The hole in the wall

For those who have switched from watching paint dry to following the story about my cavity wall insulation, the good news is that after much investigation we are indeed the proud owners of a pre-insulated home.

Mind you, it took a survey arranged by the Energy Saving Trust on my behalf to reach this conclusion. I had contacted the original building company, who didn't know what they had installed at the time, but confirmed that it would most definitely be insulated by cavity wall filling or some other thing called  a void! 

A.... VOID?  I'm still no clearer on that one, but it sounds like a synonym for cavity to me  They might as well have called it a hole  Of course we could have delicately balanced ourselves in the loft to tease out a sneaky peek, but with the reputation that precedes me I would have probably ended up with my foot through the ceiling.  So I decided to call out to the experts instead.

Without any further ado, a representative from the Mark Group turned up today, drilled a hole in the wall, and investigated the state of our cavity, using the survey lens pictured above.  It really was as easy as that and took no more than 10 minutes.  The verdict was, it's a well packed wall...hoorah!

So, with the cavity wall insulation verified, I'm now pondering what other steps I could take for Baglady's Living ASAP pledge programme.  Well, I did plant up a batch of spring bulbs the other day, instead of waiting to buy them in pots during March.  I wonder if that counts?   At least they'll look cheery and I'm happy I've saved us plenty of pounds too. 

Anyway, back to sorting out holes in the wall. More information about cavity wall insulation is available here or at the Energy Saving Trust website. Further details about Baglady's ASAP (as SUSTAINABLY as possible) pledge  programme can be found at www.bagladyproductions.org.

Shopping Therapy

After an expensive month of birthday celebrations, half-term holidays and very random treats, I am back on my laptop pondering the opportunity to go cold turkey and take a real break from spending.  Some people might think I'm totally bonkers....with it being November and the run up to Christmas and all that.  But for me it's the perfect time to promise myself that with the exception of food for the family and essential toiletries, I will not buy anything new throughout November.

Over the last few years I've become pretty good at avoiding the temptation to splash out on all forms of  consumer crap but I'm aware that in recent months I've thrown more than a few pounds down the drain on stuff that I might not have missed

So given that November 27th is officially BUY NOTHING DAY, I thought that I might as well get into practice and kick off my pledge this afternoon.  It'll be good for my bank balance and my pledge to live more sustainably.   It's just a shame I didn't think about it earlier, I'd have saved myself a trip into town this morning as well as £14.00 on a child's tennis that I found in a sale.  I really should have advertised a request on Freecycle or at least put a shout out at my local bartering group.  

Oh well, I'll be better prepared next time and with the silly season ready to hit in full force, at least I'm feeling more relaxed that I won't be caught up in it.  I'm just looking forward to emerging again in December, ready to enjoy the more simple aspects of the festive season.

Anyway, if you want to join me in this money-saving challenge and share the idea with your friends, more information about Buy Nothing Day can be found at www.buynothingday.co.uk.

My cavity wall insulation is still debatable

Really how blimmin' hard is it to work out if you've got cavity wall insulation?

Having avoided it for years for fear of having to tidy all the rooms in the house - not realising of course that they're insulated from the outside - I only started to look into it last week as part of my ASAP pledge. And although I'd rather be doing far more exciting things like the washing up, I'm on a mission to get this thing sorted.  After all, according to the Energy Saving Trust around 30% of heating can be be lost through the walls of an uninsulated home, so it's well worth the effort!

But before I decided to bother a company that specialises in such matters I thought I'd call our housebuilder to enquire whether they'd installed cavity wall insulation when they built the house seven years ago. Of course, I might have remembered myself if I hadn't been too busy at the time counting the number of halogen ceiling lights we wanted to have fitted in the new build.

"I don't know." said the man at the end of the phone when I called the Taylor Wimpey office.

"Can you find out?" I replied.

"Yes, we'll ring you back." came the uninterested reply.

That was two weeks ago and I haven't heard anything since. I rang again last week, spoke to someone else and got the same reply.  How can it have taken so long for a housebuilder to find the answer? Surely even a computer could say Yes or No. They must have known at the time, whether through policy or building regulations.

I feel like I've hit a brick wall.

However, this is only a small brick wall compared to some that others have faced recently.  While I'm busy debating whether I've got cavity wall insulation, a friend of mine who pitched a sustainable programme idea to a national broadcaster found herself being told by a defiant commissioning editor that "Climate change is debatable".

Now that's some brick wall indeed.   As a non-expert on these matters, I simply hope that those who say it is debatable actually use it to open a debate rather than close it.

But for now I'm looking at the smaller picture at home and knowing that cavity wall insulation save us fuel usage and money, well that has to be a winning strategy all round.   And after avoiding it for months, I'm now more determined than ever to get it sorted, even if it comes to drilling a hole in the wall.

Now where did I put that drill....

Keeping Warm ASAP style

Just when I was about to pop into Wibbling Wools and order a new hat, old Baglady of Northern Ireland pops up and asks how I'm getting on with my ASAP pledge!

Well... there's nothing like one's conscience ringing you on the mobile when you're about to indulge in a new piece of winter headgear as a result of the old one being accidentally ruined in the washing machine.  As I stood chatting to Baglady on my phone, I held the old hat in my other hand.  Bought from here just a year ago, it was now so small it could only fit a child.  But it was the only woolly hat that has suited me (ever), hence, I was on a mission to get it replaced ASAP before the autumn sets in. Now that's really organised in my book!

But my idea of ASAP was not what Baglady had in mind.  And buying things as quickly as possible was not the pledge that I'd made back in the summer when she launched her ASAP pledges at Baglady Productions.

No!  Those pledges were about living As SUSTAINABLY As Possible.  And  being conscious of the waste stream that results from manufacturing and the energy used in production and transportation, my pledge then had been to think carefully about everything I bought and whether I actually needed it...i.e. no longer buying anything that I didn't really need, so that the world's resources and our money didn't go to waste.

So, nothing like being caught out eh...on the brink of entering one of my favourite Bury St Edmunds shops to splash some cash on something new.  It was just like having my husband turn up at my heel, just as I'm pulling out a credit card.

But at least one thing's for sure, I really did need that scrumptious purple hat especially as the weather was about to get blimmin' chilly!  So, I hadn't failed my pledge. And the hat was hand-knitted by someone down the road, with wool that could be repurposed elsewhere and probably just a teabag or two from a knitter's break, which hopefully would have gone into the compost!

Of course don't get me wrong.  Baglady isn't some old nag from across the water, who wags her finger at me to make sure that I'm keeping up with the "Greens".

Instead her style is more like a gentle doyenne, often oddly dressed in a sea of carrier bags, preaching not, but kindly offering wisdom and encouragement for anyone who wants to take up more sustainable habits.

I might not have been entirely successful with my original pledge - measured by recently palming off a couple of hardly-worn summer purchases to a couple of good friends.  However, having watched the No Impact Man movie recently I seem to have found my groove again and am up for seeing how far I can go with Baglady's ASAP pledge system.

So, I've decided to  have a good think about real differences I can make in our little average household and put into practice some ideas that have been buzzing around my head for a wee while.

It shouldn't be hard, especially as there's one particular issue that  immediately comes to mind, which is the blimmin' temperature on the homefront.  It's only September but it's so chilly indoors that my ears are colder than a penguin's bottom.

But before I automatically crank up the thermostat I know there are certain options to explore to help conserve energy this autumn, like cavity wall insulation for instance.

Exciting isn't it.  Let me repeat it again.... cavity wall insulation!  Hmmm, it's as interesting as watching paint dry.

Of course neither my husband or I know whether we've got it.  And despite it now sounding like an emergency dental treatment, I've never felt the urgency to find out, even though I know you can get grants for it.

So, I'll leave you now while I make a few calls to investigate.

I'd better put my woolly hat on though....I know I'm staying indoors but still, I may be some time!
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More information about the ASAP pledge system can be found at www.bagladyproductions.org