[acisman]

Hi Everyone

We were watching a TV programme last night in which it was stated "most NZ homes were generally heated to 16 degrees, 2 degrees below a level that was deemed necessary for good health" It got us thinking that with so many Brits coming over here and being used to double glazing and central heating, why, in such a "green" country is DG & CH still non-existent.

OK the winters (hopefully) are much shorter here, but is spot heating the only answer. I have searched the internet for DG & CH and while CH is possible, although not common, DG is impossible to find. I traced one firm (Pilkington Glass) who emailed back to say "give us a ring and we will tell you about our products.

I reckon anyone from the UK who is in the sealed windows game could make a very good living out here. With so much heat being lost through the windows, where is the energy efficiency I thought NZ was promoting.

Hope we do not sound like a winging POMMs and perhaps we need to adapt to the NZ way in this matter. However how do you South Island Brits survive when up here in the Waikato we are finding the nights and morning very cold ?

Pam & Dave

[GeorgeM]

We have double glazing throughout our house including the 16(!) exterior doors. The house is approx 5 years old and was built that way - when we had some alterations done the builder didn't seem to have any problems matching the new windows (including one which is huge) to the existing.

I think that a lot of people in NZ see central heating as a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I don't know whether we're hardening up but even recently we've been going round in sweatshirt and shorts all day (up until bedtime). We would have definitely needed central heating to do this in November in the UK but felt quite comfortable here. Even towards the end of last month we were having to open windows and doors during the day to get the temperature down (in the heatless house). BUT... then you get a southerly blast (max temp in Chch is 7C today OMG) and out comes the temp heating.

Our experience is that temperatures are significantly warmer overall, and winters shorter and less intense in most places (although I am not denying that it still does get bitingly cold at times). In this environment heatpumps seem to be a far better alternative as they can be reversed to work as AC during the hotter times - probably a more important consideration here than in the UK.

As most houses in the UK built in the last 40 or so years have had central heating people have become accustomed to having every nook and cranny of the house at a temperature where they can roam around in their underwear. The NZ attitude is far more one of heating the areas where you're spending most of the time and enduring the shock for the short periods you're elsewhere. We would definitely have had areas of our house below 16C last night, but not bits that we were in.

[Wannaway]

Agree with the comments that it is generally warmer here and the cold snaps don't tend to be quite as cold as the UK or as long.

We have a couple of oil filled heaters, one upstairs and one down, and just have these come on for an hour or two to take the chill off. Seems to do the job, although have yet to see impact on energy bills :eek

The biggest problem we have is with condensation, its really bad. We have taken to blasting our towels in the tumble dryer because the air is so damp that, if you have a shower one day, the towel you use is unlikely to be dry the next day. We all have colds in our household at the moment and I am sure that is more to do with the general dampness in the air than it being cooler.

[AliJax]

Indeed, my most recent bout of Pnumonia, was as result of the cold damp house we think. Which has spurned us to house hunt for a property with better heating solutions. The new house (move in July 16th) has a wood burning fire in the living room & two additional Gas wall mounted heaters.

When we had a second viewing the two gas heaters provided enough heat for the whole house and we went back to our shivering shack, turning on the oil filled radiators.

WORD OF WARNING, dont kick the oil filled radiator in the dark without your slippers on. I did then promptly fell ontop of the said article whilst a little tipsy, only to find my toe had a nice little cut through the nail. :wah

I dont understand why NZ doesnt promote more efficient methods of heating & insulation, one of the first things I'm going to do is to insulate the loft space and try to get some under floor heating in the bathrooms.

Also the use of wide use of 'bulbs' as opposed to compact fluorescent lamps.

[GeorgeM]

You're right about insulation - I think that this is probably as much of the problem as no central heating. NZ is certainly many decades behind the UK in this regard, but again I think that the culprit is the better weather - it took longer down here for it to be seen as a problem than up there.

The UK wasn't always a centrally heated, well insulated mecca - the house I grew up in (built 1954) wouldn't have been out of place in NZ today - no central heating, no insulation. Many times in the winter there would be ice on the inside of my bedroom window. We just thought that this was the way things were when it got cold, and I suspect that many NZers still do.

But times are definitely changing - they certainly advertise CosyToes insulation enough to suggest that there's more than a passing interest in this sort of thing here now.

[ruthyroo]

Another impression that I have is that kiwis do not like to spend 'unneccessary' money - and if they can put on (another) fleecy rather than turn on a radiator, they will always opt for that. To this mentality, DG and CH probably seem like a bit of a frivolity and a waste of money. But I also agree that CH has made wimps of us in the UK - my MIL came out here to visit recently and she got a real presbyterian kick out of having to shut doors to keep the heat in, put on an extra jumper, and huddle round the wood burner for warmth - she said it took her right back in time to her parents (cold) house!

Most kiwi's agree that their houses are cold - but they don't seem very motiviated to do anything about it. I'm adjusting too - buying some extra fleecy's for the winter!

[jubjub]

I have been here nearly a week, and our rental has this heat exchange system and at one point the temp got up to 23 degrees! Although I got up yesterday morning and it was at 0 in the roof.

I am only really cold when we first get into bed and when you nip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, apart from that wrapping up, using the heat out of the roof space and a couple of hours of an oil filled radiator, I am not doing too bad!

Reminds me of staying with my gran.....

[veronica]

hi jubjub, you wanna try it in Chch, its colder down here, very often when people talk about these things they forget there is a difference of climate throughout NZ, I'd hate to be in Invercargill.....or the mountain areas where the houses have been built to the same spec as houses in Auckland.

[jo b]

I came across this firm recently.

Upvc double glazing in NZ.

http://www.epcsheerframe.co.nz/7893/html/prepage.html

Jo

[Kenny]

Although wall insulation is now part of the building regs these days, the older buildings (10 + years - ha -Older) tend not to have any.
We have been in 5 houses in NZ now and not one of them had any insulation in the walls. It's like living in the garden shed.
We are lucky enough to have ducted air heating in the house now which is great.
Oil filled electric raidiators tend to be very costly to run to keep rooms warm.
Wood Burners only heat the room they are in or in order to heat the whole house means that the room the burner in is so hot, it is like sitting in a sauna.
However. In the summer you are glad that the house is so cool.

You can't have it all ways. Swings and Roundabouts I suppose.

:? :?

[veronica]

insulation works to keep the house cool in the summer too.....

[richard]

We are lucky enough to have ducted air heating in the house now which is great.


Having just had quotes for central heating and warm air heating we are considering our options at the moment so I would be interested in your experiences with ducted air heating. Is yours gas based? How would you compare it to traditional radiator based central heating. Do you get any draughts from it when it is running?

[JohnM]

Very interesting thread, I've been looking for these kinds of things. Richard, I would be interested in your quotes for central heating. I see that joann's thread about building her house mentioned a heat pump was ~$2,500. Does anyone in NZ know how much a sheet of drywall (gyp board, plasterboard, sheetrock, whatever you call it there) costs? Also a roll/batts of insulation? I checked Mitre 10's site, but no prices listed. Also, the site for the double glazed window company doesn't mention prices, here in the US an average sized double hung window in vinyl is around $125 US, can anyone find an NZ price? Thanks all, if I come to NZ, I will be buying one of those uninsulated houses and "gutting it to the studs" as we say here, so I'm very interested in seeing what building material prices are.

And keep your fingers crossed, I may be closing/settling on a house sale next week, which means I can fly back to NZ to have a look around again and look at job prospects/cities/houses (in need of repair) :cheers

John

[foolsgold99]

If I lived in the south, then I'd think seriously about this. I heard on the radio this morning, it was minus four in cristchurch last night, that's cold. :no :no

I remeber when I was a kid in Scotland, we had gas powered ducted central heating, my parents (and everyone else on their estate) ripped it out, becuase it was garbage and very expensive. When they had it, we also had a dehumidifer. (much to my dads disapointment it never semed to do much, after a while my sister and I started getting up in the middle of the night, and filling it with tap water to make him feel better :nice1 )

I'm not sure how much of a priority this is going to be for us. It's heading towards a very nice 17 degrees in Auckland today, and only 12 days till the solstice. Although we're (finally) going to seal a deal for a house tomorrow. We've got a list of 2, and one has a wod burning fire, the other has no heating, it might just come into it.

[GeorgeM]

and only 12 days till the solstice.

On the radio in Chch this morning they made the comment that the coldest weather normally comes after the shortest day.

Don't plan to put your long johns away yetawhile!!

[acisman]

Jo b

Thanks for the link to a double glazing firm, this is very useful.

As an Ipswich Town football supporter, you don't know how hard it was to thank someone from Wigan !!!

Cheers


Dave

[richard]

Richard, I would be interested in your quotes for central heating.


As I said, we are looking at heating options at the moment as we just have a log burner and a few oil heaters scattered around the house. We have had a few quotes for a four bedroom house and the options are:-

A - Do nothing. If we leave the doors to the living room closed and chuck a few logs on the fire before going to bed the room is still 18 degrees in the morning. Everywhere else is much colder though. The kitchen and my office were 7 degrees yesterday morning after the -3 overnight low.

B - Diesel central heating with radiators $15,500

C - LPG central heating with radiators $13,500 but LPG is more expensive than diesel.

D - LPG warm air heating $9000

E - Heat pump for downstairs with log burner as backup then oil filled heaters upstairs $3000-4000 fitted. I have heard that some heat pumps start to struggle once the outside temperature dips to 0 deg.

If I convert back to pounds then the central heating options don't seem unreasonable but when you read it in dollars it seems a lot.

Warm air heating seems like a good compromise but how well does it work? Views from people who have it would be appreciated.

Any other solutions other than set fire to the carpet?

[jo b]

Jo b

Thanks for the link to a double glazing firm, this is very useful.

As an Ipswich Town football supporter, you don't know how hard it was to thank someone from Wigan !!!

Cheers


Dave

Dave

no worries I won't hold that against you :laugh :laugh

Jo

[marcia]

Hmmmmmmmm don't htink I'd better let my hubby read this thread - he works outside all the time and moans that it's too hot in the house when he comes home!! he goes round turning the radiators down and (i follow him turning them back up :mrgreen: ) Perhaps I'd better spend next winter with no heating to prepare myself for our future in NZ.

:roll: :roll: Now where did i put that hot water bottle and fleece banket?????????

[Kenny]

We are lucky enough to have ducted air heating in the house now which is great.


Having just had quotes for central heating and warm air heating we are considering our options at the moment so I would be interested in your experiences with ducted air heating. Is yours gas based? How would you compare it to traditional radiator based central heating. Do you get any draughts from it when it is running?


Gas ducted air may not be the best option, but when you have lived in 4 'sheds' without any heating then it's luxury. The beauty of it is that its controllable. We can set the timer to take the edge off the house before getting out from under the duvet. If we find the rooms getting cold on a night, we can quickly push it up a couple of degrees. It also has a 'fan only' setting which is great for the summer.

Wood Burners are nice but a lot of work. You have to get it lit before getting heat. (Pointing out the bleeding obvious here I suppose).

Comparisons between traditional radiator systems. When the ducted air goes off, the temperature drops fairly quickly as there is nothing to keep the air warm. Whereas a radiator takes time to cool so keeps the air temp up longer.

As for draughts. Other than sitting directly under a vent, you don't feel it.
I am on 7x24 support and can be up in the early hours of the morning.
The PC is directly under one of the vents in the ceiling. As I pass the control to get to the PC, I just hit the control into temp mode and by the time I am sitting down, the warm air is coming down on top of me.
With radiators, log burners etc, it could take 30 mins before feeling any effect (unless you leave it on overnight).

[richard]

Thanks for the info Kenny, all useful stuff.

[Wannaway]

There are houses out here which are built with insulation and double glazing as well as underfloor or central heating. it's just that they all seem to be at the top end of the market. And there aren't that many of them either. They all seem to have been built by/for non kiwis.

I have to say that my biggest problem with living over here is finding a house that I like. We are renting which is good because we are learning all the things we don't want or do want. The trouble is there are very few houses out there which fit what I want and finding a plot of land that's bigger than a handkerchief in one of the areas we want is nigh on impossible.

Nicky

[richard]

Does anyone in NZ know how much a sheet of drywall (gyp board, plasterboard, sheetrock, whatever you call it there) costs? Also a roll/batts of insulation? I checked Mitre 10's site, but no prices listed.
John

John, the Mitre 10 flyer came through today. Prices are:-

$84.92 - Pink Batts R2.6 (10.5m sq)
$16.99 - Standard Gib plaster board 2400x1200x10
$29.98 - Gib Ultra 3000x1200x10
$43.50 - Gib Aqualine 3000x1200x10

[JohnM]

Thanks Richard, I appreciate you taking the time to post the prices. :nice1 Embarrasingly...I will have to do the metric conversions, but this was very helpful in researching costs to renovate in NZ.

John

[driver]

We are in double glazing and hoping to get out soon and start up a business.

For those of you out there, in your opinion is there much money spent on home improvements? I saw the post about not wanting to spend much money on it if another sweatshirt will do.

I'm sure I read somewhere that, In the south island from 2006 all new builds will have to be double glazed by regulation.

Do people do up their houses in general, new guttering, cladding, and garage doors etc?

Sorry if this is a little off topic.

[jo b]

We are in double glazing and hoping to get out soon and start up a business.

For those of you out there, in your opinion is there much money spent on home improvements? I saw the post about not wanting to spend much money on it if another sweatshirt will do.

I'm sure I read somewhere that, In the south island from 2006 all new builds will have to be double glazed by regulation.

Do people do up their houses in general, new guttering, cladding, and garage doors etc?

Sorry if this is a little off topic.

Driver we will be building our own. So please keep in touch. I am sure that once people have seen the benefits of DG through the new builds i.e saving money on heating, that most will want to upgrade eventually if cheap enough.

Jo

[AliJax]

Driver - will postpone our double glazing till we've spoken to you out here!

[driver]

Thanks guys we'll be in touch,

Sorry i've gone off the topic.

[Moorf]

Where u heading to in NZ driver?

[acisman]

Hi everyone

I emailed the double glazing firm Jo b kindly listed and I got a reply in which they quoted " we had good news and bad news". The good news was that they do make upvc double glazed windows and doors in white, light brown and dark brown. However the bad news is that they do not offer a survey/build/fit service unless you live in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. They added that they can make the units to any given size ( you have to do the measuring) and that the units can be delivered for any good joiner to fit.

They quoted around $750 for an average size bedroom window.

So Driver please keep us informed of your plans.


Dave

[driver]

Oh you guys thats music to my ears, I've been concerned that no one in NZ would want to change their leaky, condensating ol aluminium windows to lovely upvc and our LTBV would fail, meaning we'd get kicked back to UK.

Our application is in a huge queue at the moment in Wellington, limboland some say. Waiting to get approval of the business plan. Should know if we've got it in a couple of months. At the moment we hope to start in the North Island, but i'm guessing we'll end up where there is more work.
OH is a window fitter, 20yrs exp in the home improvements game. if only you could all hold on till we get there.

Sheerframe are on the top of our list as suppliers too.

I've been thinking lately about giving Wellington a nudge. What do you think?

[sarahw]

I read in the Dominion Post last week that the average temperature in a Kiwi house is colder than the average temperature than a house in Siberia!!!!

I haven't been in a house yet here that has DOUBLE GLAZING - I think you'll make a mint Driver - if you decide not to come here & do it I think I might set myself up in business as there's plenty of ex-pats who are used to not wearing 5 layers just to sit on the sofa!! Sure you'll be raking it in!

When I went to the council to look at the permits for the house we're buying I almost whooped with joy when I saw that 5 years ago they fitted Pink Batts!! (insulation) :laugh

I must say since I've been here - I've never been so cold in my life - we've got gas ducted heating which we've tried not to use too much - have had to give in & just go for it I'm afraid - the hallways aren't heated (that's evidently quite common) so you heat the rooms & when you have to go to the hallway you freeze! Also our lounge is boiling & the rest of the rooms are either luke warm or freezing!! I don't really care since we're moving but I couldn't live with it long-term. All our neighbours think we live in the lap of luxury because we have heating :laugh

I'm looking forward to becoming a Kiwi hardnut & being able to wear shorts & a t-shirt in the middle of winter!

[Diny]

I don't think that anybody can actually take on board how cold Kiwi houses are until they've actually experienced it.

I'm still in the UK (enjoying a wonderful summer thank you very much) but last NZ winter I was staying with the in-laws in the Manawatu. I've never experienced anything so soul destroying as the cold in their house. I swear to God that it was warmer outside !!! It's all very well saying put on extra layers, but when you're sitting in a house which equates to little more than a garden shed in construction, no insulation, 'thin' metal framed windows and everywhere feels damp ..... well I'm sorry - more layers don't cut the mustard.

I will be more than happy to cut down on other things (i.e. food & drink - it won't do me any harm) so that I can spend the extra cash on heating. Am I a whimp? You bet !!!!!!!

Add me to your list of customers for double galzing will you. :nice1

Diny

[adamsat]

I don't think that anybody can actually take on board how cold Kiwi houses are until they've actually experienced it.

Having been here for just over two weeks now I can confirm all the stories about cold houses are true :yes

We've just moved into a rental in Rangiora. It's five years old, no double glazing, but acres of glass. It also has electric ducted warm air heating, a heat pump, and an electric storage radiator. The first night here was the coldest and most uncomfortable I've every experienced :wah

The house has either warmed up now, or I've bought so many oil filled radiators from the warehouse that I've overloaded the mains and the house is about to catch fire.

[dave k]

I don't mind the cold too much...though there are obviously some nights when it's nigh on unbearable...it's the damp that really bugs me. I got a dehumidifier which helps a little, but it's still pretty bad...and unhealthy.
I mentioned it to a kiwi guy and he gave the usual stock answer of "just harden up" or if it's damp "open a window". (He didn't seem to understand that it was damp outside too..)
It's as if they take some sort of perverse pride in being able to tough it out in bad conditions. I mean...HELLO! we're not all settlers living in wooden shacks anymore, this is the 21st century fer chrissakes!

OK , rant over. Back to keeping warm.

[Gran]

To be warm and dry in NZ you have to live on the Northern slopes of any hill, or on the flat. The whole of Wellington, unfortunately is on A southern slope!!!!!!!!

[acisman]

Hi everyone

Many thanks for all your comments and we are glad our subject generated some discussion.

The "add another layer" and "just toughen up" comments do seem to be the attitude. However our concern is the health factor where dampness must cause a number of asthma related problems and the cold which must lead to potential breathing complaints moving between warm and cold rooms.

The point we are trying to make is than in a "green" country like NZ why is energy efficiency and conservation so lacking in most homes. Indeed where there is heating it is often wood and coal burning.

We move into our own home next week and it is in need of some TLC.
We intend to immediately remove inner walls and fill with insulation, as well as adding to the insulation in the roof. Extractor fans come next, followed by some form of double glazing when we can find it.

We both remember the coldest of NZ homes in England when we young. We didn't toughen up then and although we may eventually toughen up here, we are not prepared to wait that long.

We really love New Zealand and are here to stay. A few comforts from the "old country" is not too much to ask for, is it.

Pam & Dave

[veronica]

Double glazing is about here, quite a few people seem to be cottoning on to it. we are fitting out a sleep out as part of the hostel in the garden and are putting double glazed ranch sliders (patio doors) x 3 and bathroom windows x3 pus one normal sized window and 2 double glazed normal doors and it is coming to approx $6k, the fact there is a waiting time (approx 6 weeks) at all of the people we approached means the guys are busy.

[acisman]

That is good news Veronica.

Does anyone know of a double glazing supplier and fitter in the Hamilton/Bay of Plenty area ? I have looked around on the web but have yet to strike lucky.

Having been to our new house today ( moving in tomorrow :cheers ) we will certainly be in the market for some replacement windows.


Pam & Dave

[driver]

Would love to help. We will hopefully be in the BOP sometime around Xmas. Course it'll be summer then and no-one will be cold enough to be thinking about replacing windows.

There are quite a few suppliers on the net as we've had to research it for our business plan, and when we've e-mailed them they've all replied quickly and so politely, can't wait to get in amongst it.

So sorry we can't help anyone just yet. I am trying to find out where we are on the visa list to try to hurry things up a bit.

Good luck with the house move, even if you find a new window guy we can change cladding to maintenance free upvc, garage doors to automatic, guttering, fascia and even fit garden rooms and conservatories.

[Diny]

Driver

You simply have to keep posting on this forum so folks know where to get hold of you. I'm pretty sure you'll have enough work for the next few years just from us ex-pats.

I will most certainly be calling upon you (depending on where you are of course) to help bring some kind of comfort into the home.

Diny

[jo b]

Talking of cold, damp and Asthma. It ahs recently been proven that mold caused by damp is a major cause of Asthma. NZ has one of the highest rates of it in comparison to it's population.

All this talk of toughening up and bravoda is/could possibly kill them.

Any house below 18 deg is classed as unhealthy.

As Adve said it is the 21st century we know theses things but Kiwis just ignore them, I for one will be having underfloor heating and double glazing. Not only does double glazing keep the cold out it keeps heat out too so it maitains a more balanced temperature in the home.

Jo

[chuchi]

Coming from a tropical country like the Philippines, we're finding it very cold most of the time, but there are a few nights when we are able to manage. We have never paid too much attention to central heating before as we never needed it anyway, but now we know what to look for when we look for a house of our own.

We are currently renting a house that is very cold. We have to wear trackpants, jumpers and beanies to bed. It's a good thing that hubby and I both work, and our offices are warm and toasty, so it's just the night time that we have to take care of.

How do you deal with mould? We never had that problem before in the Philippines and we don't know what to do. There are a few black spots on the bathroom ceiling and I don't know if that's mould already. After taking a shower we just leave the window open to air it out a bit. We also tried wiping it down but I do not know if that will do.

Can anyone tell us what to do?

[selchie]

Mold and mildew can be controlled best by keeping things dry. Not easy in an uninsulated, poorly heated house in a moist climate. But drying walls off with a towel should help, as should ventillation. If you get condensate on your windows, you might want to dry them, too. We had awful moisture problems in our rainy neck of the woods until we got double-glazing.

You can wipe down the black spots with a bleach solution. It may not completely remove the mark, but will help slow the advance. Mildew-resistant paint should be available, and works better than regular paint. This has helped the ceiling above our shower.

[acisman]

Hi Guys

Moved into the house we have bought It is a 1960's place with mainly wooden internal walls. It has been added to and so parts are only 10 years old.

The first surprise was that the humidity reading in the bedrooms was 82%, some 10% higher than the more modern house we were renting. The house also smells very damp and some of the curtains in the south facing bedrooms, are covered in mildew.

Yes we have plans to improve the insulation and ventilation as soon as we can get tradesmen to do the work ( and that can be a long wait by all accounts).

The health issue is the major concern I have and I am very surprised that it does not have a higher profile in NZ. I am also surprised that there are no government grants ( that I am aware of) to improve these areas of older houses. Even if there were I doubt us ex-pats would be able to claim until we were NZ citizens or perhaps have been here for 3 years.

Not found any double glazing firms yet, but got a good lead from a plumber ( got plenty of work for him) who came out free of charge to test our 2 woodburners. Both passed, but both are very old, although there certainly warm up all parts of the house except the bedrooms. Ceiling venting into these rooms now looks a good idea.

Will certainly have some work for you Driver, so get yourself over here as soon as you can.


Pam & Dave

[veronica]

check into that grants thing as I know for sure in the Chch region there are grants for home owners for insulation and for changing from a log burning fire to another form of heating, unfortunately as we have the house as a backpackers it is classed (rightly) as a business so we weren't eligible. but the grants are there and are available to all.

[driver]

I've just found this site,

I wonder if it would be expensive. Was watching a programme on TV last weekend where a couple built a house then buried it in the hill. They couldn't have a boiler but had a heat exchange thingy which did very much the same as this.

http://www.condensation.co.nz/

[acisman]

Great news :clap :clap :clap we have found double glazing right here in Morrinsville only 4 kms down the road. A local firm of window and door manufacturers do DG units. We have been quoted for a full wall of windows 3400 mm by 2010 mm, with range sliders $2090 + GST. Three other windows are quoted at a total of $1300 + GST. The windows will be plasctic coated aluminium (upvc ??) and we assume include fitting.

We will check that out on Monday, when we will also check exactly what a double glazed unit looks like.

Sorry Driver that we couldn't wait for you to arrive, but there are plenty of other windows to do !!

Pam & Dave

[driver]

acisman, no problem, hope it all goes well with the move and you get settled nice and quickly.
Would love to know the name of the firm or a link if you wouldn't mind.
Also your opinions of the fitters, company and quality of the units etc. We'll be looking for suppliers soon so this info would be a real help.
New windows will transform your new place, would love to see some photos.
Do you have a time scale for the fitting?

:nice1

[acisman]

Hi Driver and everyone interested in double glazing.

Visited Ryan Windows & Doors today (no website) although they have offices/showrooms in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Waihi, Mount Maunganui and Morrinsville.

The prices we were quoted were for supply of the units only, as Ryan Windows do not fit what they make. However they have put us in touch with a couple of local people who fit their windows in this area and having phoned one of them, he will hopefully be calling in a couple of days to quote a price for the fitting.

The double glazing units will be just like you get in UK and the finish is upvc. We were quoted 3 to 4 weeks for supplying the units and they come with a 10 year guarantee

We also enquired about a upvc front door with 2 small glass panes and were quoted around $700. Ryan Windows look a very professional outfit and everywhere you see a house being built around here, you see a Ryans Windows sign on the site. May mean they are the best, or perhaps they are the only firm in this field around here.

Will let you know how we get on.


Pam & Dave

[Simon & Emily]

Are de-humidifiers easy to get in NZ? Are they expensive?

As many have said, if it was 'just' the cold they I could accept it, but it's the health aspect that worries me. My childhood was spend in a house with heating that was rarely on, and subsequently out of 4 children 2 of us have asthma and any cold I get goes straight to my lungs ending up with broncheal problems. I feel (but no, I'm not bitter ..... :no ) that this was wholly due to a cold, unheated house with ice on the inside of the windows throughout winter. Added to this the absence of luxuries like a tumble dryer so all clothes for a family of 6 being air dried all the time. I would not like my children to have to suffer this as well.

Are de-hums easy/cheap to get hold of, or should it be considered on the list of things to bring with us?

Driver - I'm sure the ex-pats would keep you busy for years :nice1

Thanks,

Emily

[foolsgold99]

Are de-hums easy/cheap to get hold of, or should it be considered on the list of things to bring with us?

Easy to get, yep, every Warehouse / DIY shop has a huge section of them, you can get them everywhere. Everyone I've spoken to here, has at least 1 Dehum.

Cheap, all depends, like so many other things in life, you get what you pay for. You can buy one for $200, or you buy one for $2,000. Or anywhere in between. Price seems to be related, to capacity and strength. There are also a lot of them on trademe.co.nz

[Simon & Emily]

Thanks.

Emily

[acisman]

Yes there is a good selection of de-hums in NZ, but from our experience you get what you pay for.

We researched the market and decided to buy a Mitsubishi. There are several models available with the only real difference being the extraction rate. The higher the extraction rate the more they cost.

We went for a 26 litre extraction rate and find is is great in our 3 bedroom house. Mitsubishi have a readout display which shows the percentage of humidity. We therefore know at a glance what the humidty level is and how much is drops. It also has a mildew guard setting and a laundry setting which is great for airing and drying clothing.

As we said they are not the cheapest de-hums. The model we bought retails at $899, but can be picked up for $799. Well worth every cent.

Pam & Dave