Category: Selection

Water Hammer Cures

If you are getting water hammer in your new house it can be really annoying.

As the problem is caused by fast flowing water being stopped suddenly here are some options to cure it.

Slow the overall speed of flow down

Pressure, which affects the speed of water flow, does vary depending on your location. By turning down valves you will counteract the high pressure and slow the flow down.

These are both no cost options which are worth trying first.

    • To the whole house

If you have got very high pressure at your property you may be able to turn down the external stop tap to the house, while still getting plenty of flow to your taps.

    • To the washing machine and dishwasher

These appliances have separate supply valves which can be turned down. The machines will take a little longer to fill adding a couple of minutes to the wash time………..but how many of us are in that much of a rush!

Don’t stop the flow as fast

Lever action taps are the worst kind of taps for causing water hammer because they can be shut off quickly.

Softer slowing of flow, rather than a sudden stop will reduce water hammer.

These are three options to achieve a softer flow cut off in, listed in order of increasing cost.

    • Slowly turn off  taps.

The no cost option……….but doesn’t always work if you have got children, or just have fast ‘lever action’ taps or mixers.

    • Fit anti- hammer tap valves

These replace the Standard valve inserts with a unit that includes a spring. The spring allows any pressure surge to escape past it and means the tap need more of a turn, and thus longer time, to fully close.

Typically they cost around $6 each plus fitting.

Not  suitable for the more complex mixer units.

    • Fit a surge arrester

This device is fitted to the pipe before the valve. The cylinder  has a piston that separates the water from compressed air in the top.

When the valve shuts some of the water (and the pressure surge) is diverted into the arrester pushing the piston up and compressing the air. It acts a bit like car ‘shockers’ to slow the water flow.

There are several sizes of arrester depending on your system with prices starting at around $70 plus fitting.

Fit a Pressure Reducing Valves

See this link for more information: PRV

 

See Settling In for more information about when you move into your new house.

See Rattling and Thumping Pipes for more noise problems.

 

Negative Investment

Negative Investment can be quite a problem…..but what is it.

Well it’s when the house is worth less than you paid for it. This can be a real issue if you need to sell the house.

There are three ways you can find yourself in a Negative Investment Situation:

Falling House Prices

For a long time a lot of people though that house prices always go up.

Over the past five years prices have been more up and down. Now they seem to be on the way up at the moment but there is no guarantee that will continue.

Unfortunately there is nothing any of us can really do about this problem in the short term. If you can wait long enough you should get your money back. In 1991 we built a house in Country Victoria for $130,000.  Ten years later we couldn’t sell it for the original cost.  After renting it out for another 5 years we were able to sell it for $200,000. 

At least with this type of negative investment it will also typically affect the price of any house you buy when you sell your existing house. That’s  good if you do keep in the housing market……….but not good if you have to sell and enter the rental market.

Extensive Upgrades

I have already mentioned that the builder provides the Typical Display Home with upgrades that increase the cost of the base house by 50%.

If you go for a similar level of upgrades you may not get your money back. This is because:

    • When you put the house on the market you will be competing with houses in the same suburb that didn’t cost as much. Those owners are happy to sell for less than you. This means you may only get minimal interest from buyers.
    • Taste is very individual. For instance prospective buyers may not be too keen on the ‘Special’ tiles you paid  thousands extra for.

If you keep the house for a long time,say 20 years, this effect of the upgrades diminishes as your original costs wil be long forgotten and buyers will be expecting to remodel.

Over Development

Over Development is the extreme version of upgrades. Its when you put the biggest possible house on your block….. Often loaded with upgrades.

With this you may now have a house that costs two or more times that of the average house in the suburb.

When you come to sell the problems are:

  • For the price you want most people will prefer a smaller house in a more expensive suburb.
  • Generally people want outdoor space in proportion to the size of the house. A narrow gloomy strip at the sides and back won’t cut it.

The trouble with Over Development is it can have a permanent effect on the value of the property.

Rainwater – Pump Issues

 

This photo shows a fairly typical pump installation.

An electric pump with pressure sensor control. It’s even got a fairly large diameter flexible suction hose between the tank and the pump.

So…..What are the issues?

Well water is an incompressible substance so every time some water leaves the system the pressure drops enough to trigger the sensor and the pump starts…………..That happens whether you are having a shower, putting a splash of water on your hands, or even a couple of drops dripping from a slightly leaky toilet valve.

This leads to Three Issues.

Efficiency

Electric pumps are designed to pump efficiently at their designed rate. If you are using water at a slower rate than the design rate the pump wastes energy trying to pump at its designed flow.

A lot more power is used to start the pump then when the pump is running for some time.

A Recent Study for the CSIRO showed that a typical domestic rainwater system used more energy than traditional centralised water treatment and distribution systems.

Pump Life

The main thing that wears pumps out is continually starting rather than running.

Noise

Because the pump runs frequently you are more likely to notice the noise. If you have got a leaking tap or toilet valve it will be starting up several times through the night.

Solutions

If you have got a large block with a slope of several metres it may be possible to install a header tank. This solution however is not normally possible for most of us.

The best solution for the average house is to upgrade by installing a Pressure Tank. Follow the link to find out more.

 

For more posts about tank water see the Rainwater Section under the Sustainability Tab

Sound Insulation Batts

Imagine the standard internal stud wall in your new house.

  • A sheet of fairly thin material (plasterboard).
  • An air space retained by timber walls.
  • Another thin sheet of material.

Sounds a bit like a Drum doesn’t it?……………It’s no wonder sound transmits easily from room to room.

If you are having a 2 storey house that drum effect will be the same between the floors with the added problem of someone walking on the top of the “drum”.

To make things quieter one solution is to fill the air space with something that can absorb the noise.

You can use standard wall  insulation batts, but for the best performance it is better to go for an Accoustic Batt.

The Accoustic Batts are  more expensive (typically 60-70% more) but being much denser absorb a lot more sound.

If you decide to go for sound insulation batts a key issue in the effectiveness will be the quality of the installation. Every gap must be fully filled with insulation, any missing areas and noise will get through.

An added advantage of putting sound insulation in internal walls  is that it increases the effect of Buffer Zones in keeping heating and cooling costs down.

A disadvantage is that if you were used to shouting to get the attention of someone in another room that won’t work with good sound insulation.

In high end houses it’s not unusual to wrap the toilet waste pipes in accoustic insulation so people downstairs can’t hear an upstairs toilet flush!
 

Also see Reducing External Noise

 

Lighting

Post inspired by comments from ‘Johnson’ on the Homeone forum website.

Light is one of the most important thing in a house.

During the day its nice to get as much natural light into the house as possible while avoiding glare.

When the sun goes down its a different matter. An overall light level for the whole room is pretty boring.

There’s two keys to successful lighting:

Layering

This involves various lights in the room that illuminate areas for their specific use for example.

    • A lamp on a side table.
    • A standard lamp that provides light over your shoulder when you are reading.
    • Spotlights to illuminate a picture.
    • Wall or floor uplights to brighten the room without any harsh glare (if you can ever see a bare bulb or filament with the naked eye, you’ve done something wrong).

Having multiple light sources allows you to change the mood as you see fit.

Shadows

Shadowing is a forgotten element of a good lighting plan. While the multiple downlight brigade likes to light every single corner of the room, they forget that the human eye is drawn to bright areas — and you can only get those with contrasting shadowed areas.

There’s nothing wrong with a dim backwall that can only be illuminated by a single lamp, or a comfy chair secreted in a shadowed alcove. Shadows can provide drama, texture, or even comfort.

It’s possible to create wonderful spaces with the simplest lighting setups. Very few situations call for bright, overhead downlights – but that doesn’t stop people from using rows of the things across their lounge room ceiling, like some sort of inverted airport runway!

So forget the downlights. There’s plenty of shops with beautiful lights. Get creative! You might even save some money.

Photograph comes from www.iseecubed.com

See Why I Won’t have Downlights Again

 

More about selecting finishes including 24 pages of Check Lists in the‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

Reducing External Noise

 

It’s not always possible to build in a quiet area so there are a number of techniques for reducing noise that you can use in your new home.

Here is a quick review of the options:

  • Minimising  windows facing the noise. OK  as long as the noise source isn’t on the North side otherwise you loose the effect of sunlight in the house.
  • Screen walls. These reflect sound. If you are going for this approach at the front of the house put some thought into the design of the wall. A plain wall just looks ugly.
  • Buffer zones. I’ve previously talked about Buffer Zones in relation to heating and cooling but they can work well in keeping some rooms quieter.
  • Soft landscaping. Absorbs sound, rather than paving which reflects sound. If possible a landscaped bund (low embankment) can be effective.
  • Roofing material.  Tiles will absorb more noise than a colorbond roof.
  • Acoustic Plasterboard. It’s possible, on special order, to get a range of Plaster boards including ones with a denser core that help to reduce sound transmission. A second layer of plasterboard at a different thickness to the original can help.
  • Ceiling  and wall insulation. Ordinary heat insulation batts will absorb noise but for the best performance it is better to use ƒspecialist acoustic insulation.
  • Glazing. Thicker glass will help but double glazing with a larger air will give better performance. The use of  laminated glass can also improve performance.
  • Curtains Heavy curtains can be effective, when they are closed.
  • Solid Doors. Better performance than the standard lightweight doors.
  • Windows and door seals. Need to be  properly fitted, and maintained.
  • ƒRefrigerated Air Conditioning.  Unlike evaporative cooling this doesn’t rely on open windows.
  • Sound absorbing materials Although acoustic tiles, carpets, underlays don’t stop noise getting in they will absorb it better than hard surfaces like tiles or wood floors.

To get effective performance  will require a range of the above options rather than a single ‘Magic Bullet’.

When you are considering these options its also worth bearing in mind that most of these improvements will also improve the thermal performance of your new house.

 

For more posts about plans see the Design Category.

To save money on Heating and Cooling see Insulation

 

Choosing Bricks

If you want brick you really need to go and visit one of the brick manufacturers display centres where they have display walls built with the various bricks.

Make sure you look at the bricks in the builders standard range first. If you are happy with a brick from this range you will save thousands of dollars compared with the ‘premium’ brick.

Looking at a couple of square metres of wall gives you a much better idea than looking at a couple of bricks in the builders office.

Seeing a larger panel may also stop you going for one of the short term trends such as brightly coloured bricks.

When you are at the brick manufacturers check what colour mortar they use in the test wall as this will probably be the best colour for your house.

 

More about selecting finishes including 28 pages of Check Lists in the‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

Fire Risk

Understandably there is a lot of talk about Bush Fires at this time of the year…….. but did you know that in a typical year there are around 13,000 domestic fires in Australia.

There are also around 80 deaths a year which fire brigades describe as preventable!

Causes

The top causes according to the NSW Fire Brigade are:

  • Cooking Equipment – Why not invest in a fire extinguisher and fire blanket for your new house?
  • Appliances – There appears to be a rise in tumble dryers fires so make sure you keep that lint filter clean.
  • Heating Systems – If you are going for  a fire or wood heater a bigger hearth is safer. For things like fan heaters make sure you keep them free from dust. 
  • Faulty wiring – Hopefully this shouldnt be too big a risk for your new house with modern Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers (ELCB’s).
  • Air conditioning/ Refrigeration – Don’t forget to clean any filters and occasionally vacuum the back of the fridge and freezer. 

 

Also see Your Garage – A Fire Risk?

 

Plasterboard

A lot of people say Gyprock, but this is really a manufacturers name, so the correct name is Plasterboard.

So plasterboard is plasterboard right?……………………Actually wrong there are quite a wide range of plasterboard options available.

Perhaps you should consider alternative products if you are having a custom house built.

Even if you are using a project builder it might even be worth seeing if you could upgrade the plasterboard for certain rooms like the Home Theatre.

Here are some of the plasterboard options available, at extra cost:

  • Reduced Noise Transmittance Uses denser materials to increase acoustic resistance.
  • Improved Noise Absorption Mainly for use on ceilings to avoid that echo effect you can get with rooms with lots of hard surfaces.
  • Increased Impact Resistance Could be just the thing for children’s rooms and staircases.
  • Better Water Resistance Just the thing for bathrooms and laundries.
  • Higher Fire Resistance A good option to help protect your house from a garage fire.
  • Flexible Boards Good if you prefer gentle curves rather than square corners.

Want to find out more………… both ‘Gyprock’ and ‘Boral’ have comprehensive websites with lots of information.

 

For similar posts see Selection

 

Sink or Cook Top on Island


I see a lot of island kitchens in display homes and when visiting friends……..one thing that puzzles me is that they all have the sink in the island unit.

In my opinion it’s better to have  the cooktop on the island (like the above photo) and the sink under a window, or wall, for the following reasons:

  • If you are having friends round for a meal, or even just talking to the family, you will be facing them while you cook.
  • Because of the extra pipe distance to get to the island bench it generally takes a long time for the hot water to get to the mixer.
  • Washing pans, or peeling veggies, are tasks where you don’t need to concentrate so its nice to look out of the window.

One problems is  you will  have less choice when it comes to range hoods, and perhaps need a more powerful model for the same effect.

If you really want a sink on the island, have the main one elsewhere but have a smaller sink at one end of the island. You will probably only need cold water to this sink but make sure you have a high outlet, so its easy to fill pans with water.

 

For similar posts see Selection

 

Thanks to Galloway Granite for the photo.
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