Anyone who has scraped frost off the windscreen before sunrise this week knows Canberra spring does not let go of winter easily. The calendar says spring, but the mornings are still cold and the heating is often still running. Here is the part most people miss: how warm your home feels has far more to do with how it is designed than with how high you push the thermostat.
At Edward Robert Builders, building homes that stay warm through a Canberra winter, without the running costs that normally come with it, is a big part of what we do.
Why so many Canberra homes feel the cold
Canberra asks a lot of a house, frosty winters, hot dry summers and for years plenty of local homes were built without much thought for how they would cope with either. They looked good on handover day but never quite held their warmth in July or stayed cool in January. A home like that ends up leaning on the heater to stay comfortable and the power bill shows it.
Good design works the other way, instead of fighting the climate, the house works with it.
Start with the building envelope
The biggest thing shaping how warm your home feels is its envelope: the walls, roof, floor and windows that sit between you and the weather outside. Get that right and the warmth you pay for stays inside.
Air tightness is where it starts. Not too much, but just enough. Sealing the gaps around doors, properly installed windows will make a huge difference. Conditioning air uses energy, ideally that conditioned air doesn’t rush out the gaps and cracks in your envelop. If the air in your home is changing half as often, you’ll effectively use half the energy to keep it conditioned. Next roper insulation slows the transfer of heat and cold that escapes through your ceiling, walls and floor construction keeping your conditioned air at a comfortable temperature for longer.
Windows are always going to be the weakest part of your thermal envelope. Single glazing is one of the easiest paths for heat to escape, which is why double-glazed windows and doors make such a difference. They hold the warmth in, and they quieten the street noise down as well.
Let the sun do some of the work
Canberra has one real winter advantage, and that is all those clear, sunny days. A home designed to catch the low winter sun can warm itself for nothing.
That means facing living areas toward the north, sizing and placing windows so they let the winter sun in while keeping the harsh summer sun out and choosing materials that soak up warmth during the day and give it back slowly once the sun goes down. Design that works with the sun and the site like this is what lets a home stay comfortable on less heating.
Warm now, and cheaper to run
All of these choices pull in the same direction, less time with the heater running and lower bills year after year. A home that holds onto its warmth just does not need as much energy to stay liveable.
It is also worth seeing what help is on offer. Government rebates and incentives come and go, and they can take some of the sting out of upgrades like insulation, glazing or a more efficient heating system.
Building for comfort that lasts
Edward Robert Builders was started in 2018 by Eddie Redmond and Robert Klacek, who between them have more than 25 years of building experience across Canberra, Sydney and overseas. Robert is an HIA GreenSmart accredited professional, and as Master Builders Association members they bring a careful, considered approach to every job, from a new custom home or knockdown rebuild to a renovation or a focused energy upgrade.
If your home has you reaching for another jumper and bracing for the next bill, the answer is rarely a bigger heater. It is better design, and a chilly Canberra spring morning is a good time to start planning a home that keeps you warm for less.
Come and talk to us about designing or upgrading a home built for the way Canberrans really live.
