• Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    My house gets below 16 in Winter. The bank owns it and we are barely hanging on so it will stay that way. It’s a full reno to undo the mistakes of the 90s (and dodgy building). Slab isn’t insulated, clay bricks aren’t insulated, louvres leak, no roof insulation. It’s not your standard house so it’s difficult to fix up as well.

    Oh well. Such is life.

    • UnfortunateDoorHinge@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Roof insulation is one of the first items to fix. Get R5 or R6 earthwool from Bunnings. It costs a lot but fuck is it good. It’s actually very easy to install, just be careful around the downlights (you need a gap around them).

      The other quick fix is all the drafts cracks and leaks. Get door snakes, door and window seals, blinds. Don’t worry about the floor heat won’t sap from that.

      • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Cheers!

        The way the roof space is built is different. It’s open to the outside world with rodent mesh along eave, open to peak down to other side. Which is then open through rodent mesh vents to the outside at peak. I guess it was built the Queenslander way, vent everything. Will applying insulation that is almost like it’s outside cause moisture issues against plaster?

        The bricks are very cold to touch so I looked it up and you can buy insulated panels with plaster on one side. Too expensive for us though, we have no available cash.

        Aluminum doors, windows, louvres could use a good fix. The louvres need replacing first, it’s a breeze when they are shut. No way to seal them. I think replacing the louvres with modern onesnis best as it’s probably the worst issue. The biggest doors have curtains with pelmets, curtains are light-ish, nearly medium.

      • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Yikes. What type of house?

        I’m in Brisbane.

        The good thing about the uninsulated floor is that in Summer it stays cool till after midday and then the walls and roof heat up significantly.

          • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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            1 year ago

            We hit 0 sometimes. Fire during the night. Super cold all day as it stays cold in the house due to the slab and brick.

            What was the house made out of? Ours is like clay besser blocks.

            Was it a rental?

      • Nath@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Came home to our place in Melbourne from two weeks away and the indoor temp was 2c.

        Living in Perth now, it’s early evening and the house is already 19c inside. It’ll drop to 16c by midnight. Both houses are brick/tile.

        Yes, I can run the reverse-cycle in a few rooms, and they’ll be toasty. Yes, I have heaters for other rooms. We use those when necessary, but they’re too expensive to run all winter.

    • dillekant@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      Is that with or without heating? Without heating we can wake up to 14 degrees in the morning, and our house is pretty new.

      Apparently there are pretty easy tricks to improve your heat storage.

      • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        In the morning. We heat with a small combustion stove at night then it leaks out, cold bricks, floor, louvres.

        It stays cold most of the day.

        We don’t use aircon in Summer though, just fans in the arvo. Stays cool till about midday.