My place

Hi,

I am Damon from Tasmania Australia, by day I am an Architectural Draftsman and by weekend a Builder..

I thought I'd share my 1st house I have almost finished!! there was some interest in my RC motor ebike build and thought I'd start a new thread here..

I have been designing and building this house over the past 2 years, working 4 days a week in the office and 1-3 days a week building , and working all holidays!!!

It has been hard putting many hats on such as; designer, client, concreter, block layer, framer, roofer, cladder, tiler, welder and the list goes on!!!

I do have to thank all my friends and family who have helped, I would never of finished nor been on budget without their help!!

I can hear you say why is this in alternative energy forum? well I have used sustainable building materials where possible, such as Tasmanian Oak hardwood frame grown in a regen forest 50kms from where I sit, Hardwood shiplap cladding from a regen forest and mill in devenport, Timber HYNE IJOISTS & LVL's for Floor joists, Bearers and Rafters, also sourced bamboo 16mm T&G pre finished flooring and bamboo decking from Adelaide, which was cultivated from a sustainable forest,

energy saving technology, 30 evacuated tubes on the roof with a URECO stainless 300litre tank and a 4k/w heatpump for backup (we are on natural gas too but in Tasmania all our electricity is HYDRO)

I decided to super insulate with R1.5 roof blanket, plus R4.0 batts in the roof, R3.5 batts to all floors and EVERY wall R2.5 (even internal walls for acoustic more than energy saving) and all double glazed windows in alum frames (had to compromise on timber and UCPVC due to cost)

with bers pro plus energy software achieved 8.6 stars which means we will need minimal heating/cooling all year round!!

I decided that a lightweight construction approach using no thermal mass was the best way of building for me, and to get the high thermal performance adopting active solar strategies!!

some pics...

Nice design! Especially the way you adapted it to the slope. Congrats on coming to a close with an ambitious building project. The amount of effort and dedication needed to do things yourself is rare nowdays.
I like the first pics best, the garage door the least, but I guess a 2 car garage door ups the resale value...

Your R values seem underestimated by a factor 10 or so. Did you convert them from SI/metric u-values as used in Europe?

Cool design. It looks like someone is telling you " Hey, you going to take pictures all day or are we going to put these cabinets up"

thanks for the comments...

Jag/ In Australia R values are expressed in different units to Europe and US, different types of insulation go through CSIRO testing in Australia to get the value stated, every product gets given a R rating as tested, I have a American client at the moment, and it has been interesting looking at comparible insulation products in the US, however the R & U- Values are differnt units so difficult to make a direct comparison!!

in the BCA (building code of Australia) each area is zoned and a min. R requirement is set for walls, ceiling and floors, but overall you have to achieve a 5 star rating, for me I was in zone 7, and I opted for thicker insulation such as R4.0 insulation instead of say foilboard of R1.7!!




torker - yes I also had my cabinet making hat on!! that is my "smile for the camera" pose!!!