Ele Ludemann: Insulation overdone

News that Building and Construction minister Chris Penk wants to roll back insulation standards, has met with some opposition:

Upgrades to insulation and glazing requirements in May 2023 were the first significant improvements to insulation standards in New Zealand in more than a decade.

According to correspondence released to RNZ under the Official Information Act, government experts told Penk the old standards were “significantly lower” than other countries with similar climates, including relevant parts of Australia, the UK, Ireland, and the US.

They told him upgrades had overwhelming support from the public and the building sector when they were brought in – and they reduced heating requirements in a new, four-bedroom home by up to 40 percent, at an estimated upfront cost increase of up to 2.8 percent.

An increase of 2.8% doesn’t sound much but:

This did not persuade Penk, who told officials he had heard from builders and developers in Tauranga and the rest of Bay of Plenty that the standard, known as H1, added $40,000- 50,000 cost to a new home and created overheating issues.

Asked about wanting to roll back H1, Penk sent a statement to RNZ saying he had asked MBIE to “urgently investigate” the cost of the changes.

“Builders frequently raise concerns with me over the new requirements within clause H1 of the Building Code that they say are adding tens of thousands of dollars onto the cost of a home. There are also frequent reports of moisture and overheating issues that are leading to increased energy usage making the requirements counter-productive,” he said.

“In the middle of a housing crisis, while Kiwis are still living in cars and emergency accommodation such as motels, it is critical that we don’t create artificial barriers through well intended but badly implemented policies.” . . .

Builders who finished a new house on our dairy farm a few months ago told us it would be the last one where they could use 4 x 2s for framing. New insulation standards would require the use of 6 x 2s.

That was the fourth house we’ve built to that design, we’ve had no complaints about cold but every now and then the staff living in it say it can get too hot.

Too hot is far better than too cold, it’s easy enough to open doors or windows to solve that problem. But if houses are more than warm enough when built to the old standards, are the new, higher requirements for insulation necessary?

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.