The benefits of a warm, dry home
Cosier homes can entice more buyers, especially over winter – and there’s support out there to make upgrades more affordable, writes Gill South.
In most of the country, the cooler weather is a reminder to homeowners of the flaws in their homes when it comes to being warm and dry, and given them a nudge that it might be time to do some retrofitting.
Most of us want a warm home. But insulation and heatpumps can be expensive, so many homeowners also want to know if they will get their investment back when it comes time to sell.
The general response from real estate agents is yes.
But there are other benefits to consider too, such as the fact that your home will appeal to a wider group of buyers, your bills could be lower, and you and your family will be healthier.
In the case of a well-insulated Blockhouse Bay home he’s selling at the moment, Ray White agent, Max Beliak says, ‘‘I’ve had 75 groups through and everyone loves it.’’
The compact, three-bedroom home would normally sell for around $750,000. But the feedback the agent has been getting from buyers is that they would pay $1 million or more.
The vendors have replaced the roof, put insulation in the ceiling and installed slightly tinted double-glazed windows throughout, including flush sill bi-folds.
‘‘They’ve been there for seven years and done everything stepby-step. It’s very tasteful and ecofriendly,’’ says Beliak.
The couple’s electricity bills are just $40 a month, though they have gas for water heating on top of this.
‘‘They didn’t break the bank, they just did everything wisely and in an economical way. He’s a tradesman, he’s got a lot of contacts around, and he’s controlled the quality,’’ says Beliak.
Retrofitting makes your home more saleable
One interesting consequence of the healthy homes standards for rentals, says Havelock North agent, Bayleys’ Andrew Rochester, is that a lot of buyers are now asking if a home they plan to occupy in the future is up to these standards too. ‘‘We get a lot of buyers from out of town who may not be moving here straight away.
‘‘They require them to be rentals initially, so they need to meet standards of heating and insulation, or they can’t rent them out.’’
UP Real Estate agent Adrienne Gooch has been doing some upgrading of rental properties and decided to do some on her own home too. At her place, she has had moisture barrier work done through Smart Energy Solutions, which she has been impressed by.
‘‘It means the chill isn’t coming up from the soil,’’ she says.
Gooch estimates it would cost between $2000 and $4000 to insulate a home, and around $2500 to $5000 for heat pumps.
An HRV system can be a good way to keep a home dry. If you put it in the ceiling, it dries the roof out and stops condensation. But this is not cheap, you won’t get much change out of $20,000, she says.
Will you get more for your home if you have insulation and heating? Gooch prefers to say it makes your house more saleable, rather than that it necessarily will sell for more.
Get help with the finances
For those who have mortgages with Westpac, ASB, Kiwibank, ANZ, and BNZ, it’s possible to add the cost of insulating your home to your loan. Westpac, for instance, has a Westpac Warm
Up loan, of up to $10,000 for five years interest-free.
For New Zealanders with lower incomes, who live in homes built before 2008, in designated low-income areas, or for homeowners who have a Community Service Card, there is funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), which can cover up to 90 per cent of the cost of insulation and/or heating.
Gareth Gretton, EECA senior adviser of evidence, insights and innovation says: ‘‘In total, we estimate that several hundred thousand homes in New Zealand are in need of insulation and heating to improve their living conditions and energy efficiency and many of these people will be eligible for support from Warmer Kiwi Homes.’’
The Government has just announced, as part of Budget 2021, plans to insulate another 48,000 homes – an investment of $120 million to support Warmer Kiwi Homes over two years.
Separate from this, community organisations, councils, trusts and district health boards throughout the country, such as North Power, Waikato Community Trust and the Mercury Energy Foundation will also contribute towards costs in retrofitting homes for those in need.
For Kiwis who need to carefully manage their money, but are not eligible for a grant, a
number of councils throughout the country offer ratepayers loans for home energy schemes, either at zero interest or low interest. The repayments just get added to the rates bills over a number of years.
An HRV system can be a good way to keep a home dry. If you put it in the ceiling, it dries the roof out and stops condensation.
Insulation before heating
Once you get the finances right, the first thing on the list is, insulation before you start picking out heat pumps. An expert who comes to your house will look at the ceiling first to see how well insulated that part of the house is.
Consumer New Zealand says 42 per cent of heat is lost through the ceiling or roof, the floor meanwhile loses 10 per cent of the heat.
Around 18 per cent of heat is lost through windows, and wellfitted thick curtains can help with this, if double-glazed windows are too steep. (It can cost more than $30,000 to doubleglaze the windows of a 100 square metre home, according to Thermawood New Zealand).
According to Gretton, well installed, quality ceiling and underfloor insulation costs about $3500 for a 100sqm home.
‘‘If you’re building or renovating, that’s the ideal time to also fill up on wall cavity insulation, as we recommend
removing wall linings to do so,’’ he says.
As for heating products, EECA’s Gen Less platform, which recommends renewable energy like wood, wood pellets or electricity, has advice on guides to choosing the right heater and supplier.
Consumer NZ is another good resource when choosing heating and insulation options. The organisation says that using low levels of heat all the time, rather than high levels in short bursts is a good idea, as it reduces condensation.