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RELATED: Small house with big design ideas
From a historic cottage with a green conversion, to a radical home built from waste products – there are plenty of ideas to inspire at this year’s Sustainable House Day.
Five Warrnambool and district homes will open their doors to the public on Sunday to showcase their green features as part of the national event.
The day aims to inspire people to live more sustainably and use good design and environmentally-friendly products to lower bills, live more comfortably and reduce their environmental footprint.
Warrnambool Environmental Action Group member and Live Architecture’s Fiona Golding said the five houses would showcase off-the-grid living, innovative and recycled building products and smart building designs.
“We’ve got some very different homes to previous years,” she said.
“It’s good having local home owners open their homes and show what they’ve done.
“A lot of the ideas are affordable and show that it’s not always about building a brand new house, either.”
For the first time this year, two homes in Warrnambool’s Woollen Mill estate, including the converted administration building, will be on show.
Ms Golding said The Mill was a modern, sustainable village with its own community garden and the converted administration area showed the merit of giving new life to old buildings.
An early 1900s Henna Street cottage will show how hydronic heating can be retrofitted to provide constant and allergy-free heating.
Ms Golding said although renovations to the home were still ongoing, that showed how a staged approach could work towards a more sustainable home.
On the more radical end of the spectrum, the Cudgee Earthship has transformed waste products into building materials to achieve a highly thermal efficient home.
Earthship homes are designed as closed loop systems, providing all their own energy and water needs and processing all wastes on site by using natural systems.
The design allows for natural heating and cooling and supports food production. Demonstrations of how to build a tyre wall will be a highlight on the day, as well as a talk on the alternative building materials and systems being used.
Homes open to the public for Sustainable House Day from 10am to 4pm on Sunday are:
- The Woollen Mill House, 6 Milloo Place, Warrnambool.
- Mill House 2, 13 Jedburgh Way, Warrnambool.
- Hydronic Cottage, 8 Henna Street, Warrnambool.
- Tiny House, 66 Atkinsons Lane, Illowa.
- Cudgee Earthship, Lot 6 Hallowells Road, Cudgee.
Entry is by gold coin donation.