Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Improving your star rating 5Feb 09, 2009 12:22 pm Thanks for all that info.
Wake-me, no winters are not an issue here but the days can get down to 18 or so, lol. Here is my house plan, do you think I have a good passive design? In the lounge/kitchen I have stackable doors, think there is about 2 or 3 on each side. http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/stiltkins75/hplans1.jpg Were thinking about putting a high window in our WIW. Re: Improving your star rating 7Feb 09, 2009 11:31 pm Loullabell - in FNQ northis the last thing you need. - south facing is far more enjoyable - with a touch of east to wake up and shaded west to stop the afternoon heat. Sorry to say I think your desing looks a bit to closed in for my liking in the tropics. Do the best you can - but don't aim at getting it north facing - you won't need it up there. Re: Improving your star rating 8Feb 10, 2009 11:53 am wake_me What is the orientation of your block? Design looks good, lots of cross flow ventilation and large openings. The master bedroom/lounge/dining/kitchen faces directly north Re: Improving your star rating 9Feb 11, 2009 8:16 am I paid a friend to run a computer simulation of the plan of my 6 star rated house, with siting information and with long term weather averages for the area in which we are building. The model was then able to help make decisions about the most cost effective alterations to further improve the performance. It's so simple to see the effects of, say, double glazing, or awnings or upgraded insulation in the roof and so on.
The software was able to produce graphs of the temperatures through the day for each room for the average hottest and coldest days of the year, and predicted for how many days we'd need to run heating or air-conditioning to meet internal temperature targets. (I'd be interested in seeing these for when the outside temperature reaches 46.7 Celsius again!) The cost was more than recouped by informing our choices. http://www.lodestarassessments.com.au/ I've also read a lot, including browsing books on this topic at my local public library. Wake_me's advice is good, and the Victorian sustainability site is also worth visiting for general information. http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/ww ... sheets.asp Re: Improving your star rating 10Feb 11, 2009 8:35 am Loulabelle,
This is nothing to do with star rating, but just a suggestion. I'd change the placement of the internal door from the garage. Rather than coming into the hallway, I'd put it on the back wall of the garage so that it comes into that little area outside the laundry where the linen cupboard is. Gives easy access to the laundry trough to wash hands and also leaves a nice blank wall in the entry way. Just a thought. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Improving your star rating 11Feb 11, 2009 1:27 pm Loulabelle Our new house will be a 5 star rating, how do I improve this rating? as I know it can go up to 10. Is it stuff like the lighting you use, solar hot water, using tank water for toilets/laundry?? Our roof insulation is 50mm Anticon Blanket, is this good? is there better? I live in FNQ so want to reduce the heat in the house as much as possible without having to use the air con 8 months of the year. Can you please give me some advise on how to achieve this. I've designed my house so that the main lounge/dining/kitchen and back patio face north. Plus the master bedroom faces north. Just had a quick look online, does anyone have LED downlights in their house???? hmmm, i think the garage should of been on the west wall. use reflective windows/doors on west side. Re: Improving your star rating 12Feb 11, 2009 7:08 pm joles Loulabelle, This is nothing to do with star rating, but just a suggestion. I'd change the placement of the internal door from the garage. Rather than coming into the hallway, I'd put it on the back wall of the garage so that it comes into that little area outside the laundry where the linen cupboard is. Gives easy access to the laundry trough to wash hands and also leaves a nice blank wall in the entry way. Just a thought. Jo Thats a really good point, makes perfect sence and even dh thinks so. We will change that. Thanks. There is a niche on the corner of that wall Re: Improving your star rating 13Feb 11, 2009 8:51 pm joles Loulabelle, This is nothing to do with star rating, but just a suggestion. I'd change the placement of the internal door from the garage. Rather than coming into the hallway, I'd put it on the back wall of the garage so that it comes into that little area outside the laundry where the linen cupboard is. Gives easy access to the laundry trough to wash hands and also leaves a nice blank wall in the entry way. Just a thought. Jo Good idea for practicality reasons and aesthetics but the way i see it, that door provides a perfect corridor for cross ventilation. Re: Improving your star rating 14Feb 11, 2009 9:20 pm wake_me joles Loulabelle, This is nothing to do with star rating, but just a suggestion. I'd change the placement of the internal door from the garage. Rather than coming into the hallway, I'd put it on the back wall of the garage so that it comes into that little area outside the laundry where the linen cupboard is. Gives easy access to the laundry trough to wash hands and also leaves a nice blank wall in the entry way. Just a thought. Jo Good idea for practicality reasons and aesthetics but the way i see it, that door provides a perfect corridor for cross ventilation. Would you really want cross ventilation through your garage???? Am I misunderstanding something?? I would have my garage door into the house closed all the time no matter where it is. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Improving your star rating 15Feb 11, 2009 9:28 pm cyclone Loulabelle Our new house will be a 5 star rating, how do I improve this rating? as I know it can go up to 10. Is it stuff like the lighting you use, solar hot water, using tank water for toilets/laundry?? Our roof insulation is 50mm Anticon Blanket, is this good? is there better? I live in FNQ so want to reduce the heat in the house as much as possible without having to use the air con 8 months of the year. Can you please give me some advise on how to achieve this. I've designed my house so that the main lounge/dining/kitchen and back patio face north. Plus the master bedroom faces north. Just had a quick look online, does anyone have LED downlights in their house???? hmmm, i think the garage should of been on the west wall. use reflective windows/doors on west side. We had to design a house with the garage on that side as the developers have already put the driveway in before we decided to buy. Re: Improving your star rating 16Feb 11, 2009 10:43 pm joles wake_me joles Loulabelle, This is nothing to do with star rating, but just a suggestion. I'd change the placement of the internal door from the garage. Rather than coming into the hallway, I'd put it on the back wall of the garage so that it comes into that little area outside the laundry where the linen cupboard is. Gives easy access to the laundry trough to wash hands and also leaves a nice blank wall in the entry way. Just a thought. Jo Good idea for practicality reasons and aesthetics but the way i see it, that door provides a perfect corridor for cross ventilation. Would you really want cross ventilation through your garage???? Am I misunderstanding something?? I would have my garage door into the house closed all the time no matter where it is. Fair call, I guess it depends how clean your garage is. I think of my garage as an extension of my living space. You could eat off my garage floor and most days my boy usually does On a 40 degree day with 95 percent humidity i'd have the garage panel lift open as well. This garage faces the south so would capture a SE breeze beautifully. Though some people dont like their garage doors open and thats understandable but in FNQ every bit of breeze is a godsend. Re: Improving your star rating 17Feb 12, 2009 5:08 am Quote: hmmm, i think the garage should of been on the west wall. use reflective windows/doors on west side. We had to design a house with the garage on that side as the developers have already put the driveway in before we decided to buy. are you near the coast, are you exposed to the breezes ? Re: Improving your star rating 18Feb 12, 2009 8:13 pm cyclone Quote: hmmm, i think the garage should of been on the west wall. use reflective windows/doors on west side. We had to design a house with the garage on that side as the developers have already put the driveway in before we decided to buy. are you near the coast, are you exposed to the breezes ? Here's our land, the driveway is right behind me in the photo. We have 898 sq m, a house will be the left and to the right. http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/stiltkins75/DSC02044Medium.jpg We have the mountains behind us, a creek to the left. Not near the sea, there are breezes and because were close to the mountains we'll probably get more rain. Re: Improving your star rating 20Feb 13, 2009 7:06 am Loulabelle cyclone Quote: hmmm, i think the garage should of been on the west wall. use reflective windows/doors on west side. We had to design a house with the garage on that side as the developers have already put the driveway in before we decided to buy. are you near the coast, are you exposed to the breezes ? Here's our land, the driveway is right behind me in the photo. We have 898 sq m, a house will be the left and to the right. We have the mountains behind us, a creek to the left. Not near the sea, there are breezes and because were close to the mountains we'll probably get more rain. are you on the west or east of the Great Dividing range ? the reason i ask, is that during summer you maybe be forced to use AC due to high humdity and low wind speeds, unless you install a http://www.everbreeze.com.au/breeze_power.htm You also may want to use casement windows in the media room, to capture the wind from the NE to SE. cheers 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 1568 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39927 Broker here - legislation says that every true broker must put the clients best interests before theirs so in theory they must offer you the best options for you on their… 2 46086 |