All Posts
What the forum posts don't tell you: fifteen years with a self-built heating system
April 2026 — on the gap between a well-researched plan and a wet crawl space
The design article made it sound rational. The build article made it sound competent. This one is the honest one.
Replacing a gas boiler with solar, wood, and floor heating: the build
April 2012 — sixteen months, a lot of concrete dust, and one system that works
The previous article covered the design. This one covers what it actually takes to build it in an Amsterdam apartment block with a flat concrete roof, existing floors that need to come up, and a flue that needs to pass through multiple reinforced concrete slabs to reach the sky.
Replacing a gas boiler with solar, wood, and floor heating: the design
October 2011 — on why doing something properly means drawing it first
The Dutch gas grid is reliable, cheap by European standards, and completely outside your control. The price goes where it goes. The supply comes from wherever it comes from. The boiler it feeds is a black box maintained by people you call once a year and never quite understand what they tell you.