Winter in Oz

[Petals]

Lived here since the seventies and never been too cold or too hot, we have always had climate control in our homes and a lot of Aussies do likewise. Unfortunately landlords do not really casre whether their tenants are hot and cold so unless you pay a premium unlikely to get a climate controlled house.

We have central heating and a wood stove. Our house is not too open plan, open plan houses are hard to heat and hard to cool, wonder why its the fashion, well its cheaper for the builder not building walls and putting on doors, leaving off eaves.

When I was a child in the UK we lived in Norfolk when I was very young and we did not have electricity, my grandparents who lived in a Mill House in Suffolk had gas lighting in those days. One thing though you could walk through the village and use the pavement it was not covered with cars.

[fergal007]

Although I love the cooler weather here in QLD I hate the fact that the house is baltic. Me Australian friends seem to think that "heating" is turning the aircon to heat and listening to a noisy blower trying expensively to heat the house up. I've tried to explain that "proper heating" is having radiators in every room.....only to be told by one of them "What do you need a heater in every room for, its Qld for gods sake, you arent living in the mountains in NSW where it snows"....WTF it was 7 degrees this morning, do I not have a right to complain about being cold.......I could practically see my breath in the house and had the quickest shower ever.

I'm sorry sweating my face off in the summer and freezing my bits off in the winter isn't my idea of living comfortably. Give me a cosy house with radiators anyday.

Rant over!

Cavity wall and loft insulation will sort it right out, check for seals around doors and windows if I give you any more information I will have to charge you! I could heat a house to comfortable standard with household appliances alone :)

[pintpot]

Most walls here don't have cavities. Single skin masonry or timber framed is the norm - if you're lucky enough not to have a crappy fibro box

[tisme]

Most, if not all houses here in WA are double brick.

The same could be said by Aussies living in Britain, 'what no aircon'? for the few hot days in summer.

The amount of times a heater is needed in the tropical parts of Australia doesn't warrant the cost of installing central heating, just run a few heaters, far cheaper than installing and running central heating for a few nights a year, it's not really needed during the day when it's warmer and the sun is shining.

[pintpot]

Most, if not all houses here in WA are double brick.

The same could be said by Aussies living in Britain, 'what no aircon'? for the few hot days in summer.

The amount of times a heater is needed in the tropical parts of Australia doesn't warrant the cost of installing central heating, just run a few heaters, far cheaper than installing and running central heating for a few nights a year, it's not really needed during the day when it's warmer and the sun is shining.

That may be the case in warmer parts of Oz. In Sydney there are cool and cold nights requiring heating for 4+ months of the year - yet the majority of houses are single skin - even new ones - and dreadfully insulated. Every person in my office, without fail, Pom, Oz, Austrian, mentions the issues except for the one individual who has built his own house - and he did it because he wasn't satisfied with build quality standards available from builders

We workin the construction industry fwiw so do have some idea of what we're talking about. Perhaps it makes us more sensitive to it, I dunno

It's not comparable to saying "what no aircon" in the UK at all

[tisme]

That may be the case in warmer parts of Oz. In Sydney there are cool and cold nights requiring heating for 4+ months of the year - yet the majority of houses are single skin - even new ones - and dreadfully insulated. Every person in my office, without fail, Pom, Oz, Austrian, mentions the issues except for the one individual who has built his own house - and he did it because he wasn't satisfied with build quality standards available from builders

We workin the construction industry fwiw so do have some idea of what we're talking about. Perhaps it makes us more sensitive to it, I dunno

It's not comparable to saying "what no aircon" in the UK at all

I did say the 'tropical' parts of Australia, Sydney is not classed as tropical, the OP is in a Tropical climate.

[harpodom]

That may be the case in warmer parts of Oz. In Sydney there are cool and cold nights requiring heating for 4+ months of the year - yet the majority of houses are single skin - even new ones - and dreadfully insulated. Every person in my office, without fail, Pom, Oz, Austrian, mentions the issues except for the one individual who has built his own house - and he did it because he wasn't satisfied with build quality standards available from builders

We workin the construction industry fwiw so do have some idea of what we're talking about. Perhaps it makes us more sensitive to it, I dunno

It's not comparable to saying "what no aircon" in the UK at all

we have a weatherboard with 'insulation' (which is a layer of padding between the weatherboard and the plasterboard). Thank god we've got gas ducted heating, its on at least 6 months of the year. Sometimes we get the crazy situation of needing AC in the day and heating at night.

Don't get me wrong, I love our house, it's beautiful to look at, incredibly comfortable, just horrendously expensive to maintain at a normal temperature.

You have to question the wisdom of weatherboard constructed houses in a climate where the temps can vary from 40 degrees in summer to zero in winter is a bit

[littlesarah]

If my home were better insulated and had fewer stupid massive 80s windows, we wouldn't need heat many evenings. But we live near the beach, so the air temp doesn't get as low as a bit further inland.

Given that the chances of getting a DA for a new house on our block would be pretty small (we live in a 'flamezone' area), we plan on insulating, reducing gaps around windows and doors and installing shutters (and new windows, but we can't afford to get them all done at once). I reckon those measures alone will make a significant difference. For now, I'm just really glad we have a source of free firewood...

[pintpot]

I did say the 'tropical' parts of Australia, Sydney is not classed as tropical, the OP is in a Tropical climate.

I thought they were in Brisbane? I'll allow "subtropical" - but still plenty of cool nights AFAIK

[pintpot]

we have a weatherboard with 'insulation' (which is a layer of padding between the weatherboard and the plasterboard). Thank god we've got gas ducted heating, its on at least 6 months of the year. Sometimes we get the crazy situation of needing AC in the day and heating at night.

Don't get me wrong, I love our house, it's beautiful to look at, incredibly comfortable, just horrendously expensive to maintain at a normal temperature.

You have to question the wisdom of weatherboard constructed houses in a climate where the temps can vary from 40 degrees in summer to zero in winter is a bit

I've got no problem with timber framing or timber clad houses and it's perfectly possible to build them with very high insulation standards. I lived in Sweden for 3 years where the houses, unsurprisingly, were all made from timber. Also unsurprisingly in a country where winter temps will get down to -25C and generally stick below -5C for 3 months even during the day, they were toasty warm. Also extremely economical to heat. Purely because their standards of insulation and construction (airtightness in particular) were so high, and triple glazing is the norm.

Swedish summers also get warm, not so hot as Australia but warmer and more consistent than the UK because it is a more continental climate. Never any problem with houses getting too hot, because insulation works to keep a house cool as well as warm

Skimpy insulation and air-tightness is just down to custom and practice, there's no good reason for it. You don't need "ventilation" (aka draughtiness) to combat damp either, if you design and build the thing properly