Be warmer and healthier in your home
Draughty, cold and damp houses make us sick. And we have a lot of them in New Zealand - over 900,000 homes have insufficient insulation and many of these are not heated properly and will have problems with damp and mildew.[1]
Three steps to a warmer, healthier, comfortable home
Did you know?
It is no co-incidence that we have such high rates of respiratory illness, especially amongst children.
- 14% of children between 2 and 14 years old, and 11% of all New Zealanders aged 15 years or older, have been diagnosed or had symptoms consistent with asthma. [2] These are some of the highest rates in the world
- During winter the temperatures of living areas and bedrooms of many New Zealand houses are well below the World Health Organisation suggested minimum of 18°C
- More than 75% of New Zealand homes have insufficient ceiling insulation and 70% where the floor could be insulated, have no underfloor insulation at all.[1]
The good news is, there are steps you can take to make your home more comfortable, warmer and healthier - and to help you make the changes you might qualify for government funding.
Three steps to a warmer, healthier, comfortable home
First - sort your house out so you can heat it properly and efficiently
- Do basic repairs and maintenance - for example fix broken windows or any holes in walls
- Stop draughts and seal gaps and cracks
- Check to see if you have any dampness in your home, work out what is causing it, and fix the problem
- Insulate your house as well as possible.
Second - develop a home heating plan
- Work out which areas of your home need to be heated
- Calculate how much heat these areas require.
Read more about developing a home heating plan
Third - work out the heating type and fuels that best suit your home
- Heat pumps are highly efficient, cheap to run and give very good heat control
- Log burners are cheap to run, put out a lot of heat and work without electricity, but have less control over heat output
- Pellet fires are cheap to run, have good heat control, but generally need electricity to work
- Flued gas heating is easy to run and the cleanest fossil fuel option
Read more about heating types and fuels that best suit your home
Notes:
[1]Clark, S.J., Jones, M. & Page, I.C. 2005. New Zealand 2005 House Condition Survey. Wellington: BRANZ.
[2] Ministry of Health. 2008. A Portrait of Health: Key results of the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
