Old House Eco Handbook

A fuller summary of this book, subtitled “A practical guide to retrofitting for energy-efficiency and sustainability”, by Marianne Suhr and Roger Hunt, in association with the Society for the protection of ancient buildings, will be written soon. If your house has solid walls, without airspaces between the external stone or brick and the internal plasterwork, this is the book for you. These houses are common in England, but relatively rare in Scotland. I believe a lot of the confusion as to how best to insulate Scottish houses arises from people not recognising that the two forms of construction are entirely different. The ventilated cavity in Scottish houses allows vapour proof insulation boards to be used to replace lath and plaster. With solid walls, with plaster applied directly to the wall, this would not be sensible. More later.