Eco-build weekend

[heatherw]

This looks interesting.  Has anyone actually been to one of this type of event?  What are they like, would it be worth the trip?

http://www.buildstore.co.uk/mykindofhome/events/everything-eco-weekend.html

[desperate]

Hi heatherw

I,ve never been to an Eco Event, but if they are anything like the other trade shows I,ve seen they may be full of sales people trying to convince you that their products are the best and all else is rubbish. I guess there are some genuine folk there but it is hard work sorting the wheat from the chaff, to be honest I cant be rrsed any more. This forum is much better than any show i,ve seen.

Desperate

[heatherw]

I was afraid of that.

You're right, this forum is exceptional for answers.  My problem is that I need new input to know what questions to ask.  

[Brandon]

what are you trying to achieve?

[Ted]

I've been to the Swindon centre a couple of times.  I found a wide range of ability among presentation speakers (I had to walk out of a Part L session the guy was just so bad) so you might be lucky or not.

Outside the sessions you will find lots to look at but not many people to ask questions of. You're given a bar code reader to scan items you are interested in to get the companies to send you details by post.

[Amy]

ive found that at these type shows, there are few technical sales people who have real knowledge and experience of products/applications, but more likely, sales peeps who just want you to sign on the dotted line and max their bonus.

Ask an original in depth question and all they can do is take your email and promise to let you know

youve a better chance of getting answers here with little or no sales bias

[heatherw]

Brandon

Well....

i) I want to knock our house down and build it again with insulation (none at present on any side) without spending too much money.  House is small, 63m2 with no hope of permission to build more, so I have to either make an illegal tank room upstairs (no upstairs at present) or put one of those integral tank things on the roof. (Ugly) .Plus underfloor heating

II) I'd like to install some pv as well to offset the energy we use but the best roof formation for new build is roughly NE SW tho I suppose it could be SE NW.

There are lots of protected trees too.

iii) I also want to install some PV on the roof of our warehouse, which also faces the wrong way.
 
 And

iv) I want to heat the pool in some way.  I'm already halfway through this project but summer is when we have loads of work and no timeso it's all in abeyance at the moment.

and

v) want some chickens.  Presently making ark in odd 5 minute intervals when there's no work and it's not too hot.  Which is virtually never and that's why it's taking so long.

You did ask......

[wookey]

For i I'd read the green building forum (if you aren't already). Why would upstairs tank room in new build be illegal? Given a new build you should be able to accomodate space for solar tank and optimising panel alignment one way or another (although anything between SE and SW is generally good-enough so probably no need to worry about it). Trees are more of an issue, especially for PV.

Knock down and rebuild is more hassle, but it's much easier to do a good job and will give much better final results. congrats for biting the bullet.