Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 06, 2007 5:52 pm If you're rebuilding or renovating, you now have a wonderful opportunity to build your ideal home. People believe good design always costs more. That's not true. Good design can cut both your building and operating costs through simpler construction and good planning.
Once you've decided what best suits your budget, lifestyle and where you live, there are design options that will make very little difference to your building or renovation costs. Any extra cost of good design features or appliances will be quickly repaid by what you save on energy, water and maintenance bills. On average, Australians spend 39% of their energy bill on heating and cooling their home. You can cut this figure dramatically with 'passive solar design' features that keep the summer sun out and let winter sun in. Passive simply means that once all the right features are designed into your home, you don't need to think about them again. They just keep working in the background to keep you comfortable all year round - for free. In winter, passive solar heating can give you free heat direct from the sun. And it doesn't cost you anything when it's designed into a new home or extension. Passive solar heating is also achievable when you're renovating any home that gets enough sunlight - even a project home can benefit, with the right orientation and slight changes to the floor plan. In summer, passive cooling is the cheapest way to cool your home. It means using lightweight materials, shade and natural breezes to keep your home cool year round. Good design will stop your roof, walls, windows and floors from heating up so much during the day - and it will use lower nighttime temperatures and air movement to cool your home down. With good building design your home will also use less water and generate less wastewater. You can collect rainwater for household use and re-use 'grey water' (from the rinse cycle of your washing machine or the shower) on your garden or to flush the toilet. Regulations for rainwater tanks and re-using water vary according to where you live. You'll need to check with your local council. Write down everything you want your home to have, from the number of bedrooms to ways to keep the summer sun out and let the winter sun in; maybe you want to collect rainwater and use it for the garden or need somewhere to store your bike. Show this list to everyone involved in building, re-designing or renovating your home. You need advice from people who understand good, sustainable home design. Many architects and builders will talk to you for an hour - obligation free - so you can check how they would approach your list. Even a project home can be customised. Ask an architect or building designer if there are ways to make the standard design more environmentally-friendly and cheaper to run. Changes can often be made that cost very little. The right landscaping and vegetation can help to both heat and cool your home. Australian native plants need less water, encourage wildlife and help re-create the environment 'as it was'. But non-natives that give shade in summer but let the sun through in winter are also environmentally friendly if they cut your heating and cooling costs. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 2May 06, 2007 6:41 pm Michelle,
Great to read your post and I totally agree. It's all a matter of putting some thought into the design and it shouldn’t cost much, if any, more. And you will save in the long run. I'm currently putting my design together and one of my objectives is to keep the house between 20 and 26 degrees all year round without any air conditioning or heating. Will use all the passive solar designs techniques you mentioned (external shading to allow winter sun in and night time ventilation during summer) plus some low energy heating and cooling techniques. I will be using a whole house fan, hydronic solar (run the water pump during winter days and summer nights) and earth tubes plus solar chimneys. The solar chimneys are stainless steel chimneys that are painted black along the top 300 mm. The more the sun shines, the more the tops of the chimneys heat up and the more air they suck out of the house and draw fresh air from the earth tubes. All without any power. The air a little under the house is 17 degrees all year round in Sydney (although there isn't a lot of reserve). The idea is only to turn the whole house fan and hydronic pump on when it is really required. A lot of it is experimental and I look forward to measuring how each component performs. Cheers, Casa Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 3May 06, 2007 6:52 pm Well done Casa2….In the future we are all going to have to come around to this type of thinking.
Congrats…..enjoy your home when it is complete, and be sure to post some photos!!!! Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 4May 06, 2007 7:12 pm Hey Casa,
I know we have discussed these earthtubes elsewhere but I am picturing a 6" round tube in the floor of every room just poking up through the floor with a view of the worms??? Sounds silly but perhaps you could explain these to us?? Matt Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 5May 06, 2007 7:16 pm Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 6May 06, 2007 7:50 pm Matt,
Your picture of earth tubes is interesting, but far from actual. You should notice nothing different about a house that incorporates earth tubes. The earth tubes are standard PVC pipes (or almost any other piping you want to use). You lay several metres of inexpensive 100 mm PCV pipe. Anything from 30 m to 80 m seems about right. These are laid just beneath the soil under the house for a new house or about three metres beneath the soil in the backyard. As you can tell, it's a lot cheaper to place beneath the house while building. The air inlet can be anywhere outside the house to draw in fresh air. Then there is an outlet into the house. When required you draw air thought the subterranean pipes into the house for cooling (or preheating air during winter nights). The air inlet would just be a grill into the house into a main room on the ground floor. Air will tend to rise through the house and an outlet at the highest point allows heated air to exit the house. Use together with a solar chimney to help suck the air out of the house. All without suing any power. I will be using them in my new house design but you'll have to wait a coupe of years to find out how ell they work. If they don’t work at all, all I've paid for is a few dozen metres of PVC pipe, which is very little. I have high hopes for them. Happy to discuss with others to improve the concept. Cheers, Casa Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 8May 06, 2007 8:18 pm Matt!!! Stop it…….. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 9May 06, 2007 8:23 pm Casa's always complaining about unexpected visitors just popping up!!
Matt Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 11May 06, 2007 9:24 pm Remover of the spam, keeper of the forum, protector of the smiley faces waiver of the big stick
Love your title!!! Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 12May 07, 2007 10:13 am A good book if you're designing a home or renovating is 'Cool House Warm House'.
Casa - your earth tubes remind me of the idea of a ventilated pantry. Basically you have a hole in the pantry floor - covered in mesh - and then a fan at the top. The air flow keeps the cupboard cool in summer. It means you don't have to put as much in your fridge. Here's a link to a bit of an explanation: http://www.emilis.sa.on.net/emil_40.htm Cheers, Helen Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 13May 07, 2007 10:18 am Helen....I think I've got that book floating around in my office somewhere.
I must have a look for it!! Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 14May 07, 2007 10:29 am You wonder how people lived 50-100 years ago without air con, heating, fridges etc.....
I wonder if I really am lucky to be a part of Generation X?? Matt Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 15May 07, 2007 10:32 am MATT....they all had worm holes in their floors.
And that’s the truth. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 16May 07, 2007 12:33 pm Worms - well they were in the apples, clothes and all sorts of things back then
I've seen earth tubes in a house, and they do work - as part of the total design. A pic http://techref.massmind.org/images/SolCoolHouse.jpg And the following explains the principles. http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/you ... opic=12460 with other passive stuff here. http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Co ... ooling.htm Cheers Steve Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 17May 07, 2007 1:24 pm This website would be enough to put me off these "Earth Tubes" altogther...
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12460 hmmm Matt Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 18May 07, 2007 1:51 pm It's a good book Michelle. We used it - plus a bit of other research - to design a simple 2 bedroom house we're building. It will be remote solar powered so we needed to look at ways of reducing energy use. It 's not perfect - the purists would find heaps of mistakes - but we think it will work.
Just been out looking at kitchens. Looking forward to when it's all done and we can sit in the winter sun and just gaze out at the bush. Cheers, Helen Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 19May 07, 2007 2:09 pm Way to go Helen, all the hard work will pay off!
Sounds really interesting.... Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: DESIGNING YOUR HOME 20May 07, 2007 2:15 pm Earth tubes ? Are you kidding ? I've lived in a mud brick house with no windows (or bathroom to speak of), and it was hell. It was like a 'feral factory'.
As for earth tubes, how's this gem from the website: "The dark and humid atmosphere of the cooling tubes may be a breeding ground for odor-producing molds and fungi. Furthermore, condensation or ground water seepage may accumulate in the tubes and encourage the growth of bacteria. Good construction and drainage could eliminate some of these problems. Insects and rodents may enter the tubes of an open-loop system. You should install a sturdy grille and insect screen at the tube inlet to deter potential intruders." Always handy to have the facts on hand when relying on agents advice, a lot of times sale agents advice is only good anecdotally, and when you actually dive deeper it's… 33 47676 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16087 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 39448 |