2197 abruzzi

Andy .thanks for reply .Interesting to know that you are in Secinaro. What drew you to this area.? With me it was a mixture , the beauty/ economics. I have a small stone place. In the old part. In two weeks had knocked out the interior so as to let in some more space and light. Castleveccio hardware shop is run by Marie who can speak English. She provided me with lots of help. I can also get some wood to make floors from her. Some of the natives of S have welcomed me into thier homes for meals ., ROOF , I have exposed the chesnut roof , the beams look to be made of tree trunks and are uneven. I am wondering how to insulate.
The doors and windows are spaggetti strainers as I found to my chagrin after the first fall of snow. I could be seen dragging large dead 'legno' through the snow to my pathetically small stufa. After my third night awake ( because unless one is contually feeding the stove through the night it unfortunately ceases to produce heat.) Am back when sun comes out. sid. lots more to ask. about car. tax etc.Am thinking of both holiday rent and residence. sid.

andy.Kasper was my agent and Annie. from Casa- Italia. got to get new doors and windows when I get back. The old ones are not a snug fit. Also will move the Toilet.would like to get some rental from it and maybe buy another for me.will check the commercial aspect sometime. Thanks for offer of heater. are you there all summer. sid

I have a little house in Abruzzo - heating in the winter is a problem but last year we had a pellet stuffa fitted in the kitchen which blows warm air around the house - you dont have to feed it in the night - just feed the hopper with the wood pellets and it stays in 12 - 18 hours depending on how high you have it - its done the trick and we stayed at the house for new year and although not as warm as my house in england we managed (hot water bottles)
Pamela

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]hi Sid

We are in Abruzzo too! The first thing that needs doing in our old place is the roof. We want it to be taken off and all the rotten beams relaced then the insulation put in so if you come across any suggestions from locals as to what to use it would be great to hear.I would like the newspaper pulp if you know what I mean and in the UK sheeps wool is replacing the old insulation in 'green homes' but it is more expensive.Perhaps some enterprising Abruzzeses will start producing it.I hear there are a lot of sheep in Abruzzo!

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=pamela]I have a little house in Abruzzo - heating in the winter is a problem but last year we had a pellet stuffa fitted in the kitchen which blows warm air around the house - you dont have to feed it in the night - just feed the hopper with the wood pellets and it stays in 12 - 18 hours depending on how high you have it - its done the trick and we stayed at the house for new year and although not as warm as my house in england we managed (hot water bottles)
Pamela[/QUOTE]
At the present this heating thing is a bit of a problem. I dont want it to hold me up. Having said that from my gas fire in England.I am looking to insulate it the cheapest way poss.New windows and doors are costly. toying with making a few of them myself. The stufa I bought wasnt big enough for the job, I will get a bigger one that comes in bits because of access to my place .sid.

Lambswool IS expensive I have heard. The cold seems to be the major prob apart from the language, which I am force feeding on.Thinking of making up my own doors ( cost effective if you can do it) I have all the tools.Small windmills on the roof for electric. ( IN the UK but not sure about Italy).Have already got water barrel in mind but am hoping its not going to rain that much, as I came here for the sun.I just want to sit out and look at the stars, all this insulation business and Legno (..whinge..moan..) still finding way around web site I may have repeated myself.

Sid,

For what its worth my roof needs to be redone and I have been given a quote for the work with and without thermal insulation.

Whereas in UK the insulation will come in sheets, I think there its poured on rather like cement. The order is rafters, flat tiles, insulation, water proof membrane and then the roof tiles.

The roof is about 80 sq mtrs and the quote was Euro 10,000 + IVA for the lot. It was only Euro 1500 cheaper to do without the insulation, which would be crazy, I think.

This is in Pescara province, and I reckon would cost 2-3 times as much in Kent.

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="2"]Hi

warmcel 100 is totally non-toxic and you can buy it in quilting or loose to pour into spaces.It's made from paper.

In the UK a good site is [url]www.mikewye.co.uk[/url] with info on lots of stuff.

I asked about sheep wool as there are so many sheep in Abruzzo I thought it may be widely available.Appreciate it is more costly but everyone is saying just how cold these houses are so probably aq bit more spent on insulation means a bit saved on heating!

By the way Sid I think it rains quite a bit in Abruzzo! Had a day of torrential rain in June and thunder storms in Sept.In the mountains I think it rains at least once a week in the summer but not much on the coast!

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

Rain ? christ what have I done..are you sure ? nah..

sid

anyone in abruzzo can tell you that it rains a lot here.... but mainly in the mountains...the weather sort of piles up on them and remains... you will find that one day of rain in the mountains is not a realistic...they get lots of bad weather in the mountains.... the idea is not to live or try to above 500 metres.... do not live within say 20 km straight line distance of the mountains and never and this is most important if you do not like very cold winters or very hot windless summers choose to live the western side of the mountains.... places like avezzano .. aquila... castel di sangro and an oft mentioned name here is sulmona... they are all very cold... and i mean very cold sort of think of swiss/austrian type winters cold... but with more rain... one place might be to choose popoli...with all the hot baths you can go and warm up... its just the smell of the place is a bit off putting

in july and august from here we can see when it snows on the mountain whilst sitting in temps of 90 c... so dont worry about the rain ...its the snow that will get you....

manopello... been noticing your name a lot these days ... had to travel to pescara a few times in the last week and everytime i leave the motorway there you are highlighted in blue....

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Hi John

What does this mean..in blue?? Possibly this is as Manoppello is where it's at ..or is it because the commune said they'd let me off my ICI if I keep banging on about it on this forum getting all the brits to inflate local house prices?

On a serious note I didnt like the sound of the 'pour on' insulation 'like cement'.Don't you think it could actually be cement? Not insulation at all?

I plan on instructing our geometra on exactly what insulation we need ( I find Italian males are terrified of bossy English ladies of a certain age!)..my partner is happy to leave all this to me!!He will just moan on when it all goes pear shaped! poor old Enzo.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=manopello][FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Hi John

What does this mean..in blue??

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

I suppose John means the blue road signs 'Manoppello' when he has been driving to Pescara and back

Have just clicked on the obi-italia.com site recommended but it would appear to be an Italian buckle and belt manufacturer. Is this because the cold weather snaps your braces?!!

I haven't been able to find any DIY shops that list stock so would be grateful for any recommendations.

Thanks

Jackie

andy ... the sheep dissapearing act ... i think you might well find that most shepherds have their flocks at the yards at the moment...tucked up in barns if lucky... grass is in short supply at the moment and if you try grazing it now it wont be replenished for the spring .... so in general its easier to feed them on hay and such...close to home... another thing is that hopefully they will be lambing ... so get ready for even more sheep...

hope this one hits the spot. second hand cars anyone know where I could get one from in Abruzzi around the 1000 euro and below.

[QUOTE=manopello][FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Hi John

What does this mean..in blue?? Possibly this is as Manoppello is where it's at ..or is it because the commune said they'd let me off my ICI if I keep banging on about it on this forum getting all the brits to inflate local house prices?

On a serious note I didnt like the sound of the 'pour on' insulation 'like cement'.Don't you think it could actually be cement? Not insulation at all?

I plan on instructing our geometra on exactly what insulation we need ( I find Italian males are terrified of bossy English ladies of a certain age!)..my partner is happy to leave all this to me!!He will just moan on when it all goes pear shaped! poor old Enzo.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
We used different roofing insulations for different roofs.Our largest roof we used the eco friendly expanded clay in the cement mix.Expanded clay comes as v.small balls weighing nothing which were mixed in to the cement this lightened by 50% the weight on the roof of the cement scree and is an excellent insulator.On the other rooves we used cork also an eco friendly material,builders love it cos it's easy to lay as it can be cut easily to go round things like chimneys etc is also an extra waterproofing and an excellent insulator and very light.needless to say on top of both insulations the welded asphalt membrane was laidAll these materials will be well known to your geometra/builders and i'm sure easily available anywhere in Abruzzo from regular builders merchants as in the marche,all of whom by the way are unlikely to sell in internetor speak any english etc.

Cheers Andy

Thanks for the help

Good luck next week and let us know what the weather is doing ( will we need one or two layers of thermals)!!

Jackie

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Hi

I've done a lot of reasearch on the interenet and cannot find any mention of cork as an insulation material either here in US or Scandinavian Countries so forgive me for being a bit sceptical.If its so good what are its insulation values compared to rockwool, paper pulp, sheep's wool etc,etc? Bearing in mind that nearly everyone here seem to be 'freezing' in their Italian homes are these methods really effective?

I'm slightly concerned that our builders are going to present us with the 'option' of using something that's no good just because they find it easier to use?Could it be another case of 'thats the way we do things in Italy'?

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

becky

i would take note of sebastianos posting... and basically regard it as fact.... i have got to know him over the years and he is one of the few people on the forum that actually lives here... works here and knows here ... and he absolutely never posts unlike some of us unless he knows what hes talking about....

ps ... i bet if you pm him he will be very helpful and supply details.... it will be a lot easier than searching the web.... clay balls .. i know for sure are used...and where you have weight problems because of structure deficiencies are indeed very handy....

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Andy

I am truly impressed thanks for this very useful post.I like the blinds idea for windows.we want to stick with the wood windows in a traditional style as our house is old and heat loss through windows is our main problem in out old UK house which is actually owned by the National Trust so we can't remidey it!

John I was not trying to ignore Sebastiano's advice its simply that I fear we could be in a bit of a we do it because we've always done it situation here and I just wanted to know what people thought.One of the reasons that we want to renovate our place ourselves is that we want to have our own choices of material/techniques not the local builder's.Obviously the roof is the exception as we are not going to be allowed to fix it ourselves.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

The reason most Italian's houses are so cold is that most of the roofs aren't insulated at all. It is a fairly recent (last 10 - 15 years) thing here.

Sorry, it was a bit of a blase statement. I didn't mean it was the only reason. The radiators are definitely unders spec'd here and the plumber thought we were crazy to want to heat a stairway! The U values you quote are useful as they don't appear on the packaging for anything here and are really difficult to find out.

A friend also told is of a great shop in Pollenza (near Tolentino) that is an eco-shop selling solar systems, wind turbines, lime products, natural insulations and soundproofing materials. It is called Archinatura.

as penny said...sorry.... me too... i think my post came out after yours about local knowledge because we were posting replies at more or less the same time and if it appeared i was having a go at you then again apologies...or even to becky.... .. been meaning to post this for ages but just didnt get around to it...

anyway andy ...like others have said your technical info is very useful and i find it as i am sure others do a handy reference to how things should be done.....

in practical terms the world is not perfect .... but to have this as a reference point gives at least something to head for...

No problem John. Just one of the pet subjects of Mr Livingstone in London at the moment for planning permission, so a hot topic at work.

Andy

Not sure these are exactly what we have been talking about, but seem to be roughly there ot there abouts:

[url]http://www.castorama.it/schede_consiglio/artI367.php?mytype=[/url]

[url]http://www.castorama.it/schede_consiglio/artI365.php?mytype=[/url]

[url]http://www.castorama.it/prodotti/artI210.php[/url]

[url]http://www.castorama.it/prodotti/artI204.php[/url]

[url]http://www.castorama.it/prodotti/artI191.php[/url]

Andy