Our climate is generally comfortable all the year round, obviously there are some exceptions where it gets cold in the winters and other places that regularly top 40C in the summer, but in general, we’ve not had to worry too much about insulating our homes.
When we compare how our homes are built in Australia to northern hemisphere homes, we are sometimes shocked at how advanced they are and how far we are failing behind.
Insulation is one of the most efficient ways to save energy since it keeps our homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
In an average house, around 30 – 40% of heat loss is through the walls, makes sense as wall are the largest surface of a house. Heat loss through the roof comes next with approximately 25%, around 20% is lost through the windows and doors with the remaining 20% lost through the floor.
With rising energy costs, concern about climate change and a focus on more sustainable energy efficient homes, we are starting to see more emphasis on super insulating homes in the walls and ceilings, double and triple glazing and even floor insulation. Often the walls of older homes can’t be retrofitted with insulation without major investment, but we can require our new homes to be as efficient as possible. Older homes tend not to have insulation in the walls and it can be very expensive to remove external cladding, insulate the walls and reinstate cladding, you’d generally only do this is a full renovation of a property.
It’s easy to pick the low hanging fruit, insulate the ceiling and roof area, minimise gaps in doors and windows eliminating drafts. The next easiest thing to do is to replace your windows with double or triple glazing. It may not be cost effective to triple glaze a home if the walls aren’t insulated, but double glazing will definitely make your home more comfortable and quieter.
Single glazed windows are generally only a few millimetres thick, heat can travel through glass easily making it harder to keep an ideal temperature inside. Double glazed windows have two panes of glass separated by an inert gas like Nitrogen or Argon, they are generally about 24mm thick, ensuring heat transfer is drastically reduced, another benefit will be reduced noise from outside.
There are generally three different frame materials, uPVC, Timber and Aluminium.
uPVC is generally the most widely used frames as they are the lowest cost option, they require very little maintenance but can suffer from expansion under intense sunlight.
Timber frames have that traditional look and are recommended for older style and heritage homes, they are very expensive and require a lot of annual maintenance to ensure they last a long time.
Aluminium frames are the strongest option, and together with a thermal break, are very efficient and require almost zero maintenance.
ML Windows only use high quality aluminium frames with a thermal break, low E glass and stainless steel flyscreen as standard.
Learn more about ML Windows at https://www.mlwindows.com.au