Insulation for houses: batts, boards and foils, and the gaps that ruin them
Insulation is only as good as its installation. A small percentage of gaps can cut a wall’s performance far more than builders expect. The main insulation types, how they work, and the site details that decide whether the energy rating is real.
7 min read
Topic
Energy efficiency
Articles and news about Energy efficiency for Australian builders.
Insulation for houses: batts, boards and foils, and the gaps that ruin them
Insulation is only as good as its installation. A small percentage of gaps can cut a wall’s performance far more than builders expect. The main insulation types, how they work, and the site details that decide whether the energy rating is real.
7 min read
Passive solar design: orientation, eaves, glazing and thermal mass that actually work
The cheapest energy upgrade is the one designed in. Orientation, shading, glazing and mass can make a house comfortable with far less heating and cooling, and make energy ratings easier to meet. Here is how it works, climate by climate.
7 min read
Airtightness and blower door testing: the quality check more houses are getting
A well-insulated house that leaks air loses much of the benefit. Blower door tests measure how leaky a house is and find where. Here is how testing works and the details that make the difference.
8 min read
Home battery program passes 500,000 installs: what it means for builders
The federal home battery discount has passed half a million installations in just over a year, with the strongest uptake outside the major cities. Clients will increasingly expect new homes to be battery-ready.
6 min read
Windows and glazing: U-value, SHGC, frames and the installation details that stop leaks
Windows are the biggest lever in a home’s energy rating and one of the most common sources of leaks. What the performance numbers mean, how frames and glass compare, and how to install windows so they stay dry.
8 min read
Heat pump hot water: a builder’s guide to sizing, siting, noise and getting it signed off
Heat pumps are now the default hot water choice on many new homes. How they work, how to size them, where to put them so the neighbours don’t complain, and the details trades get wrong.
9 min read
Winter condensation in new homes: why it happens, how to diagnose it, and how to build it out
Every winter, builders get the same call: “there’s water on the windows and mould in the wardrobe.” Here is how to work out whether it is the house or how it is being lived in, and the details that stop it happening.
10 min read
7-star homes in NSW: how BASIX thermal and energy targets actually work
NSW does 7-star homes its own way. What BASIX asks of a new house, what changed in October 2023, and the site-level substitutions that quietly break a certificate.
9 min read
Solar PV ready: designing new homes for panels and inverters
A solar ready home is not a roof with nothing on it. It is a set of decisions made before the frame goes up — orientation, roof space, cable route, inverter location and the switchboard capacity to take the connection.
11 min read
Specifying glazing for thermal comfort: a builder’s procurement and verification checklist
Glazing performance is decided long before the frames are fixed. This is a procurement and verification process: set the performance target, specify it in a way suppliers can price, and check what actually turns up on site.
11 min read
Thermal bridging in steel framing: fixes that actually work
A steel frame does not just hold the building up — it moves heat through the envelope wherever it crosses the insulation line. The remedies are detailing decisions, not product choices.
13 min read
Air sealing a residential envelope: where builders lose points
Air sealing fails for reasons that have nothing to do with the sealant. It fails because the sequence was wrong, the junctions were never detailed, and the defects were closed up before anyone could check them.
14 min read