Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 24, 2013 8:45 am Hello, Having bought a land north facing to the street, it will be challenging to make it energy efficient, however Clarendon Homes had two a storey design (Bronte 25) that have two living areas in the front of the house (north facing) and no windows to the west except for two and garage on the west side to take part of the afternoon heat as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/103002331@N02/11512210993/ I am planning to add windows to the east side in Dining, Living, Leisure. Install external aluminum window shutters to the windows of Bed 3 & Bed 4. The house is having 450mm eaves all around. Reverse cycle ducted AC will be installed. Roof insulation will be 3.5, wall insulation will be 1.5 rated. The house is brick Veneer. What else should I do to get the best out of this house and make comfortably livable? Many Thanks !!! Re: How to make this house energy efficient? 2Dec 24, 2013 9:48 am Check out the info here: http://www.yourhome.gov.au Also check out some of the 'energy efficient' display homes. Clarendon have one at The Ponds ( unsure if it is still open ). Also check out the Ichijo display homes and talk to sales people at the displays. Cross / through ventilation is important so think carefully about window placement. Reversible ceiling fans help to make heating more effective. Consider solar gas-boosted hot water. If you are having ducted air con, make sure it is zoned. I have French doors between my main kitchen / living area and the remainder of the house. This will allow me to more effectively isolate heating or cooling in this area. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: How to make this house energy efficient? 3Dec 24, 2013 10:20 am Put highly reflective film on those two bedroom windows that face east is a must! 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: How to make this house energy efficient? 4Dec 24, 2013 10:32 am maximus Reversible ceiling fans help to make heating more effective. If you are having ducted air con, make sure it is zoned. I have French doors between my main kitchen / living area and the remainder of the house. This will allow me to more effectively isolate heating or cooling in this area. Thanks for your response, Ducted AC is split into two zones, I am supposing it will be Ground & upper floor, Hopefully with switches to turn off un-used rooms if any. I have to go through the website you mentioned to get cross ventilation best practices. Cheers Re: How to make this house energy efficient? 5Dec 24, 2013 10:34 am bashworth Put highly reflective film on those two bedroom windows that face east is a must! Thanks for your response I was under impression that the afternoon sun (west side) is the problem, does it also apply to east side for morning sun? Should I consider also Shutters also? Re: How to make this house energy efficient? 6Dec 24, 2013 12:47 pm East side windows aren't as bad as west facing as the house is cooler at the start of the day. (also downstairs windows are less of a problem than upstairs windows as they are usually partly shaded by the fence. I find reflective film is also good for these windows. It really cuts down on the heat that comes in without blocking the view or significantly reducing the amount of daylight coming in. Another thing you can look at is reducing window size which many builders do as a no cost variation. This help keep summer heat out and winter heat in (see http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/02/window-size/) 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: How to make this house energy efficient? 7Dec 25, 2013 7:55 am You can also get R 2.0 batts that fit 90mm studs ( for your walls ) as opposed to R 1.5. Heat will also find a way of leaking out/in through the weakest link in your insulation chain which will probably be your windows and doors so as per the advice above look to improve them any way you can. Stewie Re: How to make this house energy efficient? 8Dec 25, 2013 5:18 pm A few other things not mentioned yet: Ask for some shadow drawings showing position of sun 12pm summer, winter solstice, and 2-3pm as well. You will soon see exactly how much sun you'll get into where...It's a great way to be really sure of any trouble spots. Use verandahs or overhangs, pergolas etc in the hottest locations. Cross-ventilation: make sure larger windows are positioned to catch those cooling summer breezes and where that's not possible, think about installing ceiling fans to move air in and through those rooms. East windows are great if you can get winter sun in, and shade out the summer sun. Don't forget that the right window treatments, deciduous bushes and the like ( awnings, pergolas etc) all help. Your colour choice for your roof should be selected from the more energy efficient colours. Read up on solar passive design and see if you can incorporate a few of the main ideas in your build. It sounds like you are off to a good start! I posted the floorplan on Houzz.com forum and got some really good ideas and advice from people there. Then we reached out to a couple of renovation companies and one… 5 10106 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110587 10 years ago was a different software than we use now. it has had a lot of changes over the past years. Improvments to the software and changes to how Nathers models need… 8 1522 |