general advice building a new home?

[Squilliam]

I was just wondering if any of you guys have any good ideas for a techy friendly efficient and clean home.

Heres the basic of what I have in mind so far:

2 bedrooms + 1 dedicated gaming/infomedia/porn room with sound proofing.

double glazed windows.

Efficient insulation.

Wired for ethernet.

Heres what im considering:

Some sort of heat recovery ventilation. Help me out guys!

Some kind of heat pump system. Help me out guys

For both these I was thinking of some sort of heat recovery ventilation plumbed into a heat pump air conditioner to warm/cool the air where applicable. Im hoping to maintain about 20C or whatever you'd call comfortable in Failure degrees.

Solar hot water heater.

Whirlpool instant hot water for the kitchen so I only have to plumb in cold water there.

Some various automation systems for lights etc for someone with limited vision/mobility in a wheelchair. Sort of like automated lights and a couple of the doors with servos or something so they can be opened easily.

 

[Grall]

Put in hard floors, not carpet...especially in the bathroom.

I dunno about how you kiwis look at these things, but the brits are absolutely nutters about having carpeted floors everywhere and it's just YUCKY disgusting. Especially since they tend to walk around on said carpeted floors with the same shoes they use outside. Wtf.

 

[WhiningKhan]

Some sort of heat recovery ventilation. Help me out guys!

Some kind of heat pump system. Help me out guys

I'm not quite sure of what kind of climate you live in, but probably the solutions around there differ a bit from what we have here. Here, we mostly need to think about heating (half of the year close to or below zero C), while you (I guess?) have focus on cooling. But anyway, I'm not quite sure solar hot water heater is your best bet, if you are going to put in a heat pump anyway. You should easily be able to heat your hot water with the recovered/waste heat from the air conditioning, if you install a suitable ventilation system. And what the heck is that bit about the instant hot water - that's electric heater for the water, right? Why would you do that, if you already were thinking of both heat pumps and solar hot water - you would end up having expensive equipment doing nothing, and heating your water with electricity.

 

[WhiningKhan]

Put in hard floors, not carpet...especially in the bathroom.

WTF? Carpet in bathroom? What's next, bathtub made out of velour and stuffed with down feather?

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

If I had the opportunity (and money) to build my own home I would be looking into something like these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huf_Haus

In addition I would be looking at wired ethernet throughout.
X-10 Home automation compatible fittings.

CC

 

[zed]

I was talking with a woman at work and even though she lives like 5km out of town center (or less than 500m away from other houses), they had to stick in their own road. Shes not connected to the powergrid, Well her house runs 100% on solar power, it cost $15,000nz I think she said. This is nelson though so other places in nz will have less sun than here.

 

[Squilliam]

Put in hard floors, not carpet...especially in the bathroom.

I dunno about how you kiwis look at these things, but the brits are absolutely nutters about having carpeted floors everywhere and it's just YUCKY disgusting. Especially since they tend to walk around on said carpeted floors with the same shoes they use outside. Wtf.

Definately no carpet in the garage, kitchet, toilet and bathrooms. Also we keep our grass outside except when grown under hydroponic conditions with artificial lighting.

I'm not quite sure of what kind of climate you live in, but probably the solutions around there differ a bit from what we have here. Here, we mostly need to think about heating (half of the year close to or below zero C), while you (I guess?) have focus on cooling. But anyway, I'm not quite sure solar hot water heater is your best bet, if you are going to put in a heat pump anyway. You should easily be able to heat your hot water with the recovered/waste heat from the air conditioning, if you install a suitable ventilation system. And what the heck is that bit about the instant hot water - that's electric heater for the water, right? Why would you do that, if you already were thinking of both heat pumps and solar hot water - you would end up having expensive equipment doing nothing, and heating your water with electricity.

37°41′S 176°10′E, thats our coordinates.

I was thinking of using whats called a DVS 3G ->http://dvs.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/152

Its a heat recovery ventilation unit and I was hoping to maintain a range of 18-22C throughout the home year round.

I was wondering about the merits of solar hot water / heat pump water heaters given the climate and latitude. I think im erring towards the latter given the fact that I would only need one unit instead of potentially two.

 

[WhiningKhan]

I was thinking of using whats called a DVS 3G ->http://dvs.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/152

Its a heat recovery ventilation unit and I was hoping to maintain a range of 18-22C throughout the home year round.

That seems to be a passive counter-flow heat-exchanger unit. It's simple and it works, and is potentially inexpensive.

A heat pump based solution like this would also give you hot water:
http://www.isoenergy.co.uk/airsource

The downside is that it is noisier, less robust and more expensive. You'd probably still need separate AC unit(s) for cooling though, if significant amount of cooling is required.

 

[Simon F]

WTF? Carpet in bathroom? What's next, bathtub made out of velour and stuffed with down feather?

You think that's bad? I saw one place in the UK where they'd carpeted the kitchen**.

**Though that is extremely unusual. Carpet in the bathroom is more common but probably decreasingly so.

 

[Gubbi]

You think that's bad? I saw one place in the UK where they'd carpeted the kitchen**.

**Though that is extremely unusual. Carpet in the bathroom is more common but probably decreasingly so.

My kid brother rented a fairly posh (£1000/month) flat in Edinburgh when he lived there, it had carpets *everywhere*. Needless to say that the kitchen floor was gross after having that piss-head living there for 2 years.

Cheers

 

[WhiningKhan]

You think that's bad? I saw one place in the UK where they'd carpeted the kitchen**.

**Though that is extremely unusual. Carpet in the bathroom is more common but probably decreasingly so.

In kitchen the carpet just gets nasty looking quickly, that's only a cosmetic issue - but doesn't the carpet start pushing mushrooms or at least develop mold in a matter of months due to being continuously damp? Or is the 'bathroom' just a semantic joke and that room is not actually used for washing up and bathing?

I'd figure the carpet would get also get into a pretty gross condition if it surrounds a toilet seat, and the household contains males with bad aim.

 

[Squilliam]

That seems to be a passive counter-flow heat-exchanger unit. It's simple and it works, and is potentially inexpensive.

A heat pump based solution like this would also give you hot water:
http://www.isoenergy.co.uk/airsource

The downside is that it is noisier, less robust and more expensive. You'd probably still need separate AC unit(s) for cooling though, if significant amount of cooling is required.

That sounds pretty good, I'll have to look it up. It would be a waste to 'waste' that heat pump on just heating/cooling air!

 

[Rolf N]

Solar heating is unreliable, ineffective high-maintenance garbage. It's counter-cyclic, 's the first problem, and b)there's the danger of too much sunshine coming in, requiring you to baby-sit the thing (piss away some hot water to reduce energy in the reservoir, cover the collectors to avoid more getting in). Not worth the trouble and significant plumbage involved. Better to use the area on the roof to produce electricity and heat your water with gas or ... electricity!

If I ever get to choose a floor material again, it'll be linoleum. Smooth (unlike tiles), can be mopped really wet if need be (unlike common laminates) and as durable as either. If you want, it can look like tiles or laminate too

 

[Squilliam]

Solar heating is unreliable, ineffective high-maintenance garbage. It's counter-cyclic, 's the first problem, and b)there's the danger of too much sunshine coming in, requiring you to baby-sit the thing (piss away some hot water to reduce energy in the reservoir, cover the collectors to avoid more getting in). Not worth the trouble and significant plumbage involved. Better to use the area on the roof to produce electricity and heat your water with gas or ... electricity!

If I ever get to choose a floor material again, it'll be linoleum. Smooth (unlike tiles), can be mopped really wet if need be (unlike common laminates) and as durable as either. If you want, it can look like tiles or laminate too

Thanks for the info on Solar Hot water. Its definitely out. Im trying to avoid using gas, im going as far as to use induction based elements in the kitchen instead of gas to avoid the $30 a month connection charge. So that leaves heat pump or regular hot water as options.

Im definately going for Vinyl flooring which is similar to linoleum really, isn't it?

In any case does anyone have anything positive to report to me on the state of LED vs Compact fluorescent lighting? If I can find a good source I'll go with LED but im not certain that the quality of light has reached the stage where they can be relied upon.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I like tiles, I like feeling the boundaries with my finger, or believing that dirt particles can probably fit inbetween, whereas there's no escape from a totally flat surface

37°41′S 176°10′E, thats our coordinates.

that's nice mild temperatures you've got there , here are mine.

you don't need AC cooling..

about ethernet wiring, look for CAT 6a, it will support 10 gigabit (not useless in the future, when you have a 1Gb internet connection and a fast RAID array in a file server or home SAN.)
I've found that little text about cost and installation http://www.lynxdatacabling.co.uk/documents/Cat6A.pdf

 

[Grall]

In any case does anyone have anything positive to report to me on the state of LED vs Compact fluorescent lighting?

There was a separate thread on LED lighting in this forum. If you scroll back a page or so I'm sure you'll find it. Generally speaking, LED lights are not particulary bright, nor particulary uniform in intensity, nor particulary uniform in color, nor particulary cheap either (unless you buy something that's complete garbage perhaps).

It's an interesting technology that simply isn't ready for mass-market yet.

 

[Gerry]

You think that's bad? I saw one place in the UK where they'd carpeted the kitchen**.

**Though that is extremely unusual. Carpet in the bathroom is more common but probably decreasingly so.

haha I have this argument with my MiL at regular intervals. She swears by carpet everywhere - including the kitchen and bathroom. My BiL's house also has carpet in the kitchen (new carpet - I melted the old carpet when I spilt some hot oil taking something out of the oven). It's ridiculous, and very, very old-school British.

We just have carpeting upstairs, which helps deaden the noise of people stomping around, as well as making things seem warmer (not in the bathroom of course).

 

[Mariner]

I thought that all Kiwis lived in these?

http://tolkien-movies.com/images/archive/moviesets/mirror-bagend.jpg

 

[zed]

I thought that all Kiwis lived in these?

That would be great, cause then our homes wouldnt be so friggen cold.
This is perhaps the most oft heard complaint from ppl when they come to nz in any season except summer.
Ppl from scandinavia/canada complain about the cold houses here!
I remember for a laugh one year in amsterdam (when the canals froze over) I was going away for a couple of days, so I decided to leaves the windows open in the flat to see how cold it was when I got back, it was 5degrees! (this is with sub zero temps outdoors).
Last year I often had temperatures of 0 degrees indoors, it usually was colder inside than outside

 

[Squilliam]

I like tiles, I like feeling the boundaries with my finger, or believing that dirt particles can probably fit inbetween, whereas there's no escape from a totally flat surface




that's nice mild temperatures you've got there , here are mine.

you don't need AC cooling..

about ethernet wiring, look for CAT 6a, it will support 10 gigabit (not useless in the future, when you have a 1Gb internet connection and a fast RAID array in a file server or home SAN.)
I've found that little text about cost and installation http://www.lynxdatacabling.co.uk/documents/Cat6A.pdf

Yeah definately Cat 6e for future proofted networking. Especially as I have 3-4 Dave enabled AMD systems which will soon have SSD as their primary HDDs.

Your climate I guess isn't as lovely and mild as ours. I like to think of it as mediocre and less likely to piss you off for being to cold OR hot. But still I would like to maintain a relatively steady temperature indoors.

Overall I was thinking perhaps HRV plus a heatpump water + house heating in order to be the most efficient on those and to save $360 ~ 250U.S. per year on gas connection charges which ought to pay for the system in no time.

There was a separate thread on LED lighting in this forum. If you scroll back a page or so I'm sure you'll find it. Generally speaking, LED lights are not particulary bright, nor particulary uniform in intensity, nor particulary uniform in color, nor particulary cheap either (unless you buy something that's complete garbage perhaps).

It's an interesting technology that simply isn't ready for mass-market yet.

I was hoping something good had come of that. Im probably going to install some LED strip lighting anyway for a permament marker so that one of the household doesn't wander through the house in the dark bumping into things and swearing when she gets up at 3am for her midnight snack.

That would be great, cause then our homes wouldnt be so friggen cold.
This is perhaps the most oft heard complaint from ppl when they come to nz in any season except summer.
Ppl from scandinavia/canada complain about the cold houses here!
I remember for a laugh one year in amsterdam (when the canals froze over) I was going away for a couple of days, so I decided to leaves the windows open in the flat to see how cold it was when I got back, it was 5degrees! (this is with sub zero temps outdoors).
Last year I often had temperatures of 0 degrees indoors, it usually was colder inside than outside

Ouch. Well we're hard in New Zealand. We like to tough things out. If our homes are too cold they're ventilated and if they are warm enough they aren't ventilated well enough. We like to keep our pioneer spirit alive in the 21st century.

Btw what kind of house do you live in?