Decisions

Hi all. We are onto our third draft of designs for the extensions now. Decisions on windows and sizing are crucial at this stage as we have decided to open up the entire wall to glass from the lounge room to the dining room.  We have been told that we will need to use Low Emissivity glass for the doors and windows along that side of the building as well. This glass reflects radiant energy from the sun and supposedly reflects the radiant energy back into the room as well.  How it is made , there are two major ways of making the glass, but this is slightly unimportant. What this glass doesn’t do is stop conductive heat loss, which is not very good but if you were to compare it’s performance from plane double glazing to single pane 4mm you would find that this glass sits about in the middle of these two types in regards to performance. Why are we doing this. Well, I think if I had the choice and I could find double paned glass with Low E  included ( usually placed on the inside of the air pocket in the double paned glass) …. Price is the issue, especially in Perth, AU as there is little competition and not much take up on the product as people don’t see the benefit in this hot environment and consider double glazing as a cold climate necessity. If the government pushed on this I think there would be more of a take up but the government here has decided that market forces to be the front runner in the decision making. Not that important  I guess, but I have seen the markup on this glass as being rather exorbitant .  One local supplier is quoting that the Low E glass is 140 dollars per sqm more than regular 4 mm glass.Basically their cost price is around 70 dollars per sqm.  We are having to go with this as our glass area for the building is very high, higher than the council allows and the only way to get around this is to move to a more energy efficient design. If they come back to us and say that even with the Low E glass we will have to make changes I guess we will have some big decisions to make.  Next week I get to talk to the neighbors about a parapet wall that we would like to build to support the outdoor living roof which is about 3.3 meters high. I don’t think it will be a problem as it will protect them from the westerly sun and keep their house a little cooler in the late afternoon.   But you never know how people will react . So we will see.

Virginia has taken the week off to help look over the city for Bathroom, Kitchen, and fixtures  as we are focusing on the look and feel of the end result.  I should have the third draft for the designs in the next few days, will keep you posted.