Thursday, May 31, 2012

Getting Passive House / Passivhaus certification

Well, our certificate from the PHI in Germany arrived in the post this morning which we are delighted at & it comes with a plaque which we will have to find a spot for.
There were a few final questions over the last few weeks around solar gain & making sure that the humidity in the house did not drop below 40%. To answer these questions we need to show that
(1) we had fitted some large roller blinds on the south & west to reduce the solar gain; these have done a terrific job & are in regular use
(2) had a large amount of house plants which greatly increase the humidity in the house; the ideal RH is about 45%, but in Ireland the outside RH regularly hits 90% so it tends to be less of an issue than in mainland europe where the climate is much drier and the MHRV may make the inside air too dry. Needless to say in the last 6 months the RH has never dropped inside below 45% in this house


These may seem like little details but show the PHI interest in demonstrating that the building will be both comfortable & healthy to live in. Below is a quick snap of how the house looks today with still a lot of work to do on the garden!