Andy's rantings - The Greeny Flat Experience

Feb 12, 2021: Barangarooted

A couple of weeks ago Cintia and I had the great pleasure of a trip to Sydney to see the Bangara Aboriginal Dance company perform in the beautiful Walumil Lawn at Baragaroo Reserve. We parked at Rose Bay, took one ferry to Circular Quay then another around to Barangaroo, enjoyed a wonderful performance on the […]

Jan 29, 2021: Our House on the ABC

Last week we had another visit from Justin Huntsdale from ABC Illawarra. Justin has been to see the Greeny Flat a few times over the years and produced some excellent articles and videos about the project (see previous Newsletters here and here). This time he came to see the completed Energy Retrofit of the old […]

Jan 8, 2021: Electric Vehicle Madness

Happy New Year!

We’re off to a good start here at the Greeny Flat. Just before Christmas we passed the final inspection for the Energy Retrofit of the old fibro cottage next door. We have been working on this project on and off for the last five years so it’s satisfying to be so close […]

Dec 12, 2020: Water Works and Solar Cars

One of our original goals for the Greeny Flat was to make it water efficient. Before we built it we were hoping to use at least as much tank water as town water. We put meters on both the tank and the town water lines and I’m very pleased to report that, after five years, […]

Nov 13, 2020: Arts Trail Open House

This weekend will be the second and last weekend of the Southern Highlands Arts Trail for 2020 and we will be opening the renovated house next to the Greeny Flat from 10am to 5pm both Saturday and Sunday. Cintia will be showing and selling her lovely ceramics and I will be here helping out and answering […]

Oct 2, 2020: Another Year of Living Positively

We’ve now had the solar power system on the roof of the cottage next to the Greeny Flat for more than a year and we’re very happy to report that the house is now officially ‘Energy Positive’!

At the time we had the solar installed we also installed a new smart meter which has recorded […]

Sept 18, 2020: Virtual Sustainable House Day on Sunday

As many of our readers will know, the Greeny Flat has been open for Sustainable House Day (SHD) for five of the last six years. This year we were planning to open both the Greeny Flat and the upgraded house next to it for SHD. However, the Covid situation has meant that SHD has gone […]

Sept 11, 2020: Back in Mittagong

I’m now back in Mittagong and starting to put the final touches on the energy retrofit of the old fibro cottage next to the Greeny Flat.

As much as I enjoyed spending the winter in Port Macquarie and working on the garage conversion to a granny flat, it’s good to be home. I had to […]

Aug 28, 2020: One More Week in Port Macquarie

I have one more week in Port Macquarie before return home to Mittagong so we’ve been hard at work on the granny flat project. The owner managed to enlist a couple of extra helpers this week so we got a lot done including…

Completing the cladding on the north wall with some of […]

August 21, 2020: Progress Report

It’s been another busy week in Port Macquarie. We ended last week’s report with the walls insulated and the windows installed ready for gyprock. But first I needed to do some work on the floor. It’s strange but convenient that the old garage had a timber floor. It’s strange because most garages have concrete floors […]

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