Tag Archives: renovation

A green roof at Casa Carotondo, Le Marche

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The green roof of apartment Priora at Casa Carotondo in Le Marche, Italy

The green roof of apartment Priora at Casa Carotondo

Green roofs have been around for some time, but are now increasingly being regarded as a way to improve the environment in cities. The city of Chicago, for instance, has now declared that it sees green roofs as the way forward to try to reduce rising temperatures in the city as well as enhancing air quality. Heat is stored in the roof and walls of buildings during the day and given off at night, the so-called Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. A green roof prevents this heat storage happening. Through the daily dew and evaporation cycle, plants on vertical and horizontal surfaces are able to cool cities during hot summer months. They also provide some insulation to the building below, even in winter. Continue reading →

Renovating a house in Le Marche, Italy – a personal account.

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I shall start with a disclaimer. We rent holiday apartments, we do not offer estate agency or renovation services. However we did renovate/are still renovating our own house and can therefore provide some insight into the process. The aim is not to discourage or spur you on, simply, to give you an account of our experience. I should also add that we did not come here specifically to start a renovation project. One of my conditions on buying the house was that we get the builders in to do at least the heavy duty work. However we started with a laughably small budget for a house of 400 sqm. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it would have been better to employ builders to do, at least, the basics despite the expense. Instead we have kept the costs down but the whole project has taken a long time and we still haven’t finished. I would also like to reassure prospective guests that building work only takes place in the winter! Continue reading →