ecovation25/09/2009

When your first thought after waking up in the morning is no longer "let's go for a swim!" and your summer house or cottage feels less and less summery, probably it's time for a renovation! Problem: there are far too many people (thank God!) who think that their at least hundred years old countryside log house is far too valuable to be destroyed by drywall or hanging ceilings.

Of course, the story is not about plastic windows - the opportunity exists to make new wooden windows with IGU or, if authenticity is your thing and the old frames are in good shape, you can even renew the old, "genuine" ones with ordinary glass panes or float glass. Same with the door - burn or sand away the old paint, close any holes if there are any and the door is ready for another hundred years. If lucky, under the old Soviet cardboard sheets you'll find very well preserved wooden ceiling. Again, work with sandpaper - and the world's most beautiful ceiling is born again!

The same applies to the floor. The "ecovation" experts recommend linseed oil as varnishes and paints are not environmentally friendly materials. Even more: it's not just about the stubbornness of "green living" - after many years the old, chemical paint has almost encapsulated, "laminated" the planks; it turns out that under a "nice", white paint lies absolutely rotten, decayed wood. Because it wasn't breathing. And wood needs to breathe.

The linseed oil-treated floor boards need more time to dry. Similarly, some people recommend to treat the floor with wax afterwards - that way it'll last longer and serve more.

Clearly, when renovating loft, the drywall will be the cheapest and best choice, although nothing can be more beautiful than simple, nice wooden boards. However, the aptly called "ecowool" (because it is produced from cellulose, or, simply put, from old newspapers) has many deniers who say that stone wool is indeed better against the rats who "eat" the ecowool. On the other hand, the technology of ecowool gives it clear advantage in terms of thermal insulation - because it is being "blown" in dry or wet form in it's place (not simply put by hand), it covers all the smallest holes and gives total insullation which would be very important when insullation a log house. It'll fill all gaps and openings; at the end of the day you'll need less material for the same level of insullation, therefore you won't have to lose unnecessary space (in comparison to a "standard" stone wool insullation thickness of 10 - 20 cm).

Sooner or later during all these repair plans you realize that perhaps all this is quite unnecessary. Maybe our forefathers and ancestors had lower requirements in terms of the average temperature in the house during the winter months? Perhaps they were not afraid from the draft, didn't walk around the house in stockings but built a fine fireplace instead, covered the gaps in logs with moss and just prepared for the winter? Maybe after hundred years, any attempt to repair an old wooden house anyway comes to the moment when you put the central heating in (it's so convenient!), install an electric floor and the dry toilet becomes "wet" with all the sewerage and water pipes. Is that bad? Is it not ecological? Because we truly live in different times.