Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Feb 15, 2012 2:16 pm Hi, Our build is just begining - slab booked for next week. All through the design process we stressed that we wanted a high rating house. We were getting figures through this process (our draftsman could also do the rating himself) in the low 7's. With the final plans there was an upgrade to the rating and bam we are back under 7. So he added a tonne more insulation, and a couple of other little tweaks to get us back to 7.3. (our intent was to be at least in the 8's). I'm just curious if anyone knows what you have to do now to get a high rating. We have it well oriented, polished 'crete flooring, double glazed UPVC argon filled windows, eaves etc. Our draftsman also had no clue as to how we could get it higher. It is 2 room wide so I guess we could have made it longer and skinnier...anyone else having problems with the new ratings? It would be quite scary to see how low our current house rates.. Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 2Feb 18, 2012 9:12 pm The first question would be why....why an 8 star rating? The relative energy usage vs cost of reaching that rating is *huge*. Personally I'd check that your windows are the most efficient brand / u-value that you can get without breaking the budget. EcoClassic have good u-values. The other ways are insulation, and changes to the window sizes/locations. Good luck! My build is 7.2 star but I *started* at 6.2 star and just added double glazing (eco-classic) and 4.0 insulation in the ceiling and I think that was it Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 3Feb 19, 2012 6:51 am Even with double glazing you still lose a lot of heat through the windows in winter and gain a lot of heat in summer. We made all the windows on the south side about 40% smaller and minimised East and West facing windows. That made a considerable difference to the rating. This was a no cost alteration to the price. There is a comparison here:: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=727 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: New Energy Rating Frustrations 4Feb 20, 2012 12:17 pm We have 1 small east window but no west windows, and our south windows are smaller, we are getting our windows through 'Art Windows' my hubby is the one who checked out the u values, I believe they are pretty good. Our roof insulation is 5 - although we got a great deal on some 3.5 so are now actually making it 7. Not sure how much this will affect our rating. 8 star rating was just our aim, obviously we have compromised on this but really I am more wondering if anyone else has experienced a 'drop' in rating like we did. Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 5Feb 20, 2012 2:16 pm Hi greenfish Our house is also 2 rooms wide about 11mx25m We were rated 8.1 - doubleglazed A&L windows, tiles on concrete on the long north side rooms, 12 degrees to the east, R4 ceiling batts and R2 sarking for colorbond roof, R2 wall insulation, small south windows, one east window under porchline, west - large glass window/door, which we will shade. Lost points for 450mm eaves. Are your windows on the north too big? Colour of roof? Style? More insulation reaches a max effective point. We also have 5kw solar panels, solar gas HW, 3 tanks for 23 KL water, HRV system. It all cost a bit, but we hope we get low power bills to compensate - just have to live long enough to break even We looked at Timbercrete but ended up with a small volume builder who used Austral. Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 6Feb 22, 2012 9:28 am http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=727 I just read your little calc. Brian and it makes interesting reading. And I agree too , trying to achieve an R-rating of 8 is doable but pretty expensive. Cheers, Stewie Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 7Feb 27, 2012 2:12 pm What level of 'star rating' to aim for with a new home construction is daunting. Many 'first home buyers' are scratching just to get into a home let alone plan ahead & be able to budget for the possibility of their home being devalued in the future due to increasing rating levels. Over a short period we have seen industry standards go from 4 stars to 6. In the current climate & looking say 5 years ahead it it is not inconceivable to see homes averaging 7 or 8 stars being the norm. 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: New Energy Rating Frustrations 8Feb 27, 2012 4:29 pm Sorry I thought I had replied earlier to this. We do have some large north facing windows. The whole inclusion of the solar hot water confuses me too. Our rater insisted this had nothing to do with anything, but I know of people who have gone SHW simply to put them over the 6 star rating. Are there different systems for doing ratings? We looked at getting a HRV system, but it seemed to us that it would mainly be achieving what we have paid extra and designed the house to do on it's own anyway. Be interested to hear your thoughts on the system. As for roof colour, we were all set to go light - but had to change to a darker colour again to get better rated (located in VIC). I guess we could have gone a 'dark' rather than 'medium' colour to get more points but we were sceptical to be honest, might be better on the rating system, but not so much in real life. Ausdesign - I think it should be 7 or 8 star mandatory, i don't understand the people who can't see the benefit. Plus the more all these things become standard, the cheaper they will be. Re: New Energy Rating Frustrations 9Feb 27, 2012 6:29 pm The option between solar hot water or rainwater tanks definitely has no bearing on the thermal assessment Under BASIX in NSW from memory it has an impact. 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. 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 1550 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 110592 |