About the house

The house was a tired 2 storey 4 bedroom home with an inground salt water pool, built in the 1980’s in East Brighton. Many of the original features were in the home when purchased, including original kitchen, bathrooms and external deck which had rotted through in parts. The home had many major appliances that were past their ‘best before’ dates (inc gas ducted heating, electric and gas storage hot water, ovens), inefficient halogen downlights and lots of drafts. All that points to high energy bills and an uncomfortable and drafty home. And it was spot on. In fact the energy use was 36kWh per day on average, which is more than double the Melbourne average, and it was quite drafty in the winter months. Although not at its best at the time, the home did have ‘very good bones’ with excellent north facing living space overlooking a pool, good sized rooms and huge opportunity to provide a beautiful comfortable home that cost very little to run. 

At the time of planning the renovation works, we were lucky to be included in one of the initial Victorian Governments Residential Efficiency Scorecard trials so obtained a Scorecard rating before the renovations. The baseline Scorecard rating came in at just 1 Star, which is very inefficient and indicates that the home would be costly to run. 

Planning and redesign 

This was the time we got to practice what we preach. The goal was to modernise the home while maximising energy efficiency potential. We spent time investigating the opportunities the renovation presented and engaged local resident and architect (Sue Coles from Baenziger Coles) to assist with some innovative ideas in terms of improving the layout. Through removing some walls, repositioning some windows and modifying the internal layout we were able to maximise the northern light and passive heat into the home, and open up the kitchen and family living space. We now had an updated, more practical and open plan layout for the main living areas that facilitated better use of space and the ability to close areas off as and when needed through hidden ceiling to floor sliding doors. Although the internal conditioned floor space was reduced by 7m2 (through removal of very leaky ‘conservatory’ type areas) the area looks and feels modern, spacious and has more natural light.

The end result: VERY happy with the result

The house went from the initial scorecard rating of just 1 star (highly inefficient) to a very efficient 7 Star Scorecard rating. That’s pretty good for a house with a pool! Energy use has been slashed from 36kW a day average to a low 10 kW day average. The final blower blower door test was done to check air leakage and now its just 6.0 ACH target. The home feels snug and warm in winter, cool in summer and has met our expectations of being a comfortable, relaxing space that is efficient to run. We are looking forward to including batteries in the future and possibly expanding the solar system.