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EnerPHit
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 EascaEasca
Rise of the passive house E-mail
Wednesday, 01 February 2012

Wide cavity wall farmstead
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
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
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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