Home improvement

A measured approach 

A few days later, Chris Johnson from Melbourne-based firm Ecomad comes to assess my apartment. I find Johnson to be very transparent from the outset. He emphasises that there might not be much he can recommend to improve my apartment’s performance, but he’s more than happy to walk me through the whole assessment process in detail. 

The first step of the energy assessment is measuring, and lots of it. Johnson uses a laser measure to take detailed measurements of floor area, ceiling heights and windows in the apartment.  

I learn a few things that surprise me. First, the total floorplan of the apartment is 68m² (the real estate agent listed it as 80m²). Johnson considers this an advantage, at least when it comes to the energy assessment scorecard.  

“Because the scorecard takes into account the energy required to heat or cool a home, the smaller the space, the better,” he says. “A home that’s twice the size with all the same specifications would get a much lower overall rating on the scorecard.” 

Framing the problem 

Johnson quickly identifies one of the apartment’s biggest thermal issues: single-glazed, aluminium-framed windows, and lots of them. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’d initially thought the windows were double-glazed when I moved in, although I’d started doubting that as winter crept in. 

As Johnson points out, the advantage of the aluminium frames is that they seal the space well – there are no draughts to speak of. However, their thermal performance is far from ideal.  

The uninsulated aluminium frames act as a thermal bridge and are therefore a major source of heat loss. We confirm this with a simple touch test: the frames are colder than the glass, something I’d never noticed before. 

Johnson raises the idea of double glazing, but notes that it’s not a cure-all.  

“Double glazing would be great for winter, as it lets heat in and then traps it in the apartment for much longer than single glazing would,” Johnson says. “The problem is in summer; if there’s no shading and the sun is beaming down on that glass, double-glazing will keep all that heat in and make the apartment even hotter.” 

We both agree that, given the orientation of my windows – all facing north, except for one small west-facing bathroom window – and the complete lack of shade from outside, summer heat is more of a problem than winter cold. The single-glazed windows can stay, but Johnson recommends lined curtains or thermal blinds to keep the heat in at night. 

He also recommends that I install outdoor shading, but notes that wind will be a major issue. To counter this, he suggests going for mesh blinds that drop straight down rather than a retractable awning, which would be much more exposed to wind. However, he acknowledges that getting body corporate approval for external shading might be difficult. 

Splitting headache

Then we come to the apartment’s sole 2.5kW split system, which struggles to heat and cool the 36m² open plan living room and kitchen. I don’t need Johnson to tell me that it’s time for a replacement – the no-name unit looks older than me, and much older than the apartment itself.  

It has a 1.5-star efficiency rating for both heating and cooling, and despite my best efforts, I’ve never been able to get it to heat the room up. This is embarrassing given that I spend most of my working week writing about HVAC&R. 

Johnson says split system air conditioners are the best option for heating and cooling in most homes; they’re more efficient than ducted gas heating and space heaters. Replacing the existing split system with a new more efficient unit is the best way to increase my home’s performance on the scorecard, he says.  

I mark it down as the number 1 item on my home improvement to-do list. There are VEU rebates for replacing old split systems with new efficient ones, but I’ll have to do my homework.  

“Many heating and cooling companies are able to offer rebates, but it’s not always easy finding someone who will specify the right system for the space”, Johnson says. 

Breaking the mould 

As soon as he walks into the main bathroom, Johnson points to the ceiling. 

“You’ll want to get rid of that black mould up there,” he says. 

This is another embarrassing moment; I had convinced myself that the mess on the ceiling was just a poor attempt to paint the bathroom cupboard black, although part of me suspected that it was mould. 

Johnson says the spot where the black mould is growing likely doesn’t have any insulation above it. He says I can kill the mould with a mix of vinegar and bi-carb soda, but it will probably come back if I don’t sort out the insulation problem. He also notes the importance of opening the bathroom window when using the shower to get some ventilation into the space. 

Patchy at best  

Johnson had forewarned me that there was nothing he could do to check the level of insulation in the walls. Thankfully, because my apartment is on the top floor, there’s an access point to the ceiling from each bathroom, which allows him to check the overhead insulation. 

As he peers into the attic space, I can hear him tutting.  

“They’ve used the wrong size batts, and about 20 per cent of the insulation is missing,” he says. “Some of the roof blanket is damaged as well.” 

Johnson comes down and I poke my head up into the attic – the access point is too small to even fit my shoulders through. I can see what he means – there are several patches of uninsulated ceiling. Sure enough, one of those patches is directly above the mould bloom. 

Johnson says that, according to regulations at the time of construction, the insulation should have had an R-value of 3.5. However, these batts are only R2.5. Johnson says that nowadays, residential buildings need ceiling insulation as high as R6.  

“This is a really common problem,” he says. “The builders are supposed to meet standards, but no-one really checks whether the right insulation has been installed, or whether it has been installed correctly.” 

This seems like an easy fix, so I ask Johnson whether I should get someone in to add insulation where it’s needed. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. 

“At the moment, nobody could safely get up there,” Johnson says. “The access point is too small and there’s no support beam, so even if someone could squeeze through the gap, they could end up falling through the ceiling.” 

He says that, before adding insulation, I’ll need to get a carpenter in to make the attic space safe. I mark it down on my ever-growing – and increasingly expensive – to-do list. 

Going with the flow 

One unexpected part of the energy assessment process is measuring the water flow rate in both showers. Johnson uses a simple but effective method to check this: a bucket and a timer. 

His findings are upsetting but not surprising. The rather weak shower in the ensuite has a flow restrictor and only uses 8L/min, which falls within acceptable standards. The good shower – the one I use every day – uses 16L/min, around twice as much as it should. That, Johnson says, is because the flow restrictor has been removed. 

He recommends investing in efficient showerheads that restrict water flow to 7.5L/min while maintaining good water pressure or re-installing the flow restrictor. 

Perhaps the more interesting issue here is the hot water system. There’s no boiler anywhere in the apartment, and the hot water normally comes on quickly, so Johnson assumes that there’s a gas-powered ring main hot water system across the whole building. However, this is something I’ll have to check with the building manager. 

While we’re talking about gas, Johnson says replacing my gas cooktop with an electric induction cooktop would improve efficiency, with new VEU rebates coming soon. Unfortunately, extracting the cooktop and inserting a new unit through the granite kitchen benchtop poses a challenge; cutting granite releases a dust with similar properties to asbestos. This means I’ll need to find a new induction cooktop that will fit the existing cutout, which could be tricky. 

The results  

A few days later, Johnson sends me the scorecard for the apartment: 6.8 stars out of 10. The apartment scores 4 out of 5 for winter performance, but only 2 for summer performance. Installing a new split system, fixing the insulation in the roof, and replacing the showerheads would be the best actions I could take to improve the rating.  

Part of me wonders how a home that seems to have so much wrong with it can score so well. Then I remember some of the leaky old sharehouses I’ve lived in over the years. This apartment might not be perfect, but it’s far more comfortable than your typical Victorian-era terrace house.   

The average rating for a home in Victoria on the energy efficiency scorecard is only 3 out of 10. That’s indicative of housing quality across the country. 

In many parts of Australia, homes simply aren’t suitable for local conditions. We’re accustomed to building big, but we typically haven’t invested in insulating, sealing, glazing, ventilating or shading our homes properly. 

We did this under the assumption that heating and cooling was cheap. That’s no longer the case. Energy bills have gone through the roof, and our high consumption of gas and electricity generates carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. 

Our housing standards and regulations have improved dramatically in recent years. But are they good enough? Do we have the means to properly enforce them? And how can we retrofit older buildings to bring them up to scratch? 

Improving housing stock across Australia will be an expensive and time-consuming task, but it’s one we can’t afford to ignore.