16
November 2011
Just how
cold is cold - a first-hand insight from the owners of Otago's
coldest house
It's
been over five weeks since we began warming up Ophir and to date,
we've installed a massive 2869 square metres of insulation. With 20
houses to go, the install teams are working some real
magic.
In
this update we thought we'd give you a bit more insight into just
how cold the town can get - the stories that the locals tell us
when we visit sound like something out of a strange movie. They are
so outlandish that we could hardly believe them but rest assured,
they are all 100% true.
One
story that really encapsulates what life has been like in the small
town comes from Bernie Allen, whose house was voted Central Otago's
coldest. Here's an excerpt from the letter that won the Allen
family the title:
"The frost
is crystallized on the inside of the windows, transforming the
watery winter sunlight to shimmering prisms on the frozen bedroom
walls. The bedroom curtains shredded in my hands as I tried to pull
them off the ice on the glass. We wrap warm on our beds with only
our noses poking out, but this creates a thin layer of frost on the
bedding where our breath freezes on the
sheets.
The bathroom
is a barrel of laughs. First up turns the gas heater on to thaw the
bottom of the shower tray. There is a wonderfully deep cast iron
bath… ideal to warm up in… but the iron is so cold that by time you
drain the hot water cylinder to fill the bath it has cooled the
water down to lukewarm. There's no loitering / reading in our
toilet as we all have to squat, due to the very real possibility of
being frozen to the seat.
The
permafrost has set solid with a skating path out to the car in the
mornings - thank goodness for work and school where we can go to
warm up. Making the school lunches can be interesting with the
bananas frozen to the bench, but the bread keeps fresh for days and
days, semi frozen in the drawer.
It's not all
doom and gloom; we love the potential in our new home and eagerly
await the spring thaw so we can begin out planned projects, I'm
very confident that by next winter we will not be able to enter
this competition, as the first project is insulation and
heating!"
We're pleased to let you know that Bernie's house is getting
some well-deserved Knauf treatment, and will be extra insulated to
help reduce the effects of winter's chill, keep them cool in summer
and reduce those huge power bills!
1 November
2011
12 houses completed - things are
warming up in Ophir!
Things haven't slowed for the Knauf team working to
warm up New Zealand's coldest town - in fact;
they're really starting to heat up (no pun intended). In the last
fortnight we've been busy installing the final corners of Blacks
Hotel, as well as 12 other houses around the town. Publican of
Blacks Hotel, Steve Chapman, says that they are really looking
forward to a much warmer winter next year, for themselves and their
guests, as well as lower power bills!
In our travels and talks with the townspeople we've
uncovered a whole host of stories that make this town something
truly unique. Tales of sheep freezing to the ground
(defrosting as the sun breaks) and using the fridge to
defrost frozen goods in winter were tough to image! Another story
that stood out was told to us by the unofficial town spokesperson,
Lois Galer. When Lois and her husband moved to Ophir many years
ago, a local resident gave her an important piece of advice: not to
leave false teeth (if she had them) in a glass by the bed at night
time as they freeze solid and take a day to
defrost!
It's no wonder why Ophir needed a bit
of warming up! Here are some more Ophir photos, keep an eye
out for our next update and more stories, coming
soon.
17 October
2011
We're here! And we're taking on a big challenge -
warming up NZ's coldest town!
Our world-leading insulation
product, EarthWool, is on its way to New Zealand to satisfy Kiwis'
demands for a friendlier, more sustainable choice in home
insulation. To celebrate our imminent arrival and prove we're
serious about making the country warmer and more energy
efficient, we're warming up New Zealand's coldest
town.
Ophir, a small settlement in Central Otago, population
50, recorded the country's coldest official temperature of -21.6
degrees on July 3 1995. Since that date, the townspeople have
battled the wily ways of the cold, with frozen and exploding water
pipes, frozen bananas and toilet seats so cold you stick to
them.
For the last couple of weeks we've
been meeting with the people of Ophir and assessing their homes,
many of which date back to the 1800s. We've now begun the process
of warming the town up and putting the cold stories to bed.
Progress is good - so far the local pub, Blacks Hotel, has been
fitted, as has one of the town's new-builds.
Check
out these photos to see what the Knauf Insulation team has been up
to, and keep an eye out for more progress updates
soon!
