“This house changed our lives. It’s our forever home,” says proud owner Travis Power. Built on a remediated Mr Fluffy block, Mr Power’s Waramanga Rammed Earth House is a sustainable haven, designed to be his family’s dream home.
The 2018 winner of the HIA Australia GreenSmart Home of the Year Award, the home is his pride and joy.
“We designed it from the very get-go to be a sustainable house with good solar orientation, meaning our living areas face the north to maximise the winter sun. That’s super important,” Mr Power said.
“It’s super well insulated, runs on a big solar panel and battery, and the house is completely energy positive with no gas.”
Very much engaged with the building process, Mr Power said he loved getting to be a part of it and being on site regularly was exactly what he wanted, while also learning as much as he could.
Designed by Architecture Republic and built by 360 Building Solutions, an ACT building company renowned for their sustainable homes, the home was built with recycled building materials including bricks and timber, and rammed earth for the inside walls.
Rammed earth is a sustainable, ancient building method that uses a mixture of gravel, sand, silt, and clay to form plat panelled walls.
“My favourite thing about this home is for sure the temperature. In the middle of winter, the house doesn’t get below 19 degrees Celsius, and it’s still cool in the summer,” Mr Power said.
“I’ve always been interested in sustainable houses, but my main driver for this house was an interest in ways you can make a house much more comfortable to live in. Before we built this home we lived in standard ‘70s houses that were leaky – even with heating!”
Mr Power said his interest in sustainability drove him to researching and visiting sustainable homes across Canberra to find out what type of house he wanted to build.
While there are many reasons to build a sustainable home, one significant motive is to save money.
“Sustainable homes aren’t necessarily more expensive, they’re just built different, but they’re vastly cheaper to live in,” he said.
“I’m saving thousands on my energy bills. It’s pretty much neutral to heat or cool the home, and before, I was spending thousands a year on heating and cooling.”
Mr Power’s advice for someone wanting to build a sustainable home is to make sure you have a few of the fundamentals right.
He said to optimise your northern orientation to make the most of the winter sun, install really good insulation, and make sure the roof is airtight – a lot of houses can be draughty, so that makes a big difference.
“The upfront costs aren’t high, and you will save in the long run,” he said.
“It’s such a great house and we love living here.”
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