‘The Wolf’s’ own home remodel
Peter Wolfkamp from is walking the talk with his own renovation project, writes Colleen Hawkes.
Many of us are most familiar with Peter Wolfkamp (aka The Wolf) as the site foreman from The Block NZ – the one who gets to keep everyone in line on a busy construction site.
But when we arrive to talk to ‘‘the boss’’ he is happy as a sandboy working on his own pet project, a heritage villa in Devonport, which he is gradually restoring.
He is scraping and sanding old kauri weatherboards and says it’s nice to be working on something for himself for a change, and yes, the family intends to keep the house and rent it out once he has finished.
‘‘It’s a renovator’s delight,’’ he says. ‘‘It was pretty grotty when we started eight weeks ago, but it’s going to be good when I finish, which has to be by February 1, because that’s when I’ll get busy again with The Block. Normally I like to have a bit of an easy time over Christmas, but that’s not going to happen this year.’’
And it goes without saying that Wolfkamp is doing it right. He has relined the interior walls so he could insert insulation, and has insulated everywhere else as well.
But while the builder has a love of classic villas – the family lives in another one in Devonport – he’s just as up with the play when it comes to new builds, and he gets to see building trends long before the rest of us.
He also gets to hear what we want in a house, as he does a series of hourlong presentations at home shows around the country, and has a regular Sunday talkback radio show on Newstalk ZB. And he will play a key role at the inaugural NZ Home and Lifestyle Show at Eden Park, Auckland, in March next year.
What do you make of tiny houses?
I drive a lot out of town and I’m always on the lookout for tiny houses, but I have only ever seen maybe five or six. There’s a lot of talk about tiny houses and I do think they could be a great idea, but I’m not so sure the movement is as big a deal as we make it out to be.
What can we expect to see more of next year?
Off-site fabrication and modular homes. As soon as you say prefabrication, people of a certain age think of classrooms in the 50s and 70s, but prefabrication today is highly developed and highly mechanical, with components assembled off-site. While prefabrication of houses has been around for a while, we have yet to see a breakthrough with a whole street of prefabricated houses. Maybe that will happen in 2020, with the huge new Fletchers (Clever Core) factory in Auckland and others.
I’m an old-school carpenter, used to working from plans and framing up a house on-site with everything bespoke. Prefabrication has the potential to help with housing affordability, but it’s only part of the solution, and only when it reaches a certain scale (providing better economies).
How about higher-density living?
We are seeing a lot more urban renewal, with a much higher-density of homes. I was driving along a street in Takapuna the other day and two houses have been removed, and replaced by 16 three-storey, semidetached townhouses.
We can be nostalgic about large sections and the days when kids could play cricket in the back yard. But urban renewal is about being closer to town centres and transport. These homes need to be well designed for privacy, with nearby parks and amenities. It does depend on regulatory bodies, developers and designers getting together and saying: ‘‘Let’s build something really good.’’
What’s wrong with our current housing stock?
I like to ask people: ‘‘What do you want from your home?’’ And, while people are interested in decor and finishing elements, the most important thing that emerges is the performance of their homes. They want their homes to be well ventilated, easy to heat and energy efficient. And they want to know how to go about it.
So, what can we do?
This is where it gets exciting. At the home shows, we look at improving insulation, retro-fitting double glazing for example.
I do a simple presentation on seven steps to a better home.
One of the things I say to people is: ‘‘On your way home, stop at your nearest big barn hardware store and buy some draught seal tape. Seal up those casement windows so there are no draughts. Your home will be better insulated this afternoon than it was this morning.’’
Damp proofing is also an investment.
Clean out those gutters, which can cause moisture problems inside the house when blocked.
I get that it’s not always easy to get these jobs done, but I find it rewarding that people are more critical and starting to ask questions – and looking for ways to improve their homes. When I do my radio show on a Sunday, there’s a bottomless pit of questions from people.
What about old homes, which are not inherently energy efficient?
I love heritage homes and accept their faults. There are group-home builders saying you are better off removing the house and putting up a new one. But if you can renovate, it is still a more sustainable option. Ideally, you would gut the house and reline the interior, with insulation in the walls and under the floor, as I have done with my own home. Your home’s performance will be radically different. But a lot of people will balk at that, because it could cost $200,000.
Sustainability is a key concern for more people today, and many are looking to achieve Homestar ratings or HomeFit healthy home certification. It’s a proven science – meeting the requirements for these things really will improve your home.
What has changed since the leaky home scandal?
That whole Mediterranean-style housing of 20 to 30 years ago proved to be something of a disaster, and we have learned from this. Villas and bungalows always had 500mm eaves, and there’s a reason for that. But I also think we need to build with a view to maintenance. If you have cedar boards on a high gable end, for example, how easy is it going to be to restain them every three years?
We are seeing a greater use of brick cladding, but I also see new render systems that are pretty bullet-proof today.
We can be confident with these robust cladding systems – much more so than in the past. We are heading in the right direction.