This home is of brick veneer construction with timber floors supported by concrete stumps.

The sub-floor, whilst open to the elements at the verandah edge, the sub-floor is enclosed by brickwork footings.

The roof is a standard attic style with a broken hip verandah constructed with roof trusses and metal cladding.

The house as ducted reverse cycle air conditioning, and a ‘clean air’ slow combustion heater is installed in the fireplace.

This home was very cold in winter with especially high winter heating bill.

An ecoComfort report examined the:-

- Draught proofing,
- Ceiling insulation,
- Wall insulation,
- Flooring,
- Windows and doors,
- Lighting and
- Solar access of this home.

Draught Proofing was already at a high standard.

The lighting and ceiling were identified as the main areas to improve the thermal performance of this home.

1. Lighting. 41 low voltage halogen down-lights were installed in this home. This was causing leakage of the warmest air into the attic and precluding effective insulation of the ceiling due to the requirement for uninsulated space around each light fitting and transformer.

2. Ceiling insulation. The ceiling was poorly fitted with R2.5 fibreglass insulation batts. 5% of the ceiling had no insulation to allow for low voltage down light heat dissipation. Insulation was not fitted below the air-conditioning exchanger unit.
Approximately 27% of the ceiling insulation was missing, making the existing insulation almost totally ineffective.

The following solutions were implemented:

1. Lighting. The 41 low voltage halogen down-lights in the home precluded effective insulation of the ceiling and this had a major impact on the home’s energy rating.
Isoliteâ„¢ Down-light Guards covers were fitted to the majority of halogen down lights and a small number of the halogen down-lights were replaced with CFL lights.

2. Ceiling insulation. The single most effective insulation you can have in your home. Effective and substantial ceiling insulation will make the greatest single improvement to the comfort of a home.

Half of the existing fibreglass insulation was taken up and used over the top of the rest of the existing fibreglass insulation. This effectively insulated about one third of the home.
Polyester 3.5 batts were then used to insulate the remainder of the ceiling including under the air-conditioning heat exchanger and a central walk way area.


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