Small wonder many Australians are worried about what summer will bring, as a likely El Niño threatens hot and dry fire weather.
If you live anywhere in Australia, you need to plan for heat.
Fire gets attention - but extreme heat can do more damage.
Is your house well insulated? If you have an air conditioner, is it running well and has it been serviced? Could you reduce how much heat comes through your windows by using shade cloth, awnings or window coverings? A bushfire landscaped garden or heat reflective paint can also help reduce fire risk or cool the house.
Businesses must understand their responsibilities to their employees during extreme heat and have plans to manage these.
My bedroom is completely uninhabitable in hot days like yesterday, I can't WFH on my computer. The exterior dark double-brick walls facing NE and NW absorb heat in the day and radiate back into the room, making it uninhabitable until around 9PM or so.
Aircon: Getting a 2.5kW (small) system installed now. I am putting some energy metering on it so I have an idea of how much it's costing me (separate to everyone else in the house).
N.B. NEVER use those portable air-conditioners with hoses unless they have TWO hoses going to outside air. Most of them (single-hose) will push house air outside, which means you are sucking hot air into your house through all of the small gaps around the place. Very costly to run and can't make more than a few degrees C difference from outside. Have a look at the packaging, 0 energy stars (sic) is not unusual.
Windows: Doing my own double-glazing. I've bought a roll of stick-on tint film. I'm ordering some large sheets of perspex to apply it to. I'll then (removably) screw these sheets onto the outside of my windows. There will be an airgap between the glass and perspex due to the windowframe construction.
White curtains help, but it's better to block the light & heat (infrared) from even entering. Reflect or absorb the heat on the outer layer of the windows, not on the curtains inside. You don't want to make a greenhouse.
Insulation: I have partial (ceiling & floor) but nothing in the important two dark double-brick walls :|
I've looked at cavity fill products, but they ruin the moisture barrier property of double-brick, so I would have to regularly paint the outside of the house with a clear sealant. Up ladders. Every few years. If I fail then I get mould & rot.
I'm contemplating interior insulation (ie foam blocks that you stick to your walls) but I have lots of shelving in the way and I'm worried about flammability. Any ideas?
Covering the outside of my walls?: All the options are expensive. Trellis and passionfruit sounds nice, but that much trellis would probably cost me $1000 or so. Shade-sails might also work, anchoring them under the gutter & to the fence could be an idea.
With a small splittie and self-done solar guard, you will deal with 80% of your issues. Ensure you use curtains as well, close them in the morning and I will be surprised if you need anything extra. 2.5kw is less than 30 cents an hour to run, really for 100 days a year at 10 hours is less than $300
I just decided to do not give a fuck about how my house look at summer and just put a shade cloth vertically on along all east wall with about 10 cm gap to walls. Work wonders. It is way cooler inside.
