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"Where I Live"


MacabreEternal

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Weather perception is stupid. We had our first warm night of the season last night (summer starts today). It was a pleasant day yesterday it peaked at 32C with light winds about 3pm. At 1am it was still 15C and according to the news, people were struggling to sleep because of the warmth. Neither of those temps are extreme for this area and usually we'd have got days and nights like this back in October.

But only about 2 weeks ago we were getting day time max temps of 15C and people were reaching for long sleeves, long pants, jackets, even beanies because it was cold and they needed the warmth. Yet throw the same cold day time temps at people when they would normally be asleep and suddenly it's hot and a struggle to sleep.

 

3 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

When I was in Australia for 5 weeks Jan '17 I think there were more days that got above 100°F/37°C than not, and to me that's just insane. I'm sure the whole country can't be like that but Sydney summers are not for me.

You're right, up in northern Queensland and in Western Australia it's a much more barmy 45C for ten day periods with peaks up around 48C or 49C. If Darwin drops below 25C in winter the locals are reaching for the jackets and scarves.

 

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So you're saying Cairns and Darwin are even worse?!? I had heard that Perth was a bit hotter, but I had just assumed (erroneously it seems) that the northeast coast of Queensland might be a wee bit cooler. What about down Melbourne & Adelaide way on the southern coast, do they get a break from the heat?

I guess New Zealand for whatever reason doesn't get nearly as hot in the summer, don't think it goes much above 80°F in Auckland most years. But I have no desire to move there no matter how many times my M-i-L suggests it (even though she herself lives in Sydney now). It's been 4 years since I've been down there now so I will have to go back down to visit all the Anzacs at some point if restrictions are ever lifted so the boy's grandparents and coussies can get another glimpse of him before he's fully grown. He's almost 8 now and they're all so chuffed that his once golden blonde hair has changed into auburn now just like his mum.

I'd like to go in late fall or winter this time so maybe I can finally get someone to take me to see a rugby game, but they all keep insisting that I wouldn't want to come in winter. They can't seem to understand that their idea of winter sounds like a lovely spring day to me. Thing is now that he's in school the only time he gets an extended break from school longer than a week is between years in July & August so I don't have any choice but to go in winter.  I've been down in Dec/Jan, April/May, Oct/Nov and the NZ weather didn't really seem to me like it changed all that much from one visit to the next anyway.

Much cheaper for us to fly into Sydney and then get a short-hopper over to Auckland and back at some point and then return home from Sydney again. It's a pain in the ass traveling internationally with a little kid and I'll have to renew the passports which expire this year but anything beats the time my mother-in law invited herself to come and stay with us for 3 weeks in June 2018, I was ready to strangle her after about 3 days. I only tolerate her because she's the boy's grandmother and he's the only child of her only child, so she sees him as all she has left now since she lost her daughter. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to answer her calls and messages in hopes she would maybe take a hint. I genuinely like all the rest of his Kiwi rellies on her ex-husband's side but unfortunately she's the one who regularly reaches out to keep in touch. Just my luck.

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It all depends. Darwin's winters rarely get below mid 20's, but their wet season is summer and while they might reach 40's it's a heat influenced but the fact that cyclones could be forming whenever they blink their eyes. South down towards the big rock and it gets very warm with desert winds and a very hot interior.

Cairns is beautiful, again it can get hot but they also have rain forests close by so there is humidity and often moisture. They also suffer a bit from the threat of cyclones during their warm season. But places like Emerald and Mt Isa usually get hotter because they have less rain and are more internal to the country's hot spots.

Perth and WA are different again. Perth is warmer on average but because they so far south they do get low temps during the winter, they've even had snow a few times since records began. But when it's hot it's 10 day stretches of 40+, and it's dry, very dry, so you don't tend to sweat as much, therefore you don't heat up as much. Up north of WA, Broome, Tom Price, Halls Gap, it's more like Darwin but with temps reach into the 50's sometimes.

Adelaide has it's fair share of warm weather but it's much warmer in regional areas which like WA and NT are desert and very remote. South Australia's weather it more variable and their weather follows across (not quite directly) across the middle, through the likes of Broken Hill etc towards Sydney.

Victoria is kind of split. Up near the SA border it's quite a bit warmer on average as the weather passes from SA to NSW, but Victoria is split by a huge mountain range and south of that while temps still often get up into the mid 40's (with humidity) into the summer, there isn't as many 40+ days as on the other side of the ranges. But south of the ranges we also get a lot more frosts and cold weather in the winter.

And Tasmania is on a par with Alaska :)

July/August would be a good time to visit. If you get to travel around the country I doubt you'll find too many temps over 40, and in the south you'll still get snow. The only place that might be really hot is the Rock, but since you can no longer climb the rock it's not really that much of a tourist attraction.

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Adelaide seems to get massive heat waves with temperatures close to 40s when rest of country is in high 20s.  

Melbourne can be unbearable too - I've been there when it's been high 30s and massive humidity.  Literally only respite was cinemas or shopping malls.

This is one of many reasons I live in Tasmania.   And even Tassie summers with occasional high 20s and low 30s are too hot for me.

We just had 2 days with temps around 27-28 - yuck.  Luckily temperature has just dropped to very low 20s and even high teens!  I wore a jacket to work today!

 

If I was rich I would live in Europe during Aussie summers and Tasmania during European summers.

 

 

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Adelaide seems to get extremes, frosts in winter and heatwaves in summer, but not constantly either.

Outside of Melbourne it doesn't seem as hot but it's definitely the humidity that kills the heat. We had 31 the other day and then just before the storm arrived it became sticky and warm, then it absolutely hammered down for 40 minutes, remained dark until 8pm and the sun came out again and everything steamed up. I was a shitty day, I'd much rather 40 degree that hot steamy rain.

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45 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Outside of Melbourne it doesn't seem as hot 

 

Cities are terrible heat sinks as smog and lack of foliage means heat is trapped.  Literally anywhere with lots of concrete has temperatures 5 degrees or more higher than even a paddock with just grass.

And with new developments having packed one next to another with virtually no greenery, the temperatures are skyrocketing 

Hence some parts of western Sydney had temperatures at 52 degrees last summer! 

 

The Aussie dream is literally to create hell on earth.

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They create hell inside the house too. 30 years ago they used copper pipe in the wall to run water around the house. These days they use plastic pipe and run it through the roof along the shortest path. It's good for the plumbers pocket because they still charge like a wounded bull, but it's fucking terrible in the Summer.

Last week when the temp was only 31 during the day, at 6pm just before the storm hit, the water in our kitchen, the furthest point from where the water enters the house was so hot I couldn't put my hand under it. I usually waste (use alternatively) 4 litres of cold water waiting for the kitchen taps to get hot enough to do dishes. The other day I nearly filled both sinks, approx 9 litres before the cold water tap was giving me cold water.

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44 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

They create hell inside the house too. 30 years ago they used copper pipe in the wall to run water around the house. These days they use plastic pipe and run it through the roof along the shortest path. It's good for the plumbers pocket because they still charge like a wounded bull, but it's fucking terrible in the Summer.

Last week when the temp was only 31 during the day, at 6pm just before the storm hit, the water in our kitchen, the furthest point from where the water enters the house was so hot I couldn't put my hand under it. I usually waste (use alternatively) 4 litres of cold water waiting for the kitchen taps to get hot enough to do dishes. The other day I nearly filled both sinks, approx 9 litres before the cold water tap was giving me cold water.

 

Whoa that's crazy.  I've noticed the water in this new house does run much hotter than in the old 1980s build with it's copper pipes.

 

It's absolutely mindboggling that these new "energy efficient" houses are completely the opposite.  

 

 

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Even on a day like today it's only 26 degrees but the water is probably as warm as you'd want it for a baby's bath. It would be good if you could run without a hot water heater just by running pipes through the hot roof cavity, but while the water is bloody hot it's not consistent enough to rely on as hot water. I've often wondered how many people in newer houses are being environmentally conscious while at the same time wasting litres of water waiting for it to cool in the summer and waiting for ages for it to warm in the winter.

Most of the time my wife does it she watches water go down the sink until it's at her desired temp, but I grew up on tank water and not watching it go down the sink was burnt into my brain at a very young age.

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I also don't get the "aluminium foil" they wrap houses in as part of environmental "energy efficiency".  The result is the house doesn't breath and you need air conditioning and mechanical air ducting to stop excess condensation and mould.

So you spend thousands more on reverse cycle air conditioning and ducting which also contributes to energy usage which in Australia is mainly coal!

Oh and half the rooms don't have opening windows!  Cue more air conditioner usage!

And they don't put in fly screens anymore either on the few windows that do open (we had them installed).

And the windows are often small "machine gun bunker slits" and you have to turn the lights on in broad daylight like in my kitchen.

 

I hate modern Australian houses - overpriced badly built garbage designed by retards.  I miss my well built 1980s brick veneer house.

 

I had actually read one article where they called Australian houses "glorified tents".

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I have no idea what difference it makes practically but when my house was built I put insulation batts in all the external walls. The builder was against it, he made all sorts of claims that if there was any problems he would be responsible etc, but I told him once the brick work was done I'd do the batts and I wasn't letting him plaster the walls without it. I don't really know if I have saved any money, or made heating and cooling better but I'm glad I did it.

I think years and years of boosting the building industry through government grants and home owner grants, then through schemes to employ apprentices etc have made the building industry here very lazy, many builders cut lots of corners they think wont be inspected, many inspectors don't do their jobs properly and design laws are so lax compared to what they used to be that they get away with building tents.

 

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Volume builders build volume houses. Its that simple. We have built twice now, and my advice is to go through a private builder. It will cost more but you can get whatever you want. It will cost more and take longer but its well worth it in my opinion. 

We have discussed moving from Melbourne at some point but honestly, Sydney is a massive shit-hole, Queensland too hot, Adelaide is..well... Adelaide, Perth I have never been to (might be an option but its virtually another country that far away?) and Tasmania is beautiful but far too small and far too fucken cold - even for a guy from Melbourne lol.

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Our builder wasn't even a volume builder, they can't afford to be a volume builder when they have to travel 40 minutes between builds and can't have the same tradesman work multiple sites at a time. The building industry is just shit in this country.

I could probably live anywhere in this country if I tried, but my problem is that anywhere I have lived it hasn't take that long to stop seeing the beauty of the place. I love Perth, but if I lived there I'd have to get a job to pay the bills, that alone wouldn't stop me seeing the beauty of the place but it would certainly help.

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That's crazy. Here in the northeastern US it gets cold so we can't even pass inspection unless we have at least R-15 in the walls and R-30 in the attic. My current house was bulit over 150 years ago and as we've opened the walls we see that it's never had any insulation. We've passed electric already but we still need to pass rough plumbing and framing before we can insulate and close everything up. So we've been fucking freezing our asses off in here since the oil burner blew up a few weeks ago. We slapped up some 240V electric heaters on some of the walls and then put in a 50,000 BTU pellet stove which goes 'round the clock, but it barely keeps it up to a livable temp in here because most of the heat just goes right out without any insulation in the walls. Around where we framed out for all the new larger windows there's just a thin layer of plywood and a thin layer of vinyl siding between us and the cold. You can feel the frigid air draft when you stand near the windows. Bathroom is the worst, it's below 50°F (10°C) in there most mornings. Not sure what benefit insulation provides in a hot climate like yours but I reckon it couldn't hurt, right?

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It supposedly keeps the heat out in summer and in, in the winter, how well it does it I don't know but scientists have been saying it works for decades so for such a small cost I believe them. I know there is a hell of a difference between the roof cavity and the rooms below and there is only insulation and wall plaster separating them. I was up in the roof the other day running some cables for security cameras and it was mid 20's outside but the roof space was so hot the filthy dust and old bushfire ash was clinging to my sweat when I got out. So I'm going with insulation does something!

 

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15 hours ago, KillaKukumba said:

It supposedly keeps the heat out in summer and in, in the winter, how well it does it I don't know but scientists have been saying it works for decades so for such a small cost I believe them. I know there is a hell of a difference between the roof cavity and the rooms below and there is only insulation and wall plaster separating them. I was up in the roof the other day running some cables for security cameras and it was mid 20's outside but the roof space was so hot the filthy dust and old bushfire ash was clinging to my sweat when I got out. So I'm going with insulation does something!

 

 

We have a heat transfer system so hot air from roof gets vented into the house via the air circulation system.  This is in addition to two heat pumps (house to spread out for 1 to work effectively).

 

Insulation is good.  We definitely noticed an improvement in temperatures when we put it into our old house.  

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One thing that really shits me is that this house is build without eaves. I was doubtful when I chose this design that not having eaves was the best idea and I wish I'd listened to those doubts. I've got powered roof fans at the high points of the roof which do extract heat, but they still don't cool the roof space down that much. Having eaves wouldn't solve the heat issues but it would go a ways to improving it.

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31 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

One thing that really shits me is that this house is build without eaves. I was doubtful when I chose this design that not having eaves was the best idea and I wish I'd listened to those doubts. I've got powered roof fans at the high points of the roof which do extract heat, but they still don't cool the roof space down that much. Having eaves wouldn't solve the heat issues but it would go a ways to improving it.

 

Opening in eaves would allow the house to "breath" thus leading to less condensation and things like mould.  So would air vents in the walls which modern houses also don't have.

 

I stayed in a modern holiday unit without any venting.  The following morning all the clothes and bed sheets and even curtains were damp due to condensation.

 

Australia is well and truly a lunatic society and our building "standards" merely reflect that.

 

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We only have issues with condensation in the rooms that face south during the winter, but you're right it makes sense to have them. I think the guy that built this house decided that he'd left so many gaps, holes, crevices and fuck ups in this house that it was going to breath just fine without eaves, or maybe it's just bad building.

This one is a steel framed house to so there is all sort of gaps and things I never expected. The couple down the road, essentially our neighbours but there's 5 fences between us and I couldn't hear them if they yelled, have a steel frame house from the same builder and the wife hates it with a vengeance. Makes too much noise as it expands, makes too much noise as it contracts, she's half deaf and refuses to wear her hearing aid around the house yet she can hear the house move in the weather. I think she wanted to thump me the day I told her I don't even hear such noises these days.

 

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