Mulberry Hill 2018

House Notes – Mulberry Hill

Our property sits on 8 acres on the northern ridge of the Strzeleckis. Wendy is a conservation ecologist and Steb works on global sustainability, so it was natural for us to move into and live in the existing home for a couple of years, while we formed a wonderful partnership with our architect, Sue Mitchell and our builder, Craig White to build the new house, completed in October 2012. We wanted the home to be energy efficient yet relatively low tech, so it has a number of passive features and a simple hot water system topped up by a wood burning stove, which serves as the main space heating source. The house has just recently been rated as 10 stars.

The house runs well with our own solar power (PV) and a small set of batteries, which deals with the regular small power cuts we experience. We sell our significant surplus of power back to the grid. Hot water is generated by flat panels and topped up by a wetback on our wood burning stove in the winter. We burn about 7 m3 of wood per year, which is mostly cut from trees which died in the 2009 fires and some from tree falls on the property.

We also wanted our land to provide an increasing amount of food. It is now nine years into the project and there is much still to be done. We have established two orchards one of which is just now beginning to produce (apples, pears, plums, cherries, quince, crab apples, figs and peaches) and the other, after a huge job to remove forty 90-year-old Radiata Pines, will produce olives, walnuts, hazelnuts and persimmons. We have planted an extensive lavender patch both for our bees and for oil.

Our vegetable garden is now being enlarged and we are facing up to the considerable amount of work involved in keeping it productive.

The house also achieved 10 stars with the Victorian Residential Efficiency Scorecard. If you would like to find out more click here.

Designed by Sue Mitchell Architects

Sustainability Features

Years Open
2018
ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENT FEATURES
    • Energy efficiency:
    • Draught proofing
      Efficient lighting
      Efficient appliances
    • Passive heating cooling:
    • Cross ventilation
      Passive solar designed home
      Shading
      Thermal mass
    • Active heating cooling:
    • Wood stove
    • Water heating:
    • Solar hot water (flat panel)
      Wood fire wetback
    • Water harvesting and saving features:
    • Above ground rainwater storage
      Stormwater management
      Low flow shower heads
    • Above ground rainwater storage Type:
    • 3 Concrete and 3 Plastic
    • Above ground rainwater storage Size
    • Concrete 44,000 litres, 20,000 litres, 10,000 litres, Plastic 24,000 litres, 5,000 litres, 2,000 litres
    • Energy Efficient Lighting
    • LED lights throughout
      Natural daylight
    • Window Protection:
    • Deciduous tree/vegetation
      Solar pergola
SUSTAINABLE & RECYCLED MATERIALS
    • Sustainable materials:
    • Concrete slab made with 35% flyash.
    • Recycled and reused materials:
    • Concrete
      Kitchen cabinets
      Timber
INSULATION SPECIFICATIONS
    • Insulation Type:
    • Under roof
      Ceiling
      External Walls
      Floor
    • Ceiling Type:
    • Bulk - glass wool
    • Ceiling Rating:
    • R6
    • Floor Type:
    • Wafflepod
    • Floor Rating:
    • NA
    • Under Roof Insulation Type:
    • R6 Batts
    • Under Roof Insulation Rating:
    • R6
    • External Walls Rating:
    • R2.5+
    • External Walls Type:
    • 300mm rammed earth north facing, 400mm rammed earth with polyurethane foam insert south facing, various stud walls with R2.5 glass wool
RENEWABLE ENERGY SPECIFICATIONS
    • All-Electric Home?
    • No
    • Renewable energy used:
    • Energy storage/battery
      Solar PV grid connect
      Solar PV off-grid

    • Size of PV system:
    • 3.6kW
    • Renewable energy
    • Solar hot water panels
COSTS AND COST SAVINGS
    • Total cost of home when constructed:
    • $400-500K
    • Cost estimate of sustainable home/features:
    • NA
    • Estimate of annual savings:
    • $5000
HOUSE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
    • House Size
    • 130m2
    • BAL Rating
    • BAL – 12.5: Ember attack with heat up to 12.5kW/m2
    • Roof
    • Metal (Colorbond)
    • Wall Materials
    • Lightweight construction (timber frame)
      Rammed earth
      Timber
    • Window and Door Types
    • Bi Fold
      Clerestory windows
      Double glazing
      Sliding windows/doors
    • Number of bedrooms
    • 1
    • Number of bathrooms
    • 1
GARDEN AND WASTE REDUCTION
    • Garden / Outdoors
    • Bee keeping
      Chickens
      Composting
      Native plants
HEALTHY HOME FEATURES
    • Healthy home features
    • Cross flow ventilation
      Low VOC paints/sealer/varnish
      Natural light and ventilation
Location
Yarragon South VIC 3823
    • Housing Type:
    • Standalone House
    • Project Type:
    • New Build
    • Open with support of
    • Baw Baw Sustainability Network
    • Builder
    • Craig White, Trafalgar
    • Designer
    • Sue Mitchell Architects

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