The Benefits of a High Performing Home.

Pulling the curtains early every night.

Using doorstops to stop drafts during winter.

Setting the heatpump timer before bed every night.

Loading up on stacks and stacks of firewood.

Wiping down the condensation on the windows every morning.

Having lived in a variety of housing here in New Zealand, these are experiences that became normalised for me growing up from my childhood. It started in Dunedin where I lived for many years before moving here to Wanaka, with very vivid memories of sitting in front of an oil heater, piling the blankets on my bed at night and waking in my student flat to damp, frozen sheets as a building apprentice. Dunedin housing is a mixed bag with many old homes dating back to the late 1800s, meaning that many homes have limited insulation or performance features.

Once I moved to Wanaka, I was prepared for a different type of housing. The majority of buildings here in Wanaka are new, with a burst in population growth over the last 5 years, also leading to burst in building developments. But what I found was the same experiences were happening.

How was it that I was living in much newer homes than I was in Dunedin, yet still finding condensation on my windows every morning and drafts round my feet every evening?

It was then that I started to explore a different way of building, a way of building that made sense to me, made sense to the clients I was building for and made sense for the future of building. With a focus on building practices that reduce the heat loss from the home and increase the level of comfort the home owner experienced means wiping condensation is no longer a regular practice.

Unfortunately, with homes here in New Zealand built to the current building standards, these problems will just continue to happen. This is due to low R-values for insulation, uncontrolled ventilation systems and low quality windows and glass.

With a passive or high-performance home, there is emphasis placed on the airtightness of the home, thermal bridging, level of insulation (in the slab, walls and ceilings), the way the house is positioned for sunlight and shading, the air that is being circulated and the quality of the window joinery used. All of these factors combine together to create a home that is dry, warm, comfortable and provides a healthy environment to live in.

Having lived in Wanaka for five years now, there is a particular time of year when these homes absolutely shine. That time of year is now, in Autumn and again in Spring, when the mornings and evenings are cooler but the days provide clear skies with sunshine. The design of a passive or high-performing home means that the airtightness and insulation reduces the amount of heat loss allowing the home to stay at a comfortable temperature all night long.

Meaning the home owner is no longer reaching for that heat pump remote every single night or that condensation towel every single morning and is saving themselves 90% reduction in their heating costs every single year.