Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation Re: All that glass 2Feb 15, 2006 9:41 am The blog of my home being built: http://glint-bladesong.blogspot.com/ Re: All that glass 5Nov 12, 2008 9:48 pm Yes you know we (wishful thinking) looked at a house like that from Rural Building Co, it had pretty much a wall of glass all along one side, but pretty much were told "oh we haven't built that design in the SW WA for years and if we have then windows were taken out". So even though all these really nice homes are used in the advertising still, in particular climate zones due to the compliance ratings they have to meet these days you will find that it's not that easy to build without taking extra measures (low e glass, double glazing etc).
For our current build we were going to have to have "comfort glass" and, or reduced window sizes, but they decided we weren't in the colder climate zone (it probably was borderline) so we got away without the extra $10k expense for comfort glass, and chose to have more tall skinny windows which reduced the glazing area a bit but still maximised the views. Honestly that really peeved me off - finding out we had to reduce the window sizes, and a fair few of them too, I mean that's one of the main things that attracts you to a house design isn't it? Anyhow we got around it, and I'm happy now, but maybe not so much when it comes time to clean them all!! But yes in the houses with expansive glazing I've always assumed it's different type of glass - I mean it would have to meet a certain safety standard first before you even think about the environmental factors. Re: All that glass 6Nov 13, 2008 9:11 am My two cents worth;
There is a little bit more to this topic than just the glass. House aspect is a major factor, yes some of these wonderful architecturally designed houses are full of glass, You might find they face the correct direction to warrent using all this glass, not just to capitolise on the views. Some of these houses intentionally leave as much sun as possible into the house in the morning to heat up the house, to increase passive solar gain in the house interior for the rest of the day. You might find that these glass walls (when they are in the wrong aspect)are covered overhead either with a major roof overhang, or shading device to cut out the sun when not required, reducing solar gain. You'll find is mandatory now for all dwellings to be compliant with Part J of the BCA, a major component of this Part J is filling out a Glazing calculator which determines if your house really does have too much glass in relation to the floor area. Lastly the BCA glazing calculator does not recognize 'drapes' as a solar control device. Hope this helps a bit, Pat. Re: All that glass 7Nov 13, 2008 1:21 pm Pat the draftie My two cents worth; There is a little bit more to this topic than just the glass. House aspect is a major factor You might find they face the correct direction to warrent using all this glass, not just to capitolise on the views. Some of these houses intentionally leave as much sun as possible into the house in the morning to heat up the house, to increase passive solar gain in the house interior for the rest of the day. Pat is right. I am only referring to glazing that is indiscriminate of aspect. Most people install glazing for aesthetic purposes or views rather than a method of controlling solar gain. Design with correct orientation, shading and combining with thermal mass can ensure that glazing provides energy efficiency rather than being an energy liability. A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5813 This is one of the reasons I decided to go overseas for my double glazed windows. As the builder indicated, he's worked on many upmarket builds, these were the most well… 13 19261 |