OUR HOME
Before we moved
• Our previous home had lots of west facing windows, heated up terribly in summer and then couldn’t be easily cooled when the easterly or southerly cool breezes arrived in the evening.
• It was also a very cold house in winter, with only one small room (a bedroom) having a north facing window for good access to sun.
There had to be a better way of designing a home.
So we moved!
As it was in 2000. The original
house was built in the 50s.
As it was when we bought it in 2005
The site plan as at 2005. The right hand
boundary meant we could build a north
facing living area. The lane also gave
separate access for a rear unit/granny flat.
North
The original back of the house had west facing windows that we wanted to eliminate as much as possible
Old sheds at the rear of the block were demolished by hand to salvage as much
hardwood timber as possible.
Some of this timber was used to build the table on the deck, which also included left over timber from the building of
the pergola.
During excavation, an old well was discovered under the south west corner of the house (the only part of the
old section to be demolished). It held up building for around 4 weeks and is now registered with the Heritage
Council!
Extra engineering certification was
required as the well had to be spanned with
concrete beams.
And then the rains came!
And it was hard to keep the final vision in focus
At least we knew we had experienced tradies on the job
The first of two halves of the rear unit arrives
And is pushed into position by a tractor
The second half arrives, but it is still about 4 months away from being ready for occupancy.
The door in the centre of the old house becomes the only west facing window in the house, a small
bathroom window.
The door unit arrives. Looking at various options for higher performance glass, we settled on 4mm thick (standard glass is 3mm) tinted glass in a
stackable sliding unit that allows a 4 metre opening.
60mm Greenboard(polystyrene with R value of
1.9) is fixed directly to timber frame
On the old section of the house, vinyl cladding was
removed and 40 mm Greenboard (R value 1.4) is
attached directly to the weatherboards
Mesh is applied over the Greenboard which is then cement rendered, and our house becomes an esky.
Direct quote from 5 year old: “If you didn’t have us, how could you get all your work done?!”
Bamboo floorboards were placed over particle board. Left
over floorboards were used
as the kitchen
splashback.
Grapevines planted 3 years ago at northern side of deck now create dense shade over the deck during summer, while
allowing sun in through winter.
Our photovoltaic system was first installed in June 2008
.And expanded in March this year. It is now a 2.8 kW
system, 16 panels and produces just over 11 kWh per day
It will generate an income of around $2800 per year
A 1 kW system was also installed on the unit
We consume between 8 and 9 kWh of electricity per day. (The Australian average per household is 19)
Some of the reasons we have lower than average electricity consumption include:
• Only 1 fridge• No air conditioner• Heatpump hot water system• Low energy lighting • Only 1 TV (and a daggy old CRT at that!)• No Playstation, Wii, Xbox etc• Very little on standby• Laptop computers rather than desktops• Very conscious of turning off lights and equipment
when not being used
We have no air conditioner (though one would be nice for the 40+ days. Lucky we’re so close to the pool!)
There are 6 ceiling fans throughout the house. The timber ones were originally in the living area and weren’t strong enough, but work well in the bedrooms.
More effective fans:1. Are metal2. Have longer blades3. Are set as low as is safe4. Have more powerful motors
We have a 275 litre Heatpump
hot water system that uses about 30-40% of the
electricity of an electric storage
system.
In hindsight we would install a solar hot water system instead
A 4500 litre bladder tank under the old section of the house is plumbed to the back toilet, washing machine
and front garden tap.
A 3000 litre tank at the rear of the unit is also plumbed to 2 toilets and washing machine
Compact Fluros (CFLs) are installed throughout the house, including downlights and bathroom Tastic lights. These
typically use about 25% of the power of incandescents.
The heatlamps remain in the tastics but are not used
The new downlights use 60 watts per set of 4 instead of 240
An 11 watt ceiling light replaces a 60 watt downlight
The correct way to use 12 volt halogen downlight fittings
A robot created at
the Lambton
Public School
“Recycled Robots”
day.
InsulationIn the old section, bulk insulation (combination of fibreglass battsand loose fill) of R 3.5 is in roof. Underfloor polystyrene batts, R
1.4 was recently installed.
Vegetable gardens
Established in Spring 2009
We have 3 waste systems for organic waste
Our worm farm provides fertilizer for the garden as well as a method of disposing of
suitable kitchen waste
The Bokashi compost is an
anaerobic fermentation
system that can compost all
kitchen waste except bones
(We are beginning to question the
environmental impact of this
system)
A conventional compost bin for some garden waste is at the back of the unit, but is not actively
composted, just left to its own devices.
Other wasteWe share a general rubbish bin and
recycling bin with the rear unit
Cubby house is yet to be retro fitted with sustainable features
Future Plans
• Paint roof of new section with reflective paint
• Install external blinds on top louvre windows
• Install underfloor insulation under new section
• Change all blinds in old section to more thermally efficient ones
• Install new roof on old section with solar powered ventilation
• Continue to explore ways of reducing our energy and resource use