Most of our double brick home has been around since the 1930’s. Retro-fitting an older home to be more sustainable can be a challenge, yet many of the solutions have been around for generations!
Having lived in the same house for thirty years, the changes we have made both physically and in day to day habits, have been influenced by our family’s needs, cash flow, knowledge and a growing commitment to live a lifestyle with a lower footprint. Consequently, our home has been a “work in progress” - ever evolving.
Some challenges remain unresolved, such as the orientation of the house, large north facing eaves, the original Murray pine (uninsulated) flooring and single glazed, double hung windows, but the following features help us to manage our home in the temperature extremes of North-East Victoria.
Energy - A grid connected photovoltaic array on our north facing roof; Green Power; energy efficient refrigerator, washing machine, television and lighting; gas heating in two zoned living areas and a slow combustion wood heater; reversible ceiling fans in most rooms; passive solar concepts such as deciduous vines, cross flow ventilation, sky lights and the daily rituals of opening / closing windows and blinds. Warm clothing helps us reduce our winter heating use. Our outdoor spaces offer shaded retreats when the summer heat reverses the situation. In fact some of our rooms are very seasonal. Water heating is by gas. The roof and ceiling are insulated and a heat exactor is on the roof. Clothes drying includes a solar and wind powered rotary clothesline and an internal clothes rack on a pulley system. Draughts are being eliminated with door weather seals, insulating foam and a chimney damper. Sky lights have doubled glazed defusing units and the rear ceiling to floor window/door unit is double glazed
Water - A grey water collection system reuses the water from the washing machine and shower in the rear garden; storm water harvesting and storage is connected to a toilet for flushing and garden use; clothes washing utilises a water efficient front loading washing machine. Water reduction values are in our showers along with waterproof timers
Garden - the house is surrounded by what garden designer and historian Roy Strong describes as a Northern Renaissance garden with elements of formality, Mediterranean and indigenous Australian plants, interspersed with vegetables and fruit trees. Free range Isa brown chooks keep the snails at bay but make mulching problematic. We are very conscious of “food miles” - the embodied energy in sourcing our food from afar, so growing some of our own organic food helps. As with buying energy efficient appliances, our food purchases need to be considered decisions. Although the Isa Browns take care of most of our kitchen waste, we compost what we can. The chook manure is returned to the garden as well.
A pizza oven is a well used garden feature. (In creating with a harmonious workplace in our garden, chicken topped pizzas haven’t featured on the menu)
(July 2011) (
