Crete House

I am so busy at my work at the moment that I dont have time (or energy) to write but I did want to share a couple of photos that our builder Giorgos sent today. This is the house and land to which we will retire. It is taking the builder a long time - work should have been finished last October- but the builder is our friend and we aren;t in a hurry as we expect to keep it for a life time. The indoor tiles are now complete and we wait for the windows and doors. Silly me, I was expecting them to be delivered by the manufacturer but the Giorgos son, Mikhalis, makes the windows and doors, plus the wardrobes and kitchen cupboards. This is certainly not the land of the disposable and the ready made ( I am very pleased to say.)




We need to order a wood burning stove to heat the house. This uses the clippings from our olive trees to keep us warm. The hot water will come from a solar panels. Photvoltaic cells for the roof, which produce electricty, are just starting to become avilable in Crete so in a few years, when the teething troubles are further along, we try this as well. My wood burning stove will be good for cooking as well in the winter and in the summer there will be cooking outside with wood. The house is design to have the wide verandah roof over all the windows so that we dont get sunlight in the heat of the say but we do get light. Also in winter the sun is lower in the sky and the sun comes in under the roof and helps us to heat. We are also nestled up against the mountain for warmth in winter. Too keep cool in summer we have asked for tiles throughout, we can unroll carpets in winter, and we have asked for large patio doors and more windows than normal so that we can take advantage of the wind that we get at that height.



Hmmm, I didn't think I had much to say but obviously I did!