The house is a single storey Victorian terrace in a heritage conservation area which had two attic bedrooms added in the 1970’s. The house is under the Sydney Airport flight path so any new construction needed to meet acoustic requirements
The house needed renovation because:
• the existing roofs were 40 years old and rusting
• there was only one bathroom which opened directly onto the dining room
• the upstairs bedrooms overheated in summer and the rest of the house was cold in winter with one old unflued gas heater.
• the middle of the house was dark needing lights on during the day.
The house is orientated east-west and due to neighbouring larger two storey terrace houses, it received little winter sun. The renovation aimed to retain as much of existing structure as possible adding only 10 m2 of new floor area yet significantly improved the comfort and amenity of the home.
The new extension of the top floor was designed to maximise winter sun coming whilst controlling the summer sun with a large north facing window. A smaller western facing window fitted with an adjustable external awning was added for the district view and cross ventilation.
Other sustainable features include:
• New timber windows with high solar gain low E laminate glazing with acoustic interlayer. We would have preferred double glazing for thermal control but the laminate achieve the required acoustic control.
• Internal blinds fitted with side seals
• R4 Rockwool batts to all roofs and R2.5 to new walls
• Vapour permeable membranes to all roofs and new walls
• Weathertex wall cladding to new extension
• Low VOC Paints internally, long lasting mineral paint to brickwork externally and Ecocolor paint to Weathertex.
• Wool/bamboo carpet upstairs
• Increased natural light and cross ventilation
• Efficient DC ceiling fans to bedrooms, living room and kitchen
• Indoor plants added.
Efficiency measures:
• 3 kw PV solar system
• timer added to existing electric storage
