A renovation that looks great but wasn’t planned for Hobart’s climate can end up an expensive lesson — condensation on windows, cold floors in winter, and damp issues in poorly ventilated wet areas. Here’s how we think about climate when planning any renovation, whether it’s a single bathroom or a full whole-home project.
In this guide
Insulation is not an optional extra
A lot of older Hobart homes were built with little to no insulation by today’s standards. If you’re renovating a room down to the studs anyway — a kitchen, bathroom, or as part of a whole-home renovation — it’s almost always worth adding or upgrading insulation while the walls are open, rather than closing them back up and living with the same cold room as before.
Managing moisture in wet areas
Bathrooms, ensuites and laundries generate the most moisture in any home, and Tasmania’s cooler, damper climate makes proper ventilation more important here than in warmer states. Every wet area we renovate gets a correctly sized exhaust fan, and waterproofing is installed to AS 3740 — the same standard whether the room is in a brand-new build or a hundred-year-old cottage. We assess whether existing ventilation pathways are actually doing their job or just moving air a few centimetres before it condenses somewhere else.
Heating choices worth considering during a renovation
- In-slab or underfloor heating in bathroom renovations, particularly for tiled floors that are otherwise cold underfoot through winter.
- Heated towel rails — a small addition during a bathroom renovation that makes a noticeable difference to comfort and helps towels dry between uses.
- Double glazing or secondary glazing where windows are being replaced as part of a larger renovation, particularly in south-facing rooms.
Material choices that hold up
For homes exposed to coastal air — around Blackmans Bay, Howrah or the Eastern Shore, for example — we factor in more corrosion-resistant tapware and fixture finishes, since standard finishes can wear faster in a salt-air environment.
A renovation is a good opportunity to genuinely fix these issues rather than work around them again. Get in touch if you’d like to talk through what makes sense for your specific home.