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Building ecologically : when renovating the main house we paid particular attention to insulating the whole building. Because the external render needed in any case to be renewed, it made it easier to decide what to do. We were keen on using only environmentally friendly insulation materials. The total refurbishment was rounded off with two different sets of solar panels to supply electricity and hot water plus new windows that together replaced the old oil heating system. |
Environmentally friendly and healthy materials 
With very few exceptions we use only natural materials like stone, brick, glass, wood and metal. We avoid using plastic wherever possible - as in the case of our watering cans that don’t last longer than two or three years in the Mediterranean sun and have to be environmentally disposed of. So we switched to zinc watering cans. Insulation and efficient heating
In the loft we laid wood fibre boards (15 cm) and a top layer of OSB boards to create a new floor that we can walk on. The hot water system holds 1000 litres heated via solar panels and supplies plenty of water for the kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine and three bathrooms.
The solar installation also heats the living room and kitchen and even in winter we can rely on 17° or 18°C.
Insulating windows
The guest house has also now got new high-efficiency insulating windows and in the top storey an insulated ceiling that we are going to improve even more. In the next few years we could insulate the cold north-facing rear wall of the house if we find that this house is used from time to time in the winter. We would carry out this work ourselves. Insulating all the outside walls would be expensive and would not be worth the investment if the guest house is not used all the year round.
For painting walls and treating wood we mainly used the standard solvent-free top-of-the- range ecological products. The decisive factor was whether they were readily available in our location. We also used a smaller quantity of paint produced by the German natural paints firm Auro ▶www.auro.de.