Warm and cosy

The solar panel was finally replaced and the heating has been connected and I have to say it is so nice to be warm!!!!! Not that we have had to have it on much. The weather turned unseasonably warm after we had it all connected up and we didn't need it on at all but now it is definitely started to cool in the evenings.

There are a few niggles because it is underfloor heating - we have to determine what the lag time between turning on the heating and the point where the temperature is reached and try and manage it better. I find that the actual temperature over-shoots the desired temperature because of the heat still radiating through the concrete floor after the heating is switched off in the room. There is still air in the system also so occasionally there is some manual help needed to get the flow of the water going through the pipes. I don't care though... I am warm and my feet are warm so the winter can come now! I have to say that once a room is warm the enormous amount of insulation (120mm!) means that the room stays lovely and warm. That should mean that tank of oil outside should last a while! At the time of buying all the insulation we went with the bog standard Kingspan but in hindsight I would have liked to have explored more eco-friendly options. One of the local insulation companies, www.corkinsulation.ie, now offer sheepswool and recycled newspaper as alternatives. Their bonded bead cavity wall insulation looks good too for houses that need that extra bit of insulation. The other thing we could have done of course was fitted external insulation. We were recommended MCB Wall Insulation by Level5, who did a lot of our concrete work (floors, staircase) but we already had the insulation ordered.