Welcome!
Welcome to the first newsletter for 2011. This bulletin was due to go out in the first week of March, but it just didn’t seem right when the country was still in a state of shock and grief about the earthquake in Christchurch. Fortunately members of the ebode team, and our friends and families in Christchurch survived the quake relatively unharmed, although in some cases not without serious damage to property and in all cases with their lives completely disrupted. Our thoughts are with everyone who is suffering at this time.
The earthquake made our January camping holiday in a DOC campground in Northland seem a distant memory, although that too was touched with a reminder of the powerful forces of nature, when overnight a cyclone turned our seaside campground into a lakeside resort – luckily we had chosen a high spot to pitch our tent, but many caravans and campervans ended up with a metre or so of water lapping at their doorsteps, and some less sturdy tents were blown flat.
 
In view of the devastation caused recently in New Zealand and worldwide by natural events, we have changed the format of this newsletter slightly, replacing our featured home with a special on what elements of your home could help you and your family if you are affected by a natural disaster.
If there is any additional information we can help you with, please feel free to call us on 0800 my ebode (0800 693-263) or email your local ebode consultant.
In this issue:
What can make your home a safe haven in a disaster?
After the September earthquake in Christchurch, many people were interested in which structural elements of the homes affected had fared well, and which had not. After the latest quake, with even more damage, this has again been a topic of interest. In addition, many people are starting to see the value of built in ‘self sufficiency’ features that may help you through the early days of a disaster.
Regarding structural reliability, concrete slab foundations and masonry chimneys have come under scrutiny, with the NZ Wood organization advocating timber pile foundations have more structural integrity and are more easily repaired than concrete. It is important to note, however, that most of the serious damage to both concrete slabs and masonry in the September quake was to older, unreinforced systems, as outlined in a very useful report by Andrew Buchanan and Michael Newcombe of the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury, Reinforced slabs and masonry such as the super insulated Rib Raft foundations and Timbercrete walls and chimneys in ebode homes, performed well.
Notwithstanding earthquakes, the thermal massing properties of both the concrete slab and Timbercrete walls in an ebode significantly reduces the additional energy needed for heating over the life of the house, which timber pile foundations do not provide. So it’s a case of balancing performance over the life of the house with performance in extreme and unpredictable situations.
Most of the damage to foundations in the first quake was due to ground liquefaction, which is not something that can be controlled by the structure of the building – specific engineering for the local geological conditions may help, but the forces of nature are very unpredictable and in some cases it may be better to build elsewhere. This is why ebode always obtains a geotechnical report before beginning design work on a house – and if you are buying land, you may wish to consider doing this before purchasing.
Timber wall framing was also found to perform well in the first Canterbury earthquake, although the Buchanan & Newcombe report did touch on the fact that damage to linings could potentially affect the bracing in a house. We believe that the heavier linings (13mm vs the average 10mm) and wider exterior framing (150mm vs the average 90mm) used in ebode homes should generally improve their resilience in an earthquake.
The structure of your home aside, many people affected by the Christchurch earthquake found that lack of heating, power and water were the most immediate problems to overcome. While most urban ebode homes are not specifically designed to be autonomous, they have many features which may help you cope in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and can easily be upgraded to a fully autonomous home.
The Pyro Classic fire, in addition to providing efficient and low emission heating, can also be used for cooking and water heating when other services are cut off. All ebode homes have a large non-potable water storage system, and water from this can be boiled and used for drinking in emergencies. The system can also be upgraded to a potable system, either at the time of building or later. And every ebode home includes a grid connected photovoltaic electricity system, which is capable of producing enough power to run key appliances during power outages. As it is a legal requirement for all grid connected systems to shut down if there is a mains power outage, the standard PV system would require the addition of a battery backup facility in order to be used in an emergency.
We expect the issues of maintaining body and soul as well as structural stability in disasters to become a more frequent topic of concern with our clients, and are happy to discuss options with anyone looking at building a truly sustainable home.
ebode homes in development
We have some exciting projects underway in Gisborne, Kaikoura, Pukerua Bay, Brown’s Bay and Point Chevalier. With too many to feature all this time, we have picked a couple of images of the Gisborne house for you to enjoy. The Timbercrete wall and chimney were completed in February, and framing is now going up. We are on track for the owners of this sustainable home on an organic orchard to be moving in around the middle of the year.
 
Visit our facebook page or become a fan to stay updated with pictures and information about these ebode homes and more as construction progresses.
Grey water - not exactly a black & white issue
We often get asked about the differences between and benefits of various types of grey water re-use systems that we specify for ebode homes, so in this issue we decided to take a look ‘under the surface’ and help our readers get to the bottom of what can sometimes be a bit of a murky issue.
While rain water collection and re-use is reasonably straight forward, the options around grey water are, well, a bit more of a grey area. There are two types of grey water re-use systems available with an ebode home – grey water diversion and grey water recycling. Which of these systems you use (if any) is dependent on your budget, location and, again, local council rules.
A grey water diversion system collects grey water from your washing machine, bath and shower wastes, filters out any hair, lint or solid material, and then diverts the water from the sewage system (where grey water normally goes) to an irrigation system, where it is used to water lawn, trees, flowers and other non-edible plants. If you do not require the grey water for irrigation (e.g., if there is sufficient moisture in the soil due to recent rainfall), it can be manually or automatically set up to redirect the water to the sewage system.
The grey water in a diversion system is used immediately when it is produced, so it does not need to be stored, making it a relatively simple and inexpensive system.
However, there are some limitations to where it can be used – for example, the Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) encourages the use of grey water diversion systems, but may decide not to allow one if the water will be discharged within 20 metres of a water body or if the normal water table in your location is less than one metre below the ground level.
While preliminary studies conducted by the KCDC indicate that there is no harm caused by discharging grey water, and in fact it may even benefit the soil, we expect most councils to take a similarly cautious approach until more data is available over a longer period.
A grey water recycling system also collects grey water from your washing machine, bath and shower wastes, but this water is stored in a tank, allowing it to be used when it is needed – for flushing toilets and/or irrigation. Because a tank is needed to store the water, and additional filtering and chemical treatments are required to ensure the stored water does not go smelly, this is a more expensive system than grey water diversion.
While grey water recycling systems are already popular in Australia due to their low and infrequent rainfall, in most areas of New Zealand there is sufficient regular rain to maintain enough rain water for all applications. This may make the recycling of grey water seem a little redundant, as it is cheaper to collect and store rainwater than recycle grey water.
However, with uncertainty over what might happen to the level and frequency of rain here in the future, we think that grey water recycling is likely to become a more common choice – and one which we are already set up to offer to ebode customers.
ebode people
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We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce David Anstis, who is ebode’s valued Project Manager. His latest work with us was as both Builder and Project Manager on the ebode home in Westmere.
David has been building homes since the late eighties in Washington and returned home to New Zealand in 1994, initially settling in Titirangi, where he has built many homes with his company Eco Construct. David’s focus is on caring for the environment and creating healthy homes. He says this was considered rather ‘hippy like’ back in the day, but now sustainable living is becoming increasingly popular and in-demand.
David was one of the first builders in New Zealand to qualify as a Licensed Building Practitioner, and also has a Bachelors Degree in Horticultural Science. |
Congratulations
Fiona Callender, our Finance Officer recently won a silver medal with her team at the NZ Masters Hockey tournament. They were pipped by Canterbury for the gold, which Fiona admits was well deserved, especially as the match was just a week after the earthquake.
Our National Sales Manager Terry Rota and his wife Rebecca welcomed a daughter, Katherine (Kate) Diana into their family on February 25 – a little sister for Bailey and Alex. Congratulations to you all.
ebode in the news
Since our last newsletter, ebode’s work and ideas have featured in several excellent publications and also starred on 3 News.
We are delighted to have been approached by TV3 about feature piece about our urban sustainable homes, aired during the 6 o'clock news on the 6th of April. Click here to see the full article.
Our Westmere ebode was once again featured in HOME New Zealand in an article about how careful design can keep your home warm all year round with minimal energy use, and also in an in-depth story in Alive!, the Southern Cross members magazine, on the features that go into an ebode home and the benefits these provide in a living home.
Thanks for reading - from the team at ebode.
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