[mgbridges]

Hi folks,

I'm been trawling the million and one posts that there are about insulation/heating etc and now my brain hurts! Anyway after feeling thoroughly miserable all winter about how cold and damp our house feels and how quickly it looses the heat (that we are paying a fortune for) I thought it was time to look into insulation etc. I have contacted Polyman (www.polyman.co.nz) about coming to quote us (thanks for the recommend Tia) and I also plan to get some quotes for double glazing. Any other Auckland based companies to recommend for insulation (we are not big DIYers)?

However the other thing I've seen mentioned is a Vapour Barrier for under the house. Has anyone installed one of these? Does anyone know who I could ask for advice/quotes for it? Our house is built on a slope which is mostly clay (as is the majority of our suburb), the water pours off our garden, down the steps at the side of the house and down the drive regularly so I'm assuming there must be a fair bit of water travelling through the soil under the house as well. If we were to install a vapour barrier would it make a big difference to the damp in the house?

I'm just fed up of seeing black (and green) mould on things (including some of our wooden furniture, the curtains, the venetian blinds, some of DS's toys etc!) All three of us have also spent most of the winter battling coughs and colds and I'm sure it has a lot to do with the mould/heating problems of the house. Its also having a profound affect on my mood so definitely time to do something about it!

Oh boy the joys of buying in haste! :roll

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese

[Familyofmonkeys]

This thread might be a good place to start for double glazing as there are a few links to Auckland based companies.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19220&highlight=double+glazing

[mgbridges]

This thread might be a good place to start for double glazing as there are a few links to Auckland based companies.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19220&highlight=double+glazing

Thanks FOM, already got that one bookmarked and will be contacting a few of the companies mentioned.

Anneliese

[Red Devil]

Hi Anneliese... what age is your property?

During our 'recce' trip in April we made the point of visiting a 'new build' estate on the outskirts of Christchurch, for the sole purpose of seeing what building standards are like in NZ. The guy in the showroom made the point of stressing it's important to try and buy a relatively young property to stand a chance of having good insulation installed.

I must admit, 50% of the motels we stayed in during our 'recce' trip all seemed to be single glazing windows with aluminium frames (dated to say the least)... nothing like the uPVC double glazing you get in the UK.

Best of luck getting matters resolved.

Simon

[Red Devil]

... forgot to mention, vapour barrier sounds a good option but do your research due to the amount of clay content in your soil.

Simon

[Jo Jo]

However the other thing I've seen mentioned is a Vapour Barrier for under the house. Has anyone installed one of these? Does anyone know who I could ask for advice/quotes for it? Our house is built on a slope which is mostly clay (as is the majority of our suburb), the water pours off our garden, down the steps at the side of the house and down the drive regularly so I'm assuming there must be a fair bit of water travelling through the soil under the house as well. If we were to install a vapour barrier would it make a big difference to the damp in the house?


Our house is on a clay slope as well, and we get a lot of water run-off when the weather's bad, so this is something I've been looking into, too. My (admittedly very limited) understanding is that if you install underfloor insulation, this will act as a vapour barrier itself.

On Smarter Homes (http://www.smarterhomes.org.nz/design/moisture/) it says this:


Keeping moisture out

Moisture often gets in from under the floor, especially if water pools under your house or the soil is always damp. You can prevent this by:

* covering the ground under the house with heavy polythene, even under a new concrete slab foundation
* fitting underfloor insulation
* ventilating enclosed sub-floor spaces
* dealing with surface run-off or underground water that promotes damp air.

We are going to install Expol underfloor insulation, and are also going to build a drain alongside the house to deal with the surface water. It sounds as though you have a lot of surface water, too, so it might be worth considering getting advice about putting in drainage to deal with it.