Wrapping up the house - 1

So that's it. A new heating system installed and working and then we just sit back and relax.

I don't think so. Not our style at all.

It's like this. The house we moved into some six months ago is perfect for us in so many ways and yet, in so many others, it is not. The central heating was originally powered from a large gas tank which now sits (empty) in the front garden. We are delighted to have installed Air-Source heating but we still have the issue that whatever heat we put into the house vanishes as soon as it arrives because the house has no insulation in its walls. We are not unique in this, of course, but somehow the very thought that the more heat we create for ourselves living inside the house, the more leaks out, makes us feel uncomfortable. What seems to be happening is that our new heating system is warming up the whole of Scotland, a futile and hideously expensive concept.

So alongside installing new heating we have always had another plan. This involves wrapping up the house in something that keeps the heat in; it is called thermal insulation. There are various ways of doing this, of course, but the one considered most suitable for us is an external insulating layer secured to the outside of each wall in such a way that the inside heat can no longer escape. This, combined with insulation beneath the floor, from where even more heat is disappearing, seems the best way to make the house cozy and warm.

And so it begins...

This is the before picture...but then we wait and wait. We're told the work will start 'next week' but strangely this phrase doesn't mean what we thought it might.

One thing is clear though. Our house has walls that start high above ground level, it is a bungalow on stilts, so scaffolding has to be erected before anything can start.

Then without warning one day a lorry turns up and a few hours later the view out of our windows changes.

It occurs to us that once work starts we must be prepared to have workmen peering in from outside so when emerging from the shower, for example, an element of caution will be required.

Our house stands out due to its high position poised above the harbour. Anyone glancing upwards now and it is the pointed bristles of the supporting poles that catch the eye.

There's no hiding what is going on, even from a distance the scaffolding is visible so the whole village will be keen to see what happens next, as indeed are we. But a week goes by and still there's no sign of any insulation going on.

Oh, but wait a minute. What's that van outside. Plumbers? Early one morning there's a team of fit young men are making alterations to our gutter drainage pipes so the insulation can be fitted on. This is promising. And then we hear from George, our contract manager for the project, who tells us work will start next week. Now where have I heard that before?

One surprise was when a couple of very pleasant chaps started unloading stacks of insulation materials onto our garden, then coming back with another load which they stacked up on the roadside. (Some of this was later picked up by a gust of wind and scattered across the road, before being retrieved by some helpful neighbours.) It certainly looks like all this stuff could keep the house warm if it were stuck onto our walls so I suppose we should be grateful for this.

Another van, a white one, pulls up outside and a young man emerges, smiling broadly. With his strong Scottish accent he tells us he alone will be screwing the insulating panels to our walls, and for the next day and a half, despite the torrential rain showers, that is what he does. Inside the house the noise of his drilling is deafening but the speed he works is impressive so we do not complain. The next morning he is back and so is the rain, continuous and heavy. By lunchtime he is tired and wet but he has only one wall left to do.

Our house gradually disappears behind a layer of grey polystyrene and granules from where the panels have been sawn and shaped cover the ground outside. But this is only part one. There's much more to come.