Highland passivehaus builders

[thaldine]

I'm looking for any builders (and architects) with some previous experience of constructing houses designed and built to passivehaus standards (along with "passive slab" foundations) who cover Strathspey and Badenoch. Any pointers gratefully received.  
Thanks

[JohnMo]

Did notice a Passivhaus Architect in Forres when I was looking a few years ago.

 

Passive slab, not sure anyone will come this far North, certainly when I was looking a few years ago. I ended up with strip foundations and stub walls and made that thermal bridge free.

[Dunc]

+1 Good luck finding any groundworkers with experience in insulated raft foundations up here; I couldn't.

Econekt based in Glasgow were prepaired to travel to Inverness. They were very helpful and engaged but ultimately the cost was prohibitive for me.

I've gone with strip footings and, with advice from @JohnMo and others here, I think I've achieved a pretty decent design.

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Well it must be a thing now because it was mentioned on The Archers a couple of days ago.

[SteamyTea]

6 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

mentioned on The Archers

I shall wait for the omnibus on Sunday.

Then start shouting at the radio.

[saveasteading]

5 hours ago, thaldine said:

along with "passive slab" foundations) who cover Strathspey

May I ask why you want a slab with a fancy name?

If you stick with traditional methods you can use local builders and get the same performance,  or better if you want, and way better value. 

 

I think most people on BH aim for "Near passive" levels, because of diminishing returns seeking the last few % performance.

That starts with the floor.

[Iceverge]

18 hours ago, saveasteading said:

think most people on BH aim for "Near passive" levels, because of diminishing returns seeking the last few % performance.

That starts with the floor.

 

More blasphemy from you @saveasteading!!!

 

I would very much go the other direction. It's not a "I spent less cash that you" competition. Nobody buys a Rolls Royce because it's cheap to run. But because it comfortably, quiet, and (maybe not these days) well built and reliable. 

 

Passivhaus is super cheap to run but it's the comfort, the ability to retain heat, the lack of drafts, the fresh air, the quietness that make it worth the extra effort. Also if done properly you can ditch complex central heating and it's actually quite economical. 

 

 

Back to the build, strip foundations perform excellently if done right. I would go to the local builders merchants and attempt to only build my house from stock items. The only exception being blown cellulose I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:52 by Iceverge

[saveasteading]

25 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

attempt to only build my house from stock items.

That's a good principle. I think it needs a name in German or Norwegian.

Stockhausen? Nahehaus?

 

I'm only guessing and amalgamating many measures of quality but I would boldy  say that 95% performance is indistinguishable from 100%, and the cost saving is 25%.

Turn that cost into carbon by any means that suits the argument, and 'near ph' is better.

[joe90]

I did this with my strip foundations but reduced the height of the DPC to floor level in the inner wall to stop a slip plane and cracking in the plaster 

[Iceverge]

Very similar detail to ours but we filled the cavity completely EPS beads which was super easy to do. 

[Garald]

A question has been going around my mind for some time: what about Passivhaus in *other* highlands?

 

Say, in the Andes? Some of the conditions are similar (it gets chilly up there) but others are rather different:

- tropical latitude

- the colder season is also the one with clear skies and lots of sunlight (and UV)

- ... which brings us to our next point: considerably thinner air

 

There's a smattering of news about the matter (people are experimenting with Trombe walls, for instance) and a tiny handful of builders ("ours is the first Passivhaus project in the country" is more dispiriting than anything else) but I don't know of a good source of information.

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, Garald said:

A question has been going around my mind for some time: what about Passivhaus in *other* highlands?

 

Say, in the Andes? Some of the conditions are similar (it gets chilly up there) but others are rather different:

- tropical latitude

- the colder season is also the one with clear skies and lots of sunlight (and UV)

- ... which brings us to our next point: considerably thinner air

The physics will be the same, just the climate reg9ime a bit different.

 

The air is not thin enough to make any real difference, the biggest problem will probably be lo0cal wind speeds.

 

Much is said about solar housing in Denver, Colorado.

High altitude, very cold winters, and hot summers.

But then they are at a latitude of 39.5°, 9° further south than Paris and about on par with Toldeo, Spain.

[Garald]

47 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

The physics will be the same, just the climate reg9ime a bit different.

 

The air is not thin enough to make any real difference, the biggest problem will probably be lo0cal wind speeds.

 

 

Are you positive? We are talking about a place where a 3500m elevation is considered moderate. (The regions for hardy people start at 4000m. Old-style hard drives used to malfunction there.) Food gets cold noticeably faster, as evaporation is much easier. At 3500m, air pressure is less two-thirds of what it is at sea level.

 

- If the colder season is the seriously sunny one, then obviously direct solar gain becomes more of a factor.

- Would the efficiency of a heat pump be affected?

- other questions I'm not thinking of?

[SteamyTea]

8 hours ago, Garald said:

Are you positive

To within 2 SDs