So at work today, the discussion of household heating and gas/electricity bills came up (entering winter Down Under), and I commented that we have our central heating set to 14 Celsius (approx 57 Freedoms) overnight, and off during the day/evening. We find that 14 is quite comfortable under a fluffy doona/duvet. I was warmly mocked (well natured), and informed that something closer to 24C (75F) is appropriate, day and night.
Surely not… right?
It’s a house from the early 70s in France.
There was almost no insulation. First rules to improve that started around 1974.
How does it work in Australia? Does gouv try to help people to improve that in old houses?
I guess it would be great for summer as I think it’s pretty warm there.
I don’t believe the government has any running initiatives to improve energy ratings on old houses, but there are certainly standards for new builds like you would have today. Generally speaking, because the summer sun disproportionately heats up our metal roof (and our ceiling cavity is not insulated), it will get to around 2-3 degrees hotter inside than it is outside, if no climate control is used.
The advantage on a sunny winter day, is that it can be 10 degrees outside, and 17 inside if we’re lucky :) (but of course that heat vanishes the moment the sun goes behind the trees.)
Hotter inside than outside must be a nightmare especially to sleep.
I manage to keep temperature around 23/24 during summer and exceptionality 26/27 during heat wave. But I don’t have AC.
It’s a bit more difficult on winter when the max temperature of the day is 1-2 degrees and there is no sun. Radiators need work frequently to keep 18 degrees.
I wish we would have more sunny winter days.
I’m curious, what is the construction of an average 70s home in your region?
Traditional houses from the 70s are usually a basement and the house upstairs.
Basement is often half or totally underground.
Then the wall are made with cinder blocks, empty air and bricks.
There is chimney (not sure the term in English), so you can heat with wood, but most of the time there is central heating with Gaz or Fuel to replace or in complement.
How is it in your country ?
How interesting - the bricks and blocks would act as quite a good heat mass to sort of, smooth out the temperature? (And chimney is the word we use also 😆)
Our cottage is built up on hardwood stumps, with a hard oak frame, and asbestos sheet cladding, both inside and out. The roof is almost flat, just a 2 degree incline, with corrugated iron sheets from end to end. Cheap and hollow 😀 hahaha
Hahaha yeah, but in winter the walls can get really cold. In summer it keep the house cool.
Oh wood is known to be a good natural insulation!
Flat roof? It’s rarely raining? You never have violent rain?
So it’s a construction in wood from the 50s? Wow. Does it age well? Does it require a lot of maintenance?
I’m wondering about asbestos from the 50s, here if it’s starting to crumble it’s extremely expensive to get rid of it.
Here roof is around 40-45 degree incline, and composed of oak frame also. And no asbestos I tried to avoid that at all cost. It was used a lot in the 70s and early 80s.
The flat roof doesn’t suffer water ingress during heavy/violent rain, only because it is a single sheet from end-to-end. This means if water flows backwards, it doesn’t go under another sheet, or under any flashings.
The asbestos, fortunately, is in good condition. The advantages: will not burn, does not rot or absorb moisture. It makes modifications a little more time consuming (adding power points, etc), because I have to do a lot of preparation and wear the right PPE, but otherwise it’s not a hassle to live with.
To give you an idea of cost, we paid AUD$1100 to have four panels (two inside, two outside) removed + disposed, and replaced with modern cement sheet. (Reason for removal, was so that a split-system aircon unit could be installed on that wall. Removing the asbestos first, meant that the electrician and aircon trades wouldn’t have to cut asbestos.)
Oh I see! Some new house have flat root here, but I never really checked how it was done.
It’s a bit like pool’s floor.
I read that to get rid of asbestos it’s a pain here, there are many rules.
If you want to do it yourself you have to ask authorities for permission. You are allowed to do it only on cement blocks.
A diagnosis is mandatory before any work on it, which will decide if you can do a part of the work alone or not.
Yeah you need to be careful working around asbestos, especially if you need to drill or anything that would make particles.
That was interesting, thanks for the conversation 🙂