Finding it too noisy to sleep? Fed up with cold drafts or heat escaping from your home? Don’t worry, Double Glazing can help to instantly increase the comfort, security and energy efficiency of your home – giving you peace of mind and the comfortable life you’ve desired.

So, what are some of the very best benefits you’ll enjoy when you install Double Glazing?

1. Energy Efficiency

Looking to reduce your energy bills? Double Glazing helps to make your home run more efficiently – by keeping cold air out and warm air in during Winter months, and the reverse in the Summer.

Did you know that 50-70% of heat loss in homes can be through single glazed windows? With Double Glazing, you’ll find your new windows help to capture and store any heat produced.

On hot summer days, your Double Glazing can work for you against the extreme sunshine. Double Glazing can help to trap the sun’s intense rays and minimise the heat entering through windows.

With all these advantages, you’ll find your energy bills could drop dramatically – you’ll need far less heating in Winter and your air conditioning system will be under less strain in Summer.

2. Peace and Quiet

Whether you live on a busy street or you’re hoping to simply create a quiet haven for your home, Double Glazing can help to make your home as quiet as it’s ever been.

Did you know that good quality Double Glazing can help to reduce outside noise by 60%? For those living in areas where noise is an issue – such as under a flight path or on a main high street – this could substantially change your quality of life. You’ll be able to enjoy a good night’s sleep, and you’ll feel an increased sense of privacy in your home.

3. Increasing the Value

Whether you’re in your forever home, or you’re looking to sell in the near future, it’s always worth seeing Double Glazing as an investment. Not only will you save money by reducing your energy bills, you’ll also be adding to the resale value of your home.

Homes that have Double Glazing are instantly more desirable to a buyer. This is especially relevant when Double Glazing has been installed in a older home as these do have the potential to be prone to expensive draughts and heat loss.

Always tell your estate agent if you’ve installed the Double Glazing and how recently it was put in – this could help to up the price even further.

Tempted To Install Double Glazing In Your Home?

We don’t blame you. These top three reasons are simply a small selection and there are so many other benefits of installing Double Glazing in your home including:

• Reducing the fading on interior furnishings such as blinds, drapes and sofa covers.
• Increasing security by ensuring it’s even harder for intruders to break through to your home
• Reducing excess moisture from your window panes resulting in less condensation which can lead to mould and mildew growth.

The post Top 3: The Very Best Benefits of Double Glazing appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.

By taking the time and advice to seal your home properly you can expect to reduce both your financial costs (energy bills) and damage to the environment (through carbon emissions).

Many people do worry that too much sealing and insulation can create problems with air quality inside the property as well as condensation. However it’s simply a matter of sealing your home effectively and taking into consideration a number of factors.

Which Parts Of Your Home Should be Sealed?

There are a number of key areas where air generally leaks through. If you work hard to seal these efficiently, you’ll notice an almost instant drop in the amount of energy you use cooling or heating your home.

The largest air leakage in homes is generally from floors, walls and ceilings with features such as fire places also accounting for over 10% of leakages.

Areas to target include:

• Doors and windows
• Vents, skylights and exhaust fans
• Ceiling insulation
• Pipes, power outlets and switches
• Element junctions
• Floorboards

When Is The Best Time to Seal Your Home?

If you’re designing or building a home from scratch, you should absolutely including sealing as a key stage of the process. Similarly, if you’re refurbishing or renovating your home, this is an excellent time to seal it properly.

Don’t worry if neither of these apply to you – simply plan your sealing around a time of year when temperatures are at their least extreme. Consider the area where you live and the weather conditions and temperatures you experience in each season.

How Do You Know if Your Home is Leaking?

There are several ways to detect leaks and you can either do these yourself or you can employ experts to come in and assess the situation for you. It’s definitely worth taking the time to detect leaks properly to avoid issues being left unnoticed and developing into bigger problems.

Try to plan a schedule for sealing leaks – ideally you want to tackle ceiling level leaks before floor leaks as these lose more heat. Equally, larger holes or cracks will obviously leak more air than smaller ones – yet remember that all of them will eventually need attention.

What Are The Key Steps to Sealing Your Home?

1. You need to identify all the obvious gaps – make a list of them and start with the most pressing. Having written a list, you can also then go back and check them regularly to ensure sealing methods have been effective.

This step is the most important and many people simply stop here, enjoying a well sealed home with far fewer air leaks and a substantially reduced amount of energy use.

2. You can also depressurise your home – this sounds extreme but it’s an effective technique which will certainly help in your quest for an energy efficient home.

Ideally depressurise your home on a cool or windy day. Close all windows and doors and turn off any units which blow air into the house. Instead, turn on all fans possible to help suck air out. You can then use an incense stick or similar to pass around common leak sites – if smoke is blown back into the room, you’ve identified an air leak.

You can reverse this process to pressurise your home and identify further issues.

Should You Go Further with Professional Help?

For some people, just sealing windows and door frames will feel like enough. For those who want to take things further and really ensure that their home is operating at its optimal efficiency, there are a few things to consider.

• Thermal Imaging: you can either hire a team to carry out a thermal imaging study of your home, or you can hire equipment and do it yourself. Some digital cameras now even have thermal imaging functions on them already.
• Professional Inspections: with the help of qualified technicians, you can have air leak audits carried out on your home. Many companies offer building sealing services and tests such as the ‘Blower Door’ test can help to measure the air tightness of your home.

The post How Sealing Your Home Can Increase Your Comfort and Reduce Your Energy Bills appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.

You may want to create a home that is light and bright throughout, or perhaps you’re simply trying to brighten up one of the inevitable dark spaces within your property. Either way, natural light is always going to be popular – either with you and your family, or potential buyers of your home.

Once your home is filled with natural light, you’ll probably notice several of your energy bills reducing. You’ll have less need for lights on during the day, and you’ll find that sunlight can naturally warm rooms for you.

So, what are the best ways to leverage natural light in your home?

Colours

If you’re redecorating or simply dedicated to leveraging the most natural light possible, aim to paint your walls white. If you’re not a fan of white, go for the brightest and lightest colours possible in order to keep natural light from being absorbed and to ensure your space maximizes the natural light available.

When painting, aim to use silk finish paint for maximum effect. This type of paint will reflect more light than standard varieties meaning your home will be simply shining.

Look Up

Many architects and building designers are now using sun tunnels as a great way of leveraging natural light and allowing it to fill your home. These are also known as tubular skylights, light tubes or sun pipes and they are very eco friendly. Excellent value for money, they are highly effective.

Sun tunnels are cylinders made of highly reflective materials which reach from the roof to the spaces below where light does not generally reach. They can travel for many metres through walls if required. Sun tunnels can bring light from 1 or 2 floors above into a space that previously may have been dark and unused.

Let the Sun In

Try and make your home as open to light as possible. One of the great ways to leverage natural light in homes with staircases is by making these as open as possible. Put a skylight on the landing and you’ll have light streaming down to the ground floor. You can also do this with attic conversions and ballustrades are used similarly to allow light to spread throughout your home.

Mirror Mirror

As well as using bright colours and reflective paint finishes, mirrors are an excellent way of leveraging natural light. They help to reflect light even into darker corners of a room and help to give a general feeling of light and bright space. You don’t need to go for large imposing mirrors if it doesn’t fit the style of your home, smaller models carefully positioned can work just as well.

New Windows

Nope, we don’t mean replacing all of the windows on your home – although giving them a thorough clean regularly will definitely help to allow as much light in as possible. One of the best way to light up interior rooms with no natural light is to install interior windows which can pull in light from next door rooms. The height of these windows will help to bring in light whilst also maintaining privacy. These work really well for bathrooms and children’s bedrooms.

The post How to Leverage Natural Light in Your Home appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.

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What Do You Need?

To remove insulation you’ll want to ensure you have everything you need before you begin the task. One of the key dangers is the irritant nature of fiberglass on the skin so always ensure you stay covered up. Getting organized and staying safe is key to successful removal.

To Wear:

• Safety Goggles
• Gloves
• Long Sleeved Top
• Gloves
• Ventilation Mask
• Disposable overalls

To Use:

• Tools
• Dustpan and Brush
• Vacuum Cleaner
• Ladder
• Materials
• Rubbish Bags

Steps to Removing Insulation

1. Turn off all electricity – this will prevent discovering unexpected wires in the walls.
2. Put on overalls, safety goggles, gloves and ventilation mask – you must not begin without these
3. Remove the insulation working from top to bottom – this is simple to do but be aware that the batts of insulation can be awkward to handle and you’ll want to purchase large, double thickness rubbish bags.
4. Clean Up Loose Fibreglass – this is a very durable material so take your time to ensure you’ve swept all of it up.
5. Dispose of the insulation responsibily – you can’t simply put this out with your rubbish collection, contact the council to find out how these should be disposed of.
6. Wash your Skin – even if you feel fine, it’s always worth washing thoroughly after to ensure you don’t suffer from itchy skin.

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Why Do Homes Heat Up?

When the sun’s rays beat down on your home, indoor temperatures rise. Homes that have been designed to help control temperatures will allow unnecessary hot air to pass back outdoors or to be used as energy. Many people may take to using an air conditioning system – however these consume a lot of electricity and can lead to high energy bills.

So, How Can You Cool Your Home Naturally?

Luckily, there are lots of ways that you can keep your home cool naturally – without spending money installing systems and equipment or on expensive energy bills. You also won’t be contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming so you can be proud of your minimal carbon footprint.

Why not follow some of these steps to creating a naturally cool house instantly?

1. Insulate your home

Good insulation is what will keep your home cool in summer and warm in winter. Check what type of insulation you currently have. Insulation doesn’t have to include huge installation costs – there are now many DIY insulation rolls which are simple and quick to install.

2. Turn off Lights

This is a small change that makes you realise every little thing counts in the fight against a hot home. Lights give off a small amount of excess heat so if everyone in your family turns off every light they’re not using, you could notice a big difference.

3. Close the blinds

As soon as the sun rises, your home will start to heat up. Make sure you monitor your home throughout the day, or anticipate it if you’re out at work. If you have North or West facing blinds, make sure you close them in the morning. Don’t worry about natural light, you’ll be able to open these again when the sun moves position.

4. Indoor and Outdoor Blinds

Blinds will be one of your main tools in controlling heat in your home:

• Indoor Blinds: these will help to form a seal around windows and doors which ensure cool air stays in and warm air is kept out. You can enforce blinds with weather strips to further seal gaps around frames. Indoor blinds will also help to stop furnishings in your home from sun damage, blocking UV rays.
• Outdoor Blinds: these can help to keep sunlight and heat from entering the home. They come in a variety of forms – from awning blinds to retractable and roll up blinds. Outdoor blinds will also protect from harmful UV rays.

5. Cook Al Fresco

Try to avoid cooking inside on the hottest days. Having your oven on for any length of time will raise the temperature of your home, and won’t be enjoyable for whoever gets left to cook. Why not take advantage of the good weather and have friends over for an outdoor BBQ? If you don’t own one, you can usually use barbies on offer at your local park.

The post Is Your House Too Warm In Summer? How To Keep Your Home Cool Naturally appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.

You’ll also know that they only function at their best when they are well maintained and kept clean.

Although it may seem like a hassle to clean your skylights, it’s actually quick and easy with instant results.

You won’t regret it when you look up to see bright skies through clear glass!

What Do You Need?

To clean a skylight, you don’t need specialist equipment.

This is something you can do yourself using:

• Soap
• Water
• Glass Cleaning Solution

It will depend on the location and style of your home as to whether or not you need to access the roof to clean your skylights.

It may be the case that you need a step ladder or something to elevate you when cleaning.

When Should you Clean Your Skylight?

Skylights should be cleaned twice a year.

If there is extreme weather such as rain or wind, you may want to clear debris from your skylight in addition to these regular spots.

Sometimes rain can help to wash your skylight naturally but it’s always worth double checking.

You should make sure that you clean your skylight at a time when you have good natural light in order to see any parts that you may miss or that need extra cleaning.

Cleaning: The Underside

Treat the underside of your skylight just like a normal window.

You just need a clean cloth to wipe the glass removing any dirt or dust. Cobwebs are often made on or around skylights so this is a good chance to get rid of them also.

If there is clouding on the window, you can use the glass cleaning solution to avoid streaks and marks.

Cleaning: The Topside

Obviously cleaning the top side of the skylight is a bit more of a challenge. You may need to climb on to the roof to clean it. Never do this on your own, and if you aren’t comfortable doing it then you should ask a professional to do the job for you.

Always take extreme care when on the roof and try to avoid standing on the glass of the skylight.

Take extra water up there and make sure you have all your cleaning materials with you so you don’t have to go up and down the ladder unnecessarily.

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It’s essential that you invest time and money in your roof insulation to avoid encountering serious issues in the long term.

To help reduce heat gain in Summer and prevent the loss of heat in Winter, follow this list of dos and don’ts to make sure your installation works for you.

DO

• Consider your roof – you’ll need to consider whether your roof is flat or pitched.
• Learn about the options – you’ll need to understand the difference between the options such as batts of mineral, or glass wool insulation.
• Purchase safety equipment – remember to protect your eyes, skin and lungs. Always wear safety goggles, work gloves and a mask.
• Seal around window and door jambs with expanding spray foam – this helps to fully seal the spaces and prevent air coming in or out.
• Fit batts tightly between wall studs and cut to length by compressing the insulation and using a sharp knife.

DON’T

• Try to cut corners and save money – it’s worth getting your roof insulation right first time and always dedicate as much money as you can to it to ensure you’re using good quality materials.
• Split batts apart – even if you want them to fit around and totally enclose electrical cables. This can cause ‘cable derating’ and will simply lead to further issues.
• Pack it in – roof insulation needs space and being too tightly compacted will compromise effectiveness.
• Use spray foam insulation on the underside of roofs. This can cause moisture to become trapped around timber leading to future issues.

There are many different types of houses in Australia and similarly there are different types of roof insulations. Make sure you take the time to choose the right options for you and your specific circumstances. Always ask for expert help if you need.

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Want to know more about window tinting? Although many people are familiar with the concept in cars, window tinting in the home is an excellent option for beating the Summer heat.

How Does Window Tinting Work?

Similar to the concept of window tinting in cars, window tinting in the home works by blocking thermal rays from the sun thus reducing the heat in your house.

It has been found that window tinting can stop up to 80% of heat entering the home – simply by blocking the solar energy which usually comes through the windows.

Window tinting can also help to stop heat escaping from your home during winter therefore helping in reducing your heating bills.

The levels by which window tinting can help to beat the heat depends on a variety of factors including:

• The type of tint
• The location of your home
• Correct installation of the tint

Types of Window Tinting

There are many different types of window tinting but some of the most common include:

1. Privacy Tint

This is often known as one way mirror tint and is mainly used for darkening windows and reducing heat in the home. It blocks almost all UV light. You will be able to see out easily yet you’ll be protected from external factors.

2. Security Tint

Reducing the amount of heat and UV rays entering into the the home, this tint will also make it harder for those outside to see into your house. With less ability to view what’s inside, burglars are less likely to break in to your home. Some security tints also help glass windows to avoid shattering.

3. Frosted / Opaque Tint

This is an excellent way to maintain your privacy but retain aesthetics in your home. It also helps to reduce the amount of heat entering and staying in your home.

4. Ceramic Tint

Usually sold as 3M ceramic tint, this is a high quality product which looks great and still allows light into the home. It blocks heat and UV rays but still allows your home to be light and fresh.

The post Beat The Heat This Summer With Window Tinting appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.

Want to know some of the top reasons why you should consider skylights in your home?

Health

Skylights are hugely effective at letting in natural light. Australia’s climate means that sunshine is in no short supply so make sure that you and your family are enjoying the benefits of natural light throughout the year.

There have been many studies investigating the benefits of natural light on productivity, health and happiness. Let the light into your home by installing skylights and you’ll be helping to prevent issues such as Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Light Up a Room

Light really can transform a room. Well designed skylights will flood your home with natural light meaning that you can capture the natural sunlight at various times of the day. Clever positioning means that you’ll be able to retain your privacy and may negate the need for expensive curtains and blinds.

You can position skylights depending on the level of light you want in a room and achieve anything from a warm glow to brightly lit. For rooms that previously had no windows or natural light, you’ll note an instant transformation.

Energy Savings

Just think about it. By allowing natural sunlight to come into your home, you’ll find yourself switching on lights less and less. Use the natural alternative instead for as many hours of the day as possible and your overall bills will start to reduce.

You’re also likely to see a reduction in your heating and cooling bills. In Winter you can increase the temperature of your home by allowing sunlight in to warm the rooms that previously didn’t have any exposure to outside light. Choose skylights with shade options to ensure that in Summer months you can vent your home and block out sunlight during the middle of the day.

Looking Good

It’s fairly rare that you get to make a home improvement which benefits both the interior and exterior of your home. Skylights generally increase the value of your home and are attractive to potential buyers who may solely be judging the exterior of your house initially.

From within the home, skylights are an excellent way to let in light without intruding on the overall room – there is no need for extensive furnishings around them and you can opt for a variety of different styles and designs to either blend in with or stand out from the room.

The post 4 Reasons Why You Should Consider Skylights in Your Home appeared first on Energy Efficiency Centre.