In this month’s Master Builder we have some more cracking ‘Crunch Busting’ deals for members. See how you can save on home and business utility bills and phone bills, and save at the fuel pumps at over 3,000 garages with the TOTALCARD.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to tender for work for councils, and larger clients without submitting your company to the scrutiny of third party safety assessment auditors. We have some good advice on how to demonstrate your competence in regards to health, safety and environmental procedures to potential clients.
Whether in existing or new-build homes, airtightness is about creating and maintaining a balance of insulation and ventilation to ensure that the building is energy efficient, but comfortable. This month’s MasterClass tells you how to get it spot on.
FMB National President Ron Storer has been in office for a year now. Find out how he has spent his year promoting the FMB and its members.
After every weekend since last Christmas spent hacking the place to bits, extending it and putting it back together again, we are looking forward to a more sedentary life – or so I thought. ‘Himself’ is already looking for another project. (Oh please…) I might suggest he turns his attention to the garden first though - three quarters of an acre resembling, well, a building site really. Oh, then there’s the drive to finish, the garage door hasn’t been delivered either, and where’s that summer house I was promised?
This month, I have been looking at OPBS (Other People’s Building Sites). I went to Waddington in Lincolnshire, to see the country’s first straw bale council houses being built. North Kesteven District Council is the driving force behind the project to build this pair of super insulated, three bedroomed homes, designed by Amazonails.
(See Master Builder article - August 2009 issue).
The foundations are in and the straw bale, load-bearing walls are going up fast. Locally sourced bales are secured together with hazel ‘pins’ before the bales are strimmed and plastered – clay plaster on the inside and lime plaster outside. Through passive solar design, the homes will be kept cool in the summer and cosy in the winter – with no central heating system.
This is a fascinating project, and Amazonails is offering training courses that will teach you how to construct straw houses. If you want to find out more, visit: www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/straw where you can also see how the build is progressing.
Now there’s a thought for the next Rogers’ project - daily bulletins – could you stand it?
