A report on progress of the build as it happens
Insulation considerations for a Passive House? There are obviously many types of insulation that can be used in a Passive House, all of which have pros and cons. All are able to meet the insulation 'U' value requirements, but will give a wall of varying thickness. There are other considerations to take into account [...]
Guide to airtightness and pressure testing produced by the Passivhaus Trust. The damp proof membrane is glued down to the slab to ensure there is no air gap. The sole plate is then fixed down to the slab with expanding fixings. After the ground floor panels are put in place [...]
Choosing windows for a Passive House When choosing windows for a Passive house there are a number of items to consider including; Cost, Performance, Appearance, Availability. I had decided that I wanted to use aluminium clad windows that were triple glazed to that narrowed down my search considerably. I wanted windows that had a [...]
Why install solar p.v. Up until the begining of this year it was pretty much a no brainer to install solar p.v. on a house, particularly a new build if you could afford the initial outlay as the Governments Feed in Tariff paid good money for power generated regardless of you using it yourself. [...]
Fixing roofing felt Fixing roofing felt Nailing roofing battens Tiles Tiles loaded on roof Lead work to box gutter Tiling the valley Tiling Fitting roof lights Pointing the ridge Tiles around flush P.V. panels Fiberglass balcony and box gutter Balcony covered in OSB before fibreglassing
Ground floor Ground floor wall panels Crane lifting panels Fixing steel post Ground floor wall panels Fixing base of corner post Fixing ground steel floor beams Ground floor steel beams ready to start fixing joists Floor joists over ground floor panels Metal web joists over living space Air tight membrane over joist ends [...]
The first delivery of the passive timber frame from MBC Timber Frame Ltd arrived this morning from the factory in Ireland. The access to site is quite tight so MBC had arranged to have their truck met by a smaller vehicle and transfer the load a couple of miles away so it would not block [...]
Pouring a Passive Raft foundation An advantage with a passive raft foundation is that the volume of concrete is kept low compared to traditional footings and raft. This is clearly a benefit from a cost point of view but also the amount of embodied carbon in the build. I would have liked to used [...]
Foundation for a Passive House A passive slab foundation is a raft that is fully insulated from contact with the ground below eliminating any thermal bridging. Insulation forms the shuttering for a concrete pour, and layering of the insulation allows a ring beam to be formed around the perimeter and thickening under load bearing [...]
Site cleared and levels reduced Inspection chambers set to level Rodding point for surface water drainage Pressure testing drainage With the reduced dig and drainage runs complete the site is covered in free draining stone compacted in layers. This provides a base [...]
