Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Sep 17, 2013 11:18 am I'd be interested to hear from people who have built a new home to the '6 star energy requirements' that were documented and whether their expectations were met as to the 'comfort' of the home. Maybe list the construction type & the star rating together with comments. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Home Insulation 3Sep 17, 2013 9:31 pm I'll start it off if you like. We achieved a rating of 7.1. It is on a waffle pod slab, the house is constructed with a wood frame, with 100mm rendered polystyrene. We have double glazed windows throughout. R5 batts throughout the ceiling. Also have R2 in the west facing walls. The house is situated just off north facing, with Thermann solar hot water. We have LED or CFL lighting throughout, no halogens anywhere. Tiles in wet areas, Carpet and Bamboo in the remainder. The difference between our last house and this one is quite marked. During winter the interior temp did not fall below 15 deg, regardless of exterior temp, some nights -3/-5 deg. Its ability to maintain a temperature has limited the use of the heating/cooling a lot. During winter with afternoon sun coming thru windows the temp actually increased inside delaying the start of any heating, and likewise last summer, the ability to stay cooler also delayed starting the cooling. Checking power bills have given a benefit in cost terms of about 25%, although in dollar terms means little due to money grabbing power companies increasing prices so much. I would hate to think of the slab heating bill of the last place during winter this year!! All in all there is very little I would change with the exception of some low E film of a couple of east facing windows. At present it's 11 deg outside and still 19.5 inside with the air last run at 8am for a short time this morning. So you could say we are pretty happy overall, especially since we were OB's. 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: Home Insulation 4Sep 18, 2013 7:38 am That's a great outcome. The waffle pod gives around an extra R1.0 over a conventional slab & the 100mm poly gives about an R2.7 insulation value. I would guess that you had a good liason with your energy rater & designer looking at the configuration you have. Did you look at any benefit of including R2 in the other walls in conjunction with the poly cladding. ? R5.0 in the ceiling would be higher than I would have been looking at. Normally I'd start off with R4.0 as a base figure & then increase as necessary, although the Mansfield area can have cold extremes at times. Did you do any comparisons to arrive at R5 ? Was the height of the vertical verandah shading calculated. ? Didn't see a floorplan with a quick look at your blog, but from the pic's a really good design. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Home Insulation 5Sep 18, 2013 10:25 am We designed the house based on the last house we built. We liked the floorplan so made what mods we wanted. Turned out a bit bigger than we thought until we realised we added a hallway which added to the overall length and width of the house. We did look at additional R2 in the walls but thought that the overall would not be as great as upping the roof insulation. R4 is the norm but R5 is becoming more popular amongst custom builds here over mass producers. The cost v benefit seemed ok at the time as well as a good deal was achieved with the insulation. Summer temps here get to 45 deg. So it is a fair variation from -5 to +45 deg!! The shading at the rear was very scientifically calculated. I guessed!! An educated guess but!!!! The arvo sun was hitting the wall quite early in summer so I tried a small section to see what would work. Luckily I guessed a happy medium first time. It delays the summer sun actually hitting the glass by about 2 hours, which is a huge gain. And more good luck than anything it is still high enough to allow the winter sun in when then is warmth in it. We probably could have got a better rating with a different style similar to all the skillion roof places that are being built, but given the room sizes the roof would have been very difficult, apart from the fact I don't like them . We could change a few window sizes here and there to gain a better rating but then in turn the natural light into the rooms will be compromised. So we worked on the principal better light and nice and darker for a couple of rating points. The cost/efficiency gain would be minimal. 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: Home Insulation 6Sep 18, 2013 12:04 pm Having a previous layout to base your new design from definitely has advantages as to what works & what doesn't for your requirements. That's possibly where first home builders have a disadvantage. Glad the OB path worked - it can be fraught with problems for those who aren't prepared. One of the advantages with being an OB is that you have the scope to source out good prices on items such as insulation & even upgrade to a higher level at minimal cost with a bit of bartering. Good luck with the new home. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Home Insulation 7Sep 18, 2013 12:06 pm I'm away for some R & R trout fishing for the next 10 days so I'll check any posts when I get back. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Home Insulation 8Sep 18, 2013 7:01 pm Delatite, your detailed info has been truly helpful. I'll be building 80km, as the crow flies, (150km by road) North East from your spot, at 300m above Sea Level.. Expecting the winter zeroes, but not sure if that area gets to 45 in Summer. One of my building system options does include 100mm Wall Insulation, so it's good to see it is effective. Thanks. 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 11599 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6591 |