Mortgages

[emordnilap]

Triple glazing = good
Air tightness = good
Ventilation = good
Thermal bridges = bad
No heat exchanger = bad

Could you convince your man to get hemp insulation (available locally, doable yourselves and think of the children!)?

[Adam1]

Adam1, I thought about a straw build but my boyfriend won't consider alternative building methods at all. Also, I did hear that tests on a straw bale house in Ireland showed high moisture levels in the walls. Think might not get a mortage for it here.

Have a read of the book I suggested. It addresses the moisture point - essentially, careful design and rigorous quality control during the build are both key to avoiding this problem. I would have thought that, if the building meets building regs, you should get mortgage for it. Also, straw bale is not a single option. There are lots of ways that you can use straw bales.

Even if your partner is not convinced about the implications of PO (BTW, has he read the FORFAS report?), maybe you could use financial-prudence-in-an-economically-uncertain-time as an argument for keeping your build costs and mortgage as low as possible?

As emordhilap says, hemp-and-lime is worth considering too. This company, which are based in Co. Monaghan, are good.