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Life in the energy efficient house that we built in 2020 on a postage stamp in Sydney.

Case Study

If you’re not sick of seeing us talk about our house, you can watch another interview that was filmed on the same day as the Renovate or Rebuild interview (see previous post). This one is for a case study on the YourHome website and we talk in a bit more detail about some of the…

As seen on TV

Our (not even) fifteen minutes of fame. Gav and I were delighted to meet the team from Renovate or Rebuild when they interviewed for us a segment in the final episode of Season 1. The new TV show works with home owners who need to decide if they should renovate or rebuild. The team bring…

Artist impression vs reality.

When we purchased our land and the house plans it came with some fancy artists impressions of the final design. We loved them. How did we go with the final outcome?

How compact is compact? And how are we getting away with it?

I’ve posted a lot about the ‘passive’ part of our ‘Passive Not Massive’ moniker, now it’s time to talk about the ‘not massive’ part.  Many of our visitors are surprised, that our house isn’t as small as they expected. In the beginning we joked about it being a tiny house, but then we switched to…

To certify or not to certify?

We know certification is an essential component of passive house and we fully understand why.  We are passionate about passive house (PH), and what it means for a healthy, comfortable, high performing and energy efficient home; however, sadly, our house won’t achieve passive house certification.  Why aren’t we going to be certified?  A lot of…

“In by Christmas” doesn’t mean done by Christmas

We were very lucky to be able to move into our new home 4 weeks before Christmas. The holy grail! It prompted many comments of “oh, you’re in by Christmas!”.  Although we’re in, we aren’t ready for Kevin McCloud to swing by just yet. There’s still a few things to be done; some cosmetic, some…

About us

We are a couple who were lucky enough to buy a block of land in our local area where we are now building a passive house.

More about us

What is a passive house?

Passive house design principles ensure a house is built to suit the local climate, is well insulated, air tight, has no thermal bridges and should not need energy intensive heating and cooling.

Find out more on the Australian Passive House Association website

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