Home Journey
The story of a new house in Canberra (Australia) that failed to protect against winter cold and summer heat. How did this happen? What can be done to fix it?
Each of these pages describes a chapter in my home journey. Each represents a huge investment of time, and sometimes money. When I embarked on each, I thought “This is what we have been missing. This is the piece that will fix our house.” But some problems run deep…
Introduction
·1044 words
How the Australian building industry and regulations failed to deliver a comfortable house.
Gap sealing
·1102 words
A life less leaky.
Wall insulation
·1016 words
Retrofitting insulation boards for better walls.
Secondary glazing
·1062 words
Adding another layer to the windows.
Window coverings
·409 words
It’s curtains folks.
Slab edge insulation
·697 words
Retrofitting insulation on the exposed edge of a heated concrete slab.
Box gutter insulation
·775 words
The missing insulation: Spray-foaming the ceiling under box gutters.
Ceiling insulation
·605 words
Attempts at rectifying incorrect insulation in a raked ceiling.
Thermal bridges
·237 words
Steel beams are the weakest link. Thermally speaking.
Conclusions
·633 words
Costs and benefits.