Heating & Double Glazing
 

Hi Guys,

All I keep reading is that 'ALL' the houses in NZ are damp and cold - come on some of you must be living in comfort or else I'm sure you wouldn't stay.

What forms of heating are there (apart from running on the spot!):)
Can you get central heating or is it too expensive, same question re: double glazing.

Alot of you seem to use electric heaters and humidifiers are they not expensive to run?

Can any of you recommend firms?:confused:

The serious side to my Q's is I'm worried about the effects of damp on my three year old asthmatic child.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

We've been looking at real estate in the greater Auckland area (south)
for the past two years and have almost never come upon a home
with any kind of heating system apart from wood burners and space heaters. I do believe heat pumps are becoming a little more popular,
but there are expensive, well over $2000, and they would not be so
efficient if the house is not insulated. We bought one last year, and our
roof space is insulated, but it's still cold because I only run it in
the evenings when we're home. As far as the damp, that's often
a problem because of the way the houses are built. Basements are not
the norm, and many houses sit close to the damp ground below.
Of course, if you have the money to buy a better built, insulated house,
it's not as serious a problem, but again, such houses are not the norm,
and they are expensive.
Just a few weeks ago, a real estate agent asked me what we were
looking for specifically, in a house, and I said central heating, insulation,
and double-glazed windows. He laughed and said you will have a hard
time finding that here.

I'm sure you're aware that New Zealand has one of the highest rates of
asthma in the world?

http://www.asthmanz.co.nz/health_wor...ease_rates.php

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

The previous owners put in a "heating' system - we have a range style woodburner, which heats up the water by some means - there are antique ( nice and pretty not old and rusty!) radiators in the other rooms, so when the water is hot we flick a switch and hey presto hot radiators! I thought this was ace as I know lots of people with woodburners and they heat the one room brilliantly. But ours has a dual ( actually treble!) use - we can cook on it too and heat all our rooms. Marvellous. Obviously its not instant, but we live way north so it never gets really really cold and it works for us.

Our house isnt damp and cold, but it is small, I assume this makes a difference :confused: and its well insulated.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

I brought my house last June, so we have only had one (fairly cold) winter in it. It isn't damp at all, it has one gas heater in the hall way which is a strange place to have it but I only use it when my 2 yr old is having a bath. We have an electric heater in the lounge, a small one in the 2 yr olds room, my older daughter has an electric blanket and a small heater which she uses now and then, and we have an electric blanket in our room. I always have a window open a tiny bit in all weathers.
Insulation and heat pumps are something we will probably do in the next couple of years, heat pumps are much cheaper to run than the heaters we use now so in the long run it will be cost effective.
The winter only lasts about 4/5 months though so not too bad!

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

Having been looking at property in Wellington it seems that if you have a budget of $1 million or more then you can buy modern apartments with central heating, double glazing, insulation (or rent them for $700/week upwards).

Otherwise you'll probably be using rather 'old-fashioned' stand alone gas heaters and need to keep the window open a crack!

'ALL' means, I'd guess, 'within most people's budgets' .

Anyway, it's only an issue in the winter, and it depends where exactly you decide to live and what exactly you want from the country, etc etc.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

We'll be having double glazing in our new build and a woodburner and a heat transfer pump thingy in the roof space. We had no probs keeping our house warm and dry in our last house with that method of heating.
I'm truly sick of condensation on the windows though so can't wait to have double glazing again.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

We bought a 50 year-old house and did the following:

Double glazing
Extra loft insulation
Wall insulation
Underfloor insulation (and moisture barrier)
DVS
Removed un-flued gas heater
Instant gas water heater
Repainted the outside

There's a single gas fire in the lounge which will heat the house reasonably well.

Total cost: somewhere around $50k :blink: (not including the house :D)

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

Hope you made it earthquake proof as well.....wouldn't want the big one to hit and $50,000 comes crashing down.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

We live in Dunedin (in the colder south island) and spent 15k on heatpumps, about 5k on redoing the roof insulation, and plenty more on a new "long run" roof. Ours is a 100 year old villa, with 12 foot ceilings, and mainly wooden floors, and on the whole we can keep it warm enough.

We also have a gas fire in the lounge which is very good for instant heat if we come back to a cold house for whatever reason.

There was a Mosture Master DVS type system already installed, and this seems to work a treat at keeping away condensation.

We have only done a small amount of building work, but took the opportunity to insulate those walls and install double glazing (bathrooms). We would like to install underfloor insulation but it looks like a messy, messy job so have not got around to it as yet.

Leccy blankets are also handy.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

ps when we bought this house, in our minds we included in the cost the amount we would spend on upgrading heating and insulation.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

We built from new and made sure that double glazing was included - cost about 11K on a 330sqm house - also decent insulation in walls and ceiling. Ours is built on a concrete pad on sand and we have absolutely no damp whatsoever.
Only heating comes from woodburner in main lounge - cost approx 3k. We've used it about 4 times so far - but then we only moved in Nov!
Bizzarely Xmas day was so cold we put it on then - added a nice bit of fiery cheer and kept the mince pies hot.

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

Hi Michelle, and welcome. Yes, it's a truth that many NZ houses - both old and new - are poorly insulated and do not have adequate ventilation. :( A rather more pleasant truth is that in our experience newer housing (last 24 months or so) seems to have grasped the essentials here in ChCh, and most include as standard double glazing and rockwool insulation, and if you go down the self-build route then there are loads of options to go further and install polystyrene floor installation, central heating etc.

If you are looking to buy an older house, then inevitably it seems that you will suffer some probs with damp or ventilation unless they have already been addressed.

At least this thread brings your attention to it, and you are prepared.

Good luck in your move! :)

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

Hi Southerner,
I know this is getting off the suject,but have to say only last week we where in Dunedin while on a cruise on the Sapphire Princess, sad to say we only had one day there,but we loved it only wish we could have stayed for another day or two. Have you yourself settled well into the N/Z life style?

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

Depends what sort you get - ours is kinda like foil backed bubble-wrap and goes on in big sheets - it's about three times more efficient than the Expol polysterene stuff apparently

Re: Heating & Double Glazing
 

I've lived in Auckland and Wellington. Ponsonby, Grey Lynn in Auckland, Mount Vic, Berhampore, Newtown in Wellington. They've all suffered from some cold/damp. The worst has been at the top of mount vic - holy shit it was cold up there, blasted by the wind and rain.

Running a dehumidifier is ok, but you need it on constantly and it costs $$.

I would look at an apartment, as they might be warmer, not sure. If you are concerned about asthma would a hotter climate be the answer? Try OZ instead!