The Sustainable Struggle: Home Edition

Just over a month ago my husband and I became homeowners – of a 1930’s semi in need of quite a lot of work. As a long-term renter, I’ve felt limited control over the bigger lifestyle changes that could be made to lower our household impact on the environment, and as such it was easy to lose momentum. Now, with all the power, comes the responsibility of carrying things out, and the reality!

The first few weeks have been a bit of a blur against a backdrop of urgent electrical work, which left no wall or floor untouched, and so now the longer job of putting things back together starts.

The sustainable renovation

We don’t have anywhere near enough money, or space, to turn our home into a lovely passive house, but we will be trying to be as kind to the environment as we can with what we do. Much easier said than done of course!

I’ve been trying to create a decision tree in my head to try and quickly work out what the ‘right’ thing to do is. What I’ve realised, is that it often boils down to two things. Is there a sustainable option? Can we afford it?

In terms of sustainable options, in some cases the most sustainable option is to do nothing at all. To keep what’s already here. Easy to afford too. Unfortunately, not everything that already exists is any good, some of it needed removing to do other jobs, and of course a lot of it just isn’t ‘us’, which I find is the most challenging reason for ripping anything out. So when we do need to add or replace, we will be thinking carefully about the materials and products we use.

So far there’s been three main areas where the eco options have been weighed up;

Eco Energy/Heating

The day we got the keys we had an appointment with Octopus Energy to assess the house for an air source heat pump. Our current set-up is a 20+ year old gas Back Boiler which, thankfully after a service, was deemed still in good working order. Good job too, because not only are we very unlikely to be granted planning permission for the current models of heat pump (too noisy for the proximity to our neighbours) but the switch to a heat pump would involve new pipework and radiators and come in at around £11k (including the Gov grant!). So it’s old gas, or new gas then…I’m parking this for now, as neither is appealing.

Another decision in this area was not to give in to the ‘Instagram peer-pressure’ for a log burner in the lounge. We had an open fire in our rental, and it was lovely on a cold winters evening, but we rarely lit it, and recent research into emissions from log burners shows even the most eco are still chucking out high levels of pollution and contributing to poor air quality, something that’s already pretty bad in our city. The chimney had been capped and the opening sealed, so there was nothing there to keep, or to rip out, to aid our decision making. We've opted to open the recess back up, add a power socket and we’ll get an electric fire for that cosy aesthetic. We did switch our energy supplier to Octopus though, and we now enjoy 100% renewable electric, with which to run the fire.

During the rewire there was a discussion about putting solar panels on the roof, and it’s a possibility for the future. But we did lay the groundwork for a car charging point.

Eco Flooring

The rewire meant that all the existing carpets had to come up. They were a long way past their best and most didn’t have any underlay/insulation, so some have now gone to the tip and will end up in landfill, and all will need to be replaced at some point. The floorboards aren’t anything special and most have quite big gaps between, and no insulation under them, so we do need to put something back down. We’re still in the process of making final decisions, but there’s been some research into both soft and hard flooring options.

Natural fibre carpets

The bedrooms, landing, stairs and maybe lounge will get new carpets. Probably wool, or a wool mix. Wool carpets are more expensive than manmade fibres, but not so much that it prices us out, so it seems like a good option. I looked at Jute, Sisal and Seagrass options, but with two cats the risk of them being shredded is very high. I've noticed in several carpet shops ranges proclaiming to be made with ‘ocean plastic’ or ‘plastic bottles’, but I’m sceptical and would rather stick to natural fibres.

Lino is natural!

A big revelation was that lino and vinyl are in fact very different products! Lino is made from natural materials like linseed oil, cork and wood and Vinyl is plastic. We were looking into it because for the next few years at least, we need to live with our kitchen/diner/conservatory in their current states before knocking into one space, and the kitchen/diner bit badly needs a new floor. Lino isn’t anywhere near as available as vinyl to consumers, but if we can find a domestic fitter there are some options, which shouldn’t cost that much more than vinyl, and will probably look the same. Check out Forbo for Lino and Marmolum options for domestic use.

Eco paint

A search for ‘Eco paint’ will bring up a lot of different options, but as for identifying which is really any good, or possibly just the least bad, I’ve found really difficult. It’s also not just the ingredients in the paint itself to consider (0 VOC content seems to be the goal there), there’s a whole host of other elements linked to production, shipping and disposal to consider, which adds more layers of complication. The final piece of the puzzle though is the colour. As a long-term renter of magnolia walls, and a lover of bright colours, compromising on the colours just isn’t an option for me. Mostly, we’ll be using Little Greene Paint. It’s not the very best in terms of eco credentials, I don’t think, but I really like its Re:Mix concept to reduce waste.

There are a lot more decisions to make, (it feels like hundreds some days!), so as I get to each item, I’ll ty and do a round-up of the research I do, and any conclusions I make.

Wish me luck!

If you’re interested in following my 1930s house renovation journey, you can do so on Instagram @30sinour40s