Craft Homes’ Toby and Cat Tilsley recently purchased their dream 15 acres of land in Te Mata just out of Raglan and are happy to share their plan and journey in building an off-grid, high-performance home.
They have submitted plans to council and hope to start building in April 2021, and are going to live in the home, but also plan to use it as a Show Home for high-performance homes in the area. They hope to inspire people with their sustainable, off-grid lifestyle and help others witness the clear benefits of this type of build, so they too can find ways to achieve the same.
If you want to live off the mains grid, the key is working out energy requirements. Take stock of every appliance in your house—from the washing machine down to your electric toothbrush—and determine your hourly power usage. It’s also important to note that these daily energy requirements might change in summer versus winter. Then, engage a solar expert to work out the number of solar panels and battery backups you’ll need for your daily energy requirements.
They also plan to collect the rainwater that falls off the roof and filter it through to a tank, which can be used for drinking water, for watering the garden, doing the laundry, etc. They will use the NaturalFlow system that separates black and grey water at its source and naturally treats both to convert solid waste into liquid fertiliser, so no power is needed.
Blackwater from toilets is treated by worms and a filtering process. This is a closed ecosystem that simulates the forest floor. Greywater, on the other hand, is treated via a series of natural settling and filtering processes. The black and greywater are then combined before disposal into the soil to be used for irrigation.
A high-performance home is a house constructed in a way that maximises energy efficiency. When building this type of home, the focus is on delivering a comfortable and well-ventilated home that’s both energy efficient and very quiet. They will be using New Zealand products and materials where possible to support local businesses, as well as reduce the environmental impact of importing and exporting materials. Examples of these would be:
- Recycled timber flooring. These will be sourced from Christchurch (post-earthquake flooring).
- The Blackwood Project charred wood timber cladding that uses an ancient Japanese method of charring wood to make it waterproof without use of chemical treatments.
- Macrocarpa timber. They have already started milling some of the macrocarpa trees from their land for structural timber on the porch area.
For more information on home builders NZ, building a new home and high performance homes please go to https://www.crafthomes.co.nz .
