The WHO recommends houses be kept at a minimum of 18°C to 20°C in living areas and children's bedrooms, and 16C in adults' bedrooms. Photo / Thinkstock
The WHO recommends houses be kept at a minimum of 18°C to 20°C in living areas and children's bedrooms, and 16C in adults' bedrooms. Photo / Thinkstock
Many New Zealand homes don’t meet healthy living standards. Learn the changes you can make for a drier, warmer winter at your place.
The Herald on Sunday is offering three lucky readers makeover packages worth $5,000 each to get their homes winter-ready.
An estimated two-thirds of New Zealand homes do not meet global guidelines for healthy living.
The World Health Organisation recommends houses be kept at a minimum of 18°C to 20°C in living areas and children's bedrooms, and 16°C in adults' bedrooms.
But EECA says many New Zealand families are facing a winter in homes that fail to meet that standard.
The authority says there are simple steps that can make a home more comfortable over the next few months regardless of the condition of the property or how much money you can afford to spend.
EECA adviser Christian Hoerning said there are four basic things people can do to improve their homes.
Number one is insulating. Good, well-installed insulation makes any house easier to heat. If there is already insulation in place, check it is in good condition and that there are no gaps as insulation degrades over time.
Ceiling insulation should be your first stop, followed by underfloor.
Households with children and a Community Services Card may qualify for free insulation through the Warm Up New Zealand scheme, otherwise Auckland houseowners can take out a loan they repay through rates.
Next, check for any sources of dampness, particularly beneath the floor. Go under the house and look for anything growing.
"It could be mould, plants, moss. If there's a musty smell, that's a sign, too, that there's too much moisture in the ground."
Pinpointing and stopping the source of the moisture - such as a dripping pipe - will make a big difference to how the house feels. If it is naturally occurring moisture, use a layer of plastic over the ground as a barrier.
It is also important to get rid of any moisture generated inside the house. Get extractor fans that vent outside for the kitchen and bathroom, and air the house every day by leaving a bedroom window open slightly while you are out of the house.
Once you have addressed those three issues, you can look at the heating.
Hoerning said rooms that are used regularly should have an efficient fixed-heat source, such as a heat pump or gas heater. It is important to avoid unflued gas heaters as they expel a lot of moisture.
A warm, dry, healthy house is especially important for households with small children or elderly people. Photo / Thinkstock
Although heat pumps are more efficient, many people who install them do not find their power bills drop a lot because they end up heating their home much more than they did previously.
For every unit of heat produced, a heat pump will cost you 6.5c, compared to a plug-in electric heater's 21c. Every hour, a heat pump costs about 10c less to run than a fan heater and generates more heat. Heating is about a third of your power bill - the average household spent $2,030 on power last year.
Victoria University professor of public health Philippa Howden-Chapman said all houses built before 1990 would need some work to bring insulation to modern standards. Those more than 40 years old might have none at all.
A warm, dry, healthy house was especially important for households with small children or elderly people, she said.
"Children are particularly vulnerable. If they start out in a house that is damp, cold and mouldy they're more likely to develop asthma. Childhood asthma can go on to become chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. That's a very nasty disease to have."
A house that is dry and insulated is much easier to heat and will hold on to much more of the heat created within it. That is more important to consumers as power prices rise, she said. The price of a unit of electricity increased from an average 14.6c in 2007 to 27.2c in 2014, three times the rate of inflation.
"People don't really think about how cold air moves around a house. People spend a lot of time trying to work out how to run their car more efficiently but they don't think as much about how to keep their houses warm and dry."
