Environmental restoration - after 300 years

Major refurbishment to restore the building's fabric and make the house comfortable and energy efficient using products supplied by Natural Building Technologies.

Oakley house is a fine three floor, 300 year old brick and stone house which had been neglected for many years.

The new owners planned a major refurbishment to restore the building's fabric and make the house comfortable and energy efficient.

The brief was to carry this out in an environmentally sympathetic way, using products supplied by Natural Building Technologies (NBT).

The owners appreciated the importance of ensuring that repairs and new works used "breathable" systems and materials where practical.

NBT, which specialises in supplying environmentally sound products to the building industry, provided an internal wall insulation system that fixed straight to the brickwork, saving space by eliminating the need for a cavity.

The walls were levelled with NBT's BaumitBayosan lime plaster before fixing the Pavatex woodfibre boards as insulation.

Although only 40mm thick, the board's impressive thermal conductivity value of just 0.044 Wm-1K-1 and density of 180 kg/m3 resulted in a lightweight, airtight, interlocking insulation with a performance that rivalled far more heavyweight systems.

In addition, the breathing wall construction, together with the highly hygroscopic nature of the woodfibre boards, ensures there is no trapped damp or condensation in the walls, and a healthy living environment is provided.

For finishing, a meshed BaumitBayosan lime bonding coat was plastered directly onto the boards.

The mesh gives good impact resistance and ensures no cracking in the plaster which has a smooth, flat finish for final decoration.

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