Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Feb 01, 2011 9:50 am Time to try out the hive-brain of the forum again.. We are in the final planning stages of planning our new home build and have just had an "energy usage" assessment done. We are installing reverse cycle ducted air conditioning. We had opted to put a gas bayonet in the main living area, but not intended to use it - rather to have it there as a potential "selling feature" if we need to sell the house down the track. Also our builder includes a gas bayonet as part of the specification. (so we're pretty much paying for it regardless) The energy assessment found that by eliminating the gas point (an associated wall and ceiling vents where the conditioned air will escape) we would save approximately 10MJ per annum in energy. This equates to about $85 per year (at current electricity prices in Perth). It would also take the house from an "energy star rating" of 5.5 to 6. So we'd like to eliminate the gas point altogether, but are concerned that it might affect the resale of the home. Would the absence of a gas bayonet in the living area contribute to your decision in buying a home? Thanks everyone, Avion. Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 2Feb 01, 2011 10:02 am I would leave it installed. If you don't plan on using it, I would just shove plastic and insulation over the vents when you move in. This gives you the option of using it later on by taking off the plastic and insulation, but will still give you the energy savings. Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 4Feb 01, 2011 12:11 pm Get it put in then cancel the gas and block the vent. Good today, with options in the future. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 5Feb 01, 2011 1:27 pm Thanks heaps for the replies. We will have a gas run to the house in any case for the cooktops and the hot water system. In practice, we would not use the gas point, and block the vents to keep the air in. The only real down-side to installing the gas pointis that due to the way that the energy-star software works, the "rating" that we get will take into account the loss of conditioned air through the vents. As a result, the "star rating" of the home will be 5.5 not 6.0. In WA as of next year, all homes will need to be built to a 6 star or better level. So that begs the question, how important is the star rating to people when considering buying a home? I've also been told that the parameters that the assessing software uses are constantly changing, so the same home when assessed twice in 2 different years, will potentially have a different rating. Smoke and mirrors... Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 6Feb 01, 2011 5:23 pm I would imagine that when people go to buy a house, the star ratign doesn't even cross their mind. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 7Feb 01, 2011 6:21 pm I would put it in regardless. Having ready-to-use gas was one of the top few "must have" points for us and we would have walked away from the house otherwise! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 8Feb 15, 2011 11:47 am In SA 6 star is already mandatory, it is more important to old people who have the money to care about the environment... so in the more expensive end a higher rating definitely worth it but in the bottom end i wouldn't think so, (even though you would mostly save money). I couldn't care less about a gas point because our street doesn't even get gas nor our holiday house and there are plenty of $1.5 million homes down there without even bottled gas...guess it depends on the area allot. Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 10Apr 19, 2011 12:29 am If I were buying a house, I would look at whether it had a gas point but I wouldn't ask what the energy rating is - most owner's wouldn't even know or have their energy rating paperwork to tell buyers anyway. Re: Would you buy a house without a gas point? 11Apr 19, 2011 10:14 am Thanks for the responses. In the end we have elected not to install the gas point in the living area during the build, but instead to do it after handover. We will have a gas pipe of sufficient diameter running directly past the spot where the gas point will eventually be. So we are saving a substantial amount of cash by not having the builder do the installation ( with their associated mark-up) and also, at the time that the star rating assessment ( at handover) is done we should get a 6 star energy rating. Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 8783 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39751 Hi It came to my attention after the handover that - The facade cladding on the face and the side are not straight. -The face tapers down by 50mm from left to right and… 0 2472 |