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Hi all, We've been slowly doing a retrofit over the past two years or so with the aim to get Enerphit certification. We have done a PHPP with the help of a passive house designer. Current status is this: half of the windows and the front door have been replaced with passive certified components. We have an MVHR installed (hard work retrofitting this, but it is in). We've just put in a new kitchen, done three bathrooms. We plan to rebuild the upstairs, replace the rest of the windows, replace the roof with insulation etc. We will certainly struggle with air-tightness. While doing all this, I am now wondering if it makes sense to continue this further, or knock down the house and rebuild from scratch as a fully certified passive house, perhaps using ICF for speed of construction. I'm trying to build a business case for this with the following approach: - We use the current windows and front door in the new plan. - We use most of the components in the three bathrooms we have just done up including shower trays, glass partitions, toilets, furniture etc. - We use the new kitchen and appliances we have just put in. - We use the MVHR unit but redo the ducts in the new house. - We save money with reduced energy bills over say 15 years, compared to the current house or even become net zero positive with solar. - We are planning to rebuild the upstairs anyway as per the current plan with a new insulated roof and replace the rest of the windows in the house. So is it just the new foundations and the ground floor structure and finishings that'll be extra? With the above approach, does it make sense to think about a knock down a rebuild, which will give us a better house without the retrofit related compromises? Obviously there will be costs associated with demolition etc. I'm not sure how to begin analysing this. Has anyone done anything like this or can provide some useful nuggets to ponder? Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi, After a delay of several years due to the incompetence of those who administer the Land Registry charges register I've finally got planning permission to demolish an existing disused builders workshop and build a two bedroom passive house. The ground floor would be built into the bankside so as well as the demolition there's quite a bit of muck moving, and retaining walls to build. Total floor area is about 212Sq m.

Hi all, about to embark on self-build project. We have plot and planning. The layout optimises solar gain so I am keen to achieve passive house standard. I have noticed on this forum that many self-builders seem to include UFH in their passive house build but I have been told this is simply not necessary... So i'd be grateful for thoughts on this please!

Hi all, I'm in the very early stages of my project. I've been reading this forum for the last couple of months and getting some great info, but i think it's time I start asking questions directly! I'm based in the west of Ireland and am hoping to build my house using ICF to passive standards or very close to passive. I'm drawn towards two different systems but cannot decide which one to use, either Izodom 2000 or Isotex. I have a few questions for you all. Does anyone have any experience using these systems and what are your thoughts on them? What are the differences in cost between them? Are they easy to work with for a first time self builder with no real construction experience? Should I hire a contractor/project manager instead of self building? Thanks in advance for the help! ?

Hi, I'm in the process of (hopefully) obtaining planning permission to build a new house. I worked as a builder, mostly, carpentry, although I've also dug plenty of holes, estimated, built scaffold, laid concrete etc. for about 12 years.Trouble is that, that was over 40 years ago - I'm now 67 and getting arthritis in my hands so I fear that my input into the building process might be slightly less than I'd originally hoped. The site was our builders yard and joiner shop plus some more land that I acquired behind that, and is on two levels with maybe a two metre step up to the rear of the site which faces South. Plan is for a two storey, two bedroom passive house with the ground floor built into the bankside with an integral single garage. I'm hoping that people might be able to advise me regarding choice of construction method, materials, heating and ventilation and getting services onto site(especially landline/broadband). The only details on the current plan are for timber cladding(weatherboard) and a steel roof as we feel that would be in keeping with the existing building that we're going to demolish. On the ground floor I intend to have one room as a music room/studio so I'd like to know what construction method would be best for noise insulation between floors. Would the ventilation system be able to cope with a bunch of sweaty musicians with amplifiers and would it transfer sound? What's the best way of providing heat and domestic hot water? Thanks in advance, Al

new council housing in york with some self build as well https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/this-is-the-everest-of-zero-carbon-–-inside-yorks-green-home-revolution/ar-BB19GYj4?li=AAnZ9Ug

Hello all. New to the forum. We are building a detached house on a hill just outside Bude. It will be as well insulated and airtight as we can afford and will incorporate many energy saving features. I am here to learn from people who have more experience at this than I do. cheers, Greg

Noticed a small problem tonight. Our larder door has been fitted as requested with a 20mm gap under it (20mm gap to allow for floor tiles). But it is an external door (the larder is outside the passive envelope) and the door hasn’t been sealed against the floor/threshold . It’s basically a gap of 20mm letting outside air in (our air test was done with a temporary door in place). Our floor tiler is coming on Friday. So this problem is a bit pressing. How shall we fill this gap? We are passive standard (but not getting certified). Any advice welcomed. thank you.

Hi, We're about to start our project - 250m² 1.5 story house with basement on a sloping site in Holywood, Co. Down. Drawings all done, just waiting for planning to come through. My background is an engineer/project manager in the water industry, so I'm planning on using a lot of innovative, rapid, and non-traditional construction methods - focus on safe, rapid construction and simplicity and reduced dependence on trades. We're also aiming for passive levels of insulation and airtightness - south facing site with lots of glass. So, expect lots of posts about insulated foundations, ICF systems, tanking, shuttering concrete walls, floor deck systems, MVHR, the lot! Thanks.

Just had the air test done and we achieved 0.6ach. This is with a temp front door albeit sealed as best we could and the Internorm sliding doors leaking like a sieve. We have one large set that did not leak at all and the two sliders joined together where atrocious. We are obviously very pleased with this result and hope to improve on that as we need to do another one at the end.

I had purchased all my tapes from Passive house systems and found them great to deal with. When I realised I had not ordered enough I contacted them to ask if I could purchase one more roll and could they look at the postage as it would make it a very expensive roll! Not only did they apply the discount I had received in the earlier orders they posted it free of charge. ( I have no connection to this company)

Had the pre site check the other day to see if the trenching we had done prior to the electric being installed and everything was fine until the guy went into the house and said the incoming main was positioned to far inside the house, it was meant to be no further than two metres from the outside wall. I explained I had spoken to someone about this when I first contacted ENWL and that it was a Passive house and I did not want unnecessary penetrations in the house walls. I should add that it is not possible to have an exterior cabinet anywhere so our only option was to bring it up inside the house, a distance of approx 4 metres of cable length. He was not happy and went away to make a phone call. The reason for posting this is I asked to speak to the person on the other end of the phone and explained the situation and that I had told ENWL at the beginning what I was planning. She was very understanding and accepted the fact that we would have a 4 metre run of cable under the house and that they would have to look at Passive principles in more detail. Hope this helps somebody in the future

I am trying to order our front and back doors but trying to satisfy BR for Part M and maintain a good u-value for our near Passive build is proving difficult. What have people done to meet both standards? Currently we will need a two part sill, one to fit to the concrete floor and butt the floor tiles upto and then a smaller sill that sits on top which will be the door frame. When I have looked at a few manufacturers they have a really small sill that looks really neat and it actually sits on top of the finished floor so in our case tile and then fit the door which does not work for us at all. So currently we are looking at a Pirnar door which can supply a traditional sloping outer sill which is the only one they do and then the smaller sill on top. RK doors do a similar set up but have a choice of sills for varying situations and this would suit the way we finish off outside. We could pave right upto the door frame with the RK system as it does not have the slope on the lower sill which is our preferred choice but we prefer the Pirnar door to the RK door overall. If we use a 10mm floor tile on a 10mm adhesive bed what will be the finished thickness, I am thinking about 15mm as I need to be careful to order the the correct door height to achieve the Part M and maintain a decent u-value. (Mods please start another thread if you feel this would be better on it's own) TIA

If anyone interested I have a 15% off code for airtightness tapes with Passive house systems. The code is 15%aocx, not sure how long this code lasts but I have only just ordered and it worked for me. I have the rep's contact details so if it does not work let me know and I will contact him.

Bit short of time this morning (I have 1 tonne of tiles to collect and shift ) but I know the subject of passive flaps have caused mulch debate! So I finally lost the argument and a cat flap was a requirement. So I parted with a not insignificant sum of money and bought the medium door from Petwalk. I have to say it’s a seriously well engineered peice of kit. I’ve got to finish the wiring and need to find some of that braided cable sheath to tidy the cable. I’ll try and add some more detail later but in the mean time I’ll let pictures and a little video do the talking. This is was definitely a measure twice, three, four, five times and cut once operation!

So our build probably can't qualify as a passive house.... aspect and glazing area don't fit. But it has been suggested that the Passive house planning package might well aid us in speccing insulation, heating etc even so, rather than SAP. What have other folk used for designing a highly insulated airtight house? Thanks Dee

Has anyone done one, is it worth it?

Frame up and just getting right into all things self build!. Been doing some airtightness taping and find it very addictive!! It is true that when you are doing it for yourself you really take care and never seem to get to down at how much work is involved (me thinks). Ask me again when we have finished. Will try and get some pictures up soon but I am not to great on computers , prefer the more practical side of house building. Just as an aside what part of people's build did they enjoy the most?

Pouring slab soon and how have people terminated their soil pipes pre pour? Trying to make power floating easier so do not want loads of pipes sticking up but also may want to make connection for toilets etc at low level. Have people just put on a coupling with temporary socket on the end of the pipe or something more elaborate? TIA

Hi All We're at the planning stages of our self build, continuing to do our research. It seems nearly everyone we speak to say they mostly build low energy rather than go near the full passive standard. Anyone got any experience of how much higher heating costs would be in a triple glazed house with say 200mm insulation and a 2.0 airtightness, rather than 300mm and 0.6? I know there are way too many variables to give a definitive answer, but all things being equal would it be 10% more to heat, 25%, 50% etc? Trying to weigh up if it's worth the diminishing returns to go past low-energy and the whole hog to passive. Many thanks

This makes you wonder a bit.

Hi. Mike here from Kent, was building a new echo home on the Kent coast near Whitstable, then I wasn't and now we are again, planning permitting, due next week. Was on ebuild but a bit lapsed as we were stuck with boundary issues that all but killed our project ( I now know a lot about boundary issues that I would rather not have needed to discover). Retired university academic, still do a bit to keep my head working, but would rather be building the new place. Look forward to engaging the collective brain on our project and contributing where I can. Mike

Building a passive standard house in Ireland, Just gone from one under two to two under two all in all a pretty quiet life at the moment!!

Hello All, so pleased to see this forum up and running, so many thanks to all of you who have taken the time to set it up and manage it. Our situation: In early April, we got planning approval for our new build passive house in mid Wales. The build will be (largely) on the site of an existing bungalow. It is our retirement project, so our plan is to take our time and enjoy the process, (if that is possible!) starting with demolition of the bungalow. Thirty years ago we build the house we live in (which is next door to our new building project). But a lot has changed in the intervening years, so lots to learn!

Hello all, as complete newbies, we started our Berkshire build last August after over a year of devouring e-build for advice. We're a fairly standard MBC passive house above ground with a passive basement below which is apparently a first. Now at the plastering stage so plenty of experience under our belt to share and still plenty of advice required! It's good to be back, Mumsnet was not doing it for me.