EcoWizz · Browse
Five sections
Browse everything
Every job on the site, grouped by section. Or read them as one list in the whole register.
Draughts
Finding the gaps, then closing them.- Find the gaps firstAlmost everyone seals the wrong things. A smoking taper carried slowly round a closed room on a windy day finds the actual leaks in about ten minutes, and they are rarely where you expected.
- The letterboxA hole in the front door by design, and the two ways to deal with it.
- Floorboard gapsA whole floor's worth of small openings, and what fills them without cracking.
- The loft hatchAn uninsulated panel in the middle of the insulated surface.
Water
Catching it and keeping it.- A butt off a downpipeA diverter cut into the downpipe, a butt on blocks high enough for a can, and an overflow that goes somewhere sensible.
- The overflowThe part people skip, and where the water goes when they do.
- Keeping it cleanA lid, a filter and why standing water needs both.
- Greywater limitsWhat can and cannot be reused around a garden, stated conservatively.
The other 1 in water
Compost
Getting a heap to actually work.- A heap that heatsThe difference between a heap that composts and one that just sits is air, moisture and the ratio of green to brown.
- Green and brownNitrogen and carbon in plain terms, and how to judge it by hand.
- TurningWhy and how often, and what the steam means.
- What not to put inConventional guidance, stated plainly and not stretched.
Mending
Repair instead of replacement.- Mending instead of replacingThe small repairs worth learning, chosen because they are quick, reversible and need almost no equipment.
- A punctureFind it in water, roughen, glue, patch, wait. The waiting is the part people skip.
- A zipMost failures are the slider, not the teeth.
- A chair jointClean out the old glue first or it will not hold.
The other 1 in mending
Growing
Seed, and keeping it going.- Saving seedTake it from the best plant, let it ripen fully, dry it properly and label it — the labelling is where most of it goes wrong.
- Which plants come trueWhy some saved seed gives you the same plant and some does not.
- Drying and storingPaper, not plastic; cool, dark and dry.
- Testing old seedTen seeds on damp kitchen paper tells you whether to bother.