Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jun 03, 2012 7:41 pm Hi all, First of many posts to come as my wife and I intend on building in the near future.. On the subject of insulation though, i'm stumped at this scenario we've come across: My wife is Canadian, and said she has never been as cold in Canada, as she is here in Australia? In reference to some of the houses we have rented over the past 3 years.. A townhouse we had outside of Newcastle a couple of years ago, had zero insulation, it was only maybe 5-7 years old, not ancient by any means, but it was FREEZING in winter, ice cold, and summer was so damn muggy you couldn't sleep.. Needless to say it was a very uncomfortable house to stay in. Then we moved to Maitland which was quite cosy, was a pretty new style townhouse, with ducted air (oh yeah, the Newcastle house had no heating or cooling? Crazy for $350 p/w) and was pretty comfortable to live in.. But was tiled, so was chilly in the mornings, and was quite hot in area's in summer from the layout of the house. When we were in Canada, I literally, have never been so comfortable in my entire life! The ambient temperature in the Canadian house we stayed in was just perfect, 22 degrees, 24/7 no bracing yourself to walk into a bathroom fully tiled expecting to shatter your teeth off in shivering, no need for socks on tiles on freezing cold mornings... It was just perfect, so my question is, does anyone in Australia insulate their house like North Americans do? How do they do it? Do they use different material? They insulate their entire house, do we do that here? I know they have central gas heating running 99% of the time and the cost is cheaper, but seriously... I'd pay extra to have that type of pure comfort.. Needless to say we are looking to build a North American style house.. So i'm trying to put together some of the essentials to making it right. Any help would be great, thanks! Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 2Jun 03, 2012 7:48 pm Modern 6 star homes are way better. On the star scale a 10 star home requires no heating or cooling. Oh nad buy you wife some ugg boots! @builderforlife Building inspector and passionate about construction When you need an expert to take a look. Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 4Jun 03, 2012 8:18 pm Rsearch passive solar orientation and insulate to the absolute maximum! Plus double glazed windows....all things which Australia in general has been slow to undrstand the value of! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 5Jun 03, 2012 8:32 pm ^ +1 can be done, you just have to pay attention to what you are doing. Good luck Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 6Jun 03, 2012 8:36 pm Traditionally, both gas & electricity in Australia have been cheap, and for most of the country, keeping warm has been a comfort thing rather than a survival thing (stick another jumper on & you don't die of exposure overnight). "Fashion" has also been a problem; eg. the cheap houses in Brisbane from the middle of last century being actually kinda smart being up on stilts & quite open, whereas the more expensive ones being brick heat-traps with tiny windows etc. Getting the level of insulation that's long been standard in cold climates has become a lot more affordable here recently, though. If you're in a rural area you should be able to get a block big enough you can get a house designed (or even get a suitable project-home design built) which has the best facing for catching heat at the right times & avoiding it at other times. And as I said in the other thread, a lot of what you seem to be after is only unusual here in terms of aesthetics; that woody pointy-roofed painted-exterior look you see in movies about the US north-east, or Newfoundland. Do your research though! For example, after doing a bit more research I'm wondering whether in our climate you really want to hermetically-seal your home all winter like some people aim to do; it seems to me that maybe for our situation we might want to allow a bit of fresh airflow even during winter, rather than just blocking everything off. Another thought; don't live by the "star rating" system if what you're after is comfort & sustainability & energy-saving. A friend of mine has designed from-scratch his own house for a large chunk of land on the outskirts of Brisbane, he's designed it to catch sun at the right angles, he's designed water-recycling & catchment systems, biofuel "brewing" etc etc. However even though the house will be comfortable all year 'round with little non-environmental heating or cooling, according to the "star rating" system it needs to have windows that don't work as well for catching sunlight in winter or cooling airflow in summer. Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 7Jun 03, 2012 10:28 pm After watching a CBS show called "This Old House", we have absolutely no idea about insulation and similar. -20 degrees and staying warm etc. Might have something to do with 6" wall studs with poly expanding foam insulation in the walls, ceiling, and floor. Eventually it all adds up. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 8Jun 04, 2012 9:04 am delatite13 After watching a CBS show called "This Old House", we have absolutely no idea about insulation and similar. -20 degrees and staying warm etc. Might have something to do with 6" wall studs with poly expanding foam insulation in the walls, ceiling, and floor. Eventually it all adds up. Land cost is an issue here which isn't ... well, in most of the world. Most of Australia's population lives in the capital cities, which of course have land-cost "issues". In our new build, for example, if we had walls as thick as they seem to be in Switzerland, I'd run out of room to open car-doors in the garage, because floorspace ratio calculations include the thickness of walls ... Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 9Jun 05, 2012 3:25 pm Interesting topic. I used to like watching Holmes on Homes (stopped because each episode is the same now), but it really did highlight how different places like Canada where Holmes on Homes is made compared to Australia, even in cold places like the ACT etc. Insulation was always one of the issues this guy found with places he repaired, I reckon the bloke would die of shock if he saw how we do things here, even taking into account the different core climate differences. Also having lived in the UK, it amazes me how different they do things compared to us Aussies, and from what I saw a lot of England in particular is not too different in terms of max and min temperatures compared to again places like the ACT, Victoria etc. Things such as double glaxing etc are more or less standard in the UK, but here they are luxury items charge at luxury prices. Then there is the heating, the place I lived in was so comfortable and didn't cost the earth to run. It was a radiator system coming off a boiler. The heat was nice an even, unlike central heating here that comes on and goes off, with the person feeling every change. Ie when on it feels a bit too warm, when off it feels cold. Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 10Jun 06, 2012 1:05 am Hi, I am currently studying building design at uni and have been researching insulation systems. One of them is a system used in Canada called REMOTE and another system is called PERSIST. I would love to design some houses in Victoria using this system as it would meet the BCA requirements easily, however it will be more expensive to build using it. Anyway, here are some links to check out the system http://www.cchrc.org/remote-wall-study http://www.cchrc.org/remote-walls http://www.cchrc.org/docs/best_practice ... Manual.pdf Hope this helps, it also explains why your wife was so cosy in Canada, ( untill you go outside in winter to -30 degrees, lol! ) Kind regards. Re: Canadian cold in Australia? (Insulation question) 11Jun 06, 2012 6:07 am Irrespective of the system of insulation used it largely comes down to workmanship in installation. As property inspector who has inspected thousands of homes I can tell you that the biggest problem is poorly fitted or disturbed ceiling insulation and that is simply because no one checks the installers and the electricians and duct installers who comes after them. I use thermal imaging camera at pre final inspection of a new home or for pre purchase inspection looking for: defective insulation, roof leaks and or dampness in wet areas. Consequently I find most homes are thermal leaking buckets. You can find thermal images of defective ceiling insulation on my website or the blog http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog type insulation in search box on blog page Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Depends how much direct sun it gets. Is there any shading (eaves or trees)? If the sun hits a window directly it doesn't matter too much if it's double or single… 1 12666 Hi guys, I want to butt a concrete vegetable garden bed against a concrete build up of a carport. It will be a 700mm high wall about 120mm thick and I will run a 12mm rio… 0 2607 0 6295 |