Insulation

With the plasterboard finally starting to be installed the time has arrived for us to insulate the timber frame. We considered using thermafleece and warmcell but ruled both out on cost. Instead we're using Non-itch batts (http://www.greenspec.co.uk/html/product-pages/ybsnonitchcavity.php) made from recycled plastic bottles. Unlike glass-fibre the Non-itch is totally non-toxic or irritant and can be installed without the use of gloves or facemasks which has proven a big bonus now that the warm weather has arrived.

With 150mm thick timber frame walls this insulation, which has similar thermal properties to mineral wool, gives us a U-value better than that required by Building Regulations. It also gives us a good opportunity to a by-product of the recycling industry, after all why put your plastic bottles etc in the recycling bins if you're not prepared to buy a few recycled products?

The downside - the Non-itch has proven difficult to cut. A long Stanley knife has performed best but even that has resulted in a fair bit of embedded energy and a few blisters, largely down to my normally sedentary occupation nodoubt! However, we've installed almost half of it over the last two days whilst also sorting out the veg patch, testing the woodstain, deciding on doors and meeting the builder, along with the usual tidying up of site etc.