Opening your home

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Does your home have one or more of the below? Or something we’ve not thought of yet?
💛Solar PV, solar thermal, battery etc
💜Insulation, energy saving, low cost draught-busting etc
❤️Low carbon home heating and cooling
💙Water saving
🖤Recycled, eco-friendly, upcycled or reclaimed materials, plastic avoidance etc
🧡Green transport
💚Food growing, food preserving, alternatives to supermarkets etc
🤎Wildlife-friendly gardening, rewilding etc

We are looking for homes and/or gardens of all types, whether owned or rented, houses or flats, gardens or balconies. We aren’t just looking for big ticket items like heat pumps and solar panels but are also interested in low cost/DIY solutions or lifestyle hacks that might be accessible to a wide range of people. You don’t have to be an expert, just enthusiastic about what you’ve done in your home/garden/lifestyle.

You won’t have to open for the whole period and will run a booking system to make sure you are in control of who comes when. We plan to follow the guidance from the green homes network. We will provide help and advice to householders opening their homes. We will not be publishing addresses of open homes on the website. We are also interested in any local independent businesses who would like to showcase what they’re doing for the environment.

Advice for householders who are opening their home and/or garden

Preparation

  • Our plan is for a booking system whereby potential visitors let us know which homes they are interested it. We will forward this information to you so you can make contact by phone or email with the person directly.
  • Put up posters signing the entrance to the home, from a main road if appropriate. We will provide signs that you can customise – let know how many you’d like.
  • If you think your neighbours might be troubled by cars parking, then please warn them in advance.
  • Make sure that you are home at the times for which visitors have booked
  • Be welcoming. Treat all visitors as people who may take that next step in the transition to a lower carbon lifestyle.
  • Decide whether you will have a ‘tour’ around the property, or whether you will be led by visitors as to which aspects they are interested in. If doing a tour you might want to practise with a friend beforehand.
  • Consider putting small labels and information at specific points around the house and garden – showing work in progress, or naming the features. E.g. “above this ceiling is 2 foot of sheep’s wool insulation, here’s a picture of us installing it.”
  • Consider creating a handout explaining the key features of your home, what you did and how well it worked etc. This could be a printed sheet, but if you prefer to direct visitors online to download it let us know, we can put it on our website and provide a link or QR code you can show visitors.

Security and insurance We are not aware of any issues arising from Green Open Homes events here or elsewhere. However, remember that strangers will be coming into your house and please take sensible precautions.

  • Place any moveable valuables out of site, and if possible in a locked room.
  • Ideally, have only one entrance open so you can monitor people coming and going from your house (and get them to fill in the Record of Visitors sheet).
  • Decide if any parts of your home will be “off limits”, make the boundaries clear and be sure you can monitor anyone trying to go where they shouldn’t.
  • Try not to be on your own when visitors are coming, and make sure that there is someone you can call for help if necessary.
  • Consider if there are any risks or hazards to be aware of in your property eg low ceilings, steep stairs, uneven flooring. We can visit beforehand to help create a risk assessment if you’d like us to.
  • Check that your home insurance includes public liability for anyone who is visiting.

On the day

  • Try to have at least one or two other people who can help on the day.
  • Ask visitors to sign in (paper sheet or QR code/link)
  • You might want to do a general introduction before beginning the tour, explaining why and how you took action to green your home/lifestyle.
  • If you have identified risks (see above), please try and minimise any risk of accidents happening by pointing these out in advance.
  • At the end, ask visitors to complete the visitor feedback form. (Paper copy or QR link)
  • After your last opening, please complete our householder evaluation form, which will help us plan future events.

Visiting other homes

  • You may be interested in visiting other homes who are opening for this event at the same time as yourself. If they are open at times when you are not, feel free to use the same booking system our general visitors will use. If tyou are not available at the times the home(s) you are interested in are open, let us know and we will contact them direct to see if they can fit you in separately