1950's Eco House For Sale - Reservoir
Offered for private sale is this 1950's solid brick home that has been beautifully renovated to include energy saving and other sustainability features. The house is located within easy walking distance of Reservoir train station and has a wonderful established garden of food producing and native plants that gives it a country feel. The house has been a labour of love and offers a very special opportunity to someone seeking a sustainable lifestyle property in this location.
Property Location Features:
The house is
a ten minute walk to Reservoir train station, IGA, the Maternal and Child
Health Centre, the newly built Library (on Edwards Street) and Oakhill Medical
Clinic and a 15 -20 min walk to cafes such as Lady Bower Kitchen Cafe, Off the
Boat Cafe and Edwards Lake.
A new
children's adventure park is underway at Wright Reserve (between Henty and
Wright Street), a five minute walk from this Reservoir home. Darebin City
Councils Public Realm Unit is available for more information on 8470 8888.
Reservoir is
a suburb of Darebin Council which has fantastic cultural and sustainability
programs such as the Darebin Homemade Food and Wine Festival, the Sustainable
Communities Program and the True North Festival.
Over the
years we have opened our home to the public as part of the Sustainable
Communities Program, the Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival and the Australian
Open Garden Scheme (Now called Open Gardens Victoria).
Property Overview:
This home
hosts 5 bedrooms. Three internal bedrooms (one is used as a study) and 2
bedrooms in a separate bungalow. One bathroom, 1 lounge, 1 open plan kitchen
and dining, 1 north facing greenhouse, 1 bungalow, 1 bike room, 1
workshop/studio, 1 chook house and run, 1 garden cupboard, 11 raised garden
beds "wicking"(water conservation beds), 1 X 9,000L rainwater tank
with pump and irrigation system, one revegetated native nature strip, 1 productive
fruit and vegetable garden, 1 native back garden with a well established acacia, 1 solar electricity system, 1 solar hot water system, 1 grey water diverter, 1 fold down attic ladder for large attic storage space, 1 cubby house, 1 monkey bar, various tree swings and grape vine swings.
The house
has plenty of natural light. The bathroom is gloriously bright due to north
facing clerestory windows and there is excellent cross ventilation throughout. The
greenhouse buffers the home from winter cold and reduces electricity bills.
The house
was re-stumped and re-wired by the previous owners in early 2000. All
renovations carried out since 2003 by current owners have appropriate building
permits and certificates. Planning permits were not required. The property has
cable telecommunications and traditional phone connection. Off street parking
is provided by a greened driveway. The front yard is fenced by a traditional
woven wire fence.
Sustainability Features:
· A
north facing greenhouse: which doubles as either a plant propagation area or as
a warm winter sun room and takes the chill out of the living room and north
facing bedrooms.
· Extensive
roof insulation batts equivalent to R5 plus air cell under roof tiles.
· One,
1Kw solar electricity system on a "Premium Feed in Tariff"(PFIT).
The PFIT is a minimum of 60 cents per kilowatt hour for excess electricity fed
back into the grid, retailers then commonly add a further 8c to provide a net
tariff of 68cents. Existing properties on a PFIT such as this Reservoir
property, are eligible for the 60cent per Kw hour tariff rate until 2024 under
Government legislation, regardless of which electricity retailer you connect
with.
The PFIT is linked to the property where the solar panels are installed, so
when moving house the PFIT stays with the property assigned to it. Any house
signed up to the PFIT scheme will remain eligible until 2024, even if the house
is sold and new residents move in.
We recommend POWERSHOP. (You may need to press the Control
button on your keyboard while hovering over the link to access the links).
Please see the following link on the Australian Government Energy and Resources
Website for details. Energy & Resources.
With energy efficient behaviour change practises we have not paid an
electricity bill for five years. See our top five energy efficiency tips at the
end of this sale notice (after the photos).
·
1
x 300lt gas boosted instantaneous Solar Hot Water System.
·
1
X 9,000 L water tank with pump connection to garden irrigation system and
gravity feed in roof toilet system.
·
Double
brick walls throughout the house (high thermal mass) and a great sound barrier.
·
High
performance double glazed windows and French doors from Paarhammer
also provide a highly secure multi-point locking arrangement
.
·
Grey water diverter to subsurface
infiltration trenches in the backyard.
·
Ceiling
fans in living area and main bedroom.
·
A
highly productive west facing grape vine which apart from the delicious fruit
it gives provides an almost complete block out from the hot setting summer sun.
·
An
extensive garden which creates a cooler summer microclimate and provides shade
in outdoor recreational areas.
Garden features:
This home boasts a very productive fruit and vegetable garden: grapes,
plums, apricots, boysenberries, raspberries, pepinos, quinces, persimmons,
apples and almonds.
All of the
raised garden beds are wicking beds. This simply means that they are all lined
at the bottom, have drainage outlets and subsurface irrigation, to ensure
minimum moisture loss. See Costas UTUBE film called Backyard Revolution - week
3 "The Garden Beds" for an excellent explanation of what we have done
and or see our own documentation on our blog:
For
those who prefer a more ornamental floral garden then the wicking beds will
ensure that your flowers and shrubs are the healthiest and lushest flowers to
be found.
Workshop and Bungalow:
The back
garden hosts a large workshop which has been used for wood working projects. It
could also easily be transformed into a wonderful art studio, a clay potters
workshop or as an extensive sewing and felting studio.
The bungalow
was originally built to accommodate a large guest bedroom. It was later
converted into two smaller rooms which are rented to international guests via
two Hosting Agencies: WISH and Discover English.
The original
larger north facing bedroom could
easily be reinstated, as no building nor planning permits are required for the
process to take place.
Please see
photos below (it is really hard to capture the front of the house due to all
the trees, so I have not provided a front of house photo, but have provided a
view of the west entrance to our house as it appears in the summer months when
the leaves return).
Please
contact mararipani@optusnet.com.au or call 0425 749 300 (as there is no
message bank, please follow up with a text with your full name and I will call
you back.).
Open for Inspection Times:
Tuesday 16th
June, 6pm to 6:45pm.
Saturday
20th June 3:30 to 4:30pm.
Offers above $795, 000 will be considered.
