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Passive House Visit
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Construction Method This house is a passive wood frame construction. Although the owner did not ask for passive house certification, he intends to go a step further and make it a zero energy house besides being passive. A good start: the blower door test results were way better than average for passive houses. Surface of the house: 1,033 sq. feet per level = 1,033 x 2 + attic space (96 m² x 2 + attic) Orientation Insulation The house has no basement because this would make it very difficult to keep the house's passive status due to cold bridges etc. However it has a ventilated crawl space which is insulated. Walls and roof The owners decided to finish the living room with clay bricks and possibly add Claytec panels later on. This will add to the thermal mass of the building to avoid overheating in Summer and help control temperature fluctuations due to the large South-facing windows. (A large roof overhang was not allowed due to local building codes.) They will also have the option to add wall heating if they deem it better for comfort.
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 Insulated locks
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Front door detail |
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 Super-insulated door
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Door to the garage Here you can see in detail the thickness of this door which was especially designed for passive houses. Its features include a draft stopper which will be pushed down automatically when the door is closed. This feature is necessary to help secure an air-tight connection with the outside. A negative point of this is the possibility of small pieces of materials like sand, earth, etc which may stay stuck beneath and thus create a small draft, so this requires some care. |
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 Triple pane windows
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Windows Triple pane high-insulation windows from Variotec (Germany) were used throughout the house. Triple pane is a must for passive houses in temperate and cold climates. |
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 Solar PV and water heating panels on roof
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Electricity The house is connected to the grid, however the owner has installed solar panels (pv panels) on the roof which allow him to provide electricity to the grid for which he receives "green certificates". The value of these certificates is guaranteed by the government for 20 years. The owner says this is his best investment, much better than leaving money in the bank... The solar panels also help reach zero-energy status as the electricity production will approximately equal consumption in the house. |
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 Warm water boiler
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 © SHT Pellet stove |
Heating Passive houses normally don't need heating except for the very coldest/cloudy days in Winter. Normally a small heating appliance would suffice. However, the owner wanted to make sure he had all comfort and by using a pellet stove heating system the house will get closer to a zero-energy house than if he had used a small electric heater. The pellet heater is from SHT in Austria The picture above left of the roof shows 4 solar panels (top right) which pre-heat water for the boiler shown here in the picture on the left. The pellet stove is also connected to this boiler (from Ökofen) so that it too can provide for warm water. The solar panels will heat the water in Summer, Spring and Autumn. If this is insufficient (cloudy days), the pellet stove can add heat with an internal heat-exchange system which is connected to the boiler. In last instance, the electric heater in the boiler could be used as a back-up. The warm water from this system is used for: hot tap water, 2 radiators and the wall heating system in the living room. The pellet stove is in the living area to enjoy the fire. |
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 Kitchen floor construction detail
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Kitchen floor detail |
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 Open office on first floor
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Inside the house The interior walls have been made with wood boards which help regulate humidity, are warm and fit with the forest environment of the Ardennes. Here we can see the open office space on the first floor (not finished) which has an amazing view of the surrounding nature thanks to the large windows.
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 Earth tube in garden |
Heat exchange forced air ventilation The attic also contains a heat recovery ventilation system (Manufacturer: Paul) which provides fresh air to the house throughout the day. The outside air for this system is pre-heated through an earth tube (Wikipedia) shown in the picture on the left side of the house. This pre-heats the air in the Winter to about 54°F (12°C). The tube is about 120 feet (40 meter) long and is split in two sections to increase efficiency. In the Summer, this system can also help cool the house. The heat recovery ventilation system (shown below left) has several silencers which are highly recommended to diminish noise transmission from the ventilation system into the rooms. Part of such a silencer can be seen on the lower tube. |
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 Paul - Heat Recovery system - side view |
Some other features
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