Browse Forums Eco Living Re: Josh's House - 10 Star energy efficiency rating project 6Jun 19, 2013 9:54 pm Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Josh's House - 10 Star energy efficiency rating project 8Jun 20, 2013 7:42 am Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Josh's House - 10 Star energy efficiency rating project 11Jun 20, 2013 1:13 pm Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Josh's House - 10 Star energy efficiency rating project 13Jun 20, 2013 9:12 pm freofarmer It sounds like some of you have entirely missed the point of his building this project. You dont need a double glazed passive haus in Fremantle, or an uber hipster hay barn to be energy and water efficient. Unless i misunderstand the above, I think I need to clarify that I wasn't talking about a barn to say that a barn would be efficient. I was using a barn as an example of something that wasn't designed to live in, and as a result didn't need to be insulated, didn't need properly designed windows and didn't even need an insulated floor. I was using it as an example of where to get the most square meters cheapest juxtaposed to having a properly designed dwelling. Quote: Passivehaus's arent the be all and end all of design Noone said they were. Passivhaus is a standard. It sets the minimum standards, just the AS sets the minimum standards. A passivhaus isn't a particular type of house in the sense that it has to look and work in a certain way. It has to perform to a certain standard. There's a difference. Quote: - a lot of those homes need rain and snow to run properly - two things WA has extremely little of. I'm sorry, but that is just wrong. Need rain and snow to run properly? WTH? And while we're there. Isn't Josh building a "passive house" in the sense that it should perform to a given standard (even though it's his standard which are higher than the AS)? Quote: He's building it for cheaper than an average ugly lego aussie block. I agree. Quote: Its been built in 6 months or something. He's designed it (or the designer has anyway) to look like an average aussie home, on an average aussie site, using materials available from Bunnings. The point is s exactly what Danois wrote: Danois There is one thing I can take from it: It's bloody easy to achieve a high star rating in Australia, and it doesn't need to cost an arm or a leg. It can be done on the cheap. Exactly. So why aren't state-build homes constructed like this? Or other cheap housing? Why does everyone only use double brick? Why doesn't everyone use grey water and have water tanks? Why is the bulk of demolition waste ending up as landfill? (LOVE gumtree for saving landfill). Its cheap and easy and here are the plans - for free. Yes, and as a result I'm surprised that this is the epitomy of passive houses in Australia. I do think that it's a great first step, but boy is there a long way to go. Especially with people like "Building-Expert" who tries to argue that any shortcomings aren't shortcomings, since size is more important, that he can visually tell if a house is airtight, and that leaks aren't bad. Quote: Josh Byrne is getting the word out there and helping - full points. Yes, well, he does. I just don't think it should be touted as the be-all end-all of passive house design. It's a step forward to what else I have seen - not least on this site. Quote: BTW - one of the videos is about the windows and i think they talk about the airtightness of the homes on there. I must have missed that. I'll take a look again. It's funny, though, because in Europe a lot of emphasis is put on how to make sure a house is airtight. Even with non-passive houses. Apparently Europeans understand how much a difference it makes. It's not just about having proper insulation, proper windows and so on, but actually have the surrounds airtight as well. Quote: Passivehaus isn't for everywhere or everyone. I much prefer the indoor outdoor living style, but thats just me. You can have your indoor-outdoor living style if you want. It's a matter of designing it that way. It doesn't have to be the shape of box. And let me once again remark that although not built to the German Passivhaus standard, Josh's house is built to be a passive house. Quote: Passivehaus's need air circulation/refreshing machinery too dont they? Ergh.. More bills.. Josh's house makes use of ceiling fans to waft air around. An HRV/ERV doesn't cost much to run. It's nothing compared to warming up or cooling down a leaky house. Now, such a system is more expensive up front than ceiling fans, I'll grant you that. But if the house is well insulated and airtight, the running costs compared to the poorly insulated and somewhat leaky house will be lower than heating/cooling that poorly insulated/leaky house. And, this is important to me: It's more allergy friendly to have the air exchanged on a constant basis than airing out the house by opening doors and windows ten minutes four times a day (or however much you want). Speaking of which, you will also need to cool down/warm up the air you just exchanged anyway. An ERV is basically a heat exchanger with a fan, making it much more efficient. Edit: Fixed quotes 10 years ago was a different software than we use now. it has had a lot of changes over the past years. 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