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Featured Article
| EnerPHit |
While the principles of low energy building apply equally for new build and upgrades, the reality is that htting passive levels becomes much trickier when retrofitting. The Passive House Institute have taken this on board and created a retrofit standard that is ambitious but achievable.
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Official magazine of Easca  |
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Rise of the passive house |
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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 |
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Page 6 of 20
Building a passive house needn’t mean a boxy design and unconventional
building methods — Tony Holden’s new house in Tullow, Co Carlow proves
meeting the standard is feasible with plain old cavity wall construction
and traditional Irish design.
Building a passive house needn’t mean a boxy design and unconventional
building methods — Tony Holden’s new house in Tullow, Co Carlow proves
meeting the standard is feasible with plain old cavity wall construction
and traditional Irish design.
Holden says his main motivation for going passive was quality — he saw
passive certification as a guarantee his would be well built. "It's not
that I'm a green fanatic," he says. "The main reason I'm building a
passive house is that it's a quality control stick. It's a standard I
can test. I've got good metrics to ensure my house is as it's supposed
to be."
He plans to get the house certified by the Passive House Institute as
soon as possible. "That's everyone's final destination on the job," he
says. "It's not something we're going to leave on the long finger for a
year or two."
The house is constructed in four sections, evoking a traditional farmstead
He was open to different construction methods, and sought tenders for
cavity wall, timber frame, and single leaf concrete block construction.
But the cavity wall always came back cheapest. "I wouldn't have built a
passive house if it was going to cost me too much," he says. The wall
cavity features 300mm of Korefill bonded bead insulation, with 500mm
Isover Metac insulation in the roof. All windows and doors are Passive
House Institute certified Pazen Premium Maxi units.
“The design of the house wasn't ideal for hitting the passive house
standard,” says Tracey Sludds of architects OLS. “The client stipulated
from the start that the design should take precedence over the
building's performance. Albeit that we wanted to reach the passive house
standard, he was not willing to sacrifice or compromise on the overall
aesthetic of the house.”
Sludds says the house’s U shape proved a challenge to reaching the
passive house standard. “Not only does it look like a traditional Irish
farmstead but the design could only achieve the passive house standard
in Ireland's milder climate. This house design would not reach the
standard if it was in central Europe."
The building pushes the boundaries of
cavity wall construction – a 300mm wide insulation void with Ancon
Teploties reducing cold bridging
Selected project details
Client: Tony & Siobhan Holden
Architect: OLS Architects
Civil / structural engineer: Peter Bolger Consulting
Main contractor: American Timber Frame Houses
Wall & floor insulation: Kore Insulation
Airtightness products, roof insulation & additional wall insulation: Isover
Windows and doors: Pazen Ireland
Airtightness tester: Integrated Energy
Project overview:
Building type
: 295 square metre detached stepped single-storey house, with a wine
cellar attached and a workshop detached. The build method is infill
cavity construction with timber A-frame pitched roof.
Location: Tullow, Co Carlow
Completion date: September 2011
Passive house certification: pre-submission
Space heating demand (PHPP): 15 kWh/m2/yr
Heat load (PHPP): 10 W/ m2
Airtightness: target 0.30 air changes per hour at 50 pascals
pressure. Initial airtight test is due to be carried out on the shell
and core in two weeks. Due to the building design, location and climate
constraints, this house requires a more onerous air tightness level than
standard passive houses. While the passive house limit is 0.6 air
changes per hour at 50 pascal pressure, this house must achieve a better
value of 0.3.
BER: Pending
Ground floor: Viking insulated concrete raft foundation, insulated with 400mm of EPS Kore insulation with Rhinoplast Ultra Radon barrier.
U-value: 0.09 W/m2K
Walls: 15mm Weber render to 100mm Cemex dense block external leaf,
300mm cavity filled with Korefill bonded bead insulation with Ancon
basalt Teplotie wall ties, 150mm Quinn-Lite Aircrete block to inner
leaf, with Gypsum Airtite Quiet parge coat, 75mm insulated service
cavity, vapour barrier, 12.5mm Gypsum plasterboard with skim finish.
U-value: 0.09 W/m2K
Pitched Roofs: Capco fibre cement slates externally on treated
timber battens/counter battens, followed underneath by breathable
roofing underlay, to DTE timber roof truss, with 500mm Metac insulation
between joists, Vario vapour barrier, 18mm taped & sealed Smartply
OSB, 150mm uninsulated service cavity, 12.5mm Gypsum plasterboard
ceiling with skim finish.
U-value: 0.08 W/m2K
Flat Roofs: VMZinc Plus Quartz zinc standing seam externally,
followed underneath by breathable roofing underlay, on WBP plywood
support, on treated timber fillet battens to create fall and
ventilation, on 250mm treated timber joists/counter joists in-filled
with Metac insulation followed underneath by Vario vapour barrier, 18mm
taped & sealed Smartply OSB, 150mm uninsulated service cavity,
12.5mm Gypsum plasterboard ceiling.
U-value: 0.08 W/m2K
Windows: Pazen Premium Maxi triple-glazed aluminium-clad Eucalyptus
hardwood windows, with argon filling and an overall U-value of 0.77
W/m2K
Heating: back-up heat source via a heater battery mounted in line
with the supply air duct from the heat recovery ventilation unit. The
system is currently under review.
Ventilation: Paul Novus 300 heat recovery ventilation system —
Passive House Institute certified to have heat recovery rate of 93%, and
an electrical efficiency of 0.24 Wh/m3
Green materials: Pazen Eucalyptus hardwood windows, Isover recycled
glass mineral wool roof insulation, reclaimed oak timber plank flooring,
Tretford eco backed carpet, Dulux zero VOC eco paint, all roof timbers
from PEFC certified sources.
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