Canberra custom KDR

The Proctorwrap is our wall protection membrane (I think you're using the Solitex Extasana, which has a similar purpose for Passivhauses). It's a vapour-permeable wrap that keeps external moisture (including any condensation that gets inside the outer layer of insulation) outside the wall structure (and thus protecting the frame from moisture), while still allowing any internal water vapour to pass outside. Its also serves as our airtightness membrane, and enhances insulation performance.

We've lost a bit of time due to the rain delays so far, but fortunately the framing was able to go up before this latest downpour - hopefully we won't have any further delays over the coming week. Still on track to have the roof on before Christmas, but it's starting to get tight!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, mainly due to it being so hectic with so much going on (both life in general at this time of year, and with the build). A lot has happened, but the short version is that the building is all coming along well!

Since the last update, the roof trusses went on, the garage cladding has been done (and garage windows installed), the Proctorwrap has been installed, and the roofs (including guttering and fascia) are being finished off today. Here's how things looked yesterday afternoon:



It's definitely starting to look more like a house now!

Wow it is really looking like a house now!

So I've been looking into the Exsulite system, and noticed they have their own wall wrap.. why did you go for the Proctor Wrap over this? What there any great resistance to doing this? Just curious as I am trying to learn all I can about this stuff and finding most documentation assumes a level of knowledge I don't have!
And does this mean you don't need a reflective foil type insulation on the walls>?

Thanks and can't wait to see more updates!

As it turns out, we've changed from Exsulite to NRG Greenboard. They're both the same basic product (EPS), but when we originally chose, Exsulite had a cavity system but NRG didn't - but NRG have since launched one. We then had some scheduling and availability issues with trades, and the result was that we're now going with the NRG instead. I still would be quite happy with Exsulite - but it's good to know there are multiple competing cavity EPS systems on the market.

We wanted a cavity system because it offers improved R-value for the same amount of material, and also because the cavity provides moisture management and frame protection (especially important in a cooler climate, where condensation in winter is a risk, and it's also useful as a second line of defence against any water ingress).

The Exsulite wrap is a basic breathable wall wrap, but the Proctorwrap is a generally higher-performance product. Specifically, the Proctorwrap offers better airtightness, and it also has better vapour permeability (while still being an effective water barrier), meaning that it's much better at getting any moisture, condensation or humidity buildup out of the house (and especially away from frames).

As houses become more airtight, moisture and humidity management become more important, and the Proctorwrap helps with that much more than most other products. It's especially important in cool climates (like Canberra), where there is naturally more moisture inside the house than outside, which causes an increased risk of condensation. We didn't have any resistance, but we're going with a custom builder - project builders would probably push back quite strongly (especially as it'd mean they couldn't use their standard trades). The local Bradfords guy was very good in helping us choose between the various options, and also did an excellent job of making sure the installation was done correctly.

If you're going with an Exsulite system then reflective foil probably won't be adding much value, and certainly the EPS systems don't include it as a default. Generally speaking, reflective foil is best used in hotter climates, and is often used instead of bulk insulation. But I suppose that you could still use it, depending upon your particular situation (though for best effect you'd want to mount it outside the Exsulite, which would mean a complicated - hence expensive - wall structure).

Hey thanks so much for your detailed reply - really appreciate it. We are in Newcastle so certainly not as cold as Canberra, the heat is the main consideration for us but we do get surprisingly cold (relatively!) winter days sometimes too. Good to know you had a positive experience with the Bradford guy, here's hoping the Newcastle rep is great also.

Are you in the building trade at all? And if not, any resources you have found especially helpful for wrapping your head around all these concepts? Wall structures, insulation, etc? I have gone through yourhome.gov but it doesn't seem to get into quite the level of detail I'm after (and often avoids mentioning specific products etc)

No, I'm not in the building trade - just a hobbyist, basically, and a well-researched amateur (I first learned about passive solar building as a kid in the 1980s - and my first reference was a CSIRO book from the early 70s - it's criminal how much some very useful basic concepts have been ignored over the decades by the project building industry in particular). I've done a bit of amateur/hobby design work, and have been involved in a few friends' builds over the years, and other than that have done a lot of research and consultation in preparing for our own build.

I'm about to head off for a few days, but will see when I get back if I can produce some links to resources.

But in the meantime, summarising off the top of my head, if I were to build in Newcastle I'd personally go with lightweight construction, avoiding brick veneer (due to the external thermal mass issues it gives in warmer climates). As a coastal climate the diurnal temperature variations are much lower than we experience inland, so even internal thermal mass isn't as necessary as it'd be elsewhere (but still useful); techniques like reverse-brick veneer probably aren't worth the extra cost and complexity, but a good concrete slab will help (and you don't have to worry so much about slab insulation as people in cooler climates should). All of which basically adds up to an EPS build (Exsulite or similar) on slab sounds like a good match for your area.

Shading in summer would be important, so make sure your eves are set up to sufficiently protect the windows, but you'd also want a decent amount of sun in winter, especially to warm up the whole house via the slab, so northern exposure is still definitely ideal, and you definitely want to protect the living areas and bedrooms from hot westerly summer afternoon sun.

There will be a compromise, though, between what technologies/systems are best for you vs. your choice of builder; you won't find the perfect builder for you, so there will be tradeoffs (unless you have a very large budget, anyway). Do you have any particular builder in mind yet?

Hey wow thanks for your thoughts. Very reassuring as at this stage we are planning on a slab with mostly Exsulite (or similar) on the walls except for a feature section which will likely be vertical timber cladding with maybe Kingspan K12 framing board behind it. We are currently awaiting council to get us a time for a pre-DA meeting, so it is all very slow going but that gives me time to learn and plan!

We haven't got a particular builder locked in, but have been speaking with a builder who recently did a friend's custom new build and has been very helpful thus far..

I don't want to derail your thread too much sorry, but I really do appreciate your comments, thank you

No worries with derailing this thread, happy to help! Make the most of the learning and planning time - when things start happening, they can happen much more quickly than you expect (especially if you end up with a builder like ours). Having all the background research done and having thought over your decisions and their trade-offs for a while really helps when things crop up unexpectedly that need a quick decision on the spot.

We've been away interstate most of the past week - we'll be checking on things tomorrow. We should have a great deal of progress...

Pics from yesterday - the house roof is finished, the garage roof is almost finished, windows have gone in, and the cladding (NRG Greenboard, replacing the originally spec'd Exsulite) is mostly installed:








Not quite at lockup, but getting close - and nicely closes off most of the structure for the Christmas break.

Coming along in leaps and bounds - looking great and a nice place to be for the break.

After an all-too-brief break, we're back for the new year.

The cladding was completed and rendered in early Jan:

Yesterday, we were on-site with the builder (and plumber and sparky and chippy, and their teams as they did the work) for the rough-ins, finalising the electrical placements on-site (in particular we're having most of our GPOs mounted much higher than usual, so making sure it's all mapped out properly), confirming plumbing locations, determining where additional blocking in the walls was needed (especially for bathroom accessories), confirming attic manhole locations, and other related stuff.

A few minor tweaks came out from all of this - we ended up moving the upstairs manhole cover from the hallway to the powder room, changed the swing of the door to the master suite (so it swings out rather than in), simplified the light switching arrangement for the master suite (which also meant we could replace a 3-way switched circuit for the main lights with a simpler 2-way), made some tweaks to towel rail selections and placements, and moved the location of one of the external taps to the next corner along. Other than those minor changes, the plan we had worked well.

I'm very glad we got the opportunity to do this (walkthrough prior to rough-in to test and finalise placements) - I strongly recommend that anyone building do the same.

While all this was going on, the painters were also on site finishing off the exterior - so that was four teams working at once - very busy, but it all seemed to work well!

This was how the house was looking (just a quick shot over all of the tradie gear):



It's also the first time we've been able to see the exterior colour scheme in (almost) all its glory (the garage walls haven't been painted yet). Colorbond colours - 'Evening haze' for the roofs and fascia, 'Paperbark' for walls and downpipes, 'Mangrove' for gutters. A lighter-coloured scheme (not least for energy efficiency in summer) that fits in with the surroundings. It's still a bit hard to tell with the scaffolding (and the picture really doesn't do it justice), but I think we might've pulled it off!

The rough-ins are in full swing, the scaffolding is coming down next week, and the lower roof sections (at the rear of the house) will going on once the scaffolding is down (currently the base of the scaffolding is standing in those rooms, so those roof sections can't be put on while its there). Pre-sheeting inspections for both the builder's certifier and our independent inspector are booked for the 29th.

Looks great - a very clean look.
It is difficult when the scaffolding is in place - you may find that there is much more space around the house than you thought when it is removed!
It's great that you had the opportunity to get the tweaks in - i hope they all work well for you.

Wow so much happening! Which is awesome We are also planning on evening haze for our roof so it’s great to see it looking so good on a real building (as opposed to the renders we’ve tried online)

Such a good idea to do the walk through prior to rough in.. especially for the extra block locations. Sounds like you and your builder have a good thing going on, seems that things are flowing smoothly and quite quick progress being made. Can’t wait to see it all with the scaffolding gone

Yes, Colorbond colours are notorious for being hard to properly render on a computer, and for changing how they look based on light levels/direction/weather/surroundings, but I'd say that Evening Haze is a standout even by Colorbond standards! Even in the photo above, the garage looks like it might be closer to 'Classic Cream' while the house looks closer to 'Surfmist', even though they're both Evening Haze (and neither roof in the photo looks like it appeared in real life).

Before locking in our roof colour, we spent a lot of time driving around in looking at roofs to see how they looked in practice - even the official Colorbond colour samples don't really do Evening Haze justice. Due to the variability it was a bit of a gamble, but it's paid off.

And scaffolding is down!






Still haven't quite managed to capture the proper roof colour (how it appears in real-life).

Inside, things are (of course) less finished, but the plumbing rough-in has been completed, the electrical rough-in is well underway, and the aircon rough-in is in progress:



Following some issues with the previous carpenter, the builder has a new team to finish things off. The pre-sheeting inspection is on Tuesday morning, the wall insulation will go in during the second half of next week, and sheeting commences the following Monday. We've also finalised the kitchen (and other joinery) plans and confirmed the tiling selections and layouts - kitchen installation is due to commence in about three weeks. It's moving quite quickly!

Yay for scaffolding down!!
Looking awesome 👏🏼
And rough in happening... I’m so impressed by how organised this build seems. I can only hope ours moves this quickly!

Our builder is certainly organised, and he puts a lot of effort into scheduling, so things are happening much faster than on other builds. It's reinforced how much 'empty time' there is in a 'standard' building schedule between things happening - our builder doesn't believe in time going to waste!

Stage inspection happened on Tuesday morning (with both the builder's certifier and our independent inspector). All went very well - a couple of minor issues with the framing (just needing an extra stud in a couple of places where the previous carpenter had missed it) - the new carpenters were on site fixing things up at the time, so our inspector was able to point things out directly to them so they could resolve immediately. Only a few things, all minor and easily rectified the same day - we met with our inspector on the site at the end of his inspection, and he commented on the overall quality of the build, and how impressed he was with our builder. The written report was issued the following day, with the conclusion "Overall the standard of construction is very good". Always good to have the reassurance!

The inspector was also very interested in several of the aspects of our build, and the Powerfloor in particular - he commented that he was surprised that it hadn't been taken up much more widely, as it is such a superior option.


After the inspection, though, our builder picked up that the previous carpenter had also located a few doors slightly out of alignment - not by a lot (which is why it wasn't noticed earlier, and it's not a functional issue), but just enough so they didn't line up exactly where they should visually. Our builder was not impressed, and it's going to be rectified at the previous carpenter's expense, Our builder also wasn't impressed by the mess the previous carpenter's crew left - he likes nice clean building sites, without rubbish and offcuts being strewn everywhere, and he personally came on Tuesday evening to clean up the mess that had accumulated over the past few months.

The internal insulation (R2.7 wall batts, R7.0 ceiling batts, and R2.5 SoundScreen between floors and to all internal walls) started to go in yesterday and will be completed Tomorrow, with sheeting starting on Monday.

A couple of pics from the past week:

Ceiling battens and aircon ducts are in, also visible is the electrical rough-in:

Our lift-and-slide door is finally fully installed and working, after some delays - the previous carpenters had incorrectly craned the sliding panel upstairs. It's double-glazed 8mm toughened glass... and the mistake wasn't noticed until the upstairs living window had been fitted into the hole that it had been craned in through. Fortunately there was a happy ending, but it took an entire team to get it back downstairs again!



It was also supposed to be fully rebated, however, will only be partially rebated due to a measurement/specification error (mine... this was something we'd organised independently of the builder, and another lesson learnt). There's a step down immediately outside, so it's only a minor issue and we're not too fussed (it'd be worse if the surfaces on either side were at the same level) .

And finally, here's an idea of how much additional insulation is going into this house:

Spectacular progress!
Do you think your builder could give lessons in organisation and not wasting time?
I think you'll be finished before I am at this rate.