House Design - Energy Saving

[Guest pitrat]

I was just wondering if anybody on here had built there own house with increased insulation, double glazing etc? As you may have read on one of my husband's previous posts, I suffer v bad in the cold and think I may be the 1st person moving to Australia and worrying about the cold! I do understand when people say that the winter is short, but if the house is cold then its probably gonna feel pretty long to me Where rentals are concerned I guess its just more layers on a deal with it, but looking to my own home in the not too distant future, if I can build it well insulated at a reasonable cost then its gotta help with warm in winter and cool in summer energy costs hasn't it?

So if anybody has, how difficult was it to arrange, did it cost a whole heap more and was it worth it?

Cheers

Pitrat's Wife

[NicF]

I haven't built my own home yet but we are in the process of doing so. We are putting in extra insulation and UPVc double glazing for the very reasons you have mentioned. We are also putting in a seperate living room that can be closed of and installing a gas fire in it. It's also possible to instal underfloor heating, but we ruled this out on the basis that it's not responsive enough for our liking.

 

All new houses here have to be six star energy rated so the levels of insulation are already better than they used to be and quite often you will have to have double glazing to achieve the six stars, but it is usually in aluminium frames. Some builders actually build seven star rated houses as standard, but they are not cheap.

 

We bought our block of land and then engaged a builder. Before we committed to a builder though we told them what we wanted and asked if they were able to build to our specifications. Any that weren't able to be flexible and provide our requirements were crossed off the list. It's particularly easy to get builders to be flexible at the moment because there is not much work around and they are happy to go the extra mile to win the work. If it was busy this might not be quite so easy and we might have been forced to go with a more expensive builder that does bespoke homes.

 

In terms of cost I think the upgraded insulation is going to cost a couple of thousand dollars extra and the windows are likely to be around 8-10 thousand extra. Obviously we are not in yet so I can't be sure it's worth it, but after living in a house with single glazed aluminium framed windows I'm pretty sure it will be, both from a keeping heat in/out and also from a sound insulation point of view.

[Guest pitrat]

Fantastic! Thanks Nic, that certainly put my mind at ease Will be interested in hearing how things work out for you and maybe pinching some contacts in the not too distant future!

[ian mc]

You can put all the double glazing in you want and insulation in but its the frame itsself that is the problem you need to have the frame sheeted on the outside and wraped with a building paper and on the inside you have the walls insulated with a vaupour barrier to stop any draughts gettting in. They do not seal round the windows and doors here so the air just moves between the wall and the window frame same as infills above and below windows not sealed so air movement is the problem.It would cost quite a bit to get house to a reasonable standard here to make it feel warm but not impossible.

 

 

typical british timber frame below and a Aussie timber frame net to it.

 

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Edited October 30, 2012 by ian mc

[jim and adel]

You can put all the double glazing in you want and insulation in but its the frame itsself that is the problem you need to have the frame sheeted on the outside and wraped with a building paper and on the inside you have the walls insulated with a vaupour barrier to stop any draughts gettting in. They do not seal round the windows and doors here so the air just moves between the wall and the window frame same as infills above and below windows not sealed so air movement is the problem.It would cost quite a bit to get house to a reasonable standard here to make it feel warm but not impossible.

 

 

typical british timber frame below and a Aussie timber frame net to it.

 

.

 

As someone who built two/three years ago and thought we'd end up with a warm house by paying for extra insulation etc (plus roof sarking), I suggest that ian mc's posting is the most informed I've seen on this site in relation to building. We didn't, of course, know about this at the time, and now have a very well insulated home that cost quite a bit more than standard ... and is also very draughty and gets cold quickly for the reasons outlined above.

 

Jim

[Chris&Mel]

Have you ever thought of importing the frames from Europe??? I'm sure you could get glazing units to fit the frames. European frames, whether uPVC or Aluminium all come with thermal spacers to stop heat transfer and it would be quite easy to seal and draft proof around the windows yourself. Importing costs im not too sure about but you can buy direct from the manufacturer in the UK at approximately a quarter of the price over here (and thats including the glazing units too).

 

Just a thought....im sure somebody else must have tried this?

[ian mc]

Have you ever thought of importing the frames from Europe??? I'm sure you could get glazing units to fit the frames. European frames, whether uPVC or Aluminium all come with thermal spacers to stop heat transfer and it would be quite easy to seal and draft proof around the windows yourself. Importing costs im not too sure about but you can buy direct from the manufacturer in the UK at approximately a quarter of the price over here (and thats including the glazing units too).

 

Just a thought....im sure somebody else must have tried this?

There is someone doing it there on here under Team w they do the Upvc double glazed windows. as I said before there is no point in putting double glazing in if the rest of the building is going to leak air from everywhere.

[Chris&Mel]

So did you say that when building the external walls no vapour barriers are allowed for??? If this is the case then it may be better to avoid insulating your walls to any reasonable standard full stop as this could introduce interstitial condensation, the last thing you would want to introduce in a country where termites can be problematic. Not too sure what the dew point temperatures are over here for winter design conditions but I'm sure it could pose a problem if you insulate too much and lower the infiltration rate down to UK levels. You also need to be careful when introducing too much insulation and lowering infiltration levels with ventilation, not to sure what the equivalent of Part F is over here but i've seen this being a problem in a number of UK homes recently from the increasing demands imposed by Part L.

[ian mc]

They could not spell vapour barrier here. The timber frame is built with only some sheeting for bracing mostly at the corners and a couple of other places. if insulation is specified by the owner at an extra cost it will be put in on the timber frame held in place by string so it does not fall into the cavity then plasterboard on the inside with no vapour barrier tape and flushed thats your finish no skimming of walls. The outside is just a skin of brick tied into the frame above windows not many houses have lintles they just put a cement sheet infill in or the windows go right to the eaves.

[Guest Team 'W']

Have you ever thought of importing the frames from Europe??? I'm sure you could get glazing units to fit the frames. European frames, whether uPVC or Aluminium all come with thermal spacers to stop heat transfer and it would be quite easy to seal and draft proof around the windows yourself. Importing costs im not too sure about but you can buy direct from the manufacturer in the UK at approximately a quarter of the price over here (and thats including the glazing units too).

 

Just a thought....im sure somebody else must have tried this?

 

Good idea in principal as it is cheaper to buy windows in the UK than it is to produce here - that's a fact. Unfortunately the uPVC frame material is not suitable for this climate, it has to be specially formulated to cope with the extreme UV and heat that we have here. In addition by the time you add GST on the goods, shipping, customs and wharf to door delivery the difference is around 15% and then there is no back up service if anything goes wrong.

[jimmyskinner]

Good idea in principal as it is cheaper to buy windows in the UK than it is to produce here - that's a fact. Unfortunately the uPVC frame material is not suitable for this climate' date=' it has to be specially formulated to cope with the extreme UV and heat that we have here. In addition by the time you add GST on the goods, shipping, customs and wharf to door delivery the difference is around 15% and then there is no back up service if anything goes wrong.[/b']

Or a great team of fitters

[Guest Team 'W']

Or a great team of fitters

 

 

Correct Mr Skinner we are very blessed