[Tips.008] Do you have eaves for your new house?

The lovely weather only lasted about a week and it started rainning again....

The next tip I like to talk about is eaves. I think eaves are quite important and I was quite surprise to see lots of builders removed eaves from their houses.

Eaves helps your BASIX rating and houses without eaves looks like faces without eyebrow. When we dealed with Clarendon, we have to pay a few thousand dollars to add eaves. Why should I pay money for something that should have been included as standard in the first place?!

Found a few web sites with information about the importance of eaves, which you might be interested:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This web site from NSW government has some handy tips and easy to understand pictures on ways to save water and energy, And here's one of them about eaves:



= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This web site "Your Home Technical Manual" from greenhouse.gov.au mentioned a few things when choosing project home designs, as quoted below:

1. Select a design that can be positioned on your site to capture cooling breezes, particularly to living areas. Avoid large areas of west facing windows.

Most project home companies will mirror or flip a design to suit your needs at no extra cost.

2. Moving windows or doors from one elevation to another to capture cooling breezes often adds no cost but makes significant improvements to performance.

3. Avoid windows with fixed glass. Ask for windows with a significant openable area for ventilation.

4. Ensure that all openings are suitably shaded. Use landscape as an effective means of providing additional shade.

5. Ask for eaves to be included if the design has omitted them. ==> Why should they specifically mention this? There must be lots of project home builders omitting eaves in their design to cut cost!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This web site from SA government also mentioned the followings:

A house with no eaves and no additional shading to the windows is required to have less glazed area than a house with eaves.

Good shading of windows (such as eave overhangs) and good orientation of the house (so that the main windows to living areas are facing due north) will enable the new requirements to be met for minimal cost (a few hundred dollars for more efficient insulation).