all effective options to work alongside ductwork. “Traditional joists are probably the least convenient, as you can’t make holes through them, so you have to get clever taking ductwork up into the loft area and then dropping it down into the corner of a room and boxing it in with soil pipes, for example, or placing it at the back of a fitted wardrobe,” says Clarissa Youden, associate director at Total Home Environment.
• Fabric For MVHR to work effectively, you need a highly airtight and well-insulated building envelope. That’s easier to achieve on a new build, but also achievable on a major renovation. If you’re going to this kind of level anyway, upgrading to a heat pump ventilation (HPV) system – such as those offered by Total Home Environment – may be worthwhile. It can provide space heating, hot water and even has a reverse cooling-effect for the summer.