On one of the several trains I got from home to London this week I picked up the Sunday Times and read about a family in Bath who decided, rather than go through the cost and hassle of knocking down their structurally fine but badly designed house, they would restyle and recycle it instead. A slightly more drastic task than just a new lick of paint and some jazzy new cushions, they used the bones of the house to build a better designed and more personal home. This money saving plan has the added bonus of being much more environmentally friendly with less manufacture of building materials that would be required for a completely newly built house.
And to look at, the house bears no resemblance to the old, plain, suburban home. In its place stands glass, steel and concrete sculpted into a modern new building. Not only is this new home better looking, it is also more eco-friendly. Pulling the house back to its skeleton allowed the owners to rebuild with the environment in mind; fixing heat and energy leaking areas to produce a much more energy efficient home. Re-planning the layout means better use of natural light resulting in lower usage of electricity.
With so many of Britain's homes being such badly insulated, energy losing messes this could be the way forward. Don't just move house and leave your pathetic home to be inhabited by another family throwing money out the cold windows and pushing it through the draughts under the doors. Be a good world citizen and fix what you have. And in the process you're allowed to make it that little bit special and just that bit more You. And all for less money and less guilt. The perfect, green, home sweet home.
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