[plimsollmark]

Hi Guys,

I am looking to start construction of my bungalow in the next few months.

In a nutshell, its a 45 sq yd plot on which the home footprint would be about 20 Sq yards.
Both me and my wife are of the opinion that we must try and make the house as environment friendly as possible, and it shd be beautiful architecturally instead of jazzing it up with lavish fitments and furnishings. While the legal paperwork is in progress I am in the process of doing as much research as I can, some of which is the following -
1. Energy saving and relatively ecologically friendly ideas
2. Ways to enhance security (It will be a standalone house in a group of freehold plots)
3. Alternative ideas for cooling
4. Ideas for a low maintenance garden
5. Ideas for parking of vehicles as I wont be making a basement or stilt level.
6. Any ways to incorporate some form of pest control during construction
7. Low cost flooring options
8. Ideas for incorporating a courtyard and/or a watercourt, recirculation/filtering of water in the watercourt...
8. Much more that I probably havent even thought of !

Any inputs from fellow BHPians who have been through this or generally have something to share will be most welcome.

Cheers

Nikhil

(Mods, if necessary please move this topic in the correct section. Thanks)

[tanwaramit]

Won't 20 sq yards be small enough for rooms, given that you are planning for bungalow.

I would say plan for basement parking. So that your car is safe & locked inside house without using much of space for ground floor.

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

Won't 20 sq yards be small enough for rooms, given that you are planning for bungalow.

I would say plan for basement parking. So that your car is safe & locked inside house without using much of space for ground floor.

Edit: just saw that you have ruled out basement. I would say plan the design in such a way that enough sunlight reaches ground floor rooms.

Plan for kitchen ventilation such that heat escapes quickly.

[plimsollmark]

Sorry guys,
my typo,

The total area is 450 sq yards with a footprint of 200 sq yards with a first floor of about 150 sq yards.. apologies for the error.

Nikhil

[akhilesh51]

1. Solar Water Heating Plant
2. rain Water Harvesting Plant
3. You could have a solar panel setup that lights few bulbs here and ther, some fans and maybe few electric sockets (for TV etc) and you will effectively eliminate the need for genset or inverter.

Believe me, it will cost far less for you to incorporate these features in a new construction unlike in our case when we had to go for renovation rather than complete re-build.

Also, Solar panels / heaters have government subsidies which reduce initial costs considerably and there on, it is FREE (well, relatively )

BTW, you should watch 'Grand Designs' on BBC entertainment. They have some amazing and cost-effective eco-designs from across the UK and Europe.

[ukderebail]

It is nice of you to go for green bunglow, which will be a novel idea and futuristic. At the outset the technology for airconditioning green buildings with embedding pipes into the wall is the way to go. Pl check with eco architects for construction. If you have to keep your cost low go for labour contract, all the material will be sourced by you and supplied to the contractor. Get hold of a reliable engineer and ask him to give you material quantum purchase, i mean each phase of construction requires a specific no of cement bags, sand, jelly and bricks. Steel of various combo too will be given by the structural engineer. Embedd solar water heating plumbing lines in construction and water harvesting in the design. Vitrified tiles are cheaper and easier to maintain there are lot of standard or branded companies in this business. Say no to CFL i believe it is not so eco friendly, some slim tubes are the way to go pl check and reconfirm. All the best.

[deky]

First of all Congratulations for building your dream house and secondly a big clap for you for thinking about going green. 450 sq yards is a big enough plot to be able to build a bungalow on it.

And since I think you are in Pune you are also more or less blessed with much better climate than what we get up here in the north so I guess growing green will definitely help.

My inputs while making the house will be the following

1. First and foremost get an architect who understands what growing green means, they are the ones who will make the design and can advise you the best

2. Use of solar energy wherever required

3. Water harvesting should be done. Both ground water recharge and storage tanks should be created. Storgae tanks would help in with your garden and with your flushing system

4. Try and incorporate illumination by as much natural lighting as possible, I dont think pune has many hot hot summer months so this will be possible by using lots of glass

5. Study the wind pattern in your region and try to have as much cross ventilation as possible in the rooms, can save heavily on electricity bills

6. Investing in good quality electrical wires and sensible uncluttered wiring can save lots of electricity, do not go for extra plug points if not required.

7. For avoiding point no 6, it is prudent that you also decide your interiors when the internal wiring is being done, so you exactly know that in a room where the bed will be so accordingly you will know where the tv point should be or the AC point should be and so on.
When wires are cut and rejoined there is some loss of currnet.
7a. Similarly decide about plumbing in advance also, decide what faucets, the make and the deisgn. Decide what wc or what sink would you be using. This will help the plumber and save you money in later stages.

8. Termite treatment is a must if the area is termite infested. Please get it done thoroughly by a reputed vendor. They usually give a 5 yrs guarantee (ofcourse with lots of underlines). If I was you I would definitely get treatment done but apart from that I would avoid using wood for window frames and door frames on the ground level. Stone ones look pretty, are termite proof and definitely much cheaper than wood

9. For home flooring I think tiles would be the best, or you could go in for marble

Also going green reminds me that the ITC Green centre building in Gurgaon has been winning lots of awards national and international for its contribution towards the environment.

There are lots of articles on the net telling what all does the building has. I know some of the points may not be usable at home but you could get lots of ideas from there

Regards

[idea]

We have a builder in pune who builds its project with green certification?

Jawadekars Eco Homes.

Other than regular measures like solar, rain water harvesting , they are also using wind power, eco friendly bricks etc. i will suggest visit their website for better idea once.

Which are we are looking at in pune?

PMC gives 10% discount on property tax with eco certification.

[somspaple]

Originally Posted by plimsollmark

Hi Guys,

I am looking to start construction of my bungalow in the next few months.

In a nutshell, its a 45 sq yd plot on which the home footprint would be about 20 Sq yards.
Both me and my wife are of the opinion that we must try and make the house as environment friendly as possible, and it shd be beautiful architecturally instead of jazzing it up with lavish fitments and furnishings. While the legal paperwork is in progress I am in the process of doing as much research as I can, some of which is the following -

1. Energy saving and relatively ecologically friendly ideas

...................

Any inputs from fellow BHPians who have been through this or generally have something to share will be most welcome.

Cheers

Nikhil

(Mods, if necessary please move this topic in the correct section. Thanks)

fist thing congratulations !!

about the above point i can give you an idea about day time lighting. i don't know how far it will be applicable in your case but in some cases the places/rooms become dark due to less light or brightness contrast. you might end up using the artificial light even in the day (not uncommon for most of us).

my Dad is contemplating getting the sun light tubed into the house in the day time. this system costs around 20K each. and according to him the quality of lighting and the ambience created is unmatched.

i could not find much online but here is something related
SUNLIGHT DIRECT

all the best!!

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by akhilesh51

1.
Also, Solar panels / heaters have government subsidies which reduce initial costs considerably and there on, it is FREE (well, relatively )

I did read about that sometime on the net, but for some odd reason cant find those links. If you could provide the details, it would be very helpful not only for me but to all those that want to go green, the tiny crowd of nutcases like me would feel better if they did something in return for the planet .

[Burning Grunt]

Back in 2006-07, I was working on my masters thesis related to solar passive architecture. And I had an opportunity to implement couple of construction features which were really effective, when we built our house.

1. Double wall construction with an air gap in-between for outer walls of the house. This reduces the overall heat transfer coefficient and the house remains cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

2. On the floor of the first floor, we used semi-opaque toughened glass (~20 mm thick). It can easily take up human or furniture load. It effectively illuminates the ground floor and we don't have to use tube-light/bulb during daytime. The semi-opaqueness also ensures privacy for first floor occupants.

[maddy42]

Many have recommended most of what i was thinking.

Do not go for CFL's. Go for LED lights instead. There are many vendors supplying them, May be expensive now but you have a 10 year odd life time and lower consumption of electricity which will help you.

Try to make your rooms very spacious and roomy, Huge windows in the kitchen is very important.

Keep big ventilators around your house. This gets both light and wind.

Install a solar water heater and rain water harvesting now itself.

Make a kitchen garden with the water used in your kitchen going directly to a tank in your garden. This water will be good and will not be wasted.

Check wooden flooring. This will be easier to maintain too.

[Ragul]

Please look out the Auroville Earth Institute workshops and training videos or other programs

One of the aims of the Auroville Earth Institute is to give people the possibility to create and build for themselves their own habitat, while using earth techniques.

The training course activities and the endeavour to promote raw earth as a building material for sustainable and cost effective development has brought since 1989 thirteen awards: Two international awards and eleven Indian awards.
...
The Auroville Earth Institute is researching, developing, promoting and transferring earth-based technologies, which are cost and energy effective. These technologies are disseminated through training courses, seminars, workshops, manuals and documents. The Institute is also offering various services, and provides consultancy within and outside India.

http://www.earth-auroville.com/index.php?nav=about&lang_code=en

A visit to Auroville is highly recommended.

HTH
--Ragul

[plimsollmark]

Originally Posted by akhilesh51

1. Solar Water Heating Plant
2. rain Water Harvesting Plant
3. You could have a solar panel setup that lights few bulbs here and ther, some fans and maybe few electric sockets (for TV etc) and you will effectively eliminate the need for genset or inverter.

Believe me, it will cost far less for you to incorporate these features in a new construction unlike in our case when we had to go for renovation rather than complete re-build.

Also, Solar panels / heaters have government subsidies which reduce initial costs considerably and there on, it is FREE (well, relatively )

BTW, you should watch 'Grand Designs' on BBC entertainment. They have some amazing and cost-effective eco-designs from across the UK and Europe.

@Akhilesh thanks for your inputs, Solar systems for heating is definitely on my to-do list. From what I know the technlogy has advanced to store energy from various spectrum of lights such as bright sunlight, partly cloudy but sunny and overcast light. Shall also look out for the grand designs show.

Originally Posted by ukderebail

It is nice of you to go for green bunglow, which will be a novel idea and futuristic. At the outset the technology for airconditioning green buildings with embedding pipes into the wall is the way to go. Pl check with eco architects for construction. If you have to keep your cost low go for labour contract, all the material will be sourced by you and supplied to the contractor. Get hold of a reliable engineer and ask him to give you material quantum purchase, i mean each phase of construction requires a specific no of cement bags, sand, jelly and bricks. Steel of various combo too will be given by the structural engineer. Embedd solar water heating plumbing lines in construction and water harvesting in the design. Vitrified tiles are cheaper and easier to maintain there are lot of standard or branded companies in this business. Say no to CFL i believe it is not so eco friendly, some slim tubes are the way to go pl check and reconfirm. All the best.

@ukderebail, thanks for your suggestions, seems like you have some experience in this !

Originally Posted by deky

First of all Congratulations for building your dream house and secondly a big clap for you for thinking about going green. 450 sq yards is a big enough plot to be able to build a bungalow on it.

And since I think you are in Pune you are also more or less blessed with much better climate than what we get up here in the north so I guess growing green will definitely help.

My inputs while making the house will be the following

1. First and foremost get an architect who understands what growing green means, they are the ones who will make the design and can advise you the best

2. Use of solar energy wherever required

3. Water harvesting should be done. Both ground water recharge and storage tanks should be created. Storgae tanks would help in with your garden and with your flushing system

4. Try and incorporate illumination by as much natural lighting as possible, I dont think pune has many hot hot summer months so this will be possible by using lots of glass

5. Study the wind pattern in your region and try to have as much cross ventilation as possible in the rooms, can save heavily on electricity bills

6. Investing in good quality electrical wires and sensible uncluttered wiring can save lots of electricity, do not go for extra plug points if not required.

7. For avoiding point no 6, it is prudent that you also decide your interiors when the internal wiring is being done, so you exactly know that in a room where the bed will be so accordingly you will know where the tv point should be or the AC point should be and so on.
When wires are cut and rejoined there is some loss of currnet.
7a. Similarly decide about plumbing in advance also, decide what faucets, the make and the deisgn. Decide what wc or what sink would you be using. This will help the plumber and save you money in later stages.

8. Termite treatment is a must if the area is termite infested. Please get it done thoroughly by a reputed vendor. They usually give a 5 yrs guarantee (ofcourse with lots of underlines). If I was you I would definitely get treatment done but apart from that I would avoid using wood for window frames and door frames on the ground level. Stone ones look pretty, are termite proof and definitely much cheaper than wood

9. For home flooring I think tiles would be the best, or you could go in for marble

Also going green reminds me that the ITC Green centre building in Gurgaon has been winning lots of awards national and international for its contribution towards the environment.

There are lots of articles on the net telling what all does the building has. I know some of the points may not be usable at home but you could get lots of ideas from there

Regards

@Deky, thanks for your superb tips, Although you have a wrong notion of Pune, it sadly is no longer the cool city it used to be, Summers are harsh, post monsoons in Spet/October again sees Pune touching near 40 degrees, hence economical cooling is definitely on my top 10 ! Will look up the ITC green centre.

Originally Posted by idea

We have a builder in pune who builds its project with green certification?

Jawadekars Eco Homes.

Other than regular measures like solar, rain water harvesting , they are also using wind power, eco friendly bricks etc. i will suggest visit their website for better idea once.

Which are we are looking at in pune?

PMC gives 10% discount on property tax with eco certification.

@Idea, will check out this builder and see what he does to get his green certification.

Originally Posted by somspaple

fist thing congratulations !!

about the above point i can give you an idea about day time lighting. i don't know how far it will be applicable in your case but in some cases the places/rooms become dark due to less light or brightness contrast. you might end up using the artificial light even in the day (not uncommon for most of us).

my Dad is contemplating getting the sun light tubed into the house in the day time. this system costs around 20K each. and according to him the quality of lighting and the ambience created is unmatched.

i could not find much online but here is something related
SUNLIGHT DIRECT

all the best!!

@Somspaple, this idea is downright superb, the link you gave is american, if and when your dad does get this done, do let us know the Indian supplier/manufacturer for this.

Originally Posted by Burning Grunt

Back in 2006-07, I was working on my masters thesis related to solar passive architecture. And I had an opportunity to implement couple of construction features which were really effective, when we built our house.

1. Double wall construction with an air gap in-between for outer walls of the house. This reduces the overall heat transfer coefficient and the house remains cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

2. On the floor of the first floor, we used semi-opaque toughened glass (~20 mm thick). It can easily take up human or furniture load. It effectively illuminates the ground floor and we don't have to use tube-light/bulb during daytime. The semi-opaqueness also ensures privacy for first floor occupants.

@Burninggrunt, thanks for your suggestions, things like double walls might not be economically feasible but yes, the skylight ideas are great ! I am mostly incorporating a central courtyard with a rooftop skylight.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Many have recommended most of what i was thinking.

Do not go for CFL's. Go for LED lights instead. There are many vendors supplying them, May be expensive now but you have a 10 year odd life time and lower consumption of electricity which will help you.

Try to make your rooms very spacious and roomy, Huge windows in the kitchen is very important.

Keep big ventilators around your house. This gets both light and wind.

Install a solar water heater and rain water harvesting now itself.

Make a kitchen garden with the water used in your kitchen going directly to a tank in your garden. This water will be good and will not be wasted.

Check wooden flooring. This will be easier to maintain too.

@maddy42, check, check and check to your points, intend to plan for most of these. Wooden flooring however am not sure of as costs are fairly high.

[mukaan]

Hi,

I have a 1810sft terrace and had installed the Thermatek tiles instead of the conventional roof lining with the terracotta tiles.
The cost had been 15 % more than the conventional roof insulation.

I had painted the pipes and other exposed plumbing with their heat reflective paint

I can vouch for the benefits any day.

The thermal insulation is very tangible ..being from Chennai it has resulted in the reduction of the electricity consumption

Please check out Thermatek® - Thermal Barriers you may find some very useful material for your home.

[tj123]

Try to use recycled waste water to be used for flushing , this step is much easier and cost effective to implement when initial plumbing is done. This will definitely save lot of potable water going down the drain via flush.