The weather over the last few weeks has been quite unusual and unpredictable. I think since arriving to Australia in 2007 I haven’t experienced such a cold February.
Don’t get me wrong, this is much better than the high 40 degrees days. But it makes me a bit sad, how badly most of the houses and even a lot of the newer homes cope with this fluctuating temperature.
In most of the homes you do need the air-conditioning, as soon as the temperature goes towards the high twenties. And on the other hand, as soon as the night temperature drops below 15 or 13 degrees, people need to turn on the heater.
No, this is not normal! A house should be able to keep the temperature at least for a few days, without needing to turn on the heater in order to stay comfortable inside.
Since we renovated our home it does perform pretty well, even when the temperature fluctuates that much. Even when the temperature went down to 9 degrees at night, we stayed at a comfortable 19 degrees. And during the day the house warmed up nicely again. As soon as the temperature raise, we make sure we pull down our external shading on the western side of the house. To make sure that the house stays nice and cool, without needing the air con.
So, if your house is struggling with this fluctuating temperature, I would recommend looking into options to improve the efficiency of your home. Even small changes can have a big impact:
- Weather-strip and seal your windows
- Stop the sun from hitting your windows, by applying some sort of external shading on the hotter days
- If you can, add insulation to your ceiling. Ideally, just ignore the minimum requirements from the BCA and go all in.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have questions on how to improve the efficiency of your home.