Your HomeFit online check report

No dampness or visible mould is a sign that this home is warm and dry. However, there may be mould in other less accessible places, and at certain times of the year. The best way to clean mould is to use a solution of 70mls of white vinegar and 30mls of water, spray it on affected areas, leave for up to an hour and then wipe off with a clean damp cloth. Keep an eye out especially in wardrobes and other enclosed spaces, and continue airing the home to remove stale, damp air.

Great. Kitchen rangehoods allow moisture from cooking to be removed directly, reducing the need to ventilate with opening windows and reducing the risk that cooking moisture travels through the rest of the home.

Make sure to clean the filter regularly (they can often be put in dishwashers) to keep the rangehood running effectively. Check the rangehood is effective by holding an A4 piece of paper under it and see if the fan can lift it up. Lastly, to be HomeFit make sure the rangehood expels air to the outside and not into your roof - look for an outside vent.

Great. Bathroom fans are one of the best things you can have to keep your home dry and warm and are a requirement of HomeFit and the Healthy Homes Standards. To be effective, fans should have an airflow of at least 25 litres per second (or have a fan ducting diameter of at least 120mm), which should be enough to hold up an A4 piece of paper.

Check that the fan ventilates to the outside, either through a wall, or if in a ceiling, through ducting connected to a grille on an outside wall or soffit, under the eaves.

Switch on the fan each time you take a shower or bath, and make sure it runs for at least 15 minutes after all water has drained away. A simple timer connected to the light switch can make this easier to manage and ensure everyone uses it. Don’t worry too much about the energy use if you accidentally leave it running too long. Fans are very cheap to run (less than 1c an hour).

Nice one. Check if the groundsheet covers all the dirt under the home, is not ripped, and is taped around piles. Also check that there are no leaking pipes or water getting underneath the home and pooling on top of the groundsheet.

Great – it looks like you have a reasonable amount of ceiling insulation. You may have downlights that require a gap in the insulation. These will need to be upgraded to meet the HomeFit standard, as they could reduce the effectiveness of your insulation (see an installer or electrician). 

Nice one! If you have curtains, be sure to use them, morning and evening, to let in that free heat from the sun and trap it as long as possible overnight.

If you have double glazing this will dramatically improve the thermal comfort of this home and reduce heat loss through the windows, which means heating works much more efficiently.

It’s still important to have 'good' curtains though, so aim to have both! By “good” we mean at least two layers, full length to the floor, and/or closed at the top (by a pelmet, the ceiling, or tight-fitting track). 

For those areas where full-length curtains are inconvenient or just not possible (above heaters or kitchen benches for instance), we recommend Roman or cellular - sometimes called honeycomb - blinds. These should still be tight fitting on the side and against the sill and have at least two layers of blind material.

Great to hear the home has no major sources of draughts.

This is one of the more popular and energy efficient forms of heating. Heat pumps are recognised heaters under HomeFit and the Healthy Homes Standards as they are large, fixed, efficient heaters that are suitable for living areas and bedrooms in well-insulated homes. Make sure you know how to use them effectively.

Electric cylinders are accepted under HomeFit provided they are well insulated. They are the most common form of hot water heating in New Zealand but they can be relatively inefficient because heat is constantly escaping from the stored hot water.

If the cylinder was installed post 2003, it is likely to be well-insulated. Whatever the age of the cylinder it can be improved by wrapping, so well done if you've done that.  You can also improve efficiency by insulating the first metre of the hot water pipe leading from the top of the cylinder (lagging). Lagging can be bought from your local DIY or hardware store and is simple to install. For more information see this Gen Less advice on hot water.

Try measuring the flow to make sure, and if it’s more than 9 litres/min, consider installing a low flow shower head or flow restrictor. Look for a shower head with a WELS (Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme) rating of 3 or more. For more information see this Energywise advice on hot water.

Check that they are photoelectric and, if not, consider upgrading.

Check that they are photoelectric and, if not, consider upgrading.