Breath of fresh air: Join our free webinar with Katheren Leitner to discover the impact indoor air quality has on our health.

7-8pm, Thur 9 May. Find out more & register HERE.

eHaus News // Summer Edit

In eHaus News by eHaus Admin / Feb 23, 2023

Our thoughts go out to our friends throughout New Zealand who have been impacted by the recent devastating floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. Nothing can take away the heartache of loss. It’s a timely reminder to us about the force of nature.

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01. The Great Gingerbread Haus-off
02. Join us for the eHaus Webinar
03. Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation and Covid-19
04. Growing interest in Aotearoa for a healthy home
05. MBIE changes to the building code
06. Watch The Gist to see how an eHaus stays a constant temperature all year
07. eHaus Retrofit
08. Impact of healthy buildings

In December we challenged our eHaus team of builders and designers to create the best Gingerbread Haus with a Passive House twist. We were blown away by the creativity of their designs!

Thank you to everyone who voted for the fantastic gingerbread houses, and well done to all the entries for your creative spirit during the festive season. Congratulations to Jason Macquet at Mac Architecture for being the voter's grand winner! Highly commended went to eHaus Waikato, First Light Studio Ltd and Hiberna Ltd.

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Thinking of building?
This free webinar ‘Building the Passive House Way’ is not to be missed! The eHaus difference lies at the very heart of our homes, and we invite you to learn about the mechanics of these healthy, comfy, high performing homes and the eHaus process.
We will explain the key Passive House principles and how these are applied to the design and build process, along with the incredible health and comfort benefits you can expect from your eHaus. There will be a Q&A session at the end so come prepared to ask questions and hear from our experts.

Wednesday March 22, 7-8pm
To register for this free webinar, click below.

One of our Wellington eHaus homeowners recently contacted us with a question regarding Covid-19 transmission and how does the MHRV impact on this in an eHaus? Basically, asking the question, is an MHRV a good thing? The simple answer is yes, and a recent specific study in the UK and Europe adds a bit more as to the reasons why. A passive house’s mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) system should help reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission: it’s like having windows open all the time but with no draughts and no significant heat loss.

Covid-19 mostly spreads where people are close to each other, especially in poorly ventilated indoor spaces. The UK government, which has just released a video about this, saying that a fresh air supply to a room reduces the Covid-19 risk by over 70%.

The Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) has recently updated its advice. It states that when a ventilation system is on it can reduce the concentration of virus-containing particles breathed out by an infected person. A Passivhaus MVHR system is on all the time and provides a continuous supply of 100% fresh air throughout the house.

By the way, if you need replacement filters for your Zehender MHRV system we stock them here at 5Merchants or join our filter replacement service by emailing admin@ehaus.co.nz

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Our friends at The Superhome Movement continue to see increased interest in their open homes. Recent tours over one weekend have been seeing 5,000 visits to the homes. With covid interrupting everyone’s lives, there were still 1,000 visits to the 2021 Superhome tour over two days.

This tells us there is a growing interest in ‘what really is a healthy home?’ How does that impact on us, our family, our environment and our country? In the immediate future, we will see more changes in our industry and more discussions at government level about how we are building here in NZ, resulting in changes that will see us building more effectively and responsibly. Bring it on, we say!

Since 2021 MBIE have been working with the design and construction industry to transition to higher performance requirements for new buildings. eHaus have been participants in the consultation process and we will continue to provide information gathered from many of the homes that have been built across the country. The upgrades to the H1 section of the building code will be implemented by 1 May this year. Some of the new requirements are insulation in floors, more insulation in the roof along with the use of thermally broken aluminium joinery as a minimum. We are excited to see this significant step in the right direction and are expectant that in a few more years the building science principles that we adopted back in 2010 will become the norm for everyone. You can read more on this topic on the MBIE website

PS. If you don’t want your new home to be out of date within a few years, choose an eHaus.

We are always reminded of the degree of temperatures when we are in the middle of summer. With 30-degree heat that we experience, it can be hard to keep cool unless we have unlimited access to a pool. In eHaus homes, it not only stays a constant temperature in winter, but also in summer, as the temperature is controlled to keep the home nice and cool (relative to the outside temperature). Modelling the home to keep it cool in summer is just as important as keeping it warm in winter. We talk about this in The Gist, watch via the button below!

eHaus has traditionally designed and built new homes, but we also offer Retro fit as another option. If you have a home that you really love, or the location would never be better elsewhere, why not consider retro fitting it to an eHaus standard or passive house? It is an option that is rarely explored but we are mindful that sections can be harder to find these days. If this is you, why not consider this as an option? Give us a call on 0800 434 287 to discuss.

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There is always research being conducted on the health and wellbeing of people and here is one that caught our eye. The impact of living in a healthy environment and the result on health is astounding.

Have a read of the full article here.