You know winter is just around the corner when you start piling on extra layers. While you’re doing that you might find yourself asking, “Why am I living in such a cold house?”. There are a number of factors that could influence this however, the most likely cause is poor insulation. We’ve been insulating homes for many years and we’re sorry to say older New Zealand homes are generally poorly insulated. For most of our customers, we find there’s poor insulation in the roof, and...

Is your home always damp or wet in the mornings? You’re not alone, in fact, many older New Zealand homes suffer from this exact issue. Homes that were built 20-30 years ago didn’t have the same insulation standards that exist in today’s building code. Additionally, homes weren’t required to be properly ventilated and the construction approach meant that gaps could show up in the structure of the building which allowed airflow in and out of the house. All this adds up to a cold and...

Are you considering insulating your walls? In New Zealand, many of our homes are over 25 years old and were built at a time where insulation standards were fairly relaxed. For most of us, this means that there will probably be a little bit of insulation in the roof but little to nothing in the walls. Uninsulated walls create a problem for many houses as it leaves a break in your thermal barrier through which heat can escape. Uninsulated walls can account for as much as 1/3 of...

Healthy Homes Standards versus a Healthy Home. I have noticed confusion by some home owners. A lot of home owners have rental properties and have learned about the minimum insulation requirements for rental property. These minimum standards do not need to reflect on your own home. Nor does it need to reflect on rental properties. The Healthy Homes Standards Policy is a minimum standard for rental houses. However, keeping costs down for Landlords seems to be important. Let me...