The DIY Energy Efficient Home Project Magazine By EcoMaster

Retrofit Wall
Insulation
One of the questions that we had was, “What exactly is in
the walls of this home?” When we looked, we discovered a
high-quality reflective house wrap. And while it was really
good quality, it was not very well installed. It was not fixed to
the bottom of the walls (so it was just flapping in the breeze)
and lapped in the middle. But it only came to 2.4 metre
high. As most of this house has 2.7-metre ceilings, the top
300mm of the walls were actually just open to the elements.
In effect, the reflective nature of the wrap became completely
pointless, because there was absolutely no chance of still
air space. So the next question is what to do about it? We
decided to remove the plasterboard, treat the walls and then
put the plasterboard back on. We cut the plasterboard about
a 100mm from the corners of the room, 100mm in from
architraves, skirts and corners so that we didn’t have to disturb
those. Then we took the plasterboard off. We got material like
this - RetroShield - and cut it into sections that would fit into
a stud noggin space. We installed that, made little hospital
corners and stapled it in all the way around. So the idea is to
BEDROOMS
make a still air space. Next, we glued some battens to it. The
purpose of that was to hold the bulk material off the reflective
surface. We put the polyester wall batts in. Then we installed
new plasterboard and jointed it. Then, of course, you have to
redecorate. So that’s how we retrofitted wall insulation. It made
a massive difference. We left this little piece open here just so
we could show people what we actually did in the walls.
Introduction
I’m standing in the main bedroom. There are quite a few
energy efficient features to see. Starting with the drapes, the
lighting treatment, an example of sealing up heating outlets,
improving cross-flow ventilation and draught proofing a walkin
robe.
See Our Product Feature Section For
Autex Wall Insulation
sealing-kit
https://ecomasterstore.com.au/collections/polyesterwall-insulation
Sealing Up
Heating Outlets
About a year after we stopped using the central heating
system, we decided to have a go at blocking up the outlets.
What you see here, is a typical ceiling outlet of a heating
system. You might see a silvery part inside, or if I open these
louvres, we can see inside.
We got a piece of polyester insulation and pushed it just up
into the ducting. Then we cut a piece of Foilboard and pushed
it in nice and airtight and put the louvres back on. Normally
the louvres are closed. But the point of doing this was that it
made a massive difference because the heating system is a
closed-loop. It wasn’t really draughty, but any heating in the
room was drifting up into the ducting. The ducting is insulated
a tiny bit, but not as insulated as a ceiling should be. A lot of
heat loss occurs in the ducting. The air in the ducting then
gap). And these about 13 Watts. So it reduced the power
consumption of the lighting quite a lot. The downside of
compact fluorescence, apart from having some mercury in
them, is that they take a long time to come up to full light,
and that’s kind of irritating. But once they are in full light,
they’re okay. It’s a nice warm light as well. And that’s why
we’ve kind of persevered with this and left them to the last
for replacing.
cools and comes down, so it was a continuous cooling cycle
in the wintertime. Sealing up the vents made a surprising
amount of difference.
See our Product Feature Section for
Goodbye Heating Vents
https://ecomasterstore.com.au/products/duct-
Lighting
When we first moved into this home, it was absolutely full of
50 watt halogen downlights. They were fitted into gimballed
fittings (the ones that can tilt) which have an amazing gap
around each one.
Very early on we decided we had to do something about
those halogens. While many of our lighting upgrades have
been superseded, this particular one was lasted. It is now
slated for replacment with IC rated LED downlights, but it was
pretty good at the time. Even today it is still working well.
These particular lamps were fitted onto the exterior rim of the
gimballed fitting. We just kept the rim in the ceiling, took out
the halogen centres and fitted the new lamps. These are GX53
compact fluroescent lamps. You can probably see the little
fluoro going across it. So it’s sealed up the light fitting (no
Double Insulated
Heavy Drapes &
Pelmets
We’re probably all aware that amongst the most thermally
effective window coverings are heavy lined drapes and box
pelmets. The pelmet is very important because they eliminate
the airflow going down behind the drapes. One way to
rejuvenate all drapes is to simply sew the new material onto
the old. That way you get a new look, you get added insulation,
and you don’t trash the old drapes and linings. Bear in mind
though you’re probably going to need a curtain maker to
help you do that.
ecoMasterStore.com.au 28 ecoMasterStore.com.au 29