Garald

Let me upload the plans here, so that it's clear what we are discussing. Attention, these plans are edited versions of the fake architect's, so they are accurate only to within 10cm or so, and they are also lacking in details that are all-important in this discussion (ducts) - I think she just took some sloppy measures and put them in her CAD software back home. Where I am observing/guessing some ducts are: - current VMI ducts: * fed from the courtyard at ground level * in the ground-floor studio: going above the false ceiling, particularly above the bathroom and kitchen; the output 'mouth' of the VMI is in the studio wall next to them; * in the first floor: behind and above the shower, with the 'mouth' in the corridor next to the shower room * in the second floor: mouth on the short wall on that same side, roughly above the shower - old chimney ducts: bit of a mystery to me, except they obviously have to be close to the two current chimneys (the one in the library, which I could in principle still use, and also the one in the bedroom, which I will never use - the contractor knows that and may already be using part of the ducts) but also possibly to one or two chimneys that no longer exist and whose departed ghosts are non-obvious to me. IVRYHH Isolation plan corrige-1.pdf

I see a lot of units. What is really important (beyond getting a quiet unit with a high efficiency rate, I know) is to find a unit that can be installed at all, and an installer who can install it! Remember that this is an old house. There are the conduits for the PIV (not extremely broad, and only one "mouth" per floor) and the old chimney conduits. I think the installation will be easy in the ground floor, thanks to a false ceiling, but I'm not sure of how it would be done in the other floors. (I take the 'heart' of the unit could go in the garage, which is inside the house?) So really what I want is good MVHR installer who is technically wily and also frank about what can and cannot be done.

Does the Church of Passivhaus have an MVHR mission in France ?

I’ve forgotten how many Pascals it was, but I was told that the leakage was half the maximum required for new build. So it sounds like it was better than the above. Hopefully I’ll get everything in writing and post.

Well, it's an old place all of whose walls just got covered with new insulation from the inside (I know, I know, that can cause issues - I'm considering insulating from the outside as well on the north side, as you know, but that's another story), with all work done reasonably properly by a pretty decent general contractor (water vapour layer, fire-proof panel, triple coat of paint, the works). Oh and of course it's solid masonry from the early 1930s.

All right - the airtightness people came today with a big fan. The overall airtightness was much better than expected (here) - right in the middle of the acceptable range for *new build*, I was told. Apparently the house scored 0.5 or 0.6... something? At however many pascals? I'll get the diagnostics soon (today I'd hope - I mean, I just sent them the second half of the payment) and post them in a new thread. The most serious leakage come from a bedroom window that doesn't close tightly at the top (I was told to call a carpenter). There was also leakage in some odd places here and there: - an unused chimney (of course it's covered by a metal door, but that's not enough; I'll just get one of those woollen plugs that I've got in the other chimney, the one that I could in principle use; it's cheaper than having it sealed, and I was told it would do nicely). - the top of an outside door (I had weatherstripped the sides and the bottom, but forgot the top), and also a bit of the bottom where the weatherstripe got bent - apparently that was detectable; - those hidden mini-doors to access water pipes and ventilation engines behind walls and false ceilings - I was told that was detectable but minor and I shouldn't worry; - an irregular opening (400cm^2?) in the garage that allows air to go from the garage to the space behind walls, false ceilings, etc - I'll have to call someone whose profession I had never heard of (I take the English equivalent would be "plasterer"?) - a small hole in a bathroom floor through which radiator pipes go - bits that confirmed that the contractor, while certainly competent overall, is a jack-of-all-trades whose collaborators are sometimes sloppy: * (this frightened me a bit) there is a small surface in the attic ceiling, hidden behind two beams, where the insulation is *completely exposed*; thank goodness it's rockwool and not fibreglass or something nastier; I'll need to cover this ASAP for many reasons; * some joints need silicon or acrylic (I was told silicon is best for bathrooms and kitchens, and acrylic is best for other rooms); * there's a bit of leakage in some new baseboard along the attic staircase - a visiting insulator had already pointed out that that was amateurishly done; I was told I can leave that alone for now; * there's a bit of leakage around light switches in the attic (as you remember, the attic was completely redone); I or an electrcian would need to replace the concave thingies behind the switches by higher-quality concave thingies (or let them be). I was told I can fix most of these things myself with acrylic, silicon, cork and glue (I have a lot of 1cm- and 2cm-thick leftover cork in the garage). The conclusions I was given verbally were that - I'm well within the airtightness range where * double flux makes sense, though the exact settings would be determined later, possibly after a second test once I had fixed the minor issues listed above; * I can get something-something certification if other things are up to standard (something-something is a French something that is less strict than Passivhaus; no mention was made of Passivhaus standards) - I should talk to a double-flux expert to see what sort of double-flux system can be made to fit in my place. Recall that the contractor said that it wouldn't be possible because the conduits were too narrow. Oh, I also was told that the attic ceiling insulation (which dates back to the former owners for the most part; I didn't have it redone completely - some rotten parts aroudn the new velux was changed by new rockwool) was thermically good but had no air barrier, and so there's airflow within the ceiling; I should be ok by sealing the weak points around joints so that doesn't leak air inside the house. The guys doing the test said that redoing the ceiling insulation up to today's standards, with an air barrier, would come at a significant cost (I knew that) and was not indispensable. I had already decided I would postpone that to the indefinite future when I do some structural work on the roof (raising it, say). I guess all of this sounds normal?

Now the problem is of course that my lawyer needs a postal address for the "architect", and she has closed her Paris office. I have her phone, her e-mail, her sister's professional address (her sister, a radiologist, is involved in presenting her as an architect - in fact she introduced her as such to the contractor), her ex-husband's LinkedIn, etc., but a postal address for her seems hard to find (on purpose, obviously). There has to be a way...

Where there is money, there’s temptation. At least there are norms and penalties. Let’s see what my (real) lawyer will be able to do.

Right, sorry, I meant an R of 2. Agreed. Well, it’s foil with layers of conventional natural fibre insulation, but still. The « architect » is a she, the contractor is a he. Completely agreed. What I really need is a reasonable quote for rock wool.

As I said, it’s probably a total U of about 2, even if one doesn’t believe in any of the data given by the reflective insulation’s manufacturer; the reflective insulation has 4cm’s worth of natural-fibre backing, which must be doing *something*; add to that 5cm of BioFib Trio. As for the contractor : - he says that insulating that side from the inside was always the « architect »’s idea, against his (and my) better judgement; - the « architect » assured me two years ago that he was about to get his RGE certification, but, a few months ago, after many phone calls from my dude, he admitted he hadn’t got it yet. So, I’ll get no subsidies (which weren’t much anyhow, but that’s one more good reason to be annoyed). Now, he did sign a document clearly stating he had RGE certification, and that he’d have to pay a fine amounting to 10% of all energy-efficiency work if he didn’t - I could easily turn him in if I wanted to. I already asked both the tax office and the local agency to check on that, since he was taking a while to reply, so I can’t be said to fail to report. My current attitude: one enemy is enough; it’s best to keep in talking terms with the contractor, so that he gives me accurate further information on what he has done, but I’ll do all further work with specialists, who, moreover, double-check on what he has done. That has been my policy for the last year, in fact. Right. I’ve been using cork myself to do some DIY improvements (insulating a metal door, and also the space under a rafter; there had originally been an air gap there - one of the last things the contractor did was admit his mistake and block that with silicone; that can’t give much of an R, so I did what I could, adding cork strips). I’ll have a blow door test done by professionals next Wednesday. Right - the insulator who advocated wood fibre visited and said that thermal mass was not so important in my case (because it’s a masonry wall facing north, with some insulation added on the inside). He said perforated polystyrene would be enough (I paraphrase him: « this is not a tall building- by the time the firemen come it will have burnt anyhow »). I asked him for three quotes - perforated polystyrene (permeable to water Vapor), rock wool and wood fibre. I’ll keep that in mind for the attic ceiling; the attic does get hot in summer. The insulation there is mostly that left by the previous owners - only the parts close to the new skylights (which have outside shades, don’t worry) got redone by the contractor. In the long run, I have to decide whether I want to just redo the roof insulation or raise the roof (which probably implies redoing it altogether). What would be a better simulator?

A visiting ventilation guy couldn't find the ventilation exits, but, after talking in the phone with the old contractor, I found the exits in the new windows - they are well hidden at the top: As for the windows installed ten years ago by the previous owners - I'm not sure. Perhaps these little indentations at the top and bottom are it? There shouldn't be cobwebs, though. Apparently I'm supposed to keep the handles of the skylights down so that there's a ventilation exit there too. Not sure what would happen during heavy rains. Also, noise comes in that way... At any rate, I'm going to have an airtightness test done - I just got a quote and it's reasonable.

Here is what one can find outside the kitchen window and a bathroom window (and nowhere else AFAIK). I think these vents were already there before the renovations. I have no idea if whether they are still active or of how they would work.

Right, I was giving this as plausible evidence that he is reasonably competent and tolerably honest.

I have PIV (positive-input ventilation). What I keep calling 'outlets' is what I would have expected to look like "window trickle vents", except I cannot find any! The air being gently pumped into the building has to leave *somewhere*.

For what it is worth, I am still in touch with the contractor (whom I have tried to lead gently to the conclusion that the person he's worked with for a decade is an impostor, but he seems to refuse to admit it, even though it's quite easy to check things online once one has a suspicion). He also thinks I should put insulation outside the north wall, and says: (paraphrase) "I have no idea why [the fake architect] was so insistent on insulating from the inside. Obviously insulating on the north side would be better, and it need not be that difficult or expensive." (Not to mention that it's the courtyard side, so it shouldn't be that hard to get a permit.) Reasons given by him: goodbye to thermal bridging, better insulation, etc. No matter whom we pay to do the external insulation, they will add enough of (wood fibre, rock wool, polystyrene, what have you) to give an extra R=4. The reason is that this is now the standard in France (or was it R=3.8?), and so it's what they are used to work with, and they can also not take responsability for whatever exists, etc. So that's a constant. TL;DR: no matter what I do there, I'll end up with a total R well above R=6, _not taking into account the effect of reflective insulation_.