Home Style Green

Something a little different this week. I’ve had some excellent questions sitting in my inbox for a while and I thought that many could benefit from them. In this Q&A session I cover Homestar, thermal mass, heating and cooling options and small, affordable home design.

Do you need a professional project manager for either the design stage or the construction stage of your building project? I discuss the basics of good project management with podcaster, engineer, business owner and soon-to-be author, Cesar Abeid.

Eaves are the classic case of form following function. In this podcast I lay out my three key reasons for having them, but a key question is, 'how big should eaves be?'

Resilience and sustainability are different. Sustainability feels more long term to me. It's about using resources wisely with future generations in mind. Resilience is more about weathering the storm. There is an overlap and so both are important.

If being resilient encourages people to invest in rainwater harvesting and solar panels with battery backup, thereby also being more sustainable, then surely that's a good thing for everyone.

Is one more important than the other, or can resilience be a really handy way of selling sustainability?

Plus, my top five tips for having a resilient home.

Over the last few years, I've developed this model for good home design: Map, wrap, gaps, taps and apps.

Find out more at: http://homestylegreen.com/84

Most of us are familiar with leaky buildings - the perfect storm of poor design, poor cladding systems and poor workmanship, culminating in allowing rain to get in. Now we've moved on and have cavities, more stringent weather-tightness checks and hopefully we like eaves again.

So what's leaky buildings 2.0? If we've dealt to the risk of moisture coming in from the outside, where else can moisture come from?

http://homestylegreen.com/83

Natalie Cutler-Welsh spends some of her time helping small business owners who are just getting started with social media. This can be a daunting task yet important step for your business. I wanted to get some tips for building professionals on the 'why' and 'how to' of basic social media.

This week, we look at Facebook and LinkedIn

http://homestylegreen.com/82

http://gotogirl.co.nz

Ian McHugh's specialisations include Code for Sustainable Homes Assessor, and 'Eco-Refurbisher'. I want to know how good designers and architects can do more work involving energy efficient, sustainable, eco buildings. As a building professional, how can you get more of this type of work?

Also, we discuss Ian's mass customisation 'IKEA-style' concept for climate adaption, the IDEAhaus.

http://homestylegreen.com/81

What's earth building and why is it just as relevant today as it has been for centuries? Can you get it wet, and can you get a consent for it? These are just a couple of the questions I ask Verena Maeder, chair of the Earth Building Association of New Zealand and owner or Solid Earth.

http://www.homestylegreen.com/80

The BRANZ House Insulation Guide Fifth Edition includes waffle pod slab systems, and a concrete slab edge insulation update. I review the options.