NZ Houses are freezing
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 105
NZ Houses are freezing
On facebook, I keep reading that NZ houses are bloody cooollllldddddd.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
#2
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
On facebook, I keep reading that NZ houses are bloody cooollllldddddd.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
#3
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Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Auckland
Posts: 463
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
On facebook, I keep reading that NZ houses are bloody cooollllldddddd.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
Is there any specific reason for this? I hate the cold! Is there any way to find ones that are at least normally insulated, or does it depend on where you live etc. I'm thinking of Whanganui or Nelson areas at the moment. Thanks.
Very new houses will have insulation built in. When I was house-hunting five years ago I did see one (just one!) new house that had double-glazing so they do exist but are a minority.
As suggested above, buy a new-build.
#5
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Depends what you feel is expensive. NZ is expensive.
We have a 40 yr old home set on 1/3rd acre. It is single glazed. It has wall , roof and floor insulation. It has one log burner for the entire house. It is fine. Warm in winter and sometimes too warm. Cool in summer. Not shaded.
#6
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Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Auckland
Posts: 463
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
The benefit of a newer build is that more up-to-date building standards will have been enforced. To get the idea of where they are with things like that here this is an article about the current proposals for improving insulation.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124...building-costs
#7
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Three companies said they don't do double glazing, the fourth said sure, it'll cost around $15,000. Oh well, we thought, it is Australia and everything's expensive here. When the company rep came out to measure up something twigged as he was rabbiting on - he was intending to install secondary glazing, not double glazing at all! When we asked him for a quote for double glazing he looked a bit shocked and said it's not really a thing here, we'd have to go to an industrial supplier and it'd cost upwards of $60,000. Needless to say, we didn't get double glazing.
The reverse cycle ducted air conditioning heats really well, and is actually very energy/cost efficient to run.
Last edited by spouse of scouse; Jul 14th 2021 at 5:09 am.
#8
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Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Three companies said they don't do double glazing, the fourth said sure, it'll cost around $15,000. Oh well, we thought, it is Australia and everything's expensive here. When the company rep came out to measure up something twigged as he was rabbiting on - he was intending to install secondary glazing, not double glazing at all! When we asked him for a quote for double glazing he looked a bit shocked and said it's not really a thing here, we'd have to go to an industrial supplier and it'd cost upwards of $60,000. Needless to say, we didn't get double glazing.
We've spent quite a bit to get ourselves a reasonably acceptable level of comfort over many years but have had the full experience of the misery of living first winter in our without any heating or insulation and our house was only a few years old when we bought it.
We had a 'heat pump' (AKA reverse cycle ducted air conditioning) installed, which heats reasonably well and quickly, as well as an HRV ventilation system which circulates the warmer air from the roof space through the house, But despite also adding insulation in the roof and floor, our house simply does not retain any heat. As soon as heating is off you can feel the cold and damp seeping in.
#9
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 0
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Same here, there are a few firms offering retro-fit 'double glazing' however it's not the real deal and mostly is secondary glazing, like what we would have had on the UK in the 1970s and it's incredibly expensive. I've heard anything upwards from $30,000.
We've spent quite a bit to get ourselves a reasonably acceptable level of comfort over many years but have had the full experience of the misery of living first winter in our without any heating or insulation and our house was only a few years old when we bought it.
We had a 'heat pump' (AKA reverse cycle ducted air conditioning) installed, which heats reasonably well and quickly, as well as an HRV ventilation system which circulates the warmer air from the roof space through the house, But despite also adding insulation in the roof and floor, our house simply does not retain any heat. As soon as heating is off you can feel the cold and damp seeping in.
We've spent quite a bit to get ourselves a reasonably acceptable level of comfort over many years but have had the full experience of the misery of living first winter in our without any heating or insulation and our house was only a few years old when we bought it.
We had a 'heat pump' (AKA reverse cycle ducted air conditioning) installed, which heats reasonably well and quickly, as well as an HRV ventilation system which circulates the warmer air from the roof space through the house, But despite also adding insulation in the roof and floor, our house simply does not retain any heat. As soon as heating is off you can feel the cold and damp seeping in.
I'd love to build a house with Ehaus or similar but would need a decent lottery win to make that achievable. Dream on for us.
#10
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Joined: Jul 2007
Location: bottom of the world
Posts: 4,533
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
I have a 120 year pold double brick villa. Loft and underfloor insulated. Central heating works a treat
Last edited by Justcol; Jul 14th 2021 at 9:32 am.
#11
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 293
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
This reminded of something that happened when we returned to Oz from the UK (Liverpool) 3 years ago. We bought a new villa that had the standard single glazing, and got a few quotes for double glazing the windows.
Three companies said they don't do double glazing, the fourth said sure, it'll cost around $15,000. Oh well, we thought, it is Australia and everything's expensive here. When the company rep came out to measure up something twigged as he was rabbiting on - he was intending to install secondary glazing, not double glazing at all! When we asked him for a quote for double glazing he looked a bit shocked and said it's not really a thing here, we'd have to go to an industrial supplier and it'd cost upwards of $60,000. Needless to say, we didn't get double glazing.
The reverse cycle ducted air conditioning heats really well, and is actually very energy/cost efficient to run.
Three companies said they don't do double glazing, the fourth said sure, it'll cost around $15,000. Oh well, we thought, it is Australia and everything's expensive here. When the company rep came out to measure up something twigged as he was rabbiting on - he was intending to install secondary glazing, not double glazing at all! When we asked him for a quote for double glazing he looked a bit shocked and said it's not really a thing here, we'd have to go to an industrial supplier and it'd cost upwards of $60,000. Needless to say, we didn't get double glazing.
The reverse cycle ducted air conditioning heats really well, and is actually very energy/cost efficient to run.
Especially if you have a timber house you could fix it however you want.
#12
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Something to think about, thanks Jarv
#13
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Same here, there are a few firms offering retro-fit 'double glazing' however it's not the real deal and mostly is secondary glazing, like what we would have had on the UK in the 1970s and it's incredibly expensive. I've heard anything upwards from $30,000.
We've spent quite a bit to get ourselves a reasonably acceptable level of comfort over many years but have had the full experience of the misery of living first winter in our without any heating or insulation and our house was only a few years old when we bought it.
We had a 'heat pump' (AKA reverse cycle ducted air conditioning) installed, which heats reasonably well and quickly, as well as an HRV ventilation system which circulates the warmer air from the roof space through the house, But despite also adding insulation in the roof and floor, our house simply does not retain any heat. As soon as heating is off you can feel the cold and damp seeping in.
We've spent quite a bit to get ourselves a reasonably acceptable level of comfort over many years but have had the full experience of the misery of living first winter in our without any heating or insulation and our house was only a few years old when we bought it.
We had a 'heat pump' (AKA reverse cycle ducted air conditioning) installed, which heats reasonably well and quickly, as well as an HRV ventilation system which circulates the warmer air from the roof space through the house, But despite also adding insulation in the roof and floor, our house simply does not retain any heat. As soon as heating is off you can feel the cold and damp seeping in.
#14
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 105
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Sighs.
Hey do you guys have any recommendations for areas to look at? Looking for somewhere safe, close to skiing/mountains/hikes, maybe more of a semi-rural (well not rural but just a lot of peace and quiet).
Clappy with new builds, maybe then....I guess I just always associated that with a lot of money, but maybe that's unavoidable anyways
Hey do you guys have any recommendations for areas to look at? Looking for somewhere safe, close to skiing/mountains/hikes, maybe more of a semi-rural (well not rural but just a lot of peace and quiet).
Clappy with new builds, maybe then....I guess I just always associated that with a lot of money, but maybe that's unavoidable anyways
#15
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Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: NZ Houses are freezing
Suggest look at some of the towns around Hamilton but mostly depends on where you need to be for work - there's not a huge amount of choice for some trades / professions who need to be near or rely on the masses for work. Being within reasonable commuting distance of any major centre is by default going to be expensive.