Energy Matters Forums

[Daveof TVL]

I am currently building a house in Townsville made of a product called coolwall. It is a panel made of foam sandwiched by two layers of flat colourbond steel. I have used a light coloured roof tile for the roof (quiet for my shift working wife in the wet season) and insulation in the roof. The windows are made of grey glass. An acrylic render is put on the outside surface which makes it look like a block house from the street and repels a lot of the direct sunlight .The overall energy efficiency is 6 stars.
There is only 1 builder using this construction method in TVL which is a surprise. It is rated as being as cyclone proof as a standard block house in TVL. During the construction it has been quite obvious that the house is very cool and i am looking forward to enjoying a cool house in a baking Nth QLD summer. I was keen to put solar panels on my roof but i am going to wait during this summer to compare my electricity consumption.

[Millsy]

Hello Dave,

Very interesting, are you going to be using double glazing windows also?

Do you have any web links to give us an idea of this construction type?

[Daveof TVL]

Hello Millsy,
Unfortunately I won't have double glazed windows. The budget can only stretch so far. The cost of using the coolwall was the same as rendered block. I have had a few comments from tradies working on other homes in my street as too how cool it is inside. Here is a link to the construction method. My builder has made about a dozen of these homes in TVL and has started building units with it. Given time i think this will become more popular and i think it would work just as well in the colder regions of the country. With good windows and curtains, once the home is cool (or warmed up down south) the temp will stay stable for long periods of time.

http://coolwallsystems.com.au/

[phmorrow]

Hi Dave,
This might not be much help to you as you have already done your building but others may be interested in an article I wrote for Renew about "Poured Light Earth" construction.

It is dirt cheap, light and a great insulator (9 degrees cooler on a 36 degree day) and this is without any window covering.

Paul

[beachbum]

The cool wall concept has been around for a long time.
In 1995 I built a winery in Tasmania out of a product called 'Bondor' made by James Hardie.
It had my choice of colour and profile on the outside and was gloss white on the inside. It came as either 2,4,6,or 8 inches thick by as long as you wanted (provided they could fit on a semi trailer legally) by about 1.2 m wide.
I used 4 inch walls and 6 inch roof all attached to a steel frame.
The thermal efficiency was fantastic, sound proofing amazing. When filled with wine, the temperature inside hardly moved all year!
It is still standing today, and looks as good as the day it was built bar slight fading of the green colourbond outside panels.