Videos
Homeowner Maureen Baird of Timaru, New Zealand
"Since moving into our Cornerstone home last April our family of four have been greatly impressed with the degree of warmth sustained throughout a very cold winter, yet are also happy with the pleasant coolness experienced on some very warm spring days. Results are a lowered heating cost, and an overall improvement in family health." says Maureen.
Homeowner Chris Frizzell of Timaru, New Zealand -2009
"We have have been greatly impressed with the insulation value and the fact that our house is so easy to heat. We were also impressed by the speed of construction and the very pleasant appearance of the finished house." says Chris.
Homeowner Elizabeth Meek of Christchurch, New Zealand - 2004
Elizabeth Meek with her teenage family, including herself of four, is happy with the comfort and design of her home at 33 Elmwood drive. "The house is always comfortable and with the Air-conditioning unit taking no time to adjust the temperature when we have been away for the day, the electricity usage is minimal" comments Elizabeth.
Homeowner Lisa Cooper of Taupo, New Zealand - 2002
"I have been in my Cornerstone home designed by James Thompson for 3 years. With the polystyrene walls and double glazing it is very quiet and comfortable. I do not get any house vibrations even though I am located high above Taupo and exposed to the strong southerly winds. In winter I find I can heat the house economically because of the insulating properties of the polystyrene panels. I definitely feel this type of house construction is the way of the future." says Lisa.
Homeowners Bernadette & David Wright of Taupo, New Zealand - 1999
"Living in the Cornerstone house has strongly confirmed in my mind the advantages of this system." says David. Bernadette & David have built a second Cornerstone home. Bernadette comments "Our current home, constructed by Future Homes, is the second we have built using the Cornerstone system. We could not be happier with the standards of comfort and cost of living and have nothing but praise for both system and builder."
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Homeowners Eric & Judith Punshon of Auckland, N Z
House Twin Court,Albany - 2002
House 2 Dairy Flat, Auckland -2006
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Builder Andrew Young of Christchurch, New Zealand |
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Show home /Home owners
Joe & Nic Taylor
Vinyl Cladding NZ Ltd
Cromwell, New Zealand
June 2015
“Being in the construction industry for over 25 years I have seen a lot of houses built.
My business for the last 25 years was involved in Home heating systems, mainly hydronic heating. The best way to have an energy efficient home heating system is to have an energy efficient house! Hence we built with the Cornerstone system. We live in a cold environment in Central Otago and I have seen far too many people build cold houses and are disappointed because they think that a new house is instantly warm, not true!
The construction of our cornerstone house was simple, there was nothing complicated about the building process, and I would say just as fast as a timber framed house. We also adopted better building products to compliment the energy efficiency of the Cornerstone Building System like uPVC window joinery, Mitten Insulated vinyl weatherboards from Canada, and an AC grid tie solar system. We just wanted to build a better house than the standard cold houses we tend to build in NZ. We have now lived in this house for 3 months and are noticing how stable the temperature is in every corner of the house no matter day or night. It’s a pleasurable living environment and easy to heat.
The cost of this build was also on par with a typical standard house, with all the benefits of lower heating and power costs.
I would have no hesitations in building a Cornerstone home again and in fact look forward to it.”Says Joe
Joe and Nic Taylor, Cromwell
Simon & Kay Duquemin Nelson, New Zealand. - 2005
“We have been living in our house for six years now and have totally enjoyed the experience of building with Cornerstone .It was great to see how quickly the house outer walls were formed and how stable they became once the steelwork and concrete were added.
Having lived here through a few seasons we have felt really cool in the hotter months and toasty in the winter months and the most impressive element is the fact we have no heating bills !!!We get two trailer loads of gum for our open fire to create an ambience but other than that nothing .
We have felt a few earth quakes here in Nelson and have not worried about losing the house due to it’s strength and design , the same applies to high winds which we do get here from time to time.” Simon & Kay Duquemin, Nelson, NZ.
Allan Charles of Amberley, North Canterbury, New Zealand - 2011
Reports—”As a builder, in the position of a need for a new home, I started researching build
systems that would provide excellent insulation with durability and strength. We were impressed with the Cornerstone SIP (structural insulated panel) system. Not only for the systems physical benefits, but also the easy and quick construction process. From a home owners point of view.........we love it. Our neighbors are lighting their fires for the evening.....we are enjoying 27 deg C at sundown.”
Above :- Pete Ruddocks comments May 2011
“We built last 12 months using the Cornerstone polystyrene wall system. We are living in the house at the moment but do not have the wetback/log burner installed, we have double glazing but no curtains on any windows. So no heating at all. We also don't have the balanced MHRV system connected either.
I have a digital indoor/outdoor max/min thermometer which i am tracking temperatures. Last week we had an overnight drop to -3.9C outside while inside reduced to 18.3C. On a sunny day like today it will be up around 20-21C by late afternoon.
The reason I'm explaining this is :- we also installed UFH pipes in the slab, but we are wondering if it is worth paying the $$K's for a hot water heat pump to get it operational. We also think that we may need to open windows when we want the wetback on for hot water heating - ironic eh? I'm quite glad that I bought the UFH components and installed it myself for about $2600 rather than going with a company with quotes in the $14K - $20K region.
My advice would be to invest your money in high R value wall/ceiling insulation, quality double glazing, good sealing of the building fabric and a balanced HRV rather than on an underground heat storage.
PETE’S ECOBOB POST
Posted 18 Aug 11 4:41 PM
Passive House >>> Does anyone here have such a house?
“Yes or close too, my house build just north of Masterton over the last 18 months Walls 250mm Cornerstone poly with cavity & weatherboard”
“Things to note - been moved in since April - only had wood burner/wetback installed last Wednesday (just in time ae) beforehand was a bit nippy in the evening but nothing compared to rental houses I've been in while building and those were with heating. Ventilation set on lowest setting with humidistats in bathroom and ensuite to kick in boost as required - no condensation at all :) Coldest room in house is a music room for the kids above the garage, R3.6 ceiling, R2.8 walls in standard 90mm framing. The contrast in temperature to the rest of the house is very noticeable. This alone has convinced me to never build a std framed house if ever I build again in the future. Not completely tracked all bills but spent approx $500K for a 380m2 home for 6 people, so approx $1350/m2.” Says Pete
Linked in Testimonial
“Mary, added value to the plans produced by my architect to design the external walls do the structural calculations for the Cornerstone building system. She was consistently helpful during the design phase answering email question and phone calls promptly and providing expert advice. During the building work Mary visited site to train my builders in the correct method of construction and assisted (i.e. got her hands dirty) in the construction of the ground floor walls. Mary kept in touch after the initial wall construction phase and was always available to answer further questions as the build progressed. Now that we are in our new home, I can thoroughly recommend the Cornerstone system to anyone looking for a warm, dry and quiet home. I can further recommend Mary as an expert on the system and she is someone who goes above and beyond what I would expect of a building system retailer."
Pete Ruddock of Masterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand.- 2010
Pete A Mechanical Engineer from the UK, wanted the best insulation for his large & extended family on a lifestyle block to be sustainable..
Peter and Catherine Dougle of Lyttleton Christchurch -2005-2006
After their first year living in their new home Peter comments: “We are very happy with our Cornerstone home, it is a very comfortable, healthy home to live in, easy to heat, quiet with a nice airy feel to it. The 240m2 plan sited on 607m2 freehold section, with open living plus bathroom on the top with another 45m2 of decks on 2 sides to enjoy the vista’s, 4 double bedrooms 2 bathrooms one with spa bath on the middle floor and Garage with entrance and stairwell on the ground floor. It was architecturally designed in 2005 by Bob Jamison and is a very practical yet simple layout, well suited to the elevated section on the high side of the road, catching the views, the sun and with the Cornerstone walls having such a high insulation value, the heat is retained for long periods keeping the house a nice ambient temperature”
Punshon House 2 below Dairy Flat property, 2006 Auckland -2006
Punshon House 1 Twin Court, Albany built 2002 top left with Eric & Judith in their 2nd kitchen on the top right.
Just some of the testimonials of folks living in homes that have benefited happily from the Cornerstone Building system and builders using it are many & varied. Pete Ruddock (Masterton), Allan Charles (Amberley, North Canterbury) & Aaron Duncan (Clive, Hawkes Bay) These testimonials have been reported on the Cornerstone Building System Website. http://www.4-cornerstone.com/newsletter/22_Homeowner%20feedback_May2013.pdf Then Simon & Sue Duquamin in the Nelson area.
Homes in some of the worst hit areas of the Christchurch Earthquakes which started by awaking the city at 4.35am September the 4th 2010, continuing for over 2 years of significant earthquake events & aftershocks.
Some of those homes shown here…http://www.4-cornerstone.com/newsletter/14_Christchurch_4thSept2010_Earthquake_Surviving%20homes.pdf
"My wife and I visited NZ in 2001 from the UK with view to immigrating. Checked out the house building in Auckland. We were not at ease with the "Matchstick" type of construction (as our son Jonathan called it). When we arrived in 2003 to live in NZ we decided to investigate what other method of building was available. We came across "Cornerstone" Coming from an engineering background we decided Cornerstone and bought one because of the thermal value (4.6) We were so pleased after 3 years with our Cornerstone house, almost nil heating bills in the winter and cool in the summer. Our neighbours in traditional houses were too hot in the summer and needed considerable heating in the winter. We decided to build Cornerstone OURSELVES. We sold our house to another family with an engineering background because of the THERMAL VALUE. They had a traditional type of house and had been too cold in the NZ winter, and like us, they wanted better .The Cornerstone house we sold had walls 8" thick "(200mm)" we decided that we would increase the wall thickness to 10"(250mm) and double Glaze The thermal Value Is a whopping 5.7. Building regs require 1.8. Whether in the North Island or South Island all houses should be built like this. Other advantages: Speedy and simple construction. Very strong Should stand up well to an earthquake. The outside reinforced concrete wall columns are mechanically bonded to a waffle raft. A reinforced concrete Ring Beam mechanically bonds the tops of the outside wall columns. This Ring Beam forms the anchor for the roof.”