Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Aug 12, 2009 5:24 pm Hi I am a FNG here We had always said we would NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER build another home. So we are now looking at building a new home We saw an existing home in Heyfield in country Victoria that was pretty close to what we wanted but we would really like a studio and sewing room and it would be difficult to add them to the existing plan. As the home owner is a registered builder we are asking him to build us a new home in the same style. What attracted us to the house is the polystyrene wall cladding and roof insulation ( an esky house ) so it will hopefully be a low energy house cool in summer and warm in winter. We are wondering if people have had any experiences with this style cladding either good or bad. Any feedback would be great. cheers doug Re: Building an esky house 2Aug 13, 2009 12:04 am D200 Doug Hi I am a FNG here What attracted us to the house is the polystyrene wall cladding If you're not fussy about having cracks all over the shop in your rendered finish then I say go for it. But for me personally, it looks terrible. If you have kids that are fond of a football, then expect massive dents and cracks in your external cladded wall. Re: Building an esky house 3Aug 13, 2009 1:58 am D200 Doug What attracted us to the house is the polystyrene wall cladding and roof insulation ( an esky house ) so it will hopefully be a low energy house cool in summer and warm in winter. IMO orientation and window choice are also significant, and of course there are other things beyond that. If energy efficiency is an important factor for you ( ) then there are numerous great resources, including on this site, to help you educate yourselves about what you can do. Check this out for starters. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21008 Re: Building an esky house 4Aug 13, 2009 8:31 am KPMBuilding D200 Doug Hi I am a FNG here What attracted us to the house is the polystyrene wall cladding If you're not fussy about having cracks all over the shop in your rendered finish then I say go for it. But for me personally, it looks terrible. If you have kids that are fond of a football, then expect massive dents and cracks in your external cladded wall. I saw a house constructed by the same builder and made of the same materials. It had been standing for 3 years. I could find some minor cracks ( hairline ) on some of the corners but the walls and main areas were in perfect condition. I have seen far more cracking in brick rendered homes. Our kids are grown and there will be no footballs or rough play about the house, I would have thought the steel cladding under the render would need quite a knock before it deformed that badly ? It is not as strong as brick but I have had a timber clad home damaged by a teenager practicing his "Light saber" with a lump of wood Re: Building an esky house 5Aug 13, 2009 9:47 am Reducing heat loss is half of the equation but also knowing how to get free natural heat and cooling is the other half. Read this for more ideas: Passive Design Re: Building an esky house 6Aug 13, 2009 12:36 pm dymonite69 Reducing heat loss is half of the equation but also knowing how to get free natural heat and cooling is the other half. Read this for more ideas: Passive Design Thanks for the hints I do not want to seem negative or ungrateful for your advice I understand the principals of passive heating and cooling quite well but having already lived in fairly extreme temperature zones I also know there is really no substitute for good insulation and effective heating and cooling. When the day is 45 degrees regardless of the passive cooling it is still going to be bloody hot without some form of cooling and when it is a wet cold night a house can get very cold without some form of heating. I am also a photographer so I often need to work in a closed studio area where air-conditioning is essential. Again thanks for alerting me to the pros cons and alternatives of this material, it is all about researching the possibilities to get the best outcome. Many thanks and any more feedback is really welcome Cheers doug Re: Building an esky house 7Aug 13, 2009 3:22 pm Can I ask what is the R value of the polystyrene cladding compared to batts? Are you combining this with internal wall mass or are you just lining it on the inside? The good thing about this construction is the elimination of thermal bridges as you would with batts between studs. The downside as people have mentioned is the resilience of the cladding. I wouldn't just rely on a the foam for summer insulation. Try to use a radiant barrier particularly under the roof. The surface of your insulation can reach over 80 degrees from heat radiating from under the roof which will significantly increase heat transfer through it. Foil will reduce closer to ambient outside temperature. Re: Building an esky house 8Aug 13, 2009 4:02 pm dymonite69 Can I ask what is the R value of the polystyrene cladding compared to batts? Are you combining this with internal wall mass or are you just lining it on the inside? The good thing about this construction is the elimination of thermal bridges as you would with batts between studs. The downside as people have mentioned is the resilience of the cladding. I wouldn't just rely on a the foam for summer insulation. Try to use a radiant barrier particularly under the roof. The surface of your insulation can reach over 80 degrees from heat radiating from under the roof which will significantly increase heat transfer through it. Foil will reduce closer to ambient outside temperature. From what I can see the 3" cladding has an R3 + rating I will have to check this with the builder. Resilience would seem to be solved by the perforated steel mesh covering the foam, it would take quite a hit to deform it and if it was damaged I imagine it would be fairly easy to cut and replace. We had a tile roof that was a very dark brown colour on sunny days it was impossible to walk on it as the heat would quickly burn any exposed skin that came in contact with the tiles. We had it painted off white and now it is comfortable to stand on in bare feet on all but the hottest days, the summer temperature change inside our home was amazing as well! Black or dark roofs should be banned in my opinion if every dwelling in the world had a reflective roof global warming would not be a major problem. We will probably just line the inside. Thermal mass can also pose a problem in summer, if you have a long spell of hot weather the house heats up and cannot cool down at night. I have had very bad experiences with this in Melbourne summers in old brick homes Re: Building an esky house 9Aug 13, 2009 5:49 pm [quote="D200 Doug"] Black or dark roofs should be banned in my opinion if every dwelling in the world had a reflective roof global warming would not be a major problem. We will probably just line the inside. Thermal mass can also pose a problem in summer, if you have a long spell of hot weather the house heats up and cannot cool down at night. I have had very bad experiences with this in Melbourne summers in old brick homes /quote] Foil works even better than a white roof but there is evidence that a collection of dark roofs contribute to the urban heat island. Advances in heat reflective paint may give more options in roof colour. The trick with thermal mass in summer is to prevent the sun getting on it in the first place. The solar radiant heat transfer is 10x higher than from the heat conducted by the air. The second part is to allow the mass to ventilate once the outside temperature begins falling. Re: Building an esky house 10Aug 13, 2009 6:01 pm dymonite69 D200 Doug Black or dark roofs should be banned in my opinion if every dwelling in the world had a reflective roof global warming would not be a major problem. We will probably just line the inside. Thermal mass can also pose a problem in summer, if you have a long spell of hot weather the house heats up and cannot cool down at night. I have had very bad experiences with this in Melbourne summers in old brick homes /quote] Foil works even better than a white roof but there is evidence that a collection of dark roofs contribute to the urban heat island. Advances in heat reflective paint may give more options in roof colour. The trick with thermal mass in summer is to prevent the sun getting on it in the first place. The solar radiant heat transfer is 10x higher than from the heat conducted by the air. The second part is to allow the mass to ventilate once the outside temperature begins falling. We had foil but no insulation under our roof. The change in temp was dramatic by just painting the roof and adding some ventilation. I am hoping we can make the roof out of similar cladding It would make having a high ceiling in the studio much easier I hope! It would make storing stuff in the roof space cooler and easier to work in. if we build a house this time I am going to have a roof space I can access without breaking my back ! Re: Building an esky house 11Aug 13, 2009 6:49 pm D200 Doug We had foil but no insulation under our roof. The change in temp was dramatic by just painting the roof and adding some ventilation. Now that's interesting. So you already had foil. And after you painted the roof white, both the roof space and inside the house get cooler, not just the roof space. Re: Building an esky house 12Aug 13, 2009 7:04 pm dymonite69 D200 Doug We had foil but no insulation under our roof. The change in temp was dramatic by just painting the roof and adding some ventilation. Now that's interesting. So you already had foil. And after you painted the roof white, both the roof space and inside the house get cooler, not just the roof space. It was an incredible difference very noticeable on the roof inside the roof space and most important inside our home ! It is a pretty cool home with good open access to the prevailing SE breeze, but on hot humid days the only alternative is air conditioning. I cannot work in a hot closed studio space and Margo cannot afford to drip sweat on her fabrics. Some of the fabrics she sews with cost over $150 per meter so sweat stains are not acceptable to her clients Re: Building an esky house 13Aug 13, 2009 10:21 pm we are going for a dark roof, so you can blame me for contributing to global warming if you think it adds to it, however as d69 mentioned the foil does quite alot, and ill have 'air cell' under both my roof and shed. I've put up a post regarding the foam panels, there is alot of opinions with the product, most seam to suggest 75mm is the way to go getting you near a r 2.5-3+ rating with insulation its quite cheap per square mtr about $130+ supplied/installed/flushed/rendered i wish i could use it for my shed! heres the post: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=20149 feel free to add any other brands/companies you find. -Nathan 2nd-Fix | Blog Building with Desyn Homes previously with the insolvent [url=https://www.facebook.com/7NewsAdelaide/videos/1162546323776021/]Endeavour Homes[/url] Hi All It has been a few weeks since my last update. 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