Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jan 11, 2011 10:13 am Hi Guys, In preparation of building our new home i have been looking around for insulation ideas to make our home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The house is being build in Bunbury, WA and will have Concrete floor, Double brick with Colourbond roof. The options i have looked at so far are; Roof insulation - Anticon looks like the best option at the moment. Roof Ventalation - Whirlybords or E-vent which ever is most effective if they are at all... Ceiling insulation - R3.5 to R4 batts Insulation between double bricks- I believe Rockwool have a product that can be put between the bricks during construction. Any ideas and thoughts on this one? Double glazed windows or 3M film - Possibly not needed for the climate but might be worth doing the windows that are going to have the most sun Any Ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Brendan Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 2Jan 11, 2011 11:18 am Hi Brendan, You may like to look at a product called air-cell - this is what we would've chosen if our builder would have allowed it... (recommended by alot of people that we trust) Also given my time again I'd also have chosen double glazed rather than ones with a film (again if our builder would have allowed it) - we've had alot of trouble with scratching/marking of the film. Cheers C Never argue with an idiot they drag you down to their level & then beat you with experience - Dilbert View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19733 Contract signed 14Sept Slab 30Sept Bricks laid 1Dec Lock up 26Feb Keys 10Jun Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 3Jan 11, 2011 4:43 pm I found the reflective film has been great and problem free for keeping the heat out in summer. For keeping the heat in during winter Just shut the curtains as soon as it goes dark. I have also insulated the garage ceiling and the garage door to make it more comfortable as a workshop. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 4Jan 14, 2011 10:17 pm gday If double glazing the whole home is not an option, I would double glaze the bedrooms over other rooms, because of the comfort factor in getting a good nights sleep, for kids to play there etc For glare and solar heat gain, ideally you should get tinted or low-e glass for that. Both work, tinted cuts more glare out and is cheaper. Cheers, Sydney Double (and now Triple) Glazed Windows and Doors mob 0412 717 066 Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong www.doubleglazedwindows.net.au Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 5Jan 15, 2011 11:21 am The key to a having a home that requires minimal artificial cooling and heating requirements depends on several factors apart from insulation.
They also include: Orientation Shading Glazing Ventilation Thermal mass The strategy for winter heating and summer cooling are slightly different. In winter you want to let enough sun in. Particularly to keep the highly occupied areas of the day warm. Even if it is cold outside, a sunny room won't need any additional heating. In summer you want to avoid having too much sun striking the external skin of the house or penetrating the windows. This is called passive solar design: Orientation - keep the living areas on the north, bedrooms on the south, utility rooms/bathrooms on the east/west Shading - ensure there is enough shading to prevent the high summer sun hitting the structure but not to prevent the low summer sun entering. Glazing - Windows are a huge source of energy transfer. Don't overglaze. West and east windows let in a lot of summer sun. Sunless south windows let out more heat than they gather in sunlight during winter. Ventilation - position your windows up and down wind to catch the cool nightly summer local breezes to flush the heat out. Make sure the house is airtight with good window and door seals during winter so that valuable heat can't be lost. Regarding the other tweaks: Glazing - double glazing is good to keep the heat in during winter. Heavy curtains with pelmets or honeycomb blinds also do a similar job. During summer any unshaded windows would do best with external shades (not internal ones). Reflective tints are the next best alternative if you wish to see through. Insulation - any product like batts or loose fill will do the job of keeping winter warmth in. Look for the maximum R value. Foil keeps summer radiant heat out (it doesn't do much for keeping winter warmth in). Line walls and under roof with it. NB if you live in a sub-tropical/tropical area, high R value insulation may slow the cooling process during summer. Ventilation - don't bother ventilating the roof space. It will decrease winter performance and have marginal effect on summer performance. It is better to ventilate the area that you actually occupy. Misc - ceiling fans help in evaporative cooling in summer. They also help redistribute stratified heat during winter. Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 7Jan 21, 2011 2:06 pm Hi Brendan, Well done for looking into simple options for improving the year round comfort of you home. The company that i work for installs water repellent Rockwool into cavity walls in the Perth Metro and we have also to a number of homes in Bunbury and the Donnybrook region (just finished one in Augusta this week). We have be doing this successfully since 2000. You can either get the builder to price it in, they will either use an Aircell product (Glare shield, or Permicav) which the brickie will install it or call us and we supply, install and guarantee the whole job. Or you could write it in the contract before you sign up and get us to come in after the electrical 1st fit is done and before the grey render. More than happy to price you direct. Good luck, Stuart http://www.ais-group.com.au/homeinsulation/cavitywalls.php Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 8Feb 15, 2011 12:21 pm Hi, I don't know allot about brands etc, but just figured i would share my experience. I designed a duplex house without taking and consideration to thermal efficiency however it only took a few tweaks to reach the mandatory 6 star thermal efficiency. Simply having eaves and a wide roof over a balcony which has basically a wall of glass (its a holiday house) made a huge difference, building in rendered brick veneer, colourbond roof with no ventilation. The insulation being used to reach the 6 stars was already the builders standard: Ceiling R4.1 External Walls R2.0 Internal Walls R1.5 Floor Space R3.0 The only change we had to make to the glazing is to double glaze the windows on the southern side to prevent heat loss in winter, only to one of the houses...the other house achieved 6 stars without any double glazing...and the the southern side only has a couple of very small windows anyway... Just shows that with sensible design it is very easy to achieve the 6 stars without the added expense of double glazing. (although if it was for our permanent residence i wouldn't hesitate as it does have benefits, especially for the noise reduction...but at the end of the day there are other areas where your dollar can go further. Re: Insulation ideas for new home? 9Mar 22, 2011 12:37 am bashworth I found the reflective film has been great and problem free for keeping the heat out in summer. For keeping the heat in during winter Just shut the curtains as soon as it goes dark...... Several of them started "flaking" a few years ago, and continue to do so bashworth ...........I have also insulated .....the garage door to make it more comfortable as a workshop..... I'm planning on using my garage as a "workshop".......Can you please, please tell me more about your garage door and the insulation you use on it ? Do you think it's effective, worthwhile, glad you did it ??? Thanks, P_D . Block settled 07 June 2011 Our little piece of the Interwebs on HomeOne....... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=48577&start=0 I am saying that double brick has similar thermal performance due to thermal mass effect. It will be still very interesting to see the state of your framing after 10-15… 10 29659 Hey guys building a new place through a volume builder and just wondering if i should complain to the site supervisor as we just had plasterboard installed. Looks like… 0 11239 |