general advice building a new home?

[Grall]

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).

Why would you do something like that? I don't see how idle curiosity could possibly warrant wasting energy like that...

Last year I often had temperatures of 0 degrees indoors, it usually was colder inside than outside

That's extremely dangerous. If you get ice in your water piping you'll end up with some very expensive repair bills...

How could you even get indoors temps that low, don't you have any heating at all in your rooms? And how could you LIVE like that?

I myself had a somewhat uncomfortable winter this past season, the rooms below my apartement aren't heated so when there was a long cold-spell of sub-zero temps, sometimes down to more than -20C that lasted several months my floors crept down towards 16C, despite PCs roaring all day long crunching folding@home and radiators on full burn...

 

[nutball]

despite PCs roaring all day long crunching folding@home and radiators on full burn...

Why would you do something like that? I don't see how idle curiosity could possibly warrant wasting energy like that...

 

[Grall]

Wut?

 

[Mariner]

You could always build your house from straw. I wonder if they come with an anti-Big Bad Wolf warranty? :smile:

 

[zed]

You could always build your house from straw. I wonder if they come with an anti-Big Bad Wolf warranty? :smile:

I voted for this guy a couple of elections ago, the reason? Cause he built his house out of straw! That was the dealbreaker he was the only one that made me laugh

Why would you do something like that? I don't see how idle curiosity could possibly warrant wasting energy like that...

Im very curious, I always wanna know things. My questions drive most ppl batty after a while

How could you even get indoors temps that low, don't you have any heating at all in your rooms? And how could you LIVE like that?

http://www.communityoutcomes.govt.nz/web/coutcomes.nsf/unid/TCAO-7UC2ZD?openDocument

On average, winter living room temperature in a pre-1979 New Zealand house is 13.2 degrees

This is exactly my point, It has nothing much to do with the temperature outside, but incorrect building practices
now with you -20c outside but 16c inside, in nz (where its usually much warmer outside) but its colder inside!!
The problem is
A/ kiwi's are the last western pioneers (which is incorrect since circa 1940) so we labor under the illusion that we're tough
B/ Since we live in the pacific ocean it must be a warm place ( if u look at where Squilliam is and drill through the earth you'll come out at the south of spain!)
C/ We're cheap bastards

This is like the US and terrorism, spending vast sums of cash combating that minor issue but ignoring (unsexy) problems that kill far far more americans per year, with nz we've got tight regulations on earthquake proofing homes/buildings, ok fair enuf. But major eathquakes occur say once every 20-30years meanwhile this is affecting ppl year after year.

 

[nutball]

Wut?

Read your own posts. And stop being so judgemental.

 

[banksie]

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!

Maybe if you have a climate with continuous high intensity sunshine. New Zealand simply doesn't get that kind of sun. Solar Hot Water is something we have had on the roof for twenty plus years. It is low maintenance (requires a clean of the collectors once or twice a year) and zero fiddling required. It saves us between $20-$60 per month on the electricity bill per month.

I really don't understand your comments here. Solar electricity generation is generally regarded as the cost ineffective and more fiddly option (especially all the money sunk into batteries). Solar Hot Water heating I had thought was pretty much a no-brainer just do it thing. Can you explain further how you arrive at the conclusion you do?

[edited bit]

Ahhh I am being a clot, you are talking about water backed solar heating for the house aren't you. Still love to hear exactly why they are so fiddly and hard work...

 

[zed]

Maybe if you have a climate with continuous high intensity sunshine. New Zealand simply doesn't get that kind of sun.

you missed my first post about a couple who's whole house is powered by solarpower, they have a generator as backup but have never used it. True it cost ~$15k to put in, but if youre saving ~$200 a month with power then its a good deal, right?.
OK this is nelson and not wellington (Where I was living last year, but moved cause the climate in wellington is fuckin (capital F) atrocious)

 

[Squilliam]

I voted for this guy a couple of elections ago, the reason? Cause he built his house out of straw! That was the dealbreaker he was the only one that made me laugh

Im very curious, I always wanna know things. My questions drive most ppl batty after a while


http://www.communityoutcomes.govt.nz/web/coutcomes.nsf/unid/TCAO-7UC2ZD?openDocument

Are you a greenie? Btw that link doesn't work.

This is like the US and terrorism, spending vast sums of cash combating that minor issue but ignoring (unsexy) problems that kill far far more americans per year, with nz we've got tight regulations on earthquake proofing homes/buildings, ok fair enuf. But major eathquakes occur say once every 20-30years meanwhile this is affecting ppl year after year.

Yep. We have some of the worst insulated homes in the world. When we finally get the insulation right the homes leak/have massive ventilation issues which cause them to rot from the inside out. I'll hopefully avoid both these pitfalls.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

You could always build your house from straw. I wonder if they come with an anti-Big Bad Wolf warranty? :smile:

I'm actually thinking of doing that when I build a house. The costs are extremely low and the insulation is amazingly good.

There's a housing association where I live that assists people in building them. Stands up to temperatures from over 100 fahrenheit to below 0 fahrenheit (our seasonal temps). I don't feel like converting to celsius for the heathens out there.

Actually, if I could, I'd probably build a hobbit hole. Warm in the winter, cool during the summer with minimal need for heating and cooling. Plus I've always wanted a garden on top of the house.

Regards,
SB

 

[banksie]

you missed my first post about a couple who's whole house is powered by solarpower, they have a generator as backup but have never used it. True it cost ~$15k to put in, but if youre saving ~$200 a month with power then its a good deal, right?.
OK this is nelson and not wellington (Where I was living last year, but moved cause the climate in wellington is fuckin (capital F) atrocious)

Nelson only gets something like twenty hours more sunshine per year than Wellington does so it isn't a much different environment for solar collection. (And for our international readers both are at almost the same lattitude.) True you need to spend more energy on heating thanks to the wind but Wellington is also ripe for micro-turbines as well. In a year or two I want to look very seriously into doing that.

Second NZ$15k for a full solar setup is way light. They have to be very frugal power uses for that to make any sense. Lights, a TV and maybe a small fridge. Most full setups I've seen cost closer to $35k. Which means their power bill, if they were connected, would probably be closer to $100-$120 per month.

 

[zed]

Are you a greenie? Btw that link doesn't work.

never voted for the greens, that was the aotearoa legalize marajuana party I voted for a couple of elections ago, last time round I voted for act (extreme right party), link works in firefox (I have the linkafication add-on)

Nelson only gets something like twenty hours more sunshine per year than Wellington does so it isn't a much different environment for solar collection. (And for our international readers both are at almost the same lattitude.) True you need to spend more energy on heating thanks to the wind but Wellington is also ripe for micro-turbines as well. In a year or two I want to look very seriously into doing that.

Yes they are at the same latitude but totally different climates, nelson gets about 500 hours more sun than wellington a year (+ is usually 2-3 degrees warmer, not to mention the wind), even though theyre only 120km apart, even worse is wellington->blenheim (nz's second sunniest place), 60km's distance.You have this common scenario where in wellington is often pissing down with the wind howling 17degrees + blenheim is not a cloud in the sky 30 degrees!

Squilliam lives in tauranga (where Ive also lived) you have a similar scenario with katikati (where Ive also lived near by at apata) where it can be cloudy the whole day + tauranga (20kms distance) its sunny the whole day

Second NZ$15k for a full solar setup is way light. They have to be very frugal power uses for that to make any sense.

She said she wasnt in fact the opposite now she would leave stuff going where before she would turn it off cause it wasnt costing them any money

 

[Mariner]

Regarding house design in general, I do think it is pretty ridiculous how much of the housing built over the past 30-40 years is so terribly lacking in energy inefficiency.

When I was a kid, we often went away on holiday down to Cornwall and stopped in an old cottage built next to a farm. The thing that always stuck with me was that this cottage was always nice and cool in the summer, however hot outside, and on the odd cold Easter when we visited, it was lovely and warm just using storage heaters. In comparison, our home (built in the 1970s) tended to be either too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. Things obviously didn't improve too much in building design either as my current house (built around 1985) is much the same.

The cottage, being several hundred years old, was typical of its era having relatively low ceilings with stone and masonry walls well over a foot thick albeit with only relatively small windows. No surprise really that this building was so much more energy efficient than a more modern house.

I do find it rather disappointing that there is little I can do to my current house to improve efficiency any further because some of the original design decisions are simply so bad. The straw house concept I linked to above shows what can easily be produced with a bit of thought yet there is still no real impetus to start producing such buildings.

Oh, here's a thought, I wonder if the OP has thought about building a house out of Cob - a straw/clay mix! Just kidding, but I've seen a TV programme about buildings made from this stuff and it was fascinating:

http://www.buildsomethingbeautiful.com/

 

[Blazkowicz]

ah yes, you see that everywhere in northern france (or a variant), I used to think it was made of cow dung and straw, but that's an optional ingredient .

 

[banksie]

Yes they are at the same latitude but totally different climates, nelson gets about 500 hours more sun than wellington a year (+ is usually 2-3 degrees warmer, not to mention the wind), even though theyre only 120km apart, even worse is wellington->blenheim (nz's second sunniest place), 60km's distance.You have this common scenario where in wellington is often pissing down with the wind howling 17degrees + blenheim is not a cloud in the sky 30 degrees!

Checking the figures I can we both are a bit wrong with the esitmate. Nelson clocks in at 2400 hours average per year, Wellington at 2050. So you are talking 350 hours difference or about 17% more sun compared to Wellington. 17% certainly makes a difference but still equates to only about one fifth more power. And I fully cede that the wind renders the climate in Wellington colder but as I said that does offer the opportunity to use a turbine.

She said she wasnt in fact the opposite now she would leave stuff going where before she would turn it off cause it wasnt costing them any money

Then they have under estimated the cost of the install. You can't buy the batteries and panels you would need for much less than $15k and then you have the fun of the controller expense, electrician for the wiring and the physical mounting costs.

 

[Squilliam]

Can anyone tell me about building with a building company vs building with an independent builder?

I was thinking of using a company called Stonewood homes because they have experience making homes which are already energy efficient and warm designs. Does anyone know anything about them or a similar company in the same field?