Greenhills House 2019

House Notes – Greenhills House

We are passionate about reducing the amount of resources to build a home and sustain a family of 7. This is a journey we are still on. Ours is not a designer home with perfect styling – its a functional home that works for our family and the mess we make. But since there’s no other houses in Lismore doing this Sustainable House Day we thought we’d stick our necks out and open up our home. The whole main part of the house is ‘re-used’ in that it was an Olympic ‘Cabin’ from the Sydney 2000 Olympics. We modified the inside layout to suit a family rather than a bunch of athletes. It was a fun challenge. The main structural component is SIP panels (Structural Insulated Panels) with metal lining and polystyrene core. It was a fun puzzle to put together and the end result is the kids can put magnets all over the place.
We shaved almost $200 a month off our electricity bill with a 5kW grid connect system (now we pay about $70 a month). Our 5000L tank feeds our toilets and there’s an underground, gravity fed drip system for our lawn. This won a recent water challenge prize by Rous County Council. We have a simple multrum style composting loo. Skylights are a real must for new homes or retrofit so come and see how ours work in the main living space and smaller bathrooms. We are surprised at how well the simple solar orientation of the whole house allows great light in during winter and no direct sun light during the summer. We have some clerestory windows facing north down the hallway which let in light and let out warm air. We don’t have any ceiling fans or aircon and we are still alive! We went for a massive 3 panel, 3m long Solar Hot Water system with electric booster turned off for half the year – and we just installed a simple timer switch for $100 so it only comes on just when we want it when the PV system is pumping power. We have a wood fire heater for winter which includes oven and cooktop and only uses timber from our trees on our block (but most of our cooking is done with gas). Then there’s the usual suspects – LED lights, low water use taps, DC exhaust fans to bathrooms.
We’ve recently installed a sweet aquaponics system with gold fish, koi and some baby silver perch. This pumps to grow beds along the verandah railing where herbs, flowers and vegies absorb nutrients from the fish water. Its only a couple of months old so its just breaking in but come and check it out.
Come and talk to us about the good, the bad and the ugly of a sustainable journey in the real world. We’ll tell you the pros and cons of each of our features. And get around to see the other houses in the area – its a great day out!