[Rick Brighton]

May be a silly question, but in general what are houses made of in NZ? Are they all made of that 'wood effect' or are there any 'bricks and mortar' built homes? Do any homes have central heating, double glazing etc...

I've looked at various real estate/property web sites, and most of the houses look to be built of the same material without any visible signs of central heating. If so are they warm, dry etc... or cold and damp!

Any advice welcome!

Thanks Rick

[jo b]

Matchsticks!!!!!!

[jo b]

Rick,

on a more serious note they generally are timber framed with note much heating. Kiwi's don't believe in central heating although there are a few ads on tv for it. But Kiwi's are generally slow on the up take with anything new their laid back attitude is she'll be right put another sweater on whilst the kids are suffering with astma etc. They use wood burners, usually to heat the whole house too!!

However in saying that you can get some very good insulated homes too you have to look for them.

Do a search under housing on the forum as there have been many threads on this subject.

Jo

[veronica]

Most are timber framed and tin roofed. There are brick houses about but they tend to be brick clad. The given reasons for this is its an earthquake zone, and the brick cladding is designed to fall away from the building in the event of a sizable tremor, the tin roof seems to be a mix of materials available and tradition as well as the thinking that it weighs a lot less in the event of the roof coming down in a quake than tiles.

The biggest problem isn't the building materials as houses in the US and Canada are often timber and manage to be warm. its the lack of insulation. As Jo says so far there isn't much on central heating although I have heard a few good reports on underfloor heating and double glazing in newer houses, although a lot of houses here are fitted with a heat pump, (basically a big wall mounted fan heater in the living room) I personally don't like them as as soon as they are turned off the house goes cold. We have a gas central heating engineer coming in later today to look into putting CH in the backpackers hostel for us, we are going to get it costed twice, once for full supply and fit and also for just fit and look at the cost of bring radiators in from the UK, and perhaps a boiler too.

[zardell]

If you don't mind Veronica, could you keep us up to date on your estimates?

Purchasing a central heating system in the UK and bringing it with us has gone through our minds, but we were concerned about the fittings etc and if they would comply with NZ regulations etc.

Be interesting to hear your response.

Julie

xx

[lisa]

Hi

well our rental was made of POLYSTYRENE !!!!!! during the first few nights I have never worn so many clothes to bed (well to a sleeping bag really!!) it was a bit like a mobile home they still managed to sell it though.
the one we have bought is brick clad with iron roof and I have to say thank god there aren't roof tiles as a good nor wester would certainly have the lot off, we have a coal range which does the hot water and runs 3 radiators and does a good job of heating the main part of the house, bedrooms can be a bit chilly - mind we haven't done a winter here yet so chilly may be an understatement - there is also a woodburner in the lounge, we still have all the gas filled rads we bought in the Warehouse from last winter but hoping not to have to use them too much.

[David with a dream]

Hi Rick, when you get to NZ you will see for your self. Some of the houses have a real wow factor while a lot look like the big bad wolf could blow them away. Having said that check out www.a1homes.co.nz and www.initialhomes.co.nz as the gallerys are not bad and you can see what you get for your $.............................Let us know what you think....David :nice1

[sizzlingbadger]

Ours is on a concrete base with cedar and brick cladding on the exterior. We've also got a decromastic roof, quieter than a tin roof.

Luckily we've got quite a bit of insulation in the roof and along the front where they extended out.

Since being here last July it's not been too cold although yesterday it was warmer out than inside :confused: We tend to just use a pellet burner which is in the centre of the house to heat the whole house up.

[foolsgold99]

we need to get some pink bats

[katandbob]

we need to get some pink bats
huh????? :o

[StevieD]

Kat, Pink bats are a native species of NZ - ask Moorf (I think?? Apologies if not Moorf !! :o ) :laugh

[foolsgold99]

www.pinkbatts.co.nz (http://www.pinkbatts.co.nz/)

[Rick Brighton]

Cheers Folks!! We will definately be looking around a few properties on our 5 week tour of NZ - 16 days to go!!!! It is blowing a howling gale outside at the moment, even with double glazing, good insulation and a proper roof - its still cold!!

Thanks for your comments though!

Rick & Emma

[Diny]

Oh NZ houses - what a joke !!! They're simply not up to the job. Flimsy yes - but like Veronica says, there's a reason for that.

One thing that will startle you is that on a cold winters day (and YES - NZ does have cold winter days) - the temp will be warmer outside than inside. Strange but true.

However, all is not lost. Just make sure you get a house which is insulated to the hilt. We live in a 1910 character home with very high ceilings. We have pink batts, wall insulation and under floor insulation, a wood burner the size of a mini cooper, ducted warm air transfer and a storage heater in the hall. Our house is toasty warm. I've even had occasions (last winter) when some Kiwi friends would come and visit and would instantly start taking off layers of 'woolies' complaining that they could never live in a house as hot as mine !!!!

You'll be OK once you've actually learned how to get your house warm. Once you've learned how to 'drive' your wood burner and pick up all the little tricks of the trade, such as closing all the curtains (in the winter) before the sun goes down. Would never have thought of that but it makes a big difference. Also thermal lined curtains are the way to go.

When all is said and done though, houses over here simply lack the guts - it's pretty much like living in a mobile home, something which makes me feel that houses over here aren't really that reasonably priced. Where else in the world would you pay upwards of $270k for a garden shed?

Diny

[StevieD]

But at least you get pink bats in the loft :laugh

[dbonnett]

Where else in the world would you pay upwards of $270k for a garden shed?
Diny

Sorry Diny, but I couldn't resist (this had stuck in my mind from a while back)
Tiny shed sells for $269,100 in Dublin (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9398215) (and those be USD...)

[Singel]

Sorry Diny, but I couldn't resist (this had stuck in my mind from a while back)
Tiny shed sells for $269,100 in Dublin (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9398215) (and those be USD...)
how about this : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/4635645.stm :D

[Simon & Emily]

Given that $270K is about £100,000, you can't buy anything around here for that, not even mobile homes. And we have today had hosepipe bans go into force, whilst the river is flooded, camp sites are water logged and it's raining cats and dogs outside .........

Emily

[willsken]

Given that $270K is about £100,000, you can't buy anything around here for that, not even mobile homes. And we have today had hosepipe bans go into force, whilst the river is flooded, camp sites are water logged and it's raining cats and dogs outside .........

Emily


It's a farce isn't it? They should just fix the leaky pipes that have needed repairing for years. Of course they don’t want to be wasting their shareholders money doing that, so we have to be the ones that are put out again! :mad:

[Hannah]

Wooden

Cold

Damp

Condensation

One gas heater to heat whole house

Warmer outside than inside

Think that about sums up my rental house

[andersonclan]

It's only recently that legislation was brought in that made insulation in houses complusory. Our first rental here had window frames thicker than the walls! I remember our first night in it - no heating - on airbeds, in sleeping bags wearing PJ's, thermals, socks, fleeces, hats and covered will all our towels. Every time we had string winds the house felt as though it would blow off it's foundations! And yes they sold it!

New homes are built from a mixture of materials including - brick, wood, rendering (on timber frame) and masonary. Some also have steel frames and some are built with corrugated iron.

We have friends who are architects and they advise that a properly insulated and double glazed home will only need a minimum of heating. Roll on the new house! By the way if you have a well insulated dry house - it's a whole lot ehalthier than central heating

M

[Rose]

At the risk of sounding unpatriotic (I am a kiwi), I have to agree with the comments on damp, cool houses in New Zealand. Having lived in Sweden and Switzerland, I really appreciate being able to peel off coats and scarves when I enter a house - not something you can expect when visiting people in NZ unfortunately.

Perhaps it's because kiwis came from hardy UK stock? I've just spent a weekend in Scotland, where at 8degC, people were walking around in t-shirts or short-sleeved shirts (and even jandals). Or perhaps it's because many houses were built a long time ago and the wood has shrunk. And then we compound the problem by ripping up carpets that were designed to insulate the houses...

Brrrr.

PS please post links to anything about properly insulated, dry houses to inspire us!

[katandbob]

Brrrr.

PS please post links to anything about properly insulated, dry houses to inspire us!

Rose Sorry but I recon you'll be waiting a long time!

:D lets just say that the top of santas letter is Central Heating and second is Double Glazing :laugh and this place is warmer than the rental

[osiris7]

tin roofs must put up an awful clatter when it's raining.

[Sam B]

So I'm right to be feeling teary about saying goodbye to my thick stone-walled cornish cottage then? No hope of finding a stone house out there?

[veronica]

nothing to stop you building one here. you do see brick and stone but wood is the prefered medium.

and yep in a storm you can hear the rai, but the hail is even more impressive.

[marcia]

These wooden houses are really noisy at night too - not just the rain on the tin roof, but when its been a hot day and the timber expands, it makes a real racket at night when its shrinking again!!

And you can't have a row without the neighbours knowing about it, even with all the windows and doors closed - you can almost hear every word - lord help us if the houses weren't detached!! :D

[veronica]

Hmm, neither of those things seem to be applicable in our case. might be due to the fact that ours is a very solid 2 storey, older wooden house and that it is surrounded by established shrubs and trees. but can honestly say we only hear our neighbours if they in their garden at the same time as us and I have never noticed any creaks etc.

[Moorf]

Have to say our house in N.Brighton was totally wooden with wooden framed windows and floors and it was a raised on wooden stilts with a tin roof (with cathedral ceilings so no loft space, just straight up to the roof) and we didn't notice noisy creaking (if it had of creaked it would have freaked me out because for me every strange noise at night is an axe murderer trying to get in through the window....:o )

[mossum]

[QUOTE=Moo (if it had of creaked it would have freaked me out because for me every strange noise at night is an axe murderer trying to get in through the window....:o )[/QUOTE]


LOL 0- i feel so much better knowing i'm not the only neurotic one ! :p

vic

[marcia]

Thanks for that :roll - a few sleepless nights for me now - I be poking kev all the time waking him up to check out the creaks - and I'll tell him its all your fault!!!! :laugh