No, wait. That sounds judgemental and unfair. Let me try again.
New Zealand houses have been designed by imbeciles.
While I can only speak for the relatively small segment of the North Island that I've seen, virtually every house I've encountered (and certainly every house on the block) features the same design elements:
Glass doors. Huge windows in every room, often floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall. There is one room in the house we're staying in that doesn't have an enormous window peering into it, and it's a tiny interior hallway. (Where we will end up huddling if NZ has the misfortune to be hit by a hurricane.)
Glass! Lovely for looking out at the ocean.
Single-pane glass.
Bone-achingly frigid during the spring when we got here, now sweat-drippingly hot.
Not to mention the joys of hearing your neighbors' alcohol-fueled party at 3 AM so well that you could recite back conversations verbatim. And the safe, happy feeling of hearing the shrilling when the volunteer fire department is called out by an air-raid style siren on a near-daily basis.
Virtually no insulation (apparently there's a mistaken belief by many that insulation will make houses hotter in the summer.)
And nary a screen to be seen on any of those enormous windows or doors- a mite strange for a country with a well-acknowledged problem with Argentinian ants and a significant population of big black houseflies.
Although apparently we're fortunate in at least one respect- one of my wife's colleagues lives in a house with all of the above, plus a lack of curtains.
(puff)
Okay, one more time. I think what I'm trying to say is...
...The people responsible for current trends in housing in New Zealand should be forced to live in their houses without the aid of electrical appliances like space heaters, air conditioners, or fans until nature takes its course.
posted
Someone recently built an 8 million dollar glass house around my area. Last time my parents checked it had not been sold and was down to under 3 million (still extremely expensive).
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Wow. That post takes me back to my time in NZ and trying to wrap my mind around some of the strange house designs I saw. I don't know what your experience personally but I also was intrigued by the overuse of huge sliding glass doors as primary, if not the only, entrance to the house.
Thanks, Sterling, for the walk down memory lane.
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As long as you don't actually live in a glass house, it is perfectly acceptable to throw them.
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Haha, just kidding. Where abouts in New Zealand do you live? It sounds like you live in a student flat! All the old houses have single pane glass and hardly any insulation but there are some community schemes in place to put insulation into some of these houses I think, to get them more energy efficient etc.
I have lived in New Zealand all of my life, so I guess I am used to it! But then I live in the sunny Bay of Plenty where that kind of house is ideal! I think New Zealanders (speaking for myself here though!) just love everything being all open and without barriers to the great outdoors! Love the summer, bring it on.
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quote:Originally posted by stacey: Haha, just kidding. Where abouts in New Zealand do you live? It sounds like you live in a student flat! All the old houses have single pane glass and hardly any insulation but there are some community schemes in place to put insulation into some of these houses I think, to get them more energy efficient etc.
Coopers Beach, about half an hour from Kaitaia. It may well be that housing in other places has received renovations that make this layout more sensible, but I sure haven't seen much sign of it around here.
quote:Originally posted by Kama: curtains can be bought
If the rental agreement my wife's colleague has is anything like our own, installing curtain rods might be out of the question.
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: As long as you don't actually live in a glass house, it is perfectly acceptable to throw them.
Actually.... According to Dimitri , that's not true. (reference at 2:46)(funny stuff, but somewhat not work safe)
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