With all the scaffolding still up it is difficult to see the end result of the cladding and work hasn’t finished yet so we will have to be a bit more patient. More on the selection of our cladding later. With the cedar fascia boards up you can however see the colour combination coming to life.
Almost all windows are in now.
The preferred option for windows was timber thermally broken windows and double low-e glazing. Triple glazing would be an overkill in my opinion with the climate in Northland. The windows are a fairly big chunk out of the budget and the timber option was out of reach to keep the design within budget. We decided to choose low-e argon filled double glazing. Compared to single glazing double glazing reduces heat loss with 55% and the low-e argon gas option brings it down to 72%. To keep it affordable we chose the standard aluminium frames which seem to have a 95% market share here but they are not thermally broken. It feels like a very painful compromise combining high spec glazing with low spec framing and not sure if we will regret this decision. I was surprised when researching different window glazing and frame options how little data and specifications are available for the different options and different sales people couldn’t answers my questions on the values and specs (R or U-values) of the windows I ordered. As most houses here still have single glazing looks like most people are just happy to go for double glazing without asking too many questions.
The large slider doors on the North necessary to let the winter sun in and give access to the deck.
Living room window
Bedroom windows
Amazing how many wires you can have for one bed light switch. When are we going to have wireless power?
Kids in a small house can always find smaller spaces to play in.
Always welcome to visit us and stay but this will be your sleeping space. You might get lucky as we might have a spare empty bedroom as the kids are claiming the loft to be their bedroom.
One thought on “Cladding, cedar and windows”
Hi Margriet! It’s good to see the house evolving! The views through the double glazed windows are amazing, they will be even nicer without the scaffolding… Your point on the alu frames is a very good one, it’s a shame that the Kiwi suppliers don’t offer the full and consistent package double glazing plus thermally broken frame at a reasonable price. Although they would also need to train people to install them correctly, without the 5mm gap between the frame and the wall that a few new building have! Thanks a lot for sharing your building experience 🙂