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Thread: What are houses made of!!??

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    6

    Unhappy What are houses made of!!??

    May be a silly question, but in general what are houses made of in NZ? Are they all made of that 'wood effect' or are there any 'bricks and mortar' built homes? Do any homes have central heating, double glazing etc...

    I've looked at various real estate/property web sites, and most of the houses look to be built of the same material without any visible signs of central heating. If so are they warm, dry etc... or cold and damp!

    Any advice welcome!

    Thanks Rick

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Wigan UK
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    Matchsticks!!!!!!

  3. #3
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    Rick,

    on a more serious note they generally are timber framed with note much heating. Kiwi's don't believe in central heating although there are a few ads on tv for it. But Kiwi's are generally slow on the up take with anything new their laid back attitude is she'll be right put another sweater on whilst the kids are suffering with astma etc. They use wood burners, usually to heat the whole house too!!

    However in saying that you can get some very good insulated homes too you have to look for them.

    Do a search under housing on the forum as there have been many threads on this subject.

    Jo

  4. #4
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    Aug 2004
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    christchurch (formerly essex)
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    Most are timber framed and tin roofed. There are brick houses about but they tend to be brick clad. The given reasons for this is its an earthquake zone, and the brick cladding is designed to fall away from the building in the event of a sizable tremor, the tin roof seems to be a mix of materials available and tradition as well as the thinking that it weighs a lot less in the event of the roof coming down in a quake than tiles.

    The biggest problem isn't the building materials as houses in the US and Canada are often timber and manage to be warm. its the lack of insulation. As Jo says so far there isn't much on central heating although I have heard a few good reports on underfloor heating and double glazing in newer houses, although a lot of houses here are fitted with a heat pump, (basically a big wall mounted fan heater in the living room) I personally don't like them as as soon as they are turned off the house goes cold. We have a gas central heating engineer coming in later today to look into putting CH in the backpackers hostel for us, we are going to get it costed twice, once for full supply and fit and also for just fit and look at the cost of bring radiators in from the UK, and perhaps a boiler too.
    Last edited by veronica; 8th March 2006 at 06:28 AM.

  5. #5
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    Oct 2005
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    If you don't mind Veronica, could you keep us up to date on your estimates?

    Purchasing a central heating system in the UK and bringing it with us has gone through our minds, but we were concerned about the fittings etc and if they would comply with NZ regulations etc.

    Be interesting to hear your response.

    Julie

    xx

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Ashley Gorge
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    Smile

    Hi

    well our rental was made of POLYSTYRENE !!!!!! during the first few nights I have never worn so many clothes to bed (well to a sleeping bag really!!) it was a bit like a mobile home they still managed to sell it though.
    the one we have bought is brick clad with iron roof and I have to say thank god there aren't roof tiles as a good nor wester would certainly have the lot off, we have a coal range which does the hot water and runs 3 radiators and does a good job of heating the main part of the house, bedrooms can be a bit chilly - mind we haven't done a winter here yet so chilly may be an understatement - there is also a woodburner in the lounge, we still have all the gas filled rads we bought in the Warehouse from last winter but hoping not to have to use them too much.

  7. #7
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    Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
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    Hi Rick, when you get to NZ you will see for your self. Some of the houses have a real wow factor while a lot look like the big bad wolf could blow them away. Having said that check out www.a1homes.co.nz and www.initialhomes.co.nz as the gallerys are not bad and you can see what you get for your $.............................Let us know what you think....David

  8. #8
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    Ours is on a concrete base with cedar and brick cladding on the exterior. We've also got a decromastic roof, quieter than a tin roof.

    Luckily we've got quite a bit of insulation in the roof and along the front where they extended out.

    Since being here last July it's not been too cold although yesterday it was warmer out than inside We tend to just use a pellet burner which is in the centre of the house to heat the whole house up.

  9. #9
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    we need to get some pink bats

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by foolsgold99
    we need to get some pink bats
    huh?????

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