| We built this 320m2 house in Wicklow to Low Energy levels in 2006 using Externally Insulated Poroton blocks. It uses about 1.5 tonnes of Wood Pellets/annum costing about €280/annum which is just outside Passive Levels. All Cold Bridges were eliminated and we didn't put in a heating system upstairs only UF heating downstairs in the living area. We achieved an Airtightness test of 1 airchange/hour @ 50kp. We tendered for this project as a standard build putting our own stamp on it when we won the tender. By using our building techniques we believe we are saving the client about €2,000/annum in heating costs. |
 |
| We built this house in Monkstown, Dublin last year using Poroton with Rockwool in the cavity. It was the first house in Dublin built using our Passive Foundation so the house is sitting on a 300mm bed of Structural Polysterene. The walls and windows were not to Passive levels but the roof, foundations and airtightness were to Passive levels. Initial Performance would suggest that this house which was featured on the Duncan Stewart show will have an annual heating cost of €150-€200/annum. |
 |
| We just completed this project so are waiting to see how it performs this winter. We built all elements to Passive levels but didn't put the project through the PHPP. |
 |
| We renovated this cottage in Sandyford and built a rear extension from Poroton, both the extension and cottage were Externally Insulated with 100mm of Rockwool. The roof was insulated with 300mm of blown Cellulose and 300mm of Polystyrene was put in the floor, we also fitted a condensing combi boiler. This superinsulated house is performing extremely well and can be heated for €150/year. |
 |
| We built this Wicklow house in 2005 and it was the first house in Ireland built from 9 inch Cavity blocks Externally Insulated with 200mm Rockwool batts. We put 300mm blown Cellulose in the roof and it was the first house we used an Intello Membrane on which was tricky because of all the dormer windows. We got an Airtightness test of 2 Airchanges at 50kP which was not bad for our first stab. The client who is an Engineer insisted that we use the traditional foundation system using concrete block rising walls and Kingspan Insulation sheets. This is the major weakness of this house as there is a Cold Bridge all around the house and Kingspan should not be used in damp areas as it loses its U-value when wet and the Pentane gas migrates giving it a similar U-value to Polystyrene. |
 |
| We built this Extension in Crumlin in 2006 from Externally Insulated Poroton blocks. The south facing conservatory works very well giving a lot of light to the rear living space. My only comment on this project is that the client wanted heating in the Sunspace which loses a lot of heat in Winter. |
 |
| We built this Extension in Beach Road in 2007 and it was featured on the Duncan Stewart show. We also reinsulated and renovated the existing house using HRV, Solar Panels Modulating Condensing Combi Gas Boiler and 100mm External Insulation. The floors were removed, insulated and re-laid using 300mm of Polystyrene, 75mm Concrete with UF heating. The roof was reinsulated with Cellulose and made Airtight. The front brick wall was drylined with 100mm Softboard which is the only drylining system that does not cause fungus/mould where the wall meets the drylining. |
 |
| We Externally Insulated the walls and Externally insulated the flat roof in this Dublin house in 2008. We also airtightned the roof with Softboard sheets and Rockwool batts. I got an email from the client in Jan 09 requesting additional work, She finished her email with these words- "Hope this finds you well, our house is lovely and cosy after the work you did last year". |
 |
|
|
| We built this Portmarnock house in 2005/6 and it was the first Irish house built using Externally insulated 9 inch cavity blocks. We Externally Insulated the cavity block with 150mm of EPS and put 400mm of Cellulose in the Attic. The house wasn't airtightness tested and there was a Cold Bridge where the walls met the floor which wasn't dealt with. We used brick slips over the EPS at the lower level which worked well and allowed us to continue the insulated envelope. |
 |
| We built this house for St Vincent De Paul in 2008. It is divided into 4 self contained apartments each with its own HRV unit and Condensing Combi Boiler. It is built using our Passive Foundation system using 300mm of Polysterene. The roof is insulated with 500mm of Blown Cellulose and the walls are built using 200mm of Rockwool. The Airtightness test was done and shows that the Airtightness is at Passive Levels of .5 Airchanges/hr@50Kp. |
 |
| We extended this 80m2 house in Glasnevin to 150m2 and did some renovation work to the existing house. The PassivHaus Extension arrived fully finished from the factory with the plasterboard on the walls and the windows fitted, it has U-values of 0.11 in the roof, walls and floor. All the Cold bridges were eliminated and we achived Passive levels of Airtightness (0.6) in the Extension and 1.6 in the complete house. We put 400mm of Cellulose in the roof of the existing house, Externally insulated it with120mm of plastered EPS and fitted a Heat Recovery Ventilation system. We put this house through the PHPP and got an amazing result of 23kwh/m2.a which is bordering on Passive standards. This house was featured in Construct Ireland and has a BER cert giving it a B2 (90kw/m2.a) which shows the inaccuracies of the BER system. If we had increased the insulation thickness in the walls to 220mm, used better windows and had gotten the airtightness of the complete house down to 0.6 we would be at Passive Levels. |
 |
|
 |
|
Here is a recommendation from Tom the owner of this house: Our Timber Frame house is built with lots of Gutex Softboard and Cellulose insulation. It has a high Decrement Delay and I was influenced by the Viking House ethos. We have Softboard both internally and externally with cellulose insulation in between (both in the roof and walls). I'm not up on figures or calculations but performance so far has been excellent - nice and cool last summer and now wonderfully warm this winter (almost passive - just need the wood burner on for 1-2 hours on cold eveningse). I'd suggest that this technique deserves more attention in the UK and Ireland - it's common on the continent. In the UK NBT ( Natural Building Technologies ) seem to be the people with the most experience of building with softboard.
|
 |
I think that having the high decrement delay material inside and outside, then with light insulation in the middle (like a sandwich - softboard, insulation, softboard) gives the best of both worlds - temperature, moisture buffering and good U-values. Out of interest our walls from outside in are - Timber cladding, air gap, 60mm Softboard (tongue and grooved to help with air tightness), 150mm stud frame with cellulose insulation, 11mm OSB (racking and vapour control layer), 40mm Softboard (internal humidity buffer, extra insulation and improved acoustics), plasterboard (no skim - taped and jointed then painted). We think we've got it pretty Airtight but I haven't had a pressure test done yet - will hopefully get one done soon.
|
