Comments for Passivhaus blog

Comment on Narrowing the performance gap by Elrond Burrell

Elrond Burrell — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:05:11 +0000

All very good points well made I think. Particularly agree with -
• Value engineering to be reclaimed from cost cutting, where value is seen in reference to performance (in its widest sense) not just in profit margins.
• Moving away from sub contracting to in-house trades, offering more control and continuity

From an architect’s perspective, it is very frustrating dealing with main contractors who are just contract managers and can’t talk about detailing and construction and who see value engineering as a way to increar the contrator’s profit margin. There also many areas where subcontracting out “packages” can create gaps in responsibility / accountability (continuity as you note)

As Nick commented though, partnering mentality counts more than formal partnering contracts (which I broadly support) in my experience.

Comment on Narrowing the performance gap by Sofie Pelsmakers

Sofie Pelsmakers — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:00:16 +0000

‘Even’ as an architect, I wholeheartedly agree! A few thoughts I’d like to share: The notion of PH or similar standard leading to the same goal and therefore possibly greater solidarity and mutual respect within the multi-disciplinary team is an interesting one and I’d love to hear if anyone has any precedents of this from other EU countries? Over 14 years ago, when I did my RIBA architecture Part I apprenticeship I was based on-site and worked closely with the contractor, seeing everything build. Not only is this an eyeopener to any designer; it creates a mutual respect for each others’ skills. Nowadays with Design & Build contracts, most designers don’t even get to visit a site let alone see any regular build process; missing out on this crucial ‘design-detail-building’ feedback loop. I do think this contributes to the lack of understanding and respect between professions,….

Comment on Narrowing the performance gap by Nick Grant

Nick Grant — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:43:49 +0000

Very good, I get really fed up with the blame the trades person mentality. I don’t know about formal partnering contracts but a partnering mentality is crucial.

Nick

Comment on Narrowing the performance gap by Dan Bates

Dan Bates — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:21:21 +0000

I’m doing a passivhaus refurb dissertation specifically looking at buildability for these reasons. Although I have not much experience of being either an architect or builder it’s something I’ve sensed the importance of, i.e. designing/building being unified in some way, as a team or in an individual’s outlook.

Comment on Summer by Stuart Dantzic

Stuart Dantzic — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:54:04 +0000

Love the comment on Brise Soleil.
I’ve created a dedicated information source on exterior blinds and one of the key ongoing topics is the importance of solar control in Passivhaus buildings. Below is a link to the info source dedicated to exterior blinds, with many topics you should find interesting, including the importance of blind positioning – summer and winter shading strategies for blinds:
http://www.weloveexteriorblinds.com/blog_summer-and-winter-shading-strategy
http://www.weloveexteriorblinds.com/blog_passivhaus-shading_41

Comment on Spring by Dexter Harries

Dexter Harries — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:02:43 +0000

Great blog! We hear a lot about the work going INTO projects, but it’s nice to hear a bit about actually living in a Passivhaus. Looking forward to seeing any/some/all of the data that becomes available.
We have done some work on Passivhaus, specifically retrofit, before and prepared a short introduction to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2HdcfFiys0. We’ve also just started out own blog if you want to take a look! http://encraft.blogspot.com/

Comment on Summer by Kate Tunstall

Kate Tunstall — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:30:29 +0000

Reply to Heather & Keith Griffiths

Hi – just to answer your questions

The bamboo flooring – We have used standard bamboo flooring throughout on the first floor (except for the tiled bathroom). This is fine – but does not get much wear and tear – there is just the two of us in the house. In the living room I was seduced by the deeper richer look of carbonised bamboo (which put us over budget for flooring!). This has been subjected to more traffic, although we insist people take their shoes off in our house. Also we put rubber on the base of some chairs to avoid scratches. It copes with me misting the plants, with spills – even cat sick hasn’t left a stain! The carbonised finish is supposed to be waxed/oiled once a year, but I haven’t done it yet. We are very happy with it – it gives a warmer appearance than many hard surfaces, but is easy to clean/maintain.
Underfloor heating – we put underfloor heating in the bathroom & kitchen under the tiles – just the cheap kits you might get at Wickes. This was an unnecessary caution – we have never used it. Our bathroom floor is heated by the hot water cylinder which is stored in the room below. The temperature in a passive house stays quite constant and all the floors are generally between 18-21 degrees. I don’t know how much insulation you have in your base which may make a difference-ours is 225mm polyfoam.

Solar gain -needs monitoring. We had the external blinds fitted to give us the control. Although the temperature of the fabric of our passive house stays quite constant, the air temperature can rise quite quickly. Shading is essential – we are glad we have external blinds which are more efficient at blocking temperature than internal solutions.
The highest part of our solar space has an opening window which gives us the option of ventilating excess heat. This has proved essential when we have experienced overheating – eg returning home after a sunny day after leaving the blinds up. The large eaves also help to control summer thermal gain.
You will need to have external shading on both areas of glazing to contral thermal gain. Also you need to ensure you have an option to ventilate at the highest point again to deal with overheating.

We have 7 pv panels and 2 solar water panels which give us electricity & DHW for our needs. We have a gas boiler as a back up to heat 1 radiator, 2 towel rails and DHW. We found that we do not need this on all the time in autumn/winter and we turned it off in March.

Hope this helps you and good luck!
Kate & Geoff

Comment on Summer by Heather & Keith Griffiths

Heather & Keith Griffiths — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:55:43 +0000

Hi, we are self building a self designed house in North Wales following the Passive house principals. We will not have the house Passive documented as our budget is too small to run to the testing costs, we do however hope to have the benefits of Passive House living.
Our construction is thin joint block as this was the easiest construction for us to master, although we can lay traditional bricks we are not builders. So far, we have done all of the building work ourselves with some help from our son driving our 3ton digger with the footings.
We are very interested in the solar gain / need for solar shading through your solar space, our design has a southerly solarium with the glazed roof running into the tiled roof & we are concerned we will overheat.
I’m also curious as to how the bamboo floor is standing up to daily living, as it is a material I am considering. We may go for an entirely tiled floor; we have put in under floor heating to run from a wood pellet boiler as a belt & braces for winter & DHW if the planned solar panels don’t supply enough; but I’m concerned an all tiled space would feel too clinical even with rugs.
We are actually a long way off flooring as the roof is not completed and no windows fitted but I’m working on the budget!
I hope you can find time to reply.
Best wishes
Heather (Keith is busy slating)

Comment on Spring by Chayley Collis

Chayley Collis — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:29:58 +0000

I believe Leeds Met are monitoring CO2 levels within the house, along with many other measurements. As soon as any data is made available on this, links will be included here.

Comment on Spring by Martin Hall

Martin Hall — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:12:16 +0000

What is a typical average CO2 level in your home? On the Green Building Forum, Viking House has submitted some data for a client’s home with Fine Wire MVHR installed. As most of us cannot measure CO2 levels the results in your home with a very efficient conventional MVHR unit would be of interest. Will Leeds Met be publishing the data?