Barny

Hi This feels like a stupid question. We have block and beam floor with sleeper walls standing up. Just putting the airtight membrane in before putting extra insulation on top. I am assuming I need to cover the sleeper walls in membrane and tape to the membrane on the floor? This detail is not on my drawings from architect. is this how others have done it? Like a really complicated Christmas present!!

Hi All Can I check what you did for a fire control plan (and construction phase plan), which MBC require? My builder has never heard of a fire control plan let along drafted one. I was going to use the draft MBC gave me but wondered if every thing in their was a requirement ie unlock mobile phone on site, fire drills every six months etc? I would appreciate hearing what others have done. thanks

Hi can anyone recommend ducting insulation and airtight tape brands / suppliers for a passivhaus? Ideally, cost effective ones? Our architect has given brand names but I can’t find them for sale in this country. I think the world of insulation and tapes and moved on (EPS definitely has) but my architect is still using his little book for 5 years ago. thanks

Thanks - very neat!

Thanks Ian. Is that an insulated 100mm duct? Thanks

Hi we are aiming for passivhaus certification and have 3 phase electric. Has anyone done this? What size ducting did I you use for the electric penetration through your foundations? we have 150mm ducting for the cable to TBS but that seems large Togo through foundation. I know we need the insulation and airtight tape around the cable but still seems like 150mm is large. many thanks

Thanks - I couldn’t find any regs either!

So the stop tap doesn’t need to be a minimum height off the floor? Is 12” enough clearance? thanks

Hi. My architect positioned the water and electric coming into the plant room under the MVHR unit, which my groundsman has done as per the plan. Does anyone know how high a stop top needs to be or how much space do we need to leave below the MVHR unit? I don’t have a plumber on site yet to ask this and MVHR needs to know / tell MBC so they can agree the joists. i am assuming the electrician just go around the edge of the room so it an issue? many thanks

Hi can anyone recommend a tin smith near Peterborough to do standing seam aluminium roof and cladding? thanks

Hi. Does anyone know of water board approved ducting for water pipes where you can’t get to the required depth? I have found some products on line but not sure which are sufficient. we can only go circa 450mm deep as we are crossing a culvert. Thanks

We had horizontal GSHP at our old house (so can’t comment on the bore hole) but I would say that when GSHP goes wrong it is expensive. We had a leak and it was ££££ to drain, fix and replace (installer picked up the cost for that). A few years later the connection was leaking - thankfully a bit of sealant solved that so we didn’t have to drain it again. Then the pump itself - was fine for 12 years except the control panel stopped working and it was £1500 to replace and a small electric component needed replace and again expensive. it is supposed to be more efficient than ASHP, which I can believe but it isn’t as responsive so I think you end up paying more because you have it on when you don’t need it. The servicing costs are very high as there are so few of them around so you struggle to find anyone. when we sold our house, people found it confusing and distrusted it would work! we are putting ASHP in the new build!

Has anyone used efloor by floorspan? it looks similar to Tetris - does anyone know how they compare? the price i have for the Tetris is expensive so looking for a cheaper EPS. Has anyone else looked into comparisons? thanks

I think there will be thermal bridging issues between the block and frame. Has anyone got a design that works around this?

Hi. Has anyone done a passivhaus (aiming for) timberframe using block and beam foundations but not using Tetris? Our foundation design currently uses Tetris to keep the thermal bridging down but it is coming out 50% more than a raft (which we can’t have due to site conditions) and 100% more than traditional block and beam with 200mm of PIR. Just wondering if anyone else has achieved near passivhaus using block and beam and can share foundation designs? thanks