Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jan 31, 2010 3:37 pm Hi all, I am after advise on the next step of my home improvements. House is a 2 storey brick veneer with a colorbond roof. So far I have boarded the loft (over the existing blow fill insulation) then installed R3.5 batts against the existing sisilation – they are held in place by breathable reflective sisilation. I am looking at the following 3 areas – Under floor insulation (house in on concrete stumps – currently no insulation) was looking to do a similar job as per roof? Would this be suitable / any good? Wall insulation (Brick veneer - currently no insulation) I was looking at Ecofoam – they claim an extra R4.0 when job complete – quite expensive though. Double glazing – (Currently single glased - have thick curtains upstairs – wood blinds downstairs) What would be 1) the most beneficial job to do for comfort all year round. 2) the most cost / benefit effective order for the jobs. Any other suggestions. Thanks, Rob Re: What next ? 2Mar 22, 2010 4:12 pm Hi Rob, In terms of value for money I would suggest insulating your walls prior to installing double glazed windows. While double glazed windows will increase the thermal performance of your building, the improvement is relatively small for the associated cost. Installing insulation to walls will greatly increase the thermal performance of your home and save on heating and cooling costs. Two websites which may be helpful for making your decision: www.wers.net - Provides a comparison tool for various windows. www.basix.nsw.gov.au - Can input data regarding amendments to your home and the impact it will have on thermal comfort, water and energy performance. Hope this helps. Cheers Myles Re: What next ? 3Mar 22, 2010 7:00 pm The time payback the cost of each these component in order ceiling insulation < wall insulation << double glazing It takes twice as long to pay off the wall insulation compared to ceiling insulation. An four times as long again with double glazing (assuming a new build) If you replace existing good single glazing with double glazing then the payback will be 20x as long. Average paypack for ceiling insulation would be 2-3 years. Uninsulated wall R 0.46 (Brick veneer-Gyprock) Insulated wall with additional R2.0 Cost $14.05/m2 Uninsulated Ceiling R 0.39 Insulate ceiling with additional R3.0 Cost $11.94/m2 Single glazed windows U 7 R 0.14 $300/m2 Double glazed windows U 4.8 R 0.21 $388/m2 If you are considering DG then it is most cost effective to do it at time of building (or renovating old windows) when the marginal difference between costs is smaller. Re: What next ? 4Apr 01, 2010 9:36 am how important is it to put toughened glass as compared to clear glass, for the same thickness of panels i.e 4mm toughened or 4mm clear. i know that toughened is safe, but will there be any other advantage?? maybe insulation wise?? VICTORY 1800, EN-SUITE, DOUBLE GARAGE, FAMILY ROOM AND ALFRESCO Land Settled: 20 July 2010 Site Scrap: 30 August 2010 Slab Pour: 20 September 2010 Frame Complete: 23 September 2010 Fascia and Gutters: 28 September 2010 Roof Complete: 06 October 2010 Lock-up complete: 28 October 2010 Plaster complete: 29 October 2010 Fix-out complete: 22 Nov 2010 PCI 7 FEBRUARY 2011 Re: What next ? 5Apr 01, 2010 4:32 pm Perhaps some extra resistance to cracking in a bushfire. Negligible insulation value (glass is very good conductor). Re: What next ? 6Apr 14, 2010 9:54 pm No difference in energy improvement at all switching to toughened glass. I wouldn't advise spending the extra money on toughened unless you had to for safety reasons; ie human impact (AS1288) As for bushfires, the australian standard does specify toughened glass in various application for buildings in bushfire prone areas however there are also many other factors so I suspect again the money could be better spent elsewhere. Hope this helps. Re: What next ? 7Dec 20, 2011 6:23 pm Hi, I just wanted to know if you ever went with Ecofoam or know much about it? We are thinking of using it to insulate our walls in our existing 2nd story home. Thanks for your help. i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16001 Hi all I am looking to run a water line under my concrete footpath which is directly next to my home, was seeing if this is possible without cutting the entire section… 0 20176 Did you know that you can get rugs made from carpet? So much cheaper than buying a shop rug. So many styles to choose from, but you won't get the highly patterned… 0 6271 |