Horley – Sustainable Hill Station Mount Macedon 2015

House Notes – Horley – Sustainable Hill Station Mount Macedon

Our home, Horley, is in an amazing location with views to Melbourne, the down side is the extreme climate. Our vision is to make it sustainable, thru gradual modification. Located 870m above sea level on the southern slopes of Mount Macedon, maintaining a comfortable indoor environment in a sustainable manner is our preoccupation.

Built in the 1980’s as a grand Hill Station, Horley is not an ideal candidate for the transformation to sustainable house. For starters, it is very large. It hales from the era before double glazing and wall insulation were common. In its time, it was a bespoke engineering marvel, exhibiting the latest design features; steel frame, suspended concrete floors, sky light and an underground machine room. Also on the list of features was the electric slab heating, which consumed enough energy to power a small town.

Our “heating season” is up to 11 months long. Conductive electric heating was clearly not a sustainable option.

To beat the cold we have installed a Masonry Heater which has exceeded the performance of the slab heating, burning wood. Heating the main room and taking the chill of the rest of the house. At the same time becoming a central focus for the whole family.

To complement the heating we are also draft proofing (ongoing), doubled the roof insulation, filled internal walls with foam balls, sealed internal areas to create “warm zones”. The slab heating has been decommissioned, but may see action again when powered by excess generation from the 10k rooftop solar.

Masonry Heater, Monitored 10k solar and water treatment plant will be on display on the day.

If you have never seen, felt and experienced a Masonry Heater this is a great opportunity.