Replying to a personal message just now reminded me again I was going to start posting up some pics and info after we moved into the new house in October 2019.
Firstly I should mention that for anyone looking to build with Bryan & Petersen in Ballarat (they also have an operation out of Warrnambool), well things are looking better for the future. The previous owner who has successfully built the business up over many years has taken back control of the business, from what I have been told (by both a past customer and current employee). We hit a few 'obstacles' with the person who was taking over the business during our build and I personally think it is a great move to revert back to their previous ownership/management setup. ** If anyone from B&P reading this post wants to contact me to confirm this, I am happy to make any edits or provide additional info **
Now that some of the 'old' crew have returned to the business I felt more comfortable contacting them for assistance. Aside from our fairly crap laminate flooring install, we only have a few minor issues since we moved in, including:
This split in the skirting board is strange in that we don't have other splits anywhere in the house. This one is directly behind our main shower (this wall is where the plumbing is setup), so I had their maintenance guy check it out.
We've agreed to just monitor it and see what happens. I am keen though to cut a small inspection hole in the plaster and check it out internally. I suspect we could have a minor water leak, as it is the skirt that is bowing, the wall is perfectly straight.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Again it's a minor issue, but our front door has bowed out at the bottom even worse now. I've had to try and install a 2nd 2-3mm rubber seal to stop the air movement as it was getting pretty bad.
I showed them a pic and supposedly a rep from the door company will check it out. It's not the fact it is way out of tolerance thay annoys me, it's just very hard to seal it properly.
I am considering buying a new aluminium door to replace it, but really less than 12 months old I shouldn't have to.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
The house itself is going well. This is our first winter and after experimenting with different heating options (we have gas central heating and 3 individual split systems), I have now found we can keep the whole house comfortable at around 20-21deg with just the one small 3.5kw split in the rumpus room (almost middle of the house). So for example yesterday it was around 9 degrees I think and I had the split running all day with the boys home schooling and me in the study (off the living area), and we used just over 10kwh for the whole day (total power use, not just the aircon), as the split once up to temp seems to sit around 300-350 watts.
So this aircon sizing is fascinating, as the place we used were adament that our main living zone needed a 7.1kw unit (55-60sqm), and we can instead run the entire house on just a small 3.5kw unit?? I wish now I had just put in a 2nd 3.5kw unit in the main living instead of that big unit. When we do use the 7.1kw split it takes not time to get to temp then either turns off or just blows 'air' around. It was definitely overkill, and that also goes for the massive central has heating system. It is simply not needed, as I think I have run it maybe 3 times to test it out. It blasts the house with heat then maybe turns on again once or twice more that night to blast us again! The splits just trickling along give off a much more consistent, less noticeable heat.
Our gas heating system is rated at around 29 kw, which is just ridiculous. Our 3.5kw split running @ say 350watts to maintain temps, illustrates that the house is only losing about 4 times that wattage (COP ~ 4 on that split), so lets say the heat loss is around 1800-2000 watts to be generous.
Anyhow if the sun is shining like today, then the main living area gets up to 22-23 deg with no heating (8-9 deg outside). We never run heaters overnight, and typically the house is around 17-18 degrees in the morning, so it's only losing 2-3 degrees overnight which I think is fairly good. Our overnight temps through winter are typically 0 - 4 degrees. We set our heaters to around 20-21deg normally.
So overall I think the main things that are helping us with better comfort levels (incl. over summer) and lower energy use in this house are:
- Orientating our main living areas to the north - arguably the #1 thing
- Decent level of insulation (R5 ceiling w/ R6 perimeter batts and R2.5 internal/external walls)
- ...and importantly alot of effort in reducing gaps in insulation
- Air sealing things like skirting boards, architraves around external windows/doors, central heating air return etc
- Double glazed windows I am sure help to some degree, but by how much??
- We also sealed up most of the top plates<>plaster joins in the roof space before insulation went in
This is our 2nd powered 'whirly bird', that I had a roofing crew install the other day (actually asked one doing a roof nearby and he dropped by and did it for nothing!)
These CSR Edmonds units work off a thermostat/humidity sensor and one of these roughly moves the same amount of air as 6 x standard whirly birds. So I guess we now have the equivalent of 12 standard whirly birds.
I currently have the manhole cover in the garage slightly ajar to provide air supply...I have bought some eave vents that will be going in soon.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
This is 2/3's of our solar system (have another 13 panels on the north). We have a 10kw Fronius inverter with 39 x Trina 'half-cut' 330w panels.
Arguably overkill for us, considering we only average around 12kwh per day, but we're planning on an electric car in the next few years so wanted to be prepared.Like ⋅ 1 comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
One of the first things I booked in after handover was a proper CCTV inspection of our pipework...both sewer and stormwater.
This was a local company that I think charged around $300 for a couple of hours work. Good value I think for peace of mind.
The plumbers who worked on our house I wasn't happy with to be honest, as they had to return several times to fix stuff ups.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
...and this was just one example of the great plumbing work. Our kitchen sink was missing a few clamps and no seal installed...so as you can see we had water dripping down into our lower cabinets as soon as moved in.
I had to fix this myself though, as I had Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
This is our back shed slab going in late last yearLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
and here is the shed, and connecting up the stormwater. Keeping 1/3 of the shed as an undercover area has worked out well, especially as we won't be putting in any roof structure against the house itself.....can't block that north sun!Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
The rear yard, not long after we had the bobcat in to level it off a bit more.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Front yard scraped by the Bobcat.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
We have installed 'aggi' drains all around the house now....you can never have enough drainage hey!Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Copied the rough design of another nearby letterbox! We stained it using the same stain on our front and internal doors, Timber was cypress. Cheap option but came up pretty good I think.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Pic taken 11/05/2020 @11:47am. Shows that lovely sun coming into the living area.
We spec'd the windows to have around 25% glass to floor area ratio. I think this has proven spot on, as one the sunniest of winter days the max temp was around 24 deg, which is certainly hot enough.
In summer we have 600mm eaves, so nothing hits the glass in those hotter months.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
This is our 'narrow' study room (1800mm wide), but with the in-built desk it has worked out awesome. Plenty of room to swing the chair out and move in/out.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
The Pantry which is on the opposite side of the living area to the study, is 1600mm wide and with 600mm deep benches again has proven to be plenty big enough to move people in/out.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
WIP, looking the other direction shows our 'Pantry within a Pantry'. Rather than just storing food on the shelving or under bench cupboards, we decided to incorporate a narrow traditional pantry beside the fridge. Works great for all the smaller food items.Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
I think that will do for now! We have more to show with the veggie boxes and deck recently built. But will save some more photos for later on.