Our new driveway is completed and the lovely people at Traverse (who we bought the property from) did a great job. Pics are on the photo page.
Good learnings early in the piece for us:
– assume nothing (e.g. don’t think your husband’s cost estimate will be anything more than guesswork!)
– assume nothing re timeframes (I suspect all things in building & construction take longer than expected)
– embrace change, our lovely unspoiled piece of paradise quickly turned into a mudbath as excavation started… all part of the process of course.
She may be a princess, but a bit of dirt don't phase our Jay
We’re now reading and debating and re-debating and rereading a load of info about construction materials and passive design.
Not for the feint-hearted.
A great document on passive design is this one
Designing Comfortable Homes
Current favourites re building materials are litecrete (concrete and pumice hybrid) or good old rammed earth.
Lots of things to find out about and understand – including whether our initial design is feasible (north-facing thermal mass wall versus north-facing window).
Musings on being a pragmatic activist 