Southampton St low energy house

25/05/2026

I am hiding from the heat and marking out the balusters. I want the balustrade to look fine and light so thought about getting each section fabricated from steel rod with a thin steel frame, but the quotes where astronomical.

So instead I have framed each run with hardwood and will drill it out and insert 12mm galvanised steel rod. It's going to take days, but will save me a few thousand!

28/02/2026

I have invested in SMART HTC measuring kit, for new projects, and applied their calculation engine to my house and the HLP returned is exactly the same as I measured using my own DIY setup and calculations. Really pleased about that!

26/02/2026

Finally got my house air pressure tested last week.

A blower door fan seals into the doorway and depressurises the house to 50 Pascals — roughly equivalent to a 20 mph wind acting on the building. This exaggerates air leakage so it can be properly measured.

The result was 4.16 m³/hr/m² , which is pretty good.

For context, the general target for a new-build house is 8, and many older houses come in at 10 or higher.

I haven’t finished all the airtightness measures yet, but I wanted a test now to cross-check against the energy monitoring results — and I’m pleased to say the blower test broadly supports what the monitoring has been showing.

10/01/2026

On the way to EXCELLENT 😁

Well into the second winter of energy monitoring and my Heat Loss Parameter is 1.47. When I have finished the external wall insulation and conservatory it should hopefully be below 1.

07/01/2026

Hi followers, early last year I starting thinking about how the way I have done my roof could have broader benefits. The measured energy efficiency results are great.

Anyway after a year of researching, networking I have started a crowd funder.

Hi, my name is Tom, I am a self-builder and architectural designer based on Brighton.… Thomas Booker needs your support for Revolutionise home roof insulation

04/01/2026

Stair soffits finally filled sanded and painted. Really pleased with the way these complex curves (4 in total, each slightly different) meet the adjacent surfaces.

Exposed bungeroosh, to which I applied a light lime-mortar wash to reduce friability then rubbed some of the flints to highlight them. You can see the plaster line from the original stairs going in the opposite direction which I left as a feature to tell the story of the house.

Gone for panelling in the lounge and the opened-up-yet-dividing wall between the lounge and kitchen. I knew from the beginning I wanted this wall bright pink, so just did it and I love it. Before you ask the paints and materials in these decorative features are not necessarily eco (MDF and vinyl paints), but I am no saint either!

Bought a PM2.5 metres and for each of the three times I have used it whilst the stove is alight, levels are below 10 which is the WHO recommendation, UK guideline being 20, and I should add these are mean annual averages, not peaks.

04/01/2026

Just realised I haven't updated you on my table. Completed over Christmas 2023 (I did one coat of varnish every day over the Christmas break), and then stored and put into use autumn 2024 when the kitchen was finished. I can report it is still doing really well and showing no movement. 28mm thick and spanning 2.1m the old slow-growth fine-grained pine salvaged from the roof is so stable. With 10 coats of Bona Mega varnish it's incredibly easy to wipe clean. The stripes are from the soot on the surface of the rafters from the leaking chimney, now trapped in glue and sealed.