Passive House

rbuckley

Hello

We are at the early stages of planning, I was wondering has anyone built a passive house. We are really interested in building one due mainly to the low heating costs.

Is there any building company that was used that someone could recommend (you can PM me with details please) in the cork county region.

I want to get an approx build cost for the plan we have in mind. As always money is an issue so we want to check out approx budget build before applying for planning.

thank you

mfceiling

Look up all posts by fclauson. He built a passive house recently...award winning I might add!!

fclauson

Passive and Part L 2011 are very similar

Heating costs - around €2 to 3 per day (even through March which was the coldest on record)

take a read of that well know construction magazine here in Ireland it has lots of details about passive houses

all I would say is be maniacal on detail, don't do anything on site until your know what you are going to be doing (i.e. don't bodge it)
and don't believe anything anyone tells you until you have double cross checked it with a second and third source - there is a lot of "it should" and "I think" and I would only accept "it will and here is the proof"

ccsolar

Pm sent

johnny3555

fclauson wrote: »

Passive and Part L 2011 are very similar

Heating costs - around €2 to 3 per day (even through March which was the coldest on record)

take a read of that well know construction magazine here in Ireland it has lots of details about passive houses

all I would say is be maniacal on detail, don't do anything on site until your know what you are going to be doing (i.e. don't bodge it)
and don't believe anything anyone tells you until you have double cross checked it with a second and third source - there is a lot of "it should" and "I think" and I would only accept "it will and here is the proof"

Good advice. In these times we should be thinking small - about 35m2 per person and simple in design. Most one-off houses are too big in size and complex in shape and are difficult to achieve energy efficiency. In general get the following right

Air tightness
Ventilation
Insulation and elimination of cold bridges
Windows
Efficient services including LED lighting
After this heating will be minor

just do it

johnny3555 wrote: »

Good advice. In these times we should be thinking small - about 35m2 per person and simple in design. Most one-off houses are too big in size and complex in shape and are difficult to achieve energy efficiency. In general get the following right

Air tightness
Ventilation
Insulation and elimination of cold bridges
Windows
Efficient services including LED lighting
After this heating will be minor

And design, i.e. south facing, compact, main glazing on south wall and little glazing on north wall, all plumbing near plant room etc

damianmc

is it still possible to build a passive (or at least 'near passive') house on a site that is considerably shaded on teh south side due to mature trees?

sydthebeat

damianmc wrote: »

is it still possible to build a passive (or at least 'near passive') house on a site that is considerably shaded on teh south side due to mature trees?

it would be difficult.

depends on the amount of shading, the type of tree (evergreen / decidious) etc

BryanF

damianmc wrote: »

is it still possible to build a passive (or at least 'near passive') house on a site that is considerably shaded on teh south side due to mature trees?

Yes, the phpp calc will account for the trees & shading. It would be better if they were deciduous.

damianmc

BryanF wrote: »

Yes, the phpp calc will account for the trees & shading. It would be better if they were deciduous.

I think they would be a mixture, some deciduous and some evergreen.
I imagine moving the house as far forward as you can on the site away from this would be of benefit?

BryanF

damianmc wrote: »

I think they would be a mixture, some deciduous and some evergreen.
I imagine moving the house as far forward as you can on the site away from this would be of benefit?

Yes Possibly. You could also consider the trees a blessing and use them sparingly as heating in your passive house.

fclauson

Should be possible - but you will have to do the maths in PHPP to come up with the best location and design

gctest50

damianmc wrote: »

is it still possible to build a passive (or at least 'near passive') house on a site that is considerably shaded on teh south side due to mature trees?

Could you plant one-for-one on the north side of the site and then get the chainsaw to them?

it'd be nice watching them grow over the years to come and you heading the other direction

damianmc

gctest50 wrote: »

Could you plant one-for-one on the north side of the site and then get the chainsaw to them?

it'd be nice watching them grow over the years to come and you heading the other direction

there are two issues with that.
1. the trees behind the site on the south side are on bordering land,(not part of the site)
2. there is actually a great view out to the north, so although a few trees would be nice, i wouldntw ant to block it too much.

It may be possible to 'selectivly prune' some of the trees with the permission of the neighbouring landowner im sure.