August 6, 2020
Passive Housing is a voluntary standard of building homes (or structures) that are energy efficient and optimised for their local climate. Passive Houses are so energy efficient that they use the equivalent power for heating/cooling that you would to run your fridge! That’s between 75-90% less energy than a conventional house.
April 17, 2020
Inspiration for the year ahead. In this article we’re going over 5 building trends that may or may not give you the inspiration you’ve been looking for. From exterior to the interior, we’ve got you covered with the hottest trends right now.
April 17, 2020
We believe in doing something once and doing it right. The same should apply to you when planning your forever home. Forking out a little extra cash for excellent quality materials will ensure your forever home not only holds up for your lifetime, but hopefully your children and their children’s lifetimes too.
March 20, 2020
For optimum insulation results, your home should be insulated from its roof to its concrete foundation. An uninsulated home and its possible drafts can compromise your family’s health over a long period of time.
Many studies have shown that an insulated home is a healthy home. Homes that are fully insulated retain much more heat than non-insulated homes. A well insulated home will keep you toasty in winter, cool in summer, and your wallet will thank you immensely for the power bill savings. An insulated home is particularly important for the young, the elderly, and the immune compromised. Thanks to new laws, all ceilings and underfloors in New Zealand homes have been legally obligated to be insulated by 01 July 2019.
January 29, 2020
For maximum thermal efficiencies, energy savings and positive health benefits, insulating your home goes far beyond your ceiling and walls. Heat also escapes through the windows and up to 15% through the floor. 15% doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider how everything in your home is connected, you actually lose far more than that 15% worth of heat and lost comfort.
January 29, 2020
There are various ways of installing ground insulation in a home and commercial property but nothing comes close to MAXRaft® foundations. You see, not all foundations are created equal. Most ground insulation foundations only protect the edges of the concrete slab. Heat is then allowed to escape through the sides. All that does is heat the ground around the property which is a giant waste of money. That lost heat could instead be warming the property and inhabitants inside. MAXRaft® 's fully insulated foundations has you entirely covered which provides superior performance to optimise energy efficiency.
November 20, 2019
The type of floor in any given room can help to define the entire character of the space, but flooring choices are about much more than simple aesthetics. The purpose of a space, the desired durability and lifetime of the floor, health concerns, humidity, and energy costs all need to be taken into account. Unfortunately, the options available to homeowners are often limited by the construction of their homes.
Homes that sit on un-insulated concrete slabs are vulnerable to heat loss roughly equivalent to leaving a window open in winter. If unaddressed, this can quickly translate to very high energy costs. By building the home on an insulated MAXRaft® slab instead, homeowners can choose from a wider range of options based on their personal needs, while also making their homes more energy efficient, and healthier to live in.
November 20, 2019
A lot of respiratory issues are caused by the cold and damp environments that we live in. According to recent statistics, 1 in 7 children in New Zealand have asthma and 1 in 6 people suffer from respiratory diseases.
There has been much study on the triggers for asthma sufferers and it has been proven that a properly insulated, warm, dry home greatly improves the symptoms. A warm floor is also very important for people with poor circulation, and people who are inactive for long periods of time, as well as children and babies who live closer to the floor, and the elderly who have trouble staying as warm as younger adults.
October 21, 2019
A lot of respiratory and other health issues are caused by the cold and damp environments that we live in. 1 in 7 children have asthma and 1 in 6 people (over 700,000 Kiwis) have a respiratory disease, which costs the country over $6b every year.
October 17, 2019
The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 18°C for living areas and 16°C for bedrooms. Yet 30% of New Zealand homes being built today don’t meet these standards, causing many health issues due to cold and damp living environments.
