You’ve had the heating on for an hour. You’re still cold.
And at some point, you’ve probably just… accepted that. Told yourself it’s an old house, or the heater’s not quite up to it, or that’s just how July goes.
But here’s what I find, almost every time I sit down with someone who’s been through this: it’s not the heater.
There are three things I see in Melbourne homes, again and again, that are quietly working against warmth. None of them are dramatic. None show up on an inspection report. And in most cases, the homeowner has no idea they’re there.
There are three comfort killers I see in Melbourne homes, again and again, that are quietly working against warmth.
Comfort Killer #1:
The Hole In Your Roof You Probably Don’t Think About
If your home has evaporative cooling, there’s a large opening sitting at the top of your roof right now.
That’s not a fault, it’s how the system works. Evaporative cooling pulls air through water-soaked pads and pushes it through ducts into your rooms. For that to happen, the unit needs to be open to outside air… so it is, all year-round.
In summer, that’s fine, but in winter, think about what that means for your heating.
Warm air rises, and it moves toward the highest point in the house. The highest point in the house has a direct path to the outside. So the warmth your heater’s generating moves up, out through the evaporative unit, and disappears. At the same time, cold air is finding its way in through the sides of the unit. The pads aren’t sealed, they’re designed for airflow.
So you’re losing heat from the top and pulling cold air in through the sides, at the same time, all winter.
You can get covers for evaporative units. They help a little, but they don’t seal properly, and most people don’t fit them consistently anyway.
The more lasting fix is moving away from evaporative cooling altogether. A small split system, in a home that’s reasonably well insulated, is often all you need. Some people go further and install heat recovery ventilation, HRV systems. They bring fresh air in, warm it to match the temperature inside, and circulate it without losing heat in the process. Good ones recover around 88-90% of the heat that would otherwise go outside.
Here’s the part that surprises most people, though. Evaporative cooling isn’t just in older homes. Almost every new Melbourne build has one. It’s affordable, it meets the minimum energy standard, and so it gets put in. But meeting the minimum standard and actually keeping a home warm in winter are two different things.
Comfort Killer #2:
Windows That Look Right But Aren’t Doing Enough
When a home feels cold, double glazing tends to be the first thing people look at. And it can make a difference. The question is how much, and what else needs to happen alongside it.
I covered this in detail in an earlier post, The Most Expensive Way to Fix a Cold Melbourne House. If you haven’t read it, it’s worth a look before you spend money on windows. The short version is this: on its own, double glazing typically improves heat retention by around 3-4%. The frame, the seal, and what happens in the gap around the window after installation all matter just as much as the glass itself.
The comfort problem is rarely the window in isolation. It’s the window as part of a building that hasn’t been looked at end-to-end.
Comfort Killer #3:
The Cold Coming Up Through The Floor
This one almost never comes up. Mainly because you can’t see it.
A lot of Melbourne homes, particularly those built before the slab-on-ground era, have a subfloor. There’s a timber floor sitting above a ventilated pocket of air. The ventilation is intentional, it keeps moisture from building up under the house.
But that pocket of air is cold. And if there’s nothing between it and your floor, that cold moves straight up into the room. It’s why some floors feel freezing underfoot in winter, no matter how long the heating’s been on.
In older homes, it’s worse. The gaps between wall plates, around pipes, and along joists. There are a lot of them. Draught moves through the subfloor and up into the living areas. You feel it without ever knowing where it’s coming from.
Fixing it isn’t complicated. You seal the gaps first with expanding foam around the wall plates and anywhere services come through. Then insulate between the joists. Some people go further and wrap the underside of the floor structure with a building membrane. How far you go depends on what you’re working with and what you’re trying to achieve. But even doing the basics makes a real difference.
I knew a builder who used to skip the subfloor insulation every time. His thinking was that the carpet would cover it, and it wasn’t a requirement. He was right on both counts. But you’ve got a cold air pocket sitting underneath a living space. Leave it there, and it keeps doing what it does.
Of the roughly three million homes in Victoria, I’d estimate at least two to two and a half million have no subfloor insulation. It’s probably the most widespread comfort problem in Melbourne, and the one that gets talked about the least.
The Thing They All Have In Common
None of these show up on an inspection report. None are visible once the home is finished. And all three are much easier and cheaper to deal with before a renovation closes them in than after.
The evaporative unit is on the roof. The window gaps are behind the plaster. The subfloor is underneath the floor. Once the job moves past those stages, getting back in costs real money.
That’s why the conversation I try to have with people early, before anything gets locked in, is about how the house is actually performing right now. Not what they want to change…. what the house is already telling them.
Before You Lock Anything In
I’ve put together a short self-assessment for Melbourne homeowners called:
It’s the same set of checks I go through with people at the start of a renovation. Takes a few minutes, and it tends to surface things that plans and quotes won’t show you.
