- 2 days ago
Grand Designs Australia - Season 12 Episode 10 -
Yarraville Pigeon
Yarraville Pigeon
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😹
FunTranscript
00:00Go on to the days of the couch potato, these days it's all about exercise and
00:12how much we eat and drink and sleep. But there's one frontier that remains
00:18unexplored, where and how we live. So what if you wanted to build Australia's
00:27healthiest home right in the heart of the big smoke? What would that even entail?
00:57So what are your thoughts on these ones here? It looks like they've just got a fancy like
01:14headpiece on. They feel like they can't see very much. Pigeon shows aren't typically where
01:22you'd find builder Matt Carlin and marketing manager Nicole Pearce. Is that just their
01:27feathers or that's their body? I don't know, because see how this one's like... Or maybe
01:29it's like a mating thing? Do we like pigeons? Do you like pigeons? Nah, I wouldn't say they're
01:40my favourite animal, actually I don't like them at all. Pigeons are weird. Put it this way,
01:46don't go to the zoo to see a pigeon. No. But that didn't stop them spending $750,000 four
01:58years back buying a ramshackled old pigeon racing clubhouse in Yarraville in Melbourne's inner
02:04west. As you can see it's definitely not up to liveable standards, not enough windows or
02:09anything like that. The shed's cooked, it needs to go. It's a small block but it's in a really
02:15great location. There's beautiful parks. It's close to the city and it's close to family
02:21where we've grown up in Williamstown. On a super tight 191 square metre block, the site
02:28was exactly what they'd been looking for, except for one giant drawback. Unfortunately there's
02:35a lot of industry around. We've got the freeways, we've got the ports, there's also existing
02:41refineries. So it is one of the worst suburbs of air quality in Australia.
02:49It's been a lifelong problem for Matt, who suffers from chronic allergies and asthma.
02:54So whilst I had a pretty good childhood, like I was a kid that did have asthma. I remember
03:01being young. I was on the nebuliser. There's times where I'd have a random asthma attack.
03:06Mum and Dad would take me to the children's hospital. As I've grown older, I've developed
03:10probably a lot more hay fever and allergies. I feel like I live off antihistamines.
03:16Happy day. But it's also been a huge motivator. When he's not building houses, he's a part-time
03:28caster, taking the building industry to task and exploring ways to build healthier homes.
03:33I'm going to say to you, I have a huge issue with some trades charge for what they're doing.
03:37We're working out what a trade should work. The issues with building in Australia is essentially
03:44we're building tents, glorified tents, that are cheap, poorly constructed. The goal is to
03:50be responsible. I think he's building an energy efficient, a comfortable, healthy, resilient,
03:55durable building that is essentially going to be the healthiest home that we can possibly
04:01build. Arguably maybe the healthiest home in Australia.
04:05Did he say the healthiest home in Australia? That's a big call.
04:11I was expecting to see a pigeon racing clubhouse right here. It's gone. You couldn't keep any
04:23of it? No, it's gone. It was unlivable. It was falling apart. Structurally not sound.
04:29But we managed to, when we demolished it, able to recycle most of the stuff through timber
04:32and stuff. So that will get repurposed elsewhere. In the local community, our friends and family,
04:37it's always going to be affectionately known as Pigeon House. Is that a good thing for
04:41you guys? We're happy with it. We've leant into it a little bit with the design as well.
04:46So double storey, big large circle windows, pitched roof. So we're still paying some homage
04:53to the pigeon racing club. So apart from being modelled somewhat on a pigeon house, what's
04:59going to make it special? We're building a passive house. So we are going for the ultimate
05:04form of building what we could, the gold sticker. But it is a very healthy house. We're not
05:09doing just the structure and things like that. We're going for inside materials. We're trying
05:13to be as healthy as we possibly can. Okay. So passive house and all of those sustainability
05:17principles right down through every dimension. Yeah, we've looked at everything I would say
05:21from energy to water to the materials that are going to the building, everything. I do want
05:26to get Australia's most airtight house. Yeah. I know that sits at about 0.1 hour exchange. Some
05:31are officially on the books. I'd love to break that. Oh, I just heard a challenge being thrown
05:36down. There's a challenge. And it's going to be tough. And the results of the improvement on that
05:42doesn't really change much the building at such a small detail. But I would love to be like, hey,
05:46I got that to that. It sounds like that you're in a real crusade. There's a lot of negativity around
05:51building at the moment. Like, let's be positive. Like, every Australian wants to be in a healthy,
05:55comfortable house. But we want to prove that's possible. If we design our houses correctly
05:59and orientate our houses correctly to get that free sun, and we build airtight and we remove
06:05those air leakages, our heating cooling bills go down, our comfort goes up. So it's just taking
06:09pride in what we build. Designed by Alterico Architects, this three-bedroom, two-story home gives
06:17a nod to the old pigeon shed on the outside while packed with Scandinavian and Japanese
06:22design influences inside. Neutral tones and clean lines throughout with a bright white concrete
06:29slab on the ground floor. But the key driver of this design is not how it looks, but how
06:36it operates, invoking passive house design principles developed in Europe in the late 1980s for maximum
06:43energy efficiency. With features including solar panels, water recycling, air filtering, triple
06:50glazed windows and sustainable timber throughout. The insulation will be amped up and the walls
06:57wrapped inside and out to create a continuous thermal envelope which will keep the house at
07:02a year-round 20 to 25 degrees Celsius without the need for heating or cooling.
07:09For a relatively simple design, it'll be an environmental powerhouse.
07:15Now that all sounds great, but it also sounds like the main reason people don't do this is
07:19because that becomes very expensive.
07:23Building is expensive. Like, we're in a climate where building is...
07:24That's a yes.
07:25Yeah, of course it is. It's kind of like you're taking a pretty ordinary sedan and you're super
07:29charging it.
07:30Yeah, well, if you're going to do it, you do it properly. So for me, like, it's protecting
07:34the structure from water. So, like, I'm all about wrapping the outside correctly and, like,
07:37I can't wrap a birthday present from Nicole, but I can wrap a house. Like, it's those things
07:41that, like, I want to really get into. That's what I'm more excited about.
07:45So what is all this going to cost you?
07:47We are looking at $950,000.
07:50If you'd said that just with an ordinary house on the scale of the site that I'm standing on,
07:55I'd say probably a good outcome for that.
07:57But with all the high spec you're going for, I'm already going to...I'm starting to shake
08:01at the knees a little bit.
08:04And if you go over the budget?
08:06I can't go over budget, like...
08:07Okay. It's a hard line.
08:08It's going to be looked pretty bad as a builder going over budget for your own house. Like,
08:12that's what we've allocated. That's what we can afford or are willing to spend on it.
08:15I understand that things can go wrong, so there is a contingency. And look, we'd love
08:18to do it for under a million.
08:20How long is this going to take?
08:2112 months, we're hoping for.
08:24You actually stumbled when you said 12 months. Like, I don't actually believe that number myself.
08:28Yes, I'm going to be the one that's sitting there being like, okay, where are we up to?
08:33What's happening? What's happening next? We're a bit behind on this bit.
08:37But it is going to be treated as if it's one of Matt's projects.
08:40So, we think that we're going to be able to stick to that timeline.
08:43You have an amazing project you've described here. Very ambitious in a very tight little
08:48parcel of land here. You've got a lot to squeeze in. I can't wait to see how you pull
08:53this off. Same here. Yeah.
09:00Matt's setting the bar pretty high for himself. And with health and the environment as the
09:05key motivators, it's no wonder.
09:08But there's a reason why more of us don't build this way. It's a lot of money to put towards
09:14how the house functions, rather than how it looks. Not to mention that we're a mostly temperate
09:20climate here in Australia, and throwing the windows and doors open has become something
09:24of a national pastime. So, while this may become Australia's healthiest house, will it be something
09:32that will inspire others to follow suit, or just a curious experiment? Because I'm not
09:38sure, bird box living is for everyone.
09:51Before Matt and his team can start building up, they've got to go down.
09:55I don't know if that's wet. I don't know if it's wet. I think it's just the clay.
10:00Digging a hole for the 5,000 litre recycled rainwater tank for the loos, laundry and garden.
10:09And while the 195 square metre site might be cleared, below ground, it's anything but.
10:14There's a rock there. That's a rock there too. There's one rock there and one there and I'm
10:25hoping they're two separate ones. Shit. It's going to be slow going, isn't it?
10:37I knew we should have brought the bigger machine.
10:40Due to the size, we just don't have the ability to get a big machine. We had a big machine,
10:44and I'd just be able to scoop them all out. So size of the site does make it a lot harder
10:49to get bigger rocks out like this.
10:59Shit. No, it went in. That's not the big one either. No, I know.
11:03If the digger can't lift them out, here's a novel idea.
11:13Oh, there you go. And there's a lot more where that came from.
11:26Four slow-going weeks on, with the small digger eventually clearing the rocks,
11:32the rainwater tanks in the ground and 42 cubic metres of concrete are going down for the slab.
11:40But this isn't any old concrete.
11:43As a globe, we use enough concrete per week to build a whole of Manhattan.
11:47There's a lot of concrete. And concrete is one of the biggest greenhouse gas emissions products in the world.
11:53Like, it counts about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. I think only gas and coal are bigger.
11:58So the whole thing is we want to improve in that area.
12:03You can see they're like in the corner working out like their base.
12:06For this, we're using an eco-packed concrete, which is reducing the amount of carbon in the concrete by 70%.
12:12It uses things like fly ash and slag and other coal by-products.
12:16It's usually a little bit more expensive, but my thing in five to six years,
12:20this should be just standard concrete mix.
12:23There you are. Happy days.
12:26Two weeks later, with their eco-slabs set, the timber walls can go up.
12:40But first, they need to be wrapped in a waterproof membrane to protect the thermal insulation,
12:45help with air-tightness and create a moisture barrier to stop wood decay.
12:50That is slippery.
12:52For a high-tech home, there's a lot of low-tech cutting and sticking.
12:58Well, there would be if it wasn't so wet.
13:02I think it actually has to be really dry.
13:06That's not... No, that's not gonna stick.
13:10So, we were going to put down our external membrane on our ply,
13:14which is an adhered product.
13:16So, it's essentially thinking of it like a little children's book
13:19where we contact paper the frame.
13:21So, it needs to stick and adhere quite tight to it.
13:24When it's wet, it won't adhere.
13:26So, that's more the frustrating part.
13:31What is the radar?
13:35So annoying.
13:37And it might be a little more rain, Dave.
13:43Just pull the pin.
13:44It's just not magically gonna get better.
13:50Man, it sucks.
13:53If building Australia's most passive house in the rain in 12 months isn't daunting enough...
13:59Have you read the instruction booklet?
14:01You don't want to... Have you read the instruction booklet?
14:03No.
14:04Exactly.
14:05And I did.
14:06And I made eggs on it and nothing stuck.
14:07There's another unexpected development.
14:11Um, yeah, we have had something pop up that's going to put some additional pressure on the timelines
14:19and getting the house finished.
14:21Um, Maddie and I are very fortunate that we are expecting a new addition to the family come June.
14:27The baby will arrive before the house is complete.
14:31But I'm always asking what timeline looks like if we can bring that forward, um, any further.
14:37We just obviously like to get, um, ourselves and the little one, um, into our new house as soon as possible.
14:43It's just one more spinning plate Matt has to deal with.
14:49So running a business, moving house, building a house, trying to get this podcast up and going, have a child, make things harder.
14:58I know, what's the saying, um, if you've got to run, run faster.
15:02So...
15:03I think, uh, Matt's going to be in for a little bit of a surprise.
15:08It's now six months into the 12-month Passive House Pigeon Club transformation.
15:26The walls are wrapped and upright.
15:29And today, Matt's imported triple-glazed windows will hopefully seal the deal.
15:37Today, we've got windows going up, so they come about three weeks ago from overseas,
15:42and we need to get them in as quick as we possibly can.
15:46We're just trying to push as much as we can in these drier months
15:50to essentially get to a point where once it gets to those colder, wetter days, where everything's inside.
15:56Also, Nicole is 12 weeks pregnant, which is exciting,
16:00but it does give us a little bit more motivation to push a little bit faster.
16:04So I've got a lot to do.
16:07Three, two, one.
16:09These windows set the bar for insulation.
16:13The three layers of glass slow the heat transfer through the windows,
16:18but also prevent any air or water leaks,
16:21and fight the risk of condensation and mould,
16:24a nightmare for asthma sufferers like Matt.
16:27So don't drop it.
16:30Alex, do you want to set up a hose?
16:33I want to flood test this window to make sure it's watertight.
16:36I want to test our windows in the sense of, like, we get one shot of putting them in, yeah?
16:40And if they leak, well, then that defeats a lot of the purpose of the building.
16:46But that is one thing I'm a bit nervous on.
16:48Go for it.
16:55I'm literally looking for, like, a drop.
17:00It's never going to rain this much on a window.
17:02So we're simulating and seeing the amount of water.
17:05Like, if it works under this, we know it's going to survive.
17:11Yeah, hey.
17:13I've got it in this corner somewhere.
17:17Where it's coming in, I don't know, but there's a fair bit in there.
17:23I've got a water drop at the top here too.
17:25And that's where the line is in the water drop.
17:29Somewhere up there.
17:34It could be something as simple as, like, the team are putting a screw,
17:38and this is the membrane.
17:40And we're talking a hole that's, like, maybe that big.
17:43It's so tiny, but that is enough to cause that leak.
17:47So catching that early is, like, a huge win for us.
17:50We will fix it, flood test the rest, come back next week,
17:55once it's all dried out, flood test it again.
17:58And we keep doing that until they're all right.
18:02Matt's on a mission all right.
18:05And he's not alone in the fight for clean air in and around Yarraville.
18:11Residents in Melbourne's inner west are calling for filtration units
18:15before the opening of the Westgate tunnel later this year.
18:18Under the current design, the tunnel will have tall,
18:21unfiltered ventilation stacks.
18:24Locals are worried that won't do enough to reduce pollution.
18:29They're building all these new roads, which is great,
18:32but the problem is all the fumes from the cars
18:35have been congregated into one little spot
18:37and they've decided not to filter any of the air that comes out of that.
18:41So it's now already a suburb with pretty poor air quality
18:46and it seems like it's just about to get worse.
18:49It's the reason why I decided to build the way we do.
18:51It's all about taking back control
18:53and being able to have a say in the air quality of our home.
18:59So when was the last time you came here on site?
19:13Oh, God, about a month ago, I'd say.
19:15If there's one person who's not surprised by Matt's drive and determination,
19:20it's his dad, Ross.
19:23How many glazes?
19:24Triple. Triple glazes.
19:25In the building trade for many years himself,
19:27today the old dog's learning some new tricks.
19:30Look at the ceiling with the wood inside.
19:32Nothing like that when I was a kid.
19:34As Matt begins the difficult task
19:36of adding a thermal layer to the inside of the house.
19:39You can't hear the noise from outside.
19:42You can't even hear the radio downstairs, upstairs at the moment.
19:45Once it's all shut up, you will not hear a thing outside,
19:47which is another level of comfort.
19:49Everyone thinks thermally, but sound, air quality,
19:53odours and smells, vibrations, like we're covering them all.
19:57Well, they reckon that Melbourne's
19:59the highest asthma capital of the world now.
20:01Did you hear that today?
20:02Is it really?
20:03Yep.
20:04So a house like this will help that kind of thing.
20:07Been around a fair bit.
20:08It's totally different than when I was a kid.
20:09My dad was a carpenter and then his dad was a carpenter.
20:13And so like I say, you can see how things are changing
20:15and how things are improving.
20:17Brickway is going to start in two weeks.
20:19Matthew was getting a thing called passive houses.
20:21I wouldn't have a clue what a passive house was.
20:23So he's probably teaching me more
20:25than what I'm teaching him these days.
20:27You don't need many staples to hold this up.
20:28And if you do it correctly, we can just,
20:31you get staples in spots where the tape's going to hide it.
20:33So the whole idea is we don't want to have staples in the middle here
20:36because that, if that blows off,
20:38that can become an air leak in the future.
20:40But while Matt might be the passive house pro,
20:43it's not stopping the apprentice passing on some fatherly advice.
20:47I've got to kind of cut that.
20:49You're going to cut it?
20:51Yeah, I've got to cut it to fit it in.
20:53Wouldn't you do that over here first?
20:54No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
20:56Matthew, wouldn't you cut it over there?
20:58No, no, no, no.
20:59As I go here, then I can pull that across.
21:01You're going to have it too short then.
21:03I don't want to have to pull it down because you made a mistake.
21:06No.
21:07I'd be doing that corner first.
21:08Yeah, I'm trying to work it out.
21:10Seriously, I couldn't have picked a harder room to start this list.
21:14Fair dinkum.
21:16Don't cut your hands.
21:18I'm not going to cut my hands.
21:20Jeez.
21:22Yeah, we have our arguments.
21:23Don't worry about that.
21:24But it is his house and he's the builder which runs his projects and everything like that.
21:29So I've got to back off a little bit.
21:31How many houses have we built together?
21:33Like three?
21:35Did we fight?
21:37100% we fought.
21:39I don't mind a bit of questioning, a bit of to and fro just to make sure you get the result.
21:46That's the only way you can improve.
21:51There's no doubt about it, building's a stressful game at the best of times and Matt's still a long way from home base.
21:59This is your neighbourhood, right?
22:01Yeah.
22:02Yeah.
22:03And this is your neighbourhood cat?
22:04Yes, this is the local.
22:05Something Nicole is very aware of.
22:09Matt is throwing so much at this.
22:11You know, I mean, he's deep, deep into this.
22:14Like, um, how's he going?
22:16Um, I think he does sort of, um, hide the stress when he does come home.
22:22Yeah.
22:23Being pregnant, I don't think he wants to put that stress on me.
22:26Like, he's, he's really good at recognising that, you know, he's really good at sort of just saying,
22:31this is getting to me, I'm, I'm worried about X, Y and Z.
22:34He then also says, oh, I've got to get this done for the house, but then I've also got to talk at this conference, record this podcast.
22:41That's right.
22:42So it's all of those multitude of projects.
22:44He finds really exciting, but all of that on top of each other.
22:49Um, yeah.
22:50And with a little one on the way.
22:51Yes.
22:52Yes.
22:53That is such great news, obviously.
22:54Yeah.
22:55But of course, it's just another level of, like, life event.
22:58Yes.
22:59That is happening simultaneously here.
23:00I mean, are you able to sort of relax?
23:02Yeah, I think my nature is sort of the, the calming nature to Matt's storm and chaos.
23:08Every time we chat, there's maybe another week or two that's been added, um, to the timeline.
23:15But I think at this stage, again, I've got another project to be focused on.
23:20Yeah.
23:21Look, a house is important, but I think you've got your eyes on the right priorities here.
23:23Yeah.
23:24So absolutely sounds like you've got it sorted.
23:25Yeah.
23:26Yeah.
23:29As competing interests go, baby definitely trumps build.
23:33Especially one that's taking longer and costing more than your average build.
23:38Take the $25,000 heat recovery system being installed on site to filter and purify the air.
23:47It's just a photo of a filter we changed out recently out of a HIV system, um, that had
23:54been in for about six months.
23:57And the filter on the left is the new filter that we put in.
24:00So you can see the color difference.
24:01You actually see those different bugs and stuff in the filter as well, which has been
24:05brought in from outside.
24:06Originally I was a bit of a cynic, but then when you experience it and build it from the
24:09ground up and you can feel it and you can see it, yeah, you, you soon get convinced
24:13that these things are good for homes and you start to do them on your own homes.
24:16Like I am.
24:17What I'm looking at here is the lungs to our house and that is going to provide us with
24:23fresh, clean air that's filtered.
24:26And what this is doing is practically filtering out all the particulates and pollutants in
24:31the air and allowing us to breathe in some nice, healthy, clean air.
24:36So for me, this is the ability to reduce those sort of things and just feel that the air
24:43that I'm breathing in my own house is quality.
24:48Does every house need this to this level and this expense?
24:52Probably not.
24:53But what price do you put on your health?
24:56What price indeed?
24:57But in a temperate climate like Australia, will passive houses ever really take off?
25:11This is classic conservation heritage.
25:17Architect Karen Erdos, who designed a number of passive house projects, including this old
25:22beauty in Annandale, thinks yes, with a few provisors.
25:27So your classic Victorian terrace, yeah?
25:30Absolutely classic.
25:31It's in the middle of a conservation area.
25:33It fits right into its streetscape.
25:35You've got the French doors down here, the Rhode Island balustrade, even a beautiful parapet
25:39with a name on it, Warrain.
25:40So it's got all those classic Victorian details around it.
25:44Yep.
25:45But it doesn't look like a passive house.
25:46You would never know it's a passive house and we had those constraints.
25:49Being in the conservation area, we had to keep it looking exactly as is and there's nothing
25:56about it except the plaque on the wall that tells us that it's a passive house.
26:00So what's it feel like inside?
26:02Shall we go have a look?
26:03I'd love to.
26:04Let's go.
26:05So, here we are.
26:14Here we are.
26:15Come on in.
26:16Oh, beautiful.
26:17You know, really contemporary sort of terrace feel.
26:20Nice and bright and light.
26:22I feel those things already.
26:23It's very open.
26:24Yeah.
26:25So it's not your classic terrace in that we've come in through the side.
26:27Yeah, yeah.
26:28So the whole front room stays intact.
26:30It's just such a beautiful flow from the big front room there right through to the backyard.
26:34You can see the green pulled in in both directions, which is just gorgeous.
26:38Yeah.
26:39And the big transformation was originally it was a lot of smaller, darker, not particularly
26:45friendly or healthy feeling spaces.
26:48Yeah.
26:49So the idea was to open it right up and despite the orientation, get as much natural light
26:55as possible.
26:56Yeah, mission accomplished.
26:57And it's quiet.
26:58It's quiet.
26:59Yeah.
27:00It's very quiet.
27:01How nice is that?
27:02Yeah.
27:03Yeah.
27:04So this is excellent.
27:05And then the light in the backyard, calling us through to, I can see the addition.
27:08Yes.
27:09Yeah?
27:10Yes.
27:11Could we have a look at the kitchen?
27:12Yeah.
27:13Let's go have a look.
27:14Oh, I like this.
27:15That's very clever.
27:19With three bedrooms upstairs, what really stands out is the house has retained all its old heritage
27:26charm.
27:28Because while it's one thing to build a new passive house, it's another thing altogether
27:33to retrofit an old house.
27:36So what was so hard about making this home a passive house and what was the kind of like
27:43the financial addition you had to put on all of this to make it work?
27:47So this one was a particularly tricky challenge because of the heritage overlay.
27:52Best practice is to come from the outside and get your insulation and your membranes and
27:57so forth on the outside of the building.
28:00Because of the heritage overlay, we had to do things on the inside.
28:03So that was a particular challenge in this case.
28:07A lot of people would say, and of course it's a real thing, is the cost associated with
28:12it.
28:13And I mean, I hear numbers like 20, even 30%, you know, in addition to a standard build to
28:18get a passive house.
28:19So it's like, look, I'd love to, but I just can't.
28:22I mean, how do we get around that?
28:24Look, it's the conversation of the day.
28:27I actually experienced this for myself.
28:29Oh, really?
28:30I just did a renovation and I wanted to walk the walk.
28:34I've talked a lot about passive house.
28:35I do it for my clients and I really wanted to have a passive house.
28:39It came down to budget and there was just too many areas of the house that we would have
28:45had to completely strip back and redo that we were otherwise not going to touch.
28:50Right.
28:51So it was a devastating moment when I realized that we just couldn't do it.
28:54It wasn't attainable, but we did the best that we could within our constraints.
28:59And this is, this is like the real story.
29:02Let's do the best that we can.
29:04Yeah.
29:05So let's use the high performance windows.
29:07Let's get the mechanical ventilation in there.
29:09Let's get all the insulation in there.
29:11Yeah.
29:12Let's design out those thermal bridges.
29:14We're going through the, all of the, the passive house principles here.
29:17Um, and let's get the building working as best as we can.
29:22So what about the critique that passive house gives you a kind of a, a slightly dead feeling
29:27inside cause it's all so controlled and it's, do you, I mean, how do you respond to that?
29:32I've heard, I've heard an argument a lot that I'd like to hear the birds outside.
29:36Yeah.
29:37I'd like to hear the noises outside.
29:38And that's really great if you have birds outside to listen to, but if you're under a flight path or next to a train line or a busy road, um, and all the noise that is not necessarily desirable, it's really welcome to shut that right down and have this quiet oasis.
29:58So what I'm hearing is all the principles that passive house lays out are absolutely things we should continue to build on.
30:05Yes.
30:06But we shouldn't be put off by the zealous application of every single part of the passive house kind of regime because, you know, getting close is the goal.
30:16Look, I would call passive house the gold standard.
30:18Yeah.
30:19If you can, great, let's do it.
30:21It's almost like an insurance policy.
30:23You pay insurance premiums for your house.
30:25Yeah.
30:26This is like an insurance policy that you will have a robust, well-built, high quality and healthy home.
30:32Yeah.
30:33That will last the test of time.
30:34So, I mean, it feels good.
30:36It feels really nice.
30:37It's like I'm standing right here.
30:38Yeah.
30:39Yeah.
30:40Are you sure I can open those doors?
30:42That door's open.
30:43Absolutely.
30:45Back on site, it's now eight months into Matt and Nicole's 12-month project and just two months till baby makes three.
31:12Yeah, let's calm down, bring that down.
31:16Suffice to say, for a passive house, things are looking pretty active.
31:25No one told me bricks were coming today.
31:27I was told bricks Monday.
31:28Yeah, now we've got 18 pallets of bricks coming.
31:33So they've got to have room to mix and move and probably got about 10 minutes to do a week's work.
31:38Yeah.
31:39Alex, bring your car here so I can get all the metal and put all the metal in the back as well.
31:43Yeah, just run these inside, yeah?
31:46Alright, calm down.
31:48If you go straight, you'll be on it.
31:53The crew barely have time to catch their breath.
32:00Ooh.
32:02As the next challenge is laying a ground-breaking internal infill slab for the floor.
32:08We are using a white concrete, so that's super exciting.
32:13When you install concrete, we usually put a steel mesh in there, a reinforcement bar.
32:19We know steel is a massive contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
32:24Steel is heavy.
32:25So we've thawed a bit outside the square here and we have found this glass fibre reinforcement bar.
32:32And really what they're going to do here is they're going to pretty much cut this up themselves
32:35and make their own mesh inside.
32:38It will be three times as strong as a standard steel mesh.
32:44Way easy for these guys to install.
32:46You can see how light this is, like a tenth of the weight.
32:49It is also cheaper.
32:50That's the crazy part.
32:54It's a game-changing product.
32:56Molten glass fibres are wound into spools,
33:01pulled through a resin bath and then cured
33:06to give the bars their strength and durability.
33:16You can pick up 80 rods on your shoulder versus 10.
33:20It's lovely because you just walk it, walk it all in.
33:25I mean, I think it will end up being, very much being the future just for the ease of, ease of use.
33:32No way I could carry this many.
33:36I wouldn't even attempt to carry this many if it was steel.
33:41Hi.
33:42You might have to go to the gym today.
33:44No.
33:47Unfortunately, not everyone on site is impressed.
33:51Hey, Finn, Finn, Finn, no peeing inside.
33:53Every dog's...
33:55Everyone just peeing all over your house.
33:58Yeah.
33:59Finn, what are you doing, you rascal?
34:01You cheeky boy.
34:03It brings out the white in the concrete, don't worry about it.
34:16Let's hope so.
34:17Because while Nicole's had her mind on bigger things,
34:22the one thing she's adamant about is white concrete.
34:27You can see it.
34:28Come here.
34:29And not just any white concrete.
34:31It has to be the right white.
34:34There's been a lot of discussions, Pinterest boarding, inspiration
34:39to show exactly what's in my mind of what I'm wanting for this.
34:44The flooring will have a huge impact on the overall look of the house,
34:48but I do understand that concrete, you can't 100% control
34:53and say this is exactly what I want.
35:00Concrete's hard because, like, you're so dependent on the weather,
35:03the drying temperature, the humidity in the air,
35:05how much you work it, how much water's in the mix.
35:07There's so many factors.
35:09You can over-vibrate it as well.
35:11Like, we don't want to see stone, so you can go for it.
35:13We know that we've given it its best chance.
35:16We've got 10% white oxide through it to whiten it up.
35:19We're going to sort of roll with it and see what happens.
35:22As the concrete sets, the colour lightens over time.
35:27How much white a hoof stroke?
35:29What?
35:30How much white a hoof stroke?
35:3130%, 40%.
35:34I don't want to get too white.
35:37Too white.
35:38Now you're already being too white.
35:40I can't win.
35:43Now she's wondering how white it's going to go.
35:46It could be too white.
35:47At the end of the day, Nicole's back for a site inspection.
36:04And that's what the finish will be like inside?
36:12Yeah, that's what we're trying to get it like, yeah.
36:21And the verdict?
36:22Happy days.
36:25Happy days.
36:26Still married.
36:27The interior cladding also needs to meet Nicole's approval.
36:39They want to use a revolutionary variety of sustainable timber, but have not seen it firsthand.
36:46So Matt's making an early morning dash to the factory in Adelaide before locking it in.
36:52But with Nicole almost at full term, this is the worst possible timing.
37:00Nicole, at any point now, could give me a call and be like,
37:05it's time, baby's on its way.
37:08So that's super exciting.
37:15But I don't like uncertainty.
37:18I have no control over that, which is something that's like,
37:21gets to me a little bit because I like control.
37:25In Australia, 49% of log trees are deemed unfit for building.
37:30But here, low-grade pulpwood veneers, usually used for paper,
37:35are being transformed into premium hardwood.
37:40What would normally be waste, we're going to convert this into solid timber.
37:44We do that via rotary peeling.
37:47So if you're coring an apple, essentially, peeling it,
37:50you're going to use a lot more of the products.
37:52You don't create any sawdust and you recover 65% from the log,
37:57rather than the traditional sawmilling of 33%.
37:59Wow, so that's a huge increase.
38:03All the timber used here is from sustainably managed forests,
38:07which is right up Matt's alley.
38:12This is the start of the process here.
38:14So we've taken the veneers, we've cut them in a guillotine into strips,
38:22so they're all threaded a bit wide.
38:25From there, it's getting applied with glue via that roller.
38:29The glue we use is water-based and toxin-free.
38:33Then it's heading into the ovens where it's making the glue really tacky
38:36so that we bond it together and all adheres.
38:39So this becomes like a big log, essentially.
38:41Yep, big solid timber.
38:43Wow.
38:45Once this process starts to the end,
38:48you're producing 300 kilos of timber within 20 minutes.
38:5220 minutes?
38:53Yeah.
38:54So we'll go from these strips into a block in about 20 minutes?
38:56Absolutely, yeah.
38:57Wow.
38:59As long as we get this timber looking like the timber outside
39:02and we can match as best as possible,
39:04I think Nicole's going to be hopefully quite happy
39:06because you know what it is, it's a happy wife, happy life.
39:09Yeah, absolutely.
39:11Is it still going to look like timber?
39:12Like, is it still going to have the characteristics
39:14where the grain comes through?
39:16And because we've used real timber in other places in the building,
39:19will it match?
39:20I've prepared this for you, Matt,
39:22just to have a look at what a finished product could look like.
39:24That's not stained.
39:25Yeah, okay, cool.
39:26And that's stained.
39:27Jeez.
39:29It feels like timber too.
39:30Like, even the weight.
39:32Like, you wouldn't know that this has just come straight out of a machine.
39:37I feel pressure because I want Nicole to be really, really happy with the end result.
39:40It feels, it looks like everything that we wanted, the characteristics are there.
39:44If she's happy with what we have here, we'll be pressing print
39:46and putting this awesome material in our house.
39:49And really, the best bit out of it, like,
39:51she hasn't called me saying there's no baby issues or nothing's happened,
39:54so I guess that's the big winner of out of today.
40:06This transformation will only be a win for Matt
40:09if he fulfils his quest to build the most airtight house in Australia.
40:15As the project enters its final phase,
40:18he's on the hunt for any little air holes that would create a draft.
40:22We're just doing a little bit of leak detection today,
40:25so we've actually got, like, a DJ smoke machine
40:27and we're going to just smoke out as much of the house.
40:32And the whole idea is just to see if we can see any movement in any section.
40:37Make sure everything is as tight as we can be.
40:39Go for it.
40:44This is one of the areas I'm really concerned about.
40:46See, it just goes.
40:49See, over here, you see, it just disappears.
40:52There's actually a fair bit happening up here,
40:54but I knew this would be a tricky spot.
40:55I can see insulations are here, so there's a massive gap.
41:00Like fixing a puncture, Matt needs to tape over each and every hole.
41:05But the more tests they do, the more leaks they find.
41:13I know this is one here.
41:15See?
41:17And through here.
41:18Oh, there's heaps through here.
41:20Look at that. It's not even tape.
41:22Ah, is this another tricky junction then?
41:24We might as well try all these tricky ones through here.
41:27Oh, I can hear that.
41:28Yeah, I can hear it.
41:31When I set out, I had no idea on how complex this project was.
41:39Oh, that's smashing in here too.
41:42This is going to be the hardest one.
41:45But I did set out with an expectation of trying to build Australia's most airtight house.
41:49So, it's going to be pretty hard.
41:51What started as a crusade has turned into an obsession.
42:17To say that Matt's taken the battle for Yarraville's air quality
42:21right to his front door is an understatement.
42:24It's now over a year since he started building his and Nicole's
42:29giant air filtering machine of a house.
42:32And I'm fascinated to see how it's all worked out.
42:38Matt has thrown everything at this.
42:40He's researched it to within an inch of his life.
42:43And what I'm worried about is this whole thing is going to look like
42:46a Meccano set of technical solutions,
42:48but not actually be a family home.
42:51Now it's finished.
42:52It's all done.
42:53It's all buttoned up.
42:55Let's see if they got there.
42:56Look at this. This is picture perfect. And there they are.
43:10Look how comfy the dog is.
43:12I know. I know.
43:13It's her house really.
43:15Can I come in?
43:16Come in.
43:22Congratulations both of you.
43:24Thank you. Thank you.
43:25This was such an epic project for you both, wasn't it?
43:27Yeah.
43:28You put so much into this.
43:29I know you just obsessed over every single nail that went into this place.
43:32Just a little bit.
43:33This is an act of love, I think.
43:35There was passion everywhere.
43:36Yeah, there's a lot of passion.
43:38A lot of passion.
43:39But yeah, I'd say we're pretty proud, yeah.
43:41I mean, from the street, it looks very calm.
43:45I mean, that was a goal from my perspective, aesthetically.
43:49From Matt, he had, you know, the healthy home part.
43:52Yeah.
43:53Behind everything, every decision.
43:54So is it working?
43:56Yeah.
43:57Well, I think it proves that you can mix sexy with healthy.
44:01Oh, sexy. We went somewhere else with this.
44:03I like that.
44:05Well, the whole place just looks so well put together.
44:08And it's cutting such a beautiful picture.
44:12Paying homage to the old pigeon racing clubhouse,
44:16the double bird box facade is a nod to the past,
44:19while creating a contemporary and unique design.
44:24What's it like in there?
44:25You want to go have a look?
44:26Of course I do.
44:27But inside is what it's all about.
44:30Anthony, this is our dining and kitchen space.
44:32Oh, this looks incredible.
44:33Like, well done.
44:35There's such a sense of tranquility in here.
44:38I mean, this is exactly what you wanted, right?
44:40Yeah, I think the thing with healthy homes
44:43is it's not just about energy efficiency and air quality.
44:46It's also about sound.
44:47Yeah.
44:48It's really comfortable inside.
44:49I can feel myself just kind of, like, relaxing in here.
44:51Maybe it's the colour palette.
44:52It's quite stripped back.
44:53Yeah.
44:54I know you had that very much in mind from the very beginning, right?
44:56Yeah.
44:57I know some people find it a little bit boring, a little bit beige,
45:00but that's what I wanted.
45:01This, to me, is relaxing.
45:03Like, I'm not too overstimulated.
45:05It's not too overwhelming.
45:06I feel nice and relaxed in here.
45:08I entirely get there.
45:09I think it's a big part of a healthy home is that sense of
45:11you need to actually sort of calm down,
45:13and it needs to calm you down.
45:14Yeah.
45:15Yeah, I need to be calmed down, too.
45:17When you get home from work, I can imagine.
45:19The other part of that, of course, is the concrete on the floor.
45:22Yeah.
45:23Is it white enough?
45:25Yes.
45:26Are you sure?
45:27I think it ties in with the rest of the house.
45:28The tone of the house, the texture of the floor ties into the walls as well.
45:32That's what we were aiming for the whole time.
45:35I mean, another thing in here that I really, really like
45:38is that you've got the dining table connected to the kitchen,
45:41but the living room is over there.
45:43Yeah.
45:44Out of the way.
45:45It's not some big open plan thing where it's all happening all the time
45:47all at once.
45:48Like, it feels like there's a great sort of modest scale
45:51that sets up for little moments of interactions,
45:54which is perfect, yeah?
45:56Yeah.
45:57So Noah's in your life now.
45:58Yeah.
45:59So we've got a little one that's going to grow up in here.
46:01Yeah.
46:02We're too worried about it marking.
46:03Like, whilst it looks beautiful now, it's got to be lived in.
46:06Yeah.
46:07So if we make some marks along the way, who cares?
46:09Yeah.
46:10Every house takes on its own story, doesn't it?
46:11Yeah.
46:12Exactly.
46:13In a house that was more about function than form,
46:16there are a few design surprises.
46:19This is the first thing I unpacked when we moved in.
46:21Of all the stuff we had to unpack, this is the whisky collection.
46:24Now I see the colour.
46:26Yeah.
46:27Yeah.
46:28So much colour.
46:29There's a place for everything and everything in its place.
46:32Yeah.
46:33Yeah.
46:34While the sneaky whisky cupboard might not fit with the Scandi wellness retreat vibes,
46:39the main bedroom suite, also on the ground floor, oozes serenity and calm.
46:44The perfect spot to sleep it off.
46:49And this is Noah's future playroom and we've got two bedrooms.
46:54Upstairs, the only exception to Nicole's muted palette, the main bathroom.
47:00That had free reign of that room.
47:03With pops of bubblegum pink and warm terracotta, while down the hall, baby Noah's domain,
47:11all soft and floaty and a little bit ethereal.
47:15It's pretty spectacular, isn't it?
47:16Yeah.
47:17Yeah.
47:18It's pretty damn cool.
47:19What a great effect that is.
47:20The round window, the curtains, a really soft light coming through.
47:23It's almost, it's almost church-like.
47:25That is really unexpected and pretty powerful, actually.
47:28I love it.
47:29Yeah, you see it from the front, but then you come inside, it's a whole different feel to
47:32it.
47:33Yeah.
47:34The eco-friendly, manufactured pulpwood floors look great.
47:38Especially something that's man-made.
47:40Yeah.
47:41It's pretty cool.
47:42Yeah.
47:43As does the textured, non-toxic lime paint.
47:46Every surface has something a bit tactile about it.
47:49If the walls could talk, they'd tell of the struggles to get here, belying how comfortable
47:56it all looks.
47:57But just as important to Matt is how it operates.
48:00Now we've got to prove that it can perform as advertised.
48:04Yeah.
48:05Yeah.
48:06And certifier Drew Croker is ready to put it through its paces with an air pressure test,
48:13which measures air tightness.
48:15Matt, you must be feeling a bit nervous right now because you have been going to so much
48:20trouble to get this to work.
48:22So this is a big moment.
48:23Pressure test coming up.
48:24What are we actually shooting for here?
48:26I'm aiming for Australia's most airtight house.
48:29Drew, in your experience, what's the best reading you're aware of in Australia?
48:340.1.
48:35Oh, wow.
48:36It was 11 years ago.
48:3711 years ago.
48:38Okay.
48:39No pressure, right?
48:40No pressure at all.
48:41And just remind me, what's passive house certification standards?
48:440.6.
48:45So way below passive house.
48:47Alright.
48:48Are we all ready for this?
48:49Yeah, we're ready.
48:50I'm nervous for you.
48:51I'm nervous for me.
48:52Alright, let's do this.
48:53Under 0.1 is the magic number.
49:14I think it's coming to a rest.
49:16I don't think we're going to make it.
49:18It's not getting lower.
49:26Not quite.
49:27And it looks like we are around 0.2...
49:33Yeah, 0.26.
49:340.26.
49:35Yeah.
49:38Alright, so we didn't make it.
49:41Yeah, we didn't make it, yes.
49:42So you've definitely passed passive house certification.
49:45Yeah, oh, right.
49:46We've got panels of fence past that.
49:47Way past that.
49:48So this is like gold, gold, gold standard.
49:50And we're just a little bit away from the best in Australia.
49:54So it's aiming for like a record.
49:55Sometimes you miss them and that's okay.
49:57Yeah.
49:58Absolutely right.
49:59While it might not be the claim Matt was hoping for,
50:02it's pretty damn close.
50:04And certainly nothing to sneeze at.
50:07Well, I just want to say congratulations.
50:10And it's beautiful to see Noah sitting here with both of you.
50:13This is what the family picture.
50:15This is what it's all about, isn't it?
50:16Yeah.
50:17Like it's absolutely spectacularly gorgeous.
50:18Yeah, it is.
50:19The passive house is one thing, but you had bigger ambitions than that.
50:23It's a healthy home.
50:24And I'm just excited that that's where this little one's going to grow up.
50:27Yeah.
50:28One part of the house too was the quality of the air.
50:30Yeah.
50:31Parts per million of all sorts of bad things that are around us in big cities.
50:35How's that working out specifically?
50:37There was times last week that it was above 15.
50:40And we look at the data over there and we're sitting at around 2.
50:43Right.
50:44So the difference inside, outside is you can't even compare them.
50:47Oh, it's like orders of magnitude.
50:48Yeah.
50:49So it actually scares the pants off me thinking about the air quality that's just outside that door.
50:53So then let's just go to budget then.
50:55You had a budget of about $950,000 in mind when we first met.
50:59Mm-hmm.
51:00I think I said I'd be happy if we did it for under a million.
51:02And did you?
51:03Yeah, we were under budget.
51:05Slightly.
51:06About 20 grand.
51:07But that's at my cost as a builder.
51:09Right.
51:10Just shy of a million bucks for this.
51:12That's a pretty good price for such a quality build here.
51:16But what kind of premium in that amount did you pay for the passive house?
51:21It's around, I would say, $40,000 to $55,000.
51:24So that 5% value on that.
51:26Mm-hmm.
51:27So it's a very small amount of money to get a huge amount of gain.
51:30Yeah.
51:31I mean, the benefits in the long-term running of the home, I get.
51:34Yeah.
51:35Any other benefits that come from the passive house decision?
51:37Yeah.
51:38I think we're going to have the ability to access a green loan.
51:40So we will be able to get about 40 basis points lower on our interest rate for the first five
51:44years.
51:45Which on this project, on the million dollars equates to about $25,000.
51:47That's not a small amount of money.
51:49Yeah.
51:50And if they decide to extend that for the duration of a 30-year loan, there's $100,000 in savings.
51:53Mm.
51:54That's, that's...
51:55And no one's talking about that.
51:56So that's a pretty healthy recognition of the benefits of going for passive house, but
52:01from a financial perspective as well.
52:02Yeah, the financial perspective is well documented.
52:05Time-wise, you said you'd be in in 12 months.
52:09Yeah.
52:10And you had a baby along the way.
52:1114 months.
52:12Yeah.
52:13You did have a beautiful baby along the way.
52:14So, all right, I'm going to forgive you those, those two months.
52:17I think that's very fair.
52:18Just when you think ahead to the years you're going to spend here in this home, what's the
52:22thing that makes you feel like this was all worth it in the end?
52:26I'd say that all the hard work we've done to get here is something that makes it worthwhile.
52:30That usually our build house is for other people, but this one's for us.
52:33Yeah.
52:34And that's pretty cool.
52:35That, that is very cool.
52:37Oh!
52:38Yeah.
52:39Yeah.
52:44At last, the work and the wait are over.
52:49Matt and Nicole can take a deep breath to stop and celebrate the moment in their own
52:54private sanctuary.
52:55I love the contrast of the colours.
52:56Nicole gave me a bit of free range on this one.
52:57Yeah.
52:58How cool is that?
52:59This beautiful family home is a gift.
53:00For now and for the future.
53:01I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for all your support.
53:05We're so excited to finally be in our house and to have you all here.
53:06So here's to the house.
53:07Cheers.
53:08Cheers.
53:09Cheers.
53:10Cheers.
53:11Cheers.
53:12Cheers.
53:13I'm already imagining Christmas day at that table over there don't you reckon?
53:14Fantastic Christmas but even a greater time is moving forward.
53:15Cheers to that.
53:16Cheers.
53:17Cheers.
53:18It's all about family.
53:19It's all about family.
53:20It's all about family.
53:21It's all about family.
53:23I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for all your support.
53:24We're so excited to finally be in our house and to have you all here.
53:25So here's to the house.
53:26Cheers.
53:27Cheers.
53:28I'm already imagining Christmas day at that table over there don't you reckon?
53:33Fantastic Christmas but even a greater time is moving forward.
53:34Cheers to that.
53:35Cheers.
53:36It's all about family.
53:38You know in the end I'm not sure it really matters whether or not this is Australia's healthiest
53:59home because it's experimental, ambitious and highly instructive.
54:04Matt and Nicole have tried and tested new materials and technologies and shown not only
54:10that they work but that they look great too.
54:13Best of all in the end they've built a safe, sustainable and healthy home that is a great
54:19conversation starter.
54:20Here's hoping more and more people are up for the chat.
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