The ins and outs of moveable walls

As house prices soar and homeowners find themselves in command of less and less “bang for their bucks”, the idea of moveable walls is taking hold.
Once the preserve of high rise apartment living, moveable walls are now increasingly popular in houses of all sizes, particularly the smaller ones of course. Interior designers are noting that flexible floorplan options including moveable walls are in high demand.
One typical solution is a solid timber wall that retracts flush into a wall cavity, resulting in the possibility of two rooms or one. Alternatives to these more large scale options include the use of bespoke screens or shelving units, often mounted on clamping wheels, which can be moved according to need. There is an obvious hassle factor here – emptying your shelves of books and ornaments is no mean feat – but compared to constructing or knocking down a wall, the advantages are a no brainer.
The pros of moveable wall dwellings include more privacy when visitors come to town, less need to move homes if needs change, flexible use of limited space and a point of difference when selling in terms of potentially boosting your home’s value. There are also cons, which include deterring buyers who prefer traditional four-walled homes, and a feeling of being somewhat more temporary and flimsy than fixed walls.
Examples of how to optimise moveable walls include using bright printed fabric or eye-catching artworks to decorate them. For a modern home you might even want to consider creating a vertical garden on your moveable wall. The obvious thing to bear in mind is that the wall must be relatively easy to move and ‘stow’; if you’re moving a wall from being perpendicular to a main wall to sitting flush alongside it, you need to be able to removed obstructing objects such as artworks from the main wall without too much hassle.
With some imagination however, these adaptable solutions can make a real feature and a point of difference in your home.
We’re all aware of the continued rise of energy costs, and in Australia, where extremes of climate are so prevalent; this awareness appears to be reaching a critical point.
A large number of homeowners are becoming increasingly conscious of the need to control their energy costs, not just from the perspective of their bills, but also due to increased awareness of the environment.
To be comfortable, buildings in all Australian climates require some form of cooling at some time of the year, so effective alternatives to traditional approaches to cooling, such as costly air conditioning, are needed.
There are a number of ways homeowners can achieve what’s called passive (non-mechanical) cooling in their homes, as well as hybrid approaches which utilize mechanical cooling systems. The most effective passive cooling solutions include ventilation, windows, shading and insulation.
The efficiency of the building envelope can be maximized in a number of ways to minimize heat gain:
shading windows, walls and roofs from direct solar radiationrnusing lighter colored roofs to reflect heatrnusing insulation and buffer zones to minimize conducted and radiated heat gainsr
Making selective or limited use of thermal mass to avoid storing daytime heat gains.
Remember, direct sun can generate the same heat as a single bar radiator over each square meter of a surface, but effective shading can block up to 90 per cent of this heat. A variety of shading techniques can help, from fixed or adjustable shades, to blinds, cellular or Honeycomb shades, shutters and more.
It’s also important to note that as cooling requirements are dictated by climate, distinctly different approaches to passive cooling are required for:
hot humid climates where no heating is requiredrntemperate and warm climates where both heating and cooling are requiredr
Cool and cold climates where heating needs are more important.