Bottled Gas – Cooking
Many people building a new house like cooking on gas, but may find that their area doesn’t have a mains supply. The question then becomes “Should you go for bottled gas, or go all electric?” Energy Cost To compare energy…
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Tropical Temple? or House?
I would certainly describe this property as eye catching! Although it does look like a Temple to me, its actually a three bedroom house. Rather than the tropics it’s in a small street in the Melbourne Suburb of Cairnlea. For…
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Concrete – Importance of Vibration
Have you ever seen concrete that looks like this on a vertical face? Its called ‘Honey combed’ Sometimes its in large areas like this, sometimes in smaller patches. This concrete is obviously weaker and more porous than dense concrete. The…
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What Does The Energy Rating Mean?
The ratings are calculated by a NatHERS (Nationwide Housing Energy Rating Scheme) computer simulation of an individual house design to estimate the thermal comfort. The calculations are based on 69 different ‘Climate Zones” and allows comparison of different properties in the…
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Tumbledown Barn
At first glance this really does look like a Tumbledown Barn. In reality it is actually a modern house by Alchemy Architecture an American practice that are very involved in designs that utilise recycled materals. Follows the following link to…
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The Joys of Moving Houses (No Sarcasm Intended)
Guest post by Hubert Dwight If someone were to say that there are joys in moving houses, many people would consider the person speaking to be a bit bonkers. It is a natural reaction because we humans tend to focus on the…
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Solar Panel Alignment (Revised 2015)
The suns position in the sky varies throughout the year and over each day. The ideal situation is when the sun is hitting the panels closest to a perfectly perpendicular angle (90°). So in Australia, what angle and orientation are…
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Regulations Failing Public
Over the last couple of months there have been a couple of separate News Items, which are really connected. Excavation Collapse Puts House On Edge! The photo shows a house hanging over the edge of an excavation in a Melbourne suburb….
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Mexican Whale
I’m not sure whether this looks like a Whale to me . . . . but that is what the architect says this house is! Here is a view of the inside which looks quite cosy. I wonder if the owner…
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Large or ‘Character’
Lots of people say they like character . . . . but build houses with these huge open plan living rooms. Modern Living Room by Perth Design & Construction Firms Cambuild Some of the display houses I see do look light…
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