Live self-Builds - mod warning in post no. 1

Do-more

Just about to kick off on my second self build, completed the first one in 2001 and am really looking forward to this one.

I'm now living in the south of Sweden so there will be all sorts of additional issues to contend with, not least of which will be communication as I'm not exactly fluent in the lingo.

In this part of Sweden it's actually more common to build in stone rather than timber frame which is what is used almost exclusively further north from here.

What is referred to as a "stone house" here is in fact build with autoclaved aerated concrete either in blocks or in massive slabs one storey high and in a normal thickness of 375mm although they are now also doing the slabs in a thickness of 500mm.

At this stage however it does look like I will go with a twin wall TF with mineral wool in the walls and 500mm of cellulose in the roof.

We are looking at achieving the Swedish passive house standard for which the basic requirement is that the building requires only 10 watts of thermal input per square metre at 20 ° C indoors on the coldest days of the year.

I've already had two meetings with the planners prior to buying the site, the system works a little differently here. The area development plan lays out what is permitted and once you stick within those requirements then it is said to be just a matter of having your plans rubber stamped, we will wait and see on that one!

For our site which is 1050sqM the development plan sets out a box 14m X 11m in the centre of the site in which we are permitted to build the main structure and additional box 14m X 9m directly behind the main structure defines where we can place any secondary buildings.

For the house the height to the eaves must not exceed 3m and the roof is permitted to have a pitch of 45 or 50 degrees.

We intend to build to almost the maximum footprint for the house giving us a ground floor of 138sqM and the dormer roof will have a pitch of 45 degrees, so we will be just over 200sqM in total.

As the rear of the house is facing almost due south I would prefer to put the secondary buildings to the front of the house so for the moment won't apply for permission for them at all, once the main house has been approved we will submit a second application for a 35sqM workshop but this may not be approved or at the very least take some time as it is not currently permitted in the area plan.

Still lots of details to be decided, in particular I am undecided as to which way to go for domestic hot water heating. But the general house design and layout is already down on paper and with a passive house architect in Germany to produce the final drawings.

The local council has two sets of drawings on file for the site one from 1975 and the other from 2006 but as there is a discrepancy of 70mm in one dimension between the two drawings they will not accept either for the planning application and so will send out their surveyors to map the site again. This should happen in the next 3 or 4 weeks and then hopefully it will be full steam ahead with the planning application.

In the mean time I am off to visit the factory of one of the two companies I have short listed to supply the frame and will on the same trip hopefully pay a visit to the Swedish passive house centre where I might get some answers to my questions on DHW heating.

sas

Going very slowly at the moment which in this case is a good thing. The EWI installers are working on the plinth detail which is a tad labour intensive. After 3 full days of work they expect to be completed the plinth.

A complete aside but something I've come to realise and maybe something that others may consider.

When you start a direct labour build you are warned about how much stress you are taking on, the time commitment and the difficulty balancing career and familly against the project. I of course knew better, others had managed it, how hard could it be

Over the last few weeks it's really hit home that I'm not going to get into our new home anytime soon unless I take a step back and hand over the day to day stuff to someone else. I'm very fortunate that my carpenter is exactly the type of person to do this and we're hammering out a deal at the moment. He will coordinate my nominated subbies and do any tasks that fall in limbo i.e. the things a builder does. Even as I write this I find my stress levels reducing somewhat.

I'm not the hands on type and the novelty has worn off shall we say. You've got to realise your limitations. I'll still go to site to keep it clean and to take down scaffolding etc. So I'm not fully walking away but for me it's the end of the road for actually tackling specific tasks.

I will underline that I'm fortunate that we can accomadate a little more in the budget to have someone do this for us. This may not be the case for everyone.

We have construction professionals for a reason. Sadly alot of them you wouldn't want near your home but as with everything there are some that are truly trust worthy, skilled and want to work with you.

As a consequence, by the end of August I hope to be able to make more significant regular updates. Let's see how that plays out

sinnerboy

sas wrote: »

As a consequence, by the end of August I hope to be able to make more significant regular updates. Let's see how that plays out

Keep the faith sas. I'm sure you'll "forget the pain when the child is born"

sas

Hi,

As some of you will know I'm aiming for certified passive. The PHPP was rerun from scratch over the last couple of weeks to ensure that my actual specification was covered i.e. I've installed my windows now and they won't be changing for example.

The result I've been told this morning is that I am currently standing at 11kw.

This is positive news naturally enough as it puts me confortably inside the certification criteria. There are some cold bridges to be included however so it will disimprove.

Anything I can hit beyond the 0.6 ach will of course have a positive effect. I'll happily settle for the 0.6 though.

Onward....

SAS

sas

Progressing nicely. Good clean lines. All board junctions foamed.

Tight fit on the window overlap in the first pic.

sas

Been a while, I've feck all photos taken recently too so nothing for today.

EWI going well enough I think. Crew are keen to get it right it appears. It doesn't hurt when some of the professionals from here call in on site too for a look. Keeps people on their toes. So thanks for that.

The airtightness work started on my attic yesterday. I expect cellulose to be pumping by friday. The guy doing it has the highest pedigree in airtightness (he has a 0.18 ach to his name, I know the home owner) and he hasn't failed to impress so far. Absolute gentleman too.

As for the bombshell. I have a very large (very expensive) lift and slide door. This is not the typical slider supplied for PHs. The reason being that there are no certified PH lift and slides, they are all tilt and slide. This doesn't matter however, I simply have to absorb the cold bridge in the PHPP math.

A friend of mine has 2 lift and slides from another company. Both are currently letting in rain. Both window companies are german\austrian. I did a hose test on mine and we have exactly the same problem. This is really annoying and worrying. The window company are on site today to investigate. However, when 2 sliders from different window companies that use the exact same hardware are showing the same problem, you have to get concerned.

The big advantage I have over my friend is that I bought through an Irish agent and he imported directly. Hence I've someone to turn to. This is worth noting!

Will report how this goes.

JuniorB

Judging by the posts in this thread you must be the only person building in Ireland SAS !!
Best of luck and keep us updated.

muffler

JuniorB wrote: »

Judging by the posts in this thread you must be the only person building in Ireland SAS !!

Dont let Quazzie hear you say that

JuniorB

muffler wrote: »

Dont let Quazzie hear you say that

I forgot about him!
We might have to have a collection for him to see him over the line!

sas

JuniorB wrote: »

Judging by the posts in this thread you must be the only person building in Ireland SAS !!
.

Yeah, everyone else started after me and moved in a year ago!

Quazzie

JuniorB wrote: »

I forgot about him!
We might have to have a collection for him to see him over the line!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w

From 1:45 is like me trying to get this house finished.

sas

EWI work nearing completion. The rendering is the fast part apparently. I can't fault the job so far. Thermal imaging may tell a different story but for now I'm pleased with the job. They've spent 4 weeks full time with 2 - 4 people on site. To think I was seriously considering doing that part myself, I'd have never gotten in.

The airtightness guy is a class act. I couldn't take a photo that did justice to just how perfect everything is. He is taping over the staples! The jury is out on whether it's really necessary. My guy spoke with the manufacturers head technical guy who confirmed that all the tests show it's not really necessary, but he added that he did do it in his own home!

He is also doing my cellulose insulation, all will complete next week. How will proceed with 1st fix electrics and plumbing.

HRV unit arrived too. Carpenter will be installing the ducting for me.

Aiming to have the formal blower door at the end of sept. with 2 months of chaos to get us close to a chance of being in for Christmas. The alternative being divorce...

sas

So I had to visit the house this morning, I haven't been in all weekend.

The house is still shaded by scaffolding and the windows are covered with plastic to protect them during plastering.

The attic is now fully insulated and airtight, best part of the entire project so far. Simply outstanding guy.

The external wall insulation is being rendered.

Basically 95% of my insulation is now in.

When I opened the front door and stepped into the hall (which is on the north side of the building), a wave of heat passed over me.

I appreciate that it isn't the coldest of weather but it would appear that the passive thing might actually be working. I was grinning like an idiot the whole drive into work.

splashthecash

Sounds great sas - can I ask is your place timber or concrete? What insulation did you use and what insulation space did you use (i hear that 80mm is the standard but you should go for the max which is 130-140mm)

sas

splashthecash wrote: »

Sounds great sas - can I ask is your place timber or concrete? What insulation did you use and what insulation space did you use (i hear that 80mm is the standard but you should go for the max which is 130-140mm)

My house is an externally insulated masonry house.

You appear to be describing a traditional build.

splashthecash

ok - i must be a few years behind everyone then...we are only working through our plans at the moment so I'm just trying to learn the lingo and get up to speed on all these new features we can use

manufan16

I finally got started, the front boundary work is almost complete to meet the council site line requirements, the foundations have been poured and 50% of the rising walls built.
ICF contractor will be up next.

1chippy

built a lot for other people now finally broke ground on my own this week. completly different buzz now its for my own. no time frame set out as will be doing between jobs and weekends so looking forward to the torture.

manufan16

Week 5 and foundations are complete to sub floor level, ICF walls and top course of internal rising walls of quinnlite blocks are also now in place to FFL.
I also got my steel and padstones ordered for openings, bay windows and sun room.

ICF first pour expected early next week along with the concrete floor & stairs supplier expected out for measuring - I had to send them new plans as when I stood in the hall I felt it was too small for a central staircase so we changed it to a return staircase.

Hopefully the self build show tomorrow will be good with loads of supplier offering great discounts :-)

Nedserk

Just got planning last week so need to decide whether timber frame/ concrete build, what cavity if so, what U Value to aim for? Self build or not, oh the headaches begin.

BryanF

Nedserk wrote: »

Just got planning last week so need to decide whether timber frame/ concrete build, what cavity if so, what U Value to aim for? Self build or not, oh the headaches begin.

have a read of this for where you should be going for building fabric http://www.passivehouseacademy.com/downloads/New-Build-Passive-House-Guidlines.pdf

pocuana

sas wrote: »

So I had to visit the house this morning, I haven't been in all weekend.

The house is still shaded by scaffolding and the windows are covered with plastic to protect them during plastering.

The attic is now fully insulated and airtight, best part of the entire project so far. Simply outstanding guy.

The external wall insulation is being rendered.

Basically 95% of my insulation is now in.

When I opened the front door and stepped into the hall (which is on the north side of the building), a wave of heat passed over me.

I appreciate that it isn't the coldest of weather but it would appear that the passive thing might actually be working. I was grinning like an idiot the whole drive into work.

Hi SAS,
Where are you building as I am looking for good airtightness guy at the moment. Please PM details if you dont mind.
Thanks.

BigGeorge

Just got power connected to house, other services to follow shortly we hope. Turned the MHRV last week on & it made a big difference to the air quality in the house. Painting progressing well & flooring to go down shortly

Have been keeping a blog since the start: passivebuild.blogspot.com

Nedserk

Cheers Bryan, i'll give that a read through. Met a couple of Timber frame companies so a start made at least.

Technophobe

BigGeorge wrote: »

Just got power connected to house, other services to follow shortly we hope. Turned the MHRV last week on & it made a big difference to the air quality in the house. Painting progressing well & flooring to go down shortly

Have been keeping a blog since the start: passivebuild.blogspot.com

Might be an idea to either turn the HRV off or keep it turned down low when you are still working on things that create dust such as sanding etc....extract vents may thank you for it...??

Bobbiblu

Well, after a very long time in the making, we finally broke ground yesterday evening. We're building a 2800sqft,low energy,south facing one and a half storey stick build and I'm really, really thrilled to finally break ground. Watching the first truck arrive with stone today was a seminal moment for me and we'll be pouring the footings tomorrow...so it's moving along nicely. Hope to have many positive (and not too many negative) posts on here in the months to come

sas

At least on the outside....

External insulation is completed and the scaffolding (less the porch) is down. We are both very pleased with the result.

Started installing the HRV today. There really is very little to it once you get the hang of it. We're following a plan from our supplier. They will commission it later.

Couple of other miscellaneous things. First off a big thank you to our own mfceiling for the rail system. Great guy and a great job. You've managed to impress my foreman and that's not easy.

Also, it's come up a couple of times as to how you correctly fix the window airtightness fleece type tapes in a masonry house. We adopted the "bonding" approach. Basically the tape is held away from the reveal, bonding is applied, the tape is then pushed onto it and then more bonding is applied over the top to create a sandwich. The bonding has been scratched to create a key for the scratch coat too. The plasterers did themselves proud on this one, all the windows are as neat as the one in the pic.

Thanks for listening...

SAS

beyondpassive

Very Slick, like an iPad, I like the red front door it looks almost like a predominant blower door installation :-)

muffler

Well done sas. Looks good.

just do it

sas wrote: »

At least on the outside....

External insulation is completed and the scaffolding (less the porch) is down. We are both very pleased with the result.

Started installing the HRV today. There really is very little to it once you get the hang of it. We're following a plan from our supplier. They will commission it later.

Couple of other miscellaneous things. First off a big thank you to our own mfceiling for the rail system. Great guy and a great job. You've managed to impress my foreman and that's not easy.

Also, it's come up a couple of times as to how you correctly fix the window airtightness fleece type tapes in a masonry house. We adopted the "bonding" approach. Basically the tape is held away from the reveal, bonding is applied, the tape is then pushed onto it and then more bonding is applied over the top to create a sandwich. The bonding has been scratched to create a key for the scratch coat too. The plasterers did themselves proud on this one, all the windows are as neat as the one in the pic.

Thanks for listening...

SAS

Nice house there sas. I guess 313 is N facing and 315 is S facing;). Simple and stylish design making traditional form look fab.