passivehouse+ | Issue 11
News Photos: Lars Pettersson
Scandinavian Homes look up to keep costs down Leading timber frame company Scandinavian Homes has recently completed work on a low energy home near Moycullen, Co Galway that has taken a unique approach to keeping build costs down for the client. The house was constructed using Scandinavian Homes’ standard Nordica 125 design, plus a dormer upstairs with a pitched roof. But while the ground floor is fully habitable with living areas, kitchen, utility and two bedrooms, the house has been constructed without any stairs or internal partitions upstairs. The roof is currently uninsulated, and the first floor currently serves as a cold, ventilated attic space. “This is a good way to get the price down for a young couple on a budget,” Lars Pettersson of Scandinavian Homes told Passive House Plus. “By avoiding doing the upstairs initially, you’re saving all the costs from that. The stairs and interior upstairs will be done in a few years when the customer needs it.” He said this approach made it more affordable to build at a time when mortgage finance is limited, and building control regulations have pushed up the cost of building. The house features double-stud, cold-bridge free walls that are insulated with 335mm of
Rockwool and have a U-value of less than 0.1. It also has triple-glazed Nordan windows, heat recovery ventilation and the Scandinavian Homes’ own insulated raft foundation using 280mm of AirpackS Kore EPS insulation. But while the roof is currently uninsulated, the ground floor ceiling features 220mm of Rockwool to complete the thermal envelope. The roof is designed to take 400mm of cellulose on its sloping sections and 700mm on the flat section, which will bring the whole house up to passive spec when it is finished. Pettersson said this approach would enable a young family with a tight budget to build a large house, which
they can grow into in future. “For a young family that is growing, you don’t need more than two bedrooms for starting off,” he said. He added that this was the first time Scandinavian Homes had built a house in this manner in about 15 years. “The young couple gets 120 square metres of floor area downstairs to start with and the possibility to add another 70 square metres upstairs within the envelope when needed.” (above) This Scandinavian Homes project near Moycullen features super-insulated walls but with a cold attic space, which can later be inexpensively upgraded to a habitable space with a warm roof construction
ComfortDisc integrates heat pump & MVHR at low energy Cork house Westmeath-based heating and cooling specialists EJ Fidgeon have recently completed the installation of their ComfortDisc system on a new low energy house in Ballincollig, Co Cork. ComfortDisc is a modular energy efficient small-diameter duct distribution system that can provide heating, cooling, air filtration, fresh air, dehumidification, humidification and air purification. ComfortDisc eliminates the use of radiators or underfloor heating by delivering warmth or cooling into the room through a small disc via a concentrated jet of air that mixes into the room for even temperatures. The house in Ballincollig is the latest building to feature the system. “The house features a ComfortDisc system with eight zones providing programmable time and temperature control in each zone,” said the company’s Eamon Fidgeon. “With the ComfortDisc System there are no radiators or underfloor heating.” "Heat recovery is by a Vent-Axia Sentinel Kinetic Plus HRV unit with the heat-recovered air being distributed into every room by the ComfortDisc system,” he added. Meanwhile the ComfortDisc system’s hot water coil is supplied by a Daikin Altherma High Temperature heat pump, which also provides domestic hot water.
Fidgeon added that ComfortDisc’s modular design means that heat pumps (for heating and cooling), heat recovery ventilation and hot water units can be easily added to the setup. The low energy, airtight house in Ballincollig is currently
nearing completion.
(above) A new low energy house in Ballncollig, Co Cork featuring the ComfortDisc system