[April]

I've read quite a few comments about the quality of the housing being very poor in NZ. Can anyone tell me what exactly the problems are and what to look out for with different house styles.

Is the quality still very poor the higher up the market you go, or is it with all types of houses?

[benhila]

The problems are lack of insulation, no double glazing, no central heating. South facing houses get few hours of direct sun and can be cold and damp. Standards are improving though, and you can either buy a 'better' house or improve on what you get by adding heat pumps, insulation etc.

[Duncan74]

There is also an issue with leaky houses - a particular construction method where they apply plaster to the outside, but the process in NZ leaks and rots causing fungus and dampness.

[nickiware]

you could buy a section and build a new home, I think there are more building regulations in place now

[BkyMonster]

I posted this elsewhere but I still find it a good list on what to look for in a house in NZ.


Not sure if I mentioned this before, but due to NZ building standards (or lack thereof, har har) aspect, windows, and sunlight are all very very important things that you probably aren't used to thinking about when selecting a place to live. This means that the way the house is facing, how big the windows are (and what kind of covering they have), and where the windows are (and what type they are on the south side of the house) are going to have huge impacts on your comfort especially in the winter. I think ideally (if you can't have proper insulation and heating/windows) you want a big window/s on the north/NW side of the house-which are ideally the rooms that you live most in, lounge etc- with good day long sun--especially afternoon-- access (no blocking trees, hedges, fences, buildings) and a blackout/insulating curtain. You want less (to no) windows on the south side of the house with a insulating curtain and weatherstripping.

[Wooly_Cow]

you could buy a section and build a new home, I think there are more building regulations in place now

....which are still stupidly low.

In a nut shell Kiwi's build houses like they were located in the drier parts of Australia.......and they are not.

Quote from a mate last night 'Used to live in an unheated terrace house in Yorkshire....but I've never been so cold as living here'

[mylesdw]

I think it's mostly an age thing. The couple of houses we've owned have been post 1990 builds and both warm and dry; one with double glazing and the other without.

I think the leaky homes problem is pretty much the same as the 'timber framed houses' problem in the UK about 15 years ago; if the outer skin is porous or if the damp-proof membrane is punctured you get damp in the frame which rots it away leaving no house worth keeping!

[bobo]

Yes there are a lot of poor quality houses here, and the lack of insulation etc as others have said is a bit of a surprise. But it is possible to get a good quality house and if needed improve the insulation etc, but it will cost.

[bobo]

I think it's mostly an age thing. The couple of houses we've owned have been post 1990 builds and both warm and dry; one with double glazing and the other without.

I think the leaky homes problem is pretty much the same as the 'timber framed houses' problem in the UK about 15 years ago; if the outer skin is porous or if the damp-proof membrane is punctured you get damp in the frame which rots it away leaving no house worth keeping!

When people refer to the leaky homes problem they are talking about newer homes, post 1990 which are of poor design. Little or no soffit, built on concreate pads with not enough weep holes, and no cavity.
As you say the outer skin lets water in, but for the above reasons it cannot get out or dry out. Pressure treated wood or not its still going to rot.

[JandM]

This may be helpful. http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/existing-leaks.php

[bobo]

Or
http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/leaky/leaky-background.php Same site different page

[seattle]

We were extremely disappointed with the home building in NZ - and even the pricier homes were poorly built. I couldn't believe how many houses we looked at that had that moldy smell when we went inside (and the realtor insisted that she didn't notice anything.) We also had trouble finding a good inspector - so we didn't feel we could even rely on that. Coming from the U.S.- it was a huge shock to see the standards - even in newer homes. Some kiwis I talked to thought it was awful as well, and others seemed totally used to it saying they were used to bundling up during the winter, etc. We also noticed it when we were staying in hotels in Auckland - the single windows made the street noise much louder...

[Ngeru]

To paint a scenario: Our house is relatively far away from the neighbours, with some house behind us, that are not in our street. Although I can see them through the bushes, it would take ten minutes to drive around there, as there is no direct route other than to jump a fence, cross a lane and jump another fence - so I have never seen who lives there. BUT, oh boy do we hear them. The houses are so flimsy they offer no sound proofing, we hear dogs barking, kids clonking around on the deck in hobmail boots, TVs blaring, washing machines, the arguments - everything.

I used to live in a mid-terrace house in the UK and heard far less noise from our neighbours.

[Familyofmonkeys]

....which are still stupidly low.

In a nut shell Kiwi's build houses like they were located in the drier parts of Australia.......and they are not.

Quote from a mate last night 'Used to live in an unheated terrace house in Yorkshire....but I've never been so cold as living here'

Very true in a lot of cases. We rent a new house, built since the new regulations came in. The level of insulation required is still ridiculously low, we have flimsy single glazed windows (although new houses in cooler areas like S Island and the Central region of N Island will usually have double glazing now...often poor quality double glazing). There is no heating of any kind, but there is a gas point for fitting a gas heater, but there is NO FLUE. The instruction manual for the gas system advises leaving the window open for ventilation if a gas fire is used....what kind of an idiot designs a house like that?

And yes, although it is possible to upgrade your wall and loft insulation and add some heating, but there are some jobs that can't be done easily such as adding more insulation under your concrete foundation slab, or adding a central heating system in an area without mains gas as the alternatives have a higher initial outlay, or alternatively a higher running cost. And there is also only so much extra insualtion you can add to your walls without increasing the size of the studs....very very expensive to so. There are many insulation products on the global market that would do the job nicely. We used celotex ( http://www.celotex.co.uk/ ) in our UK garage conversion. It would fit in the walls just as easily as pink batts, but gives double the level of wall insulation....more similar to UK build standards. And yet, despite insualtion being such a big deal here in NZ now and all of the grants being made available for insulating houses, there is no equivalent product here....you need to import something from abroad at great expense. For the house we're planning on building, it would cost about $12k more based on current quotes to use this material from a company that imports from Europe, making it prohibitively expensive.

[Georgebulldog]

I posted this elsewhere but I still find it a good list on what to look for in a house in NZ.

I think this is a good thing to look at, our house has the sun on the living areas & bedrooms all day long & even on a winter day when the sun has been out it can be lovely & warm to the point of opening windows, we have a bathroom on the south side & it gets so cold in there. Must say our house is 15 years old & seems to have been built OK apart from draughty areas which we can sort, doesn't mean I'm not running around the minute the sun goes down though shutting those curtains

[April]

Really made me think about what to look at. Does anyone have a definitive check list?

[Chiba]

Buy a house in the sun - it makes a huge difference for most of the year.

You could look at a much older house and then renovate. We just missed buying a 1930s house that was very well built and very watertight. Rock solid woodwork - real craftsmanship. It was very original inside, so uninsulated. Relined and insulated I think it would have been very snug. The house we just bought is 1920s and partially renovated, but only needs a small gas heater to keep pretty much all of the downstairs warm, because it isn't draughty and it's reasonably well insulated. We'll be adding more insulation, so it should end up warm and cosy.

I think there's a gap between old, well constructed houses and very modern, well constructed houses. Between the late 30s and basically this century the quality is... variable.

[Caroline and Dave]

Really made me think about what to look at. Does anyone have a definitive check list?

Hi, You may find this useful

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9378

[Falcon_XR6]

Make sure you get a house with a free-standing wood-burner with a 5 inch copper chimney running up through the roof in your lounge and invest in a de-humidifier ($150 from Woolies). Also, Very importantly, a kitchen extractor hood over the cooker.

It only takes 15-20 minutes after lighting the fire for the lounge temperature to raise 2 degrees C and from lighting it at 1900hrs with a lounge temp of 18C, by 2200hrs the lounge is up at 25C to 29C with the air damper set at minimum and the bedrooms are around 20C (most of the heat is radiated from the copper chimney by the way so avoid a burner/fire set into a wall... less heat that way). You might also think about getting thermal curtains.
We live very close to the beach and have never had any problems with damp or mould, but we did see a lot of houses that were riddled with mould because the owners were not prepared to spend the money on buying and running a de-humidifier or spending the cash ($300) on a load of decent dry wood to burn in the few cold winter months.
Even though the house felt dry, when I first started running the de-humidifier (in February) it pulled around 1 to 2 gallons (4.5 - 9 lit) of water out of the air every day for the first 3 to 5 days and then settled down to a more normal level. It now takes around 3 to 8 days (outside weather dependent of course) and it keeps the inside R/H from 40% to <20%.

We knew people in the UK with double glazing, central heating, all mod-cons etc whose houses were very damp and sometimes mouldy because they never or couldn't open the windows or had any form of extraction from the kitchen or bathroom.

I don't think it's the houses that are bad so much as the Kiwi attitude and mentality to spending the cash on decent dry wood, a de-humidifier and the cash to run it, I have spoken to Kiwi's who flatly refuse to "waste" money on a de-humidifier and will still complain about dampness in the house and mould growing in the kids bedroom.

By the way, somewhere dry to store your wood is essential!

The most important and useful thing I have ever bought is the de-humidifier... then maybe the dishwasher...

[benhila]

I don't think it's the houses that are bad so much as the Kiwi attitude and mentality to spending the cash on decent dry wood, a de-humidifier and the cash to run it, I have spoken to Kiwi's who flatly refuse to "waste" money on a de-humidifier and will still complain about dampness in the house and mould growing in the kids bedroom.

Has it ever occurred to you that these Kiwis may not have the spare cash to spend on proper insulation and heating?

Cheers

Hila

[Falcon_XR6]

Has it ever occurred to you that these Kiwis may not have the spare cash to spend on proper insulation and heating?

Cheers

Hila

I never mentioned proper insulation and the heating costs I mentioned was $300 spent on decent wood to burn.
The other cost I did mention was an initial cost of $150 on a de-humidifier
(which should last for years with the correct maintainance and cleaning it requires) and $100 a year to run it.
Also, aren't there government grants available now towards getting your house properly insulated?

And no, it didn't occur to me that anyone would spend $300,000 to $450,000 on a house and let it go to rack and ruin all for the sake of spending $150 on a de-humidifier, $100 a year to run it and burn decent wood in the winter months.
The repair bills alone to replace "wet rotted" woodwork in a house run into multiple 1000's of $'s and if it gets into the load-bearing structural parts the bill will run into 10's of 1000's of $'s, so it is very much a false economy, it's like never replacing the oil and filter in your car, total false economy... I also looked at a lot of private cars for sale too before buying mine... from a dealer.

It also devalues your property and you lose prospective buyers who just take one look at the state of the place and walk away... I know we did with lots of properties that just felt and smelled damp and/or had mould growing in corners and around windows, doors, in bedrooms and bathrooms.

After the initial cost of $150 for the de-humidifier you have a total cost of around $400 per anum for running costs of electricity and wood, that amounts to just $1.10c a day...

Are you really saying that this is an unaffordable ammount to keep your house in a state where it won't grow mould all over it and to keep it fit for you and your family to live in?

As a matter of interest do you run a de-humidifier and/or a wood burner?

[benhila]

"And no, it didn't occur to me that anyone would spend $300,000 to $450,000 on a house and let it go to rack and ruin"

....but again, you are assuming that they spend 300-450K on a house to begin with - perhaps they can only afford half that?

And yes, I do have a de-humidifier, two heat-pumps and a wood-burner. I also have a mortgage-free, well-insulated house. How is this relevant? I am not a Kiwi, I came over from the UK where the ratio of salary to cost of living was such that substantial savings were possible (which is often not the case here in NZ).

Cheers

Hila

[ourquest]

I usually contribute to property related threads but didn't want to get involved with a bad/good house debate as I still feel comfortable with housing in general here. It can be solid, well located and a good investment, and that ticks my boxes.

There was a comment which niggled though, and it was this one:



And no, it didn't occur to me that anyone would spend $300,000 to $450,000 on a house and let it go to rack and ruin all for the sake of spending $150 on a de-humidifier, $100 a year to run it and burn decent wood in the winter months.


This got me thinking, assuming that owners do really let their houses go to ruin (maybe an exaggeration, but then...), why this would be the case?

Then it clicked.

Think of personal health. Has it ever occurred to anyone why someone would inherit a body to use for their entire lifetime and then fill it with nicotine, alcohol and red bull? Isn't this strangely similar?

One smoke isn't going to kill you, and a bit of damp in one winter isn't going to rot your house. But it's just all too easy to consistently think like that and cause real issues, whether it is with your house or your health. It isn't just Kiwis who neglect their houses either, it is a wordlwide life pattern based on enjoying quick pleasure at the expense of the future (in the house context it is easier to just live in your house than think about keeping in dry and airy). Out of sight, out of mind. Of course it is easier to replace a stud wall than a lung.

So I think there is a much deeper issue than the cost of dehumidifiers, although I am not intending to be critical of any posts in this thread. The advice is sound and I am now going to buy one (a dehumidifier that is).

[K&R]

Ive just found this thread and wondered if houses are still damp and cold in the parts of NZ that are warm all year round?

Also, is there anything good about the houses? Im slightly worried now because I dont want to live in a damp cold house with mould on the walls!!!

[Ngeru]

Ive just found this thread and wondered if houses are still damp and cold in the parts of NZ that are warm all year round?

Also, is there anything good about the houses? Im slightly worried now because I dont want to live in a damp cold house with mould on the walls!!!

Exactly which parts of NZ do you think are warm all year round?

Some parts are warmer than others, but there are none I would consider 'warm' all year. Auckland is relatively mild, yet it is still cold at nights in the winter and it rains a LOT.

Northland would be the warmest part of the country, it does however have downsides and you have to find the right balance depending on your choice of lifestyle and occupation. Northland is one of the most deprived parts of the country with lots of lower-decile housing and fewer jobs, so being warmer is just one of the things you have to consider in the whole mix.

Sounds to me that if you are overly concerned you should pay a visit to NZ before committing and see for yourself. Because everyone here will tell you a different story.

Just for the record, my house is in Auckland and just ten years old, we get a frost perhaps 5 nights per year (more so last year) and it's generally 8 - 10c on other winter nights. To ME this is plenty cold enough to be miserable in your own home. Our house had NO heating and we installed heat pumps which I have on every night for at least four months of the year June through September. My boss lives in one of the most expensive suburbs in Auckland and he has a gas fire which he lights for one hour only, on the coldest nights perhaps five times per year. It's not like he can't afford it.

Therefore you decide is 10c cold? I think so, others apparently don't, despite World Health guidelines saying the minimum should be 18c. You wouldn't be allowed to work in an office in the UK if the temperature was below 16c and would be sent home. Wouldn't that suck to be sent home to a house where it is even colder. :D

[RJLink]

I am renting in a 10-year-old townhouse complex in Wellington. They (the property managers) are currently replacing water-damaged support beams in the unit below me. My neighbours say they had similar work done a couple years ago. There is basically no insulation in these units, and six months of the year it's freezing at night. Yes you can run space heaters, but they're a poor substitute for round-the-clock all-home comfort. The other six months of the year it's no issue. I think this may explain some of the inertia about addressing home heating problems - a just-ride-it-out mentality.

[K&R]

Exactly which parts of NZ do you think are warm all year round?

I understood that most of the North Island never gets below 10C in winter. Is that wrong?


Sounds to me that if you are overly concerned you should pay a visit to NZ before committing and see for yourself. Because everyone here will tell you a different story.

We are doing exactly that in 2011! Its true what you say, on one thread I was enthusing about how reasonably priced NZ houses were, and got told I was not considering 'like-for-like' because NZ houses are poor quality.
So I started a new thread asking about poor quality houses and got slated for saying they were poor quality and that they were better than the ones in the UK! You cant win! So yes, we will get a better idea when we go there hopefully. ;) (and yes, I know, I did ask for peoples opinions, please dont jump on me!)


Just for the record, my house is in Auckland and just ten years old, we get a frost perhaps 5 nights per year (more so last year) and it's generally 8 - 10c on other winter nights. To ME this is plenty cold enough to be miserable in your own home.
Therefore you decide is 10c cold? I think so, others apparently don't, despite World Health guidelines saying the minimum should be 18c.

I think 8-10C is relatively mild! We are having a cold spell here in the UK and its below 0C at night time. We dont have central heating in our house, we just have an electric fire and an electric radiator and its fine.

I suppose its all relative. Some people can tolerate what others cant. So I guess we have to suck it and see!

[Duncan74]

I live in a stone house in the UK with minimal insulation. Solid stone walls, and the loft area is open with effectively no insulation. It does however have double glazing, albeit the frames are wood. We do have central heating and that stays on 7 days a week at 19 degrees, but the lounge will still need us to light the wood burner if it's less than 5degrees outside and we're in the house all day, the radiator doesn't cut it. And we do need to be aware of damp, as obviously the stone walls would get condensation on if we weren't careful.

But we are fine. It costs us less than £140 a month for gas and electric. In the past we've sat watching TV on the sofa under a duvet as it was easier than lighting the fire.

I've found several modern houses in the UK way too hot in the summer, and I can't do anything about that. At least I can add layers.

Am I worried about housing in NZ? A bit I suppose, but probably no more than if I was renting in the UK. I guess my concern would be around the toxic mould rather than the cold specifically. I admit I've not got a handle on heating costs in NZ yet. Terms like really expensive don't really help as it's all comparative. If anyone wants to comment on whether I'd be paying more or less than $300 a month for electric / bottled gas on a typical rental 3 bedroom house (ie not super insulated) then that would be helpful.

[JandM]

K&R, I've answered you on your other thread.

[K&R]

Im worried Duncan. I wish didnt know about it all now! I think Id rather have just gone to NZ thinking everything would be great, but now I know what Im going to be up against its worrying the hell out of me.

[Duncan74]

K&R - Turn this into a positive. You know what to look out for and what to consider in a rental. Without these threads then you'd not have counted heaters or asked about the power of the heat pump. Now you will.

Life's a big adventure, and what you've got here are known risks. What you really ought to be worried about are the unknown risks that you've not even got on your radar ;) Seriously, there's bound to be some bumps along the route, some you may be warned about, others you'll just hit. I'm a naturally cautious person, live life as a very (small c) conservative. But every now and again then you'e got to just jump in and make the most of the splash.

[K&R]

Thanks Duncan, that really nice.:)

[moses]

Terms like really expensive don't really help as it's all comparative. If anyone wants to comment on whether I'd be paying more or less than $300 a month for electric / bottled gas on a typical rental 3 bedroom house (ie not super insulated) then that would be helpful.
Duncan.
I currently pay $250 a month on power and that covers all the heating, cooking and hot water on a three bed house plus a separate sleepout. Our house is a Lockwood so it does retain its heat and we have always been cosy and snug in the depths of a Waikato winter and we dont have underfloor insulation as yet.
As soon as the snow comes the heat pump is on 24/7 which prevents mould and stops the issue of trying to constantly heat a cold house.The sleepout has a big oil filled radiator which again it sure keeps it warm.
For the previous poster who states North Island does not get below 10 degrees - the Central plateau is well known for cold winters due to the big snowy mountains we have here. Still they are dead gorgeous :nice1.
Hope this helps.

[Duncan74]

Cheers Moses. Very useful.

[James 1077]

Our energy bill for Feb was $115. Since we moved in in Nov it hasn't been above $170 (even when there were 4 adults and 2 kids in the house).

Winter is different though as we'll have the oil filled radiators on in addition to the HRV. I haven't been through one in this house but our previous rental was bigger, had no insulation and no working fireplace and the most expensive energy bill came to a little over $500 I think.

This is all electricity as we don't use gas.

[norma]

Our combined gas and electric power bills for 2009 averaged $170 per month, with a low of $95 in Jan and high of $265 in May. We have gas for central heating, hot water and cooking.

We had rented our place for a year before we bought and we reduced our gas consumption by a third by insulating the loft and under the floor when we bought it. It's still draughty through the gaps in the windows and being an old wooden bungalow the exterior walls are not insulated. Before we insulated, the inside temp could drop to 7 degrees overnight - that's very cold for indoors.

[Ngeru]

For the previous poster who states North Island does not get below 10 degrees - the Central plateau is well known for cold winters due to the big snowy mountains we have here.


If you mean me, I said Auckland is generally 8 - 10 c except on the few nights a year where we get a frost and we had lots of those last year. I know it gets colder elsewhere. It's a difficulty for those reading generalised weather statistics that show average temperatures, because it varies so much and a lot of the weather is localised and affected by the lie of the land, mountains and sea. Even now during the summer, I was surprised recently to hear that for large parts of NZ it has been the worst summer since whenever the last worst summer was. We've been absolutely baking and sweltering since Christmas and it's very hard to imagine that it's not been the same elsewhere.

For K&R 8-10c does seem mild and it's fine if your out and about doing stuff fully dressed, but for me it's too cold for comfort, especially when sitting around at home or when you have to go to the bathroom. I imagine UK daytime temperatures are quite similar at present, so try a little experiment over the weekend, don't put your heating on and then go take a bath and see how that grabs you. ;)

As for leccy bills Duncan, the worst bill we had last winter was about $350 for one month when it was extraordinarily cold in Auckland. Our most recent bill as below $158.57 for February - with absolute minimal use of the aircon 'feature' of our heatpumps, maximum daylight hours and the bear minimum amounts of cooking due to aforementioned heat. The nights are gradually drawing in and it's getting dark much earlier, so the bills will steadily increase from now onwards until the peak around August.

Actual Reading 586 Units @ 19.55 c/unit $114.56
Daily Fixed Charge 29 days @ 91.00 c/day $26.39
Sub Total $140.95
GST $17.62
TOTAL CURRENT ELECTRICITY CHARGES $ 158.57

We get 10% off this if we pay on time - i.e. the day it is due

If it helps you at all, I record our weekly useage and a 'normal' week where we don't have any heating or air-con on, we use 135 kwh - it's regular enough to be our 'normal'. We're all electricity in a three bedroom house, nobody at home all day for five days a week but we do run a heater and pump for a small aquarium 24/7.

[KatieBen]

We pay around $80-90 per month electricity (4 bed house, north facing, double glazed, well insulated, well built - and rented!). Gas is $26 a month rental charge for the bottle and then whatever we use - I think around a bottle every 6 months so far. (Electric - light/heat pump/oven; Gas - hot water/hob).

So far we've been way too hot in summer (balcony doors back to their fullest extent and fans on) and occasionally too hot in winter (windows open). Heat pump was on about 10 times over the winter months. We've not used the aircon mode as yet, it's easier to open doors. We've never been too cold upstairs, although during the winter I did use the electric blankets every night to warm the bed up (no heating downstairs at all).

We don't have a dehumidifier; I'm still not convinced we need one as the house feels dry enough to me. However having seen the comment regarding litres coming out of an apparently dry house we may invest in one.

[Kiwi Mac]

Our energy bill averages around $250 a month for electricity and about $150 a year for gas.

Elec runs everything but the stove top which is gas.

We have

No double glazing
4 Heat Pumps
A 7 person Spa Pool
TV
DVD
2 Mac's
2 Electric ovens
microwave
dishwasher
washing machine (no tumble dryer)
3 heated towel rails
plus the usual lights, burglar alarm, electric buried dog fence etc

[moses]

My quote about a previous poster asking if temps stay above 10 degrees was in answer to KandRs question

[K&R]

For K&R 8-10c does seem mild and it's fine if your out and about doing stuff fully dressed, but for me it's too cold for comfort, especially when sitting around at home or when you have to go to the bathroom. I imagine UK daytime temperatures are quite similar at present, so try a little experiment over the weekend, don't put your heating on and then go take a bath and see how that grabs you. ;)

Lol! Funny you should say that because I left the bedroom window open last night without knowing, and had a pretty cold night (nothing that couldnt be rectified by snuggling up to my OH), and it was below freezing out! When we realised this morning we were like "we will easily be able to cope in NZ winters!" We will be fine. I just got a bit freaked by the barrage of negativity about it all. Subsequent posts have been very reassuring. Thanks everyone!:D

[JandM]

Re: taking a bath in NZ. When we were on holiday in winter in a rented, uninsulated, non-double-glazed house, I learnt by trial and error how to be reasonably comfortable in the bathroom. I plugged in a fan heater on the landing, and left it blowing into the bathroom for half an hour before I went in there and removed a single garment. As soon as I got out of the water, I opened the door and put the fan heater on again.

I found out not to leave anything on the surfaces around the basin or bath, as even if no-one had had a bath, they ended up swimming in condensation several millimetres deep which can get into packaging of e.g. makeup, and/or soak off labels.

[K&R]

Good grief! Is it that bad JandM?! Why cant you open the window?

[JandM]

Like I said before, it's HUMID, particularly in the winter. It's not exactly bad, but different, so you have to react accordingly. This is a different country, and a different climate, unlike anything in the UK. The house was in a clearing in the native bush, which in the Waitakeres equates to sub-tropical rain forest. Remember wildlife documentaries, how the air is heavy with wet. All that happens if you open the window is more wet air. Having used a towel one morning, even if you hung it right beside a heat source, it would still be clammy 24 hours later, so we kept two pairs of towels on the go in rotation, till half-way through our visit when a Kiwi relative gave me the tip of putting them by the dehumidifier, a common household appliance there, usually run in a room you haven't been using for 30 minutes to an hour before you go in there (e.g. your bedroom just before going to bed). These are things which are ordinary commonplaces of practical living to people who have this kind of house in that kind of location.

I loved the layout of that house, but when we get over there, we'll be looking for double glazing and insulation (or installing them), and there's no way we'd buy a place so closely surrounded by bush - you aren't allowed to cut back native bush more than a minimum amount in many areas out of town centres, for conservation reasons. It's beautiful, but it does help to hold the moisture, so I'd want to be higher placed, to look out over it.

[Duncan74]

But I don't have to do that in Calgary / Cincinatti / Clethorpes so it must be that the houses aren't built to modern standards. Darn these backward Kiwis.

[IanW99]

But I don't have to do that in Calgary / Cincinatti / Clethorpes so it must be that the houses aren't built to modern standards. Darn these backward Kiwis.

You don't have to do that in Wellington either, it isn't houses built close to the bush per se, it is that Auckland area is very humid full stop. Being close to the bush just makes the situation even worse.

Ian

[JandM]

I'm pretty sure Duncan was being facetious. :D

[AlastairUK]

I've only had a spring and summer in NZ so far. I remember when I first arrived and couchsurfed with a few people up in Auckland. It was bloomin' freezing! I remember waking up and being able to see my breath when I breathed out indoors.

I've been told by my old housemate that my room is nicknamed "the freezer", although he didn't divulge why :) It's a big room with a huge window in an old office block that's been converted (on Manners Mall in Wellington). We don't have any heating to speak of in our apartment. Everything else has been brilliant in New Zealand and I'm not going to let this beat me! I've been freezing cold in other circumstances and what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger :) I'll have to find myself a girlfriend for the winter and snuggle up with her!

[Trendynana]

When we eventually get to New Zealand - we will be very worried that the house we buy is not going to be 'trouble'!! Then I remember that I was brought up in a house in the North of England with ice on the inside of the sash, single glazed windows in the winter and the only heating being a coal fire in one room. You raced up to bed in the evening, wore gloves, socks and had at least a trench coat on top of your feather eiderdown and 5 blankets. When it was windy - the curtains used to move (windows were shut) and carpets used to lift up (floor boards underneath and carpet not fitted).

My Dad used to leave the gas oven on at regulo 1 all night in the winter so our dog would not freeze to death in the kitchen, and he had a fur coat!!!:wah