Well we've moved into the new house now about six weeks and its been an interesting few weeks, have noted below be first observations on the house and how it differed from the previous house we lived in. Firstly its worth saying that the previous house was 60 years old, antiquated heating and single glazing...so comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.
Even building temperature
The thermal comfort of the build is so incredibly consistent and even, the building is a dead steady 20C. The air has a freshness / crispness I've really only noticed in passive houses. There are no cold areas, draughts etc...at all. This has some very simple implications ; recently we had a 4 year old birthday party and the kids were happy to play in the hall as it was a warm as every other room. Similarly, you don't have to heat a room if you plan on using it...its just the same temperature as the rest of the house.
Impact of the MHRV system
The MHRV system we are using is a PHI Certified up from Dantherm supplied by Beam Systems. The unit does and excellent job of distributing heat through the building, , removing odours and humidity. The unit is virtually silent and was properly commissioned upon installation. I'll do a detailed review of the system design, installation and operation at a later stage. I had expected that the undercut on the internal doors required by the MHRV would result in noise , but its simply not the case & they make no difference.
Triple glazed doors and windows
The level of thermal comfort and sound insulation from the glazing is amazing – the vast majority of external sound simply can't be heard – that includes cars outside, buses, wind , trees etc...The impact on this is that may of the internal sounds can appear magnified as the background noise were are used to is simply not present. Given the size of the frames, this make the central mullions on split windows quite large, the windows are either fixed ( as 50% are) or are fully operable 9 tilt & turn)
Low building humidity
The previous house we lived in had regular humidity levels between 70-90% which we believe resulted in request colds and chest infections. The new house has relative humidity of between 40-50% and this rises over the course of that day as there is activity in the house.
Natural light
Given the thought that went into the room layouts and orientation at the design stage – this is very much in line with Passiv Haus design principles. In general the rooms where we spent most time are very well naturally light; other rooms such as utility, bathrooms and no or little glazing.
On the flip side, there are a few things that I miss from a more standard house
- An intense heat source such as a fire / stove would be nice to warm up when coming inside; the reality is that a stove would likely overheat the house though & its actually pretty cosy
- An kitchen extractor which expels kitchen odours cannot be used due to air tightness requirements – instead the cooker hood is a recirculation unit with removable dishwasher safe aluminium filter & the cooking area has an MHRV extract point
- Energy efficient bulbs can take a while to heat up / go the right colour...the technology is getting there though
So - in summary the building to date - in mid winter - has been extremely cosy, the kids definitely seem healthier with less cold & sniffles. The quality of the living environment - day light, low humidity, consistent temperature - is exactly the reason we build the house in the first place.The observations above are just a short summary and I'll deal with the hows and whys in more detail in further updates.
