Better Air Tightness with Simple Building Adjustments in Australia

[@pulporock]

Good Info I worked on many homes 7 stars, 8 stars maybe even a 9 star, but this was only on paper. No one is inspecting the insulation, nor the air tightness. Its critical this must be part of the inspection process during the building.

[@josephcheung8311]

Sustainability Victoria had a pilot program on the “As built verification “ of homes which produced a lot of insight and information for the decision makers. Hopefully one day it will be part of the occupancy permit issue process.

[@diegomatter69]

@ecoevo Builders oppose and governments follow suit. Pressure testing exposes mistakes and sloppy work on all the holes tradies drilled into the membrane during the build, all things they want to hide because owners and governments want cheap houses - meaning fast, sloppy work. Of course occupants pay the price after the fact with high bills and uncomfortable homes. It costs us quite a bit to go full Passive House and the builder is on board. But they say it adds a lot of hours on top of their normal build. Plus you need and ERV for ventilation in a very airtight house and a dehumidifier and aircon in QLD, even in a PH. For the aircon, installers don't want or can't install a smaller centralised system (you can install split systems of course, but overall the same cost and we don't want it because of design reasons). The simulation shows that our 5 bdrm house will use max 3,6kW on the hottest days, but there is no aircon installer willing or small aircon system out there that can be installed centrally in a 5 bedroom house. The cold air needs to be transported to all rooms somehow, and the smallest system for 7 aircon heads is 16kW according to Daikin. The ERV hoses and aircon pipes that are still needed, are all inside the building envelope, which means builders and tradies can't do work as they are used to. Bulkheads for the aircon heads are needed and the pipes and hoses are sandwiched between floor and ceiling. Then add energy efficient coated double glazing with the needed energy efficient frames (tilt and turn, no sliding windows). In Qld overall only like 2% are double glazed windows! So prices are still way too high. This ads all cost. In our case it is 17% more for our 5brdm build. It is even more in our case because of very large lift and slide windows and different other more upper market materials. Find me a building company that wants to ask A$112,500 more from their customers - $862,500 instead of $750,000 for the build, when all competition is also saying "our homes are very efficient 7 stars" (on paper). We're convinced it will be worth it for us and for future generations. Every time we made our buildings more energy efficient via EE upgrades on a small scale, it was so much more pleasant to live in and so much cheaper to run as well. Be it in MA, US or Qld, AUS. But the culture in Australia is not there yet, the building industry is not there yet, the government is not there yet and homeowners are not there yet. Well, let's just fly by the 1.5C Paris Agreement goal and don't look back. She'll be fine mate!

[@diegomatter69]

@@josephcheung8311 @pulporock Builders oppose and governments follow suit. Pressure testing exposes mistakes and sloppy work on all the holes tradies drilled into the membrane during the build, all things they want to hide because owners and governments want cheap houses - meaning fast, sloppy work. Of course occupants pay the price after the fact with high bills and uncomfortable homes. It costs us quite a bit to go full Passive House and the builder is on board. But they say it adds a lot of hours on top of their normal build. Plus you need and ERV for ventilation in a very airtight house and a dehumidifier and aircon in QLD, even in a PH. For the aircon, installers don't want or can't install a smaller centralised system (you can install split systems of course, but overall the same cost and we don't want it because of design reasons). The simulation shows that our 5 bdrm house will use max 3,6kW on the hottest days, but there is no aircon installer willing or small aircon system out there that can be installed centrally in a 5 bedroom house. The cold air needs to be transported to all rooms somehow, and the smallest system for 7 aircon heads is 16kW according to Daikin. The ERV hoses and aircon pipes that are still needed, are all inside the building envelope, which means builders and tradies can't do work as they are used to. Bulkheads for the aircon heads are needed and the pipes and hoses are sandwiched between floor and ceiling. Then add energy efficient coated double glazing with the needed energy efficient frames (tilt and turn, no sliding windows). In Qld overall only like 2% are double glazed windows! So prices are still way too high. This ads all cost. In our case it is 17% more for our 5brdm build. It is even more in our case because of very large lift and slide windows and different other more upper market materials. Find me a building company that wants to ask A$112,500 more from their customers - $862,500 instead of $750,000 for the build, when all competition is also saying "our homes are very efficient 7 stars" (on paper). We're convinced it will be worth it for us and for future generations. Every time we made our buildings more energy efficient via EE upgrades on a small scale, it was so much more pleasant to live in and so much cheaper to run as well. Be it in MA, US or Qld, AUS. But the culture in Australia is not there yet, the building industry is not there yet, the government is not there yet and homeowners are not there yet. Well, let's just fly by the 1.5C Paris Agreement goal and don't look back. She'll be fine mate!

[@rory644]

Good news for construction in Australia the standards have been poor for too long!

[@Maheshwara]

Great news and great video. Do you guys offer application services or these products, by trained personnel, rather than just sell or audit them? It would be great to get it right first instead of finding out later and incurring costly rectification work!

[@rajTrondhjem10]

Amazing

[@janbrandjes9114]

Great video.! Thanks John/Joseph. Do you guys have a picture that shows the outline and locations of the wraps/tapes/caulking ?. This, I think, could be a great reference for the industry.

[@ecoevo]

A drawings pack will be available on our website soon. We are giving our website a fresh look, in the new year.

[@abigaildawn2996]

you guys think of everything, even the bonding efficiency of corner caulking.

[@zarkov2324]

now if only builders would build to spec!

[@jpeterstme]

Most builders can’t get basics right let alone try to make an airtight wall assembly. Some new areas for the TikTok inspector to check for compliance on next years builds.

[@martinXY]

Non-compliant!

[@ecoevo]

Non-compliant Rainhead, non-compliant Rainhead, non-compliant Rainhead.😂

[@diegomatter69]

Can a storm rip open sealing tape? A storm could potentially produce a very high pressure differential between inside and outside.

[@ecoevo]

It can depend on how good all the mechanical fixing is. And where the wrap is directly exposed to outside, during construction. Where there is cladding, tape failure is less likely, but it all depends on how big the winds are.

[@diegomatter69]

@@ecoevo Thanks for your answer. In our Passive House build with standard building practices there are wall battens 450mm apart, house wrap, cavity batten 35mm and cladding installed, and there is also a cavity drainage closer installed. Would you say it can still happen or not? I understand that it depends on the materials used, like wrap and tape used.

[@aidenkennedy124]

Good display of what needs to be done, unfortunately it's very clear the building industry won't care.

[@josephcheung8311]

Hopefully we can move the industry one step at a time.

[@KJSvitko]

All new buildings should be designed with large roof overhangs. The large overhang provides beauty and protection from the sun, rain and wind. Protection of the doors, windows and siding make for a more durable and comfortable home.

[@knowname7289]

All good, getting the , useless at best "builders" to understand and use these another matter...

[@KJSvitko]

All homes should be built to accommodate the elderly and disabled. This will be better for everyone. Large wide doorways and hallways make using a cane, walker or wheel chair much easier. Bathrooms or wet rooms need to have flat floors and no shower hump or pan. A flat floor allows for easy access and drains need to provided. Easy to use lever door and faucet handles are easier for the elderly to grip and open. Main floors should include a master bedroom, restroom, shower, laundry and wide walk in closet with few steps to enter. Homes should be designed with aging in place in mind.

[@Drifterdan1]

You will be happy to know that the new NCC 2022 does have provisions for some of your suggestions.

[@KJSvitko]

New homes should come with solar panels, a rain water collection system and an electric vehicle charger in the garage.