Its been another steady few weeks where the plastering has been completed & the scaffolding taken down. Have included a few photos below that show the next step since the photos in the last post.In part 1 of Passive House Design & Construction decisions I will be highlighting the following areas: Foundations, Rainwater Harvesting, Rainwater Goods & Fascia / Soffit.
Have gotten a few question from people on various material / techniques / approaches we've taken & in each post going forward will describe our solution for a number of items.
Slates - this is a oldie! For planning reason we were limited to blue black or a derivative thereof. There are many , hundreds actually, of manmade & natural options. Some people swear by the colour fastness & strength of the manmade. As many vote the other way. We ended up choosing a large brazilian natural slate from Capco, which we also fixed with stainless steel hooks given our hilltop location. They have been up for 4 months, through some heavy storms & only a few were damaged.
Pros: amazing colour, expected longer life, great size; Con: more brittle than man made, more labour installing
Foundation - As you may gather from the older posts we did not go with a raft system from one of the 'insulated foundation systems' companies. The solution we came up with , in consultation with the structural engineer uses polystyrene ( rather than closed cell insulation) overlapping to give the thermal breaks, using rising walls.
Pros: 50% saving over system type foundation ; Con: if you have already engaged an engineer they may not accept it
Rainwater Use- Have installed a large tank under the garage for use for all household water which will be filtered & UV treated, with the exception of cold water taps
Pros: House not as dependent on the mains system & potential shortages , reducing consumption by about 60% ; Con: No return on investment (ROI) in the absence of water metering, this is a fairly fundamental negative
Rainwater Goods - There are a myriad of profiles & materials - just need to select one that fits our budget & requirements. Our guttering is square aluminium with plastic downpipes( to minimise noise / dripping during rainfall,) all painted/powdercoated in a similar gray to the windows; had to take care that all the fixing are corrosion resistant as they are being secured into the monocouche rather than a paintable surface. We have limited the number of downpipes on the structure - its just one of these things I notice when its not done well, its a finishing detail.
Fascia / Soffit - there is none like in many traditional house, the fascia / soffit we are used to seeing is apparently an import from the UK British Standards transposed in the 1960s. Regardless, you need to have this understood as the start of the build so that this is allowed for, its too late to decide half way through.
Pros: Need to decide early, additional labour, sharper building lines ; Con: Less room for error in workmanship & tolerances
In further blog postings we'll at other design & construction decisions in more detail, bearing in mind that many of these are indeed relevant to any modern house build, not just a passive house or a self build.
Have gotten a few question from people on various material / techniques / approaches we've taken & in each post going forward will describe our solution for a number of items.
Slates - this is a oldie! For planning reason we were limited to blue black or a derivative thereof. There are many , hundreds actually, of manmade & natural options. Some people swear by the colour fastness & strength of the manmade. As many vote the other way. We ended up choosing a large brazilian natural slate from Capco, which we also fixed with stainless steel hooks given our hilltop location. They have been up for 4 months, through some heavy storms & only a few were damaged.
Pros: amazing colour, expected longer life, great size; Con: more brittle than man made, more labour installing
Foundation - As you may gather from the older posts we did not go with a raft system from one of the 'insulated foundation systems' companies. The solution we came up with , in consultation with the structural engineer uses polystyrene ( rather than closed cell insulation) overlapping to give the thermal breaks, using rising walls.
Pros: 50% saving over system type foundation ; Con: if you have already engaged an engineer they may not accept it
Rainwater Use- Have installed a large tank under the garage for use for all household water which will be filtered & UV treated, with the exception of cold water taps
Pros: House not as dependent on the mains system & potential shortages , reducing consumption by about 60% ; Con: No return on investment (ROI) in the absence of water metering, this is a fairly fundamental negative
Rainwater Goods - There are a myriad of profiles & materials - just need to select one that fits our budget & requirements. Our guttering is square aluminium with plastic downpipes( to minimise noise / dripping during rainfall,) all painted/powdercoated in a similar gray to the windows; had to take care that all the fixing are corrosion resistant as they are being secured into the monocouche rather than a paintable surface. We have limited the number of downpipes on the structure - its just one of these things I notice when its not done well, its a finishing detail.
Fascia / Soffit - there is none like in many traditional house, the fascia / soffit we are used to seeing is apparently an import from the UK British Standards transposed in the 1960s. Regardless, you need to have this understood as the start of the build so that this is allowed for, its too late to decide half way through.
Pros: Need to decide early, additional labour, sharper building lines ; Con: Less room for error in workmanship & tolerances
In further blog postings we'll at other design & construction decisions in more detail, bearing in mind that many of these are indeed relevant to any modern house build, not just a passive house or a self build.
