You’re sitting in your warm living room with the heater on. As far as you’re concerned, the temperature is perfect.
But your spouse is sitting in the corner, and they just pulled on a thick sweater. “It’s freezing. Turn up the heat, would you?”
Do they just feel the cold more?
Or is the temperature actually different where they’re sitting?
Tracking The Temperature
One of the biggest differences between an Energy Efficient Home and a standard build is temperature variability.
In an Energy Efficient Home, the temperature stays consistent no matter what room you’re in.
But in a standard build, the temperature can vary widely from room to room, as well as within a room itself.
An external wall may feel colder to the touch than an internal wall.
A corner may be 9 degrees cooler than the center of a room.
Test this for yourself. Place one hand on an interior wall. Then place a hand on an exterior wall. Notice any difference?
These temperature variations don’t just make it difficult to keep every member of your family warm and healthy. They can also cause condensation.
Which is what happened to the paint cans I stored in the corner. When warm, moist air hits a cold surface, water vapour can condense.
So why do standard builds have such variation in temperature?
And what do Energy Efficient Homes do differently?
Thermal Bridging Explained
Standard builds suffer from what’s called thermal bridging.
A thermal bridge is a highway for heat: a point where heat escapes (or cold creeps in) faster than everywhere else.
Thermal bridges can be found in walls, junctions, window edges, uninsulated corners, ceilings, and many other places.
Some materials let heat escape faster than others, so the precious warmth you’ve paid for rushes straight through and leaves a cold patch behind.
Thermal bridging can be why the corners of a room feel colder. It’s the culprit behind condensation and mould growth.
And it’s why choosing the right kind of construction is so important.
The Solution
Energy Efficient Homes are built to reduce the number and severity of thermal bridges.
Insulation wraps the building envelope: no gaps, a minimisation of weak points, and better junctions.
Prioritizing airtight construction and proper vapour control helps stop warm, damp air from reaching a cold surface, preventing condensation from forming in the first place.
A mechanical heat recovery ventilation system keeps fresh, filtered air moving evenly through the whole house, so no room gets left behind – and no moisture, either!
The result is a consistent temperature everywhere. No cold corners. No fighting over the heat pump controls. One happy family.
Talk to us today about what you need from an energy efficient home.
