In a Facebook group for new house builders, someone asked if we had a regret about some aspect of building a house. This was my reply (with edits):
I built with a steel frame and a Colorbond roof. I don’t know which is the cause (could be a combination of the two), but radio/phone reception inside is poor-to-nonexistent:
- I have to place the phone on the window sill and use an earpiece to hold a conversation. I am with Vodafone, whose signals are never as good as Telstra’s. I like its features and price, so I have not gone to Telstra.
- The DAB2+ digital clock radio in the bedroom mostly works, but sometimes the alarm comes on with no radio signal.
- I am also a ham operator and almost all VHF/UHF reception indoors is nonexistent.
- I tried some rabbit-ears antenna on a TV set and there was no reception on any channel.
- My wi-fi router is in the garage and although I don’t need it much in my home office at the far end, thanks to an Ethernet run, it is 2 out of 3 bars on the strength icon. If I step into my back yard, I lose the wi-fi on my phone completely.
The house is a Faraday cage.
The other issue is as the house heats up with the sun, there are ongoing pops in the roof space. My son has a similar home opposite mine from the same builder and he does not have this issue. A combination of a steel roof and steel framing should be avoided if you need good radio/TV/phone reception.