We are opening our house for Sustainable House day from 10am – 4pm this Sunday, 13 September.
Sponsored by the Australian Government, Sustainable House Day gives people an opportunity to talk to homeowners about what works and what they would do differently in their sustainable house. Three houses in Hilton/Hamilton Hill are opening up. Maggie’s house has some great raised garden beds in water tanks, and Amy and Adam have a huge rainwater tank and a huge vege garden almost cut into a steep hill.
Visitors do not pay to visit, but the government provides some sponsorship that we are all donating to the Hilton Community Harvest Garden.
We built our house in 2000 using the designers, Solar Dwellings.
The temperature inside the house generally ranges between a very comfortable 19 and 22 degrees Celcius. (66 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit).
External temperatures range between 0 and 45 degrees Celcius ( 32 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Internal temperatures range between 16 and 28 degrees Celcius ( 61 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit).
Features include:
- North facing orientation
- Rafter extensions on the North side with “fins” that provide shade in summer and let in the sun in winter
- Solar pergola with “fins” that provide shade in summer and let in the sun in winter
- “Thinking Cap” roof ventilation that opens up when it is hot, closes when it is cold
- Pelmets and block out curtains on North Windows
- Tiled floors for thermal mass
- “Anticon” insulation under the roof
- Cavity insulation East and West walls
- Windows positioned to catch the prevailing winds
- Windows in each room positioned to allow cross-ventilation
- Marmoleum floor coverings
- Solar hot water system
- Light sensor in the kids’ toilet to automatically switch it off and on
- A teeny-tiny garden with around 10 different fruit trees, many types of edible flowers, vege garden, compost, worm farm in a bath-tub and my favourite feature – the chicken tractor in the mandala garden.
There’s even a tele ad 🙂