2012 - home improvements continue

Since we moved here in 2005 we've been slowly making improvements to the house. Its a small western red cedar cabin, perfect for two with the occasional guest, but it did need some work.

Using permaculture principles we've been slowly but surely (and depending on finances) making the necessary changes to make our home more comfortable and functional.

So far we've replaced interior grade doors that were being used externally with solid timber doors, added solar panels to the roof plus a solar hot water system (which has made a huge difference to our electricity bills), and double our water storage capacity.

And in the photo above you can also see that we've closed in a carport to make it a functional workshop.

To kick off 2012, we've been working on the window and air flow problems. The photo ABOVE shows what we've had - polycarbonate hopper windows, sans flyscreens.

These really haven't worked - the polycarbonate has deteriorated and looks dirty, they can only be open a small amount (great design for cold climes, but not here) and without flyscreens they just can't be used. Not only are mozzies and midgees a problem, but so are snakes and spiders.

A basic passive solar design principle is cross-ventilation - having windows on opposing sides of a room or house so air can move through freely creating a breeze. We haven't had this for years and with the weather warming up here (35 degrees today), its a very hot little house.

The northern side of our house is fine - lovely louvres and functional flyscreens - the southern side though, not so good, no air flow happening, so I'm glad to see the back of those damn hopper windows.

First step was to remove them, here ABOVE you can see where it was and the old ones on the right.

And BELOW - a whole new outlook on life!

We installed these ourselves saving money and now we're making the flyscreens from scratch to go round them too.

The local glass company we used have been exceptional too - delivered ahead of time and a great price.

There are still plenty of jobs to do around the house to make it better and more comfortable, but these new windows will make a huge difference.

Cheers,
Sonya