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