can anyone tell me why aussie houses have tin roofs and tin fencing???

i would have thought they would get really hot during summer and fencing would be dangerous for kids to touch and roofs would make all the houses really hot.

do they still build them with tin roofs are is it just the older houses???


kev :what?:

Not sure about the roofs, but tin fencing is used to stop termite damage...but geeez do i hate them!!...so damn ugly.

Tin roofs are still used on new houses but its more modern stuff called colourbond. I still prefer tiles myself

PP is right - it's something to do with termites and fire protection. I love the tin fences - so much more private that silly wooden ones.

Tin roofs on houses are much lighter than tiles, and if you have a rain water tank the quality of the water that runs off a tin roof is higher than if it came off tiles. (Something to do with them getting hot and killing the nasties in bird poo so I was told).

Rainwater collection - is this for general domestic use only or is it drunk as well? If so, do houses have some form of filtration or purification system built into the house or is this an "optional" extra?

Hi Fred
The further out into the county you are, the more you will need to collect your own rainwater! Nearer the city it's all mains water and you'll probably only water the garden with rainwater, don't know where this peters out but if you're in the wilds you rely on rainwater for everything.

Over in the faq there have been some threads about water, might make interesting reading for you! I probably put them under W for water so try the last page or thereabouts.

Elaine

Thanks - I'll look them up.

I can remember Mr Mover saying about the traditional tin roofed signle storey houses out in Oz. Is it also good for the temperature of the house i.e. in the summer the roof takes upt he heat leaving it cool int he summer but acts as a barrier for the heat to escape the house in the winter. I'm sure it was along those sort of lines but hopefully MM will clear it up.

Sasha :)

I remember getting off the ship at Fremantle and going down the steps of the immigration lounge looking out across the rooftops of the houses of Fremantle. I thought I'd struck the poorest of the poor in Australia . . . . all those tin rooves!
Most homes . . . even mine . . . are built with corrugated iron rooves, and have been for decades now.
I built using "Colorbond" which is a colour impregnated sheet of "zincalume" (zinc / aluminium) for my house.

reply No.2 my computer wnet on the blink previously!
I used zincalume because it was light, easy to fix and my whole roof was done in a couple of days! . . . from the bare rafter stage thro' fixing the pinelining ceiling to insulating to roofing iron screwed down.
I have to use the rain-water cos' I'm too far from town (9km / 5.5 Miles) and the water doesn't some this far out from Mount Barker.
Also, a few folks now in the inner suburbs are putting rain water tanks in to use in their water heaters and for drinking. Murray River water, which is what Adelaide has to treat and use mostly, is in a bad way and years ago it used to have lots of silt in it. I ran a bath and couldn't see the bottom! Just like tea. I dunno if it's got better over the years, but that prompted me to use my rain water straight off the roof, along the gutters and down the down pipes into my 30,000 gallon concrete tank.
After 5 years of use, I thought I'd better clean it out when it got low enough to wade about in. I was really surprised to see only a little sediment on the bottom of the tank after 5 years! I think the trick is not to have too many trees dropping leaves, etc. on the roof and eventually ending up in the tank.
Rain water is soft.
soft water is better for your ticker, so the doc's say!
It also only needs half the detergent to wash the clothes in the washing machine, which has got to be a plus on my pocket AND the environment.
Rain water also doesn't clog up your hot water cylinders with mud and sediment over the years . . . . . just check out the stuff on the bottom of a cylinder after 6 or 7 years! . . . . and when it reaches the heating element, you can kiss the element good-bye. The plumbers love mains water hooked up to hot water cylinders.
Lastly, just taste a glass of rain water . . . then skull a glass of mains water

Still need convincing????