To Renovate or Not to Renovate

Planning To Renovate or Not?

Investors who know upfront what their property will look like, and what it will achieve after renovation, are the ones that get the results.

While renovating is an exciting process and worth considering, it is not a strategy on its own and investors need to spend a majority of their time in the planning phase to get it right.

This is especially true for those tackling a renovation for the first time.

To decide on the best strategy, you should first consider your reasons for undertaking a renovation. What sort of project is it? Are you a home renovator looking to improve your home and align it more with your preferences and lifestyle, or is the renovation for an investment property?

In the second case you should consider things from a ‘need’ point of view: anything you do needs to improve cash flow, ‘rentability’ or the value of the property.

You should ask questions like: Will it increase the rent? Will it increase the value? Am I better off without a renovation?

It needs to be strictly a business decision.

Planning and Preparing

Most of the work involved in a renovation actually takes place during the initial phases – the research and the planning before any physical labour gets underway.

How a property needs to look at the end of the project will help define the approach taken. Does your property just need a tiny facelift – such as replacing light fittings, painting walls or installing new door handles – or are you looking for a complete overhaul, including re-doing bathrooms and the kitchen?

These are important aspects to consider as they will affect many aspects of the renovation, including the time and funding required.

Remember, you will need to book in tradespeople so think carefully about the order in which you are scheduling the different stages to ensure the tradespeople come at the right time.

Many of the renovation shows on TV at the moment make it look like a fun and easy process, although this can be very deceptive. Before undertaking any type of renovation, you absolutely have to make these careful preparations.

There will, of course, always be things that pop up unexpectedly, but the more you prepare the more likely it is that you will be able to stick to your timetable and your budget.

The Benefits of Passive Building Design and Orientation

Passive building design is often broken up into seven elements. Orientation of a building to north for solar access is the starting point. The other six elements of passive design — spatial zoning, thermal mass, ventilation, insulation, shading and glazing. Learn about the benefits of a passive designed home and some ideas on getting started

What are the Benefits of Passive Building Design?

The Right Starting Point

Passive building design is often broken up into seven elements. Orientation of a building to north for solar access is the starting point. The other six elements of passive design — spatial zoning, thermal mass, ventilation, insulation, shading and glazing — can then be used to create homes that require minimal active heating or cooling.

Different areas in Australia require different approaches to passive building design and orientation. For example, tropical climates require the sun to be “held at bay” pretty much all year, since the sun is both more powerful and tracks much further south in summer. In the tropics, orientation to north is important only in elevated, cooler localities like Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands.

Orientation

Orientation is of greatest importance in temperate and cool climate zones — that is, in the more southerly parts of Australia.

Orientation in its simplest form means locating living areas like the lounge room on the north side of the house, with windows having clear access to sunlight even in mid-winter.

This means a minimum of about five hours of useful solar heating a day. Even with this, the glass will still be exposed to about 19 hours of varying degrees of heat loss. So it’s important that other elements of passive design support the orientation, or the effect will be lost.

Thermal Mass

Thermal mass is a measure of a material’s ability to absorb and release heat. Good passive design uses mass to absorb excess heat from within a house during summer days and dump it to cool night skies. In winter, solar radiation is allowed to warm the mass during the day, re-radiating it to the occupants. It is critical that thermal mass be well insulated from external temperatures and that it be exposed to winter sun in cooler climate zones.

Bricks and concrete are the most commonly available high mass materials, but rammed earth and mud bricks can also be used.

Insulation

Insulation is like a barrier, preventing heat passing in and out of the house. By reducing heat flow you can maintain a comfortable temperature inside, regardless of the temperature outside. The type and level of insulation needed varies on where you live and the building materials used for the house. If you live in a naturally ventilated home in the tropics, the aim of insulation is to reduce the amount of heat getting in without restricting the hot air escaping. Reflective insulation under the roof and in walls that are not permanently shaded would work well.

In an alpine region, however, you would want to stop heat flowing out in winter and prevent heat coming in during summer. Such homes benefit from reflective insulation under the roof, floors and in walls, and bulk insulation in the ceiling.

Shading

Shading devices are needed to keep unwanted direct sunlight from overheating a home. Shading can block up to 90 per cent of the heat hitting your windows during summer. There are two main types to consider: fixed shading devices and seasonal ones. Fixed devices such as eaves and pergolas have been the traditional mainstay for shading. These can be designed (particularly on the northern side of a house) to allow the winter sun to enter but exclude the hot summer sun.

Seasonal shading such as sails and awnings can be put up and pulled down when needed, so you have more control over how much sun you invite into your living space.

Plants and landscaping play a very important part in reducing unwanted glare and heat gain. For best results, plant deciduous vines or trees to the north, and deciduous or evergreen trees to the east and west. Evergreen plants are recommended for tropical and some hot, dry climates.

It is important to know where and when the sun hits your house and garden to plan for shading. We buy houses in Grand Prairie

Ventilation

Ventilation can improve comfort levels and the air quality in your home. Most Australian homes rely on a combination of exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms and windows and doors (and in older homes fixed wall vents) that open to provide ventilation.

Ventilation is important in passive solar design to help cool a house by allowing air to move and escape. The aim is to design for effective cross-flow of air through the building. The design must align windows with internal doors in a way that does not block breezes, and to not locate rooms where they block breeze paths.

Spatial Zoning

Passive solar design uses zoning to help regulate temperature in a home. Doors close rooms and spaces and stop warm air escaping from living areas into empty corridors.

Glazing

It’s important not to overlook glazing in windows and doors when thinking about heat flow. A great deal of heat can pass through single-pane glass, which can compromise an otherwise well-insulated house. Windows can be insulated in a number of ways such as with shading or curtains and blinds. To improve the insulating properties of the window itself consider installing double or triple glazing.