“It just feels like you’re camping outside, that’s what it is,” she said. She said the small lounge heater provided by HNZ – the home’s only heat source – did nothing to warm it, and was too expensive to run. The family open the windows every morning to help air the house out – but that also means the cold winter air comes streaming in. A thermometer shows the temperature in the bedroom is nine degrees – it’s slightly warmer in the lounge at 10 degrees. Sarah said the freezing conditions took their toll on her kids.”
In case you don’t read the whole article it is 9 degrees C in their house in Auckland. This is said to be a home “which meets current building standards for insulation and ventilation”.
I heard yesterday from a couple living in a rented brand new home in Waikato double glazed and meeting code as it was just completed last year. They are freezing this winter and it was smoking hot last summer.
Unless you are willing and able to pay for lots of energy for heating and cooling a code home, the worst house you are legally permitted to build, will be too cold and too hot for much of the year.
Content by RNZ.