I’ve been a pretty vocal critic of aspects of the National government’s home insulation programme, but I’m willing to give credit where it is due. The Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) have announced a new scheme that lets people spread their share of home insulation costs over 9 years as part of their rates. If the home owner sells up, the next owner picks up the extra rates bill. This is a good idea.
Under the government’s current deal, someone can get up to a third of the cost of home insulation paid for through a subsidy but they have to stump up the other two thirds (those on lower incomes can get up to 60% subsidy). If the GWRC scheme helps people to cover their part of the cost then that’s good.
I think there are huge benefits in having kiwi homes properly insulated. My critiscism of the Nats scheme isn’t because I think the goal is a bad one. I’m concerned they’ve cut too many corners and are jeopardising quality and fairness. There is more capacity in the market to insulate more homes, but because of the way the government have set up the existing scheme people are missing out unnecessarily, are getting a sub-standard job, or they’re missing out on the full value of the subsidy. If they fix those problems up, then the scheme would be well worth backing.
Labour’s scheme was better.
Chris, on a related thread about insulation you asked me for proof that insulation could add to moisture “leaky building” problems.
I will post some here, and if you are genuinely interested I can get you in touch with an expert in this field. Thanks
Before insulation was compulsory in 1978 our walls were drafty and had holes drilled up fro the base to allow air circulation. These were stopped as we stuffed them full of insulation to keep ourselves warm and saving energy costs. We are now paying that cost back ten fold as the wood has rotted – and will rot faster as we warm them further and increase the fungal activity.
“A major factor in whether our homes are Healthy homes is the constituents within the air we breath and the surfaces we must touch. For example when we have a shower we notice the steam (which is moisture in the air) raises the relative humidity such that the air becomes damp and the walls become covered in condensation. By opening the door that steam (Vapour) immediately releases into the air of the next room and the condensation slowly evaporates into the air as the air becomes drier (as vapour has rushed out into the adjoining room) so the evaporating moisture can become suspended in the air again – how it got their in the first place. The reason for the clouds of vapour and condensation is to do with two things – temperatures (this is the energy within the air to suspend moisture) and the presence of water in this case referred to as relative humidity. When the relative humidity exceeds the energy of the air (lowering temperature) we get condensation and damp air. What has that got to do with healthy homes – everything. Fungi, bacteria, moulds, pathogens like stachybotrus, dust mites, asthma causing contaminate and irritants and lice, insects etc thrive on damp conditions. These critters survive as humans do – give us warmer conditions and they become stronger, more prolific and reproduce faster – called gestation cycles. Warming damp homes will speed up these critters and if the building is a leaky building will cause an accelerated growth of hyphae the cellulose dissolving wood attackers.
Whilst some pundits will be correct we need warmer homes – mainly because we put infants in the coldest room where they do not have the body heat generation to keep themselves warm whilst adults two at a time in the warmer rooms can. Records say that NZ homes average less than 14 deg C where the WHO recommends not less than 20 deg C and for elderly 22 Deg – 24 Deg C.
This issue actually gets worse within the wall cavity – where our wood framing is that supports the roof and keeps our house strong. Inside the house where we live we expect to enjoy 18 Deg C upwards or we need jerseys. Outside the temperature may fall below zero many times of the year in our colder climates. That allows a temperature profile to occur naturally inside the wall. Warm inside and cold outside. Just like a shower the inside face of the wall will be high in energy and able to suspend the moisture but next to the cold cladding the temperature is cooler (zero) so the condensation forms against it – on the building wrap. Fungi and pathogens require water – supplied at each condensation cycle as the home cools from the outside. Before insulation was compulsory in 1978 our walls were drafty and had holes drilled up fro the base to allow air circulation. These were stopped as we stuffed them full of insulation to keep ourselves warm and saving energy costs. We are now paying that cost back ten fold as the wood has rotted – and will rot faster as we warm them further and increase the fungal activity. By lifting a home temperature by 2 degrees doubles fungal growth – why Auckland and Tauranga leaky homes rot faster than Dunedin ones and why North walls rot faster than South walls.
When did we know about this – 1978.
What did the industry do – lower timber treatment instead of increasing it. Damn”
WE do have that proof in the form of wall science. We arranged to WHRS Adjudication No.1 (yes the very first one) for us to research his house before he fixed it. We showed the condensation event happening in the walls. We can dig this out – it will be a bit technical but nevertheless proof.
Tracey – I’m on the road at the moment but will reply to this in full when I get back to the office.
Thanks Chris, understood.
Tracey – apologies for the delay in replying. A couple of points to note in response to what you’ve noted above:
The govt home insulation programme is focused on ceilings and floors, you’re right that wall cavity insulation is problematic where it removes the ventalation designed to prevent dampness etc. In older state houses clad with things like brick, there was a gap between the building paper on the outside of the frames and the bricks, allowing air to circulate. Were this to be stuffed with batts, then yes, there will be issues.
That was one of the problems with many early 1990s – 2000s houses, there was no air circulation cavity. Homes with this cavity can still be significantly warmed up by insulating the ceiling and floor without causing the problems you have referred to.
With regard to bathrooms and other causes of condensation (eg. gas heaters) there does need to be consumer education as to how to avoid dampness (eg. open bathroom window after showering, avoid LPG heaters if there is no air flow etc).
I grew up in a brick ex-state house in the Hutt that was prone to dampness in winter, but there were ways to manage it. The log burner provided much drier heat than the gas. We installed extractor fans in the bathrooms (ours vented into the roof, the best ones vent right out of the house).
I admit I’m not a technical expert on this stuff, but I do have some working knowledge of the issues you’ve touched on. Happy for you to provide more info if you have it. You can email me at chris.hipkins@parliament.govt.nz
Thanks Chris, I will keep in touch on this.
We did the EnergyWise insulation thing 14 months ago. It has taken until several weeks ago to get it installed correctly.
Very dissapointed that I could’nt of done it myself and still get the subsidy… at least it would of been installed correctly in the first instance. It appears that there are heaps of home that have taken up this offer, but have actually got sub standard installation, mainly because of bad advise from Energy Wise!