291–300 of 335 posts
I met the founder(s) of ArchiPro at a cloud event in Wellington in either 2013 or 2014 - it is wonderful to see their idea not only be sustained but thrive, bravo!
As with most engineering efforts, the last 20% of optimization tend to be costly. But covering the basics (mainly around insulation and air-sealing) has a huge impact already without increasing upfront costs by the same ratio.
Also the wall/roof assembly needs to match the climate for the region, mainly because of the dew point and how it relates to temperature and moisture differences between inside/outside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You must embrace the cold. Any attempt to warm yourself will just make your body expect warmth. Never turn on the heat, and you'll slowly adapt along with the seasons. Maybe set the thermostat to 33F so that the pipes don't freeze...
The human body doesn't "expect" anything, it simply must maintain its core temperature. If the temperature of the environment goes lower, the body responds by 1) increasing thermogenesis, i.e. convert chemical energy to heat through metabolism 2) reducing heat loss through the extremities by reducing blood flow there. In other words, you get cold feet and hands etc. For people not bothered by cold, presumably it's mo…
recently i visited a friend in the north who had heating. but he complained that their heating was not good enough, and i saw him wearing a jacket inside. i, on the other hand, felt very comfortable because his weak heating was warmer than my no heating.
likewise in milder climates people start to put on winter coats when the temperature drops a few degrees outside, while i, used to much colder temperatures am still running around in a t-shirt much longer than everyone else.
the primary problem with it being cold inside is that you are not moving enough. while i am fine to have no heating in most of the house, i am heating my office because there i am sitting for many hours without moving much.
Any tips for me? I live in Northern California in a house that (1) has an empty space below it, (2) single-pane windows, (3) an inefficient fireplace with no steel stove, (4) a big, cavernous room with high, un-insulated ceilings on one half of the house. Obviously we could spend a zillion dollars to insulate everything and fix all of the problems I identified above (and probably more), but what is critical? One thin…
2. I would change the windows, with at least triple pane. The windows must be mounted correctly (see RAL montage) and also must be placed aligned with the outside face of the wall.
3. I would take out the floor, and do hydronic underfloor heating with EPS150 or XPS as insulation substrate.
[0] https://www.rothoblaas.com/products/airtightness-and-waterpr...
[1] https://www.rothoblaas.com/products/airtightness-and-waterpr...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand fully your way of reasoning. A normal house costs - say - 200,000 "units" (dollars, euro, whatever). Making it "energy saving" costs an additional 60,000 units. In 20 years time you will be spending 60,000 units (3,000 per year) less for energy costs (and here we are assuming that ventilation and heating/cooling machines in the "better" house have the same maintenance costs than the ones in "normal…
"You essentially have a "break even" point 20 years in the future, from there onwards you start saving money." That's exactly how a 5% roi investment works. There is nothing unusual here. "in less than 20 years time it is possible that someone comes out with a mega-para-hyper-ultra climatization device that makes yearly energy costs go down by (say) 90%" And it's possible second coming of Christ will happen, or an as…
Any tips for me? I live in Northern California in a house that (1) has an empty space below it, (2) single-pane windows, (3) an inefficient fireplace with no steel stove, (4) a big, cavernous room with high, un-insulated ceilings on one half of the house. Obviously we could spend a zillion dollars to insulate everything and fix all of the problems I identified above (and probably more), but what is critical? One thin…
1. I would start by lowering the ceiling and insulating it. For ceiling if you insulate it using mineral wool, or glass wool... the vapor barrier [0] is critical and must be placed continuously on the warm part. Also this membrane (preferably containing aluminum so that you get back some of the heat) must be glued to the walls using special glue [1] 2. I would change the windows, with at least triple pane. The window…
what price do you think we're looking at for each of these? lowering the ceiling is a bit of a bummer from a looks perspective. underfloor heating sounds wonderful.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spray foam is very expensive and is not sustainable. Mineral wool/rockwool is also fairly popular but pricey as well. Also, it's not just adding insulation. Air tightness is hard problem to address for existing houses.
Spray foam pays for itself, so it's basically free in the long run. Interesting enough people don't bat an eye when someone quotes them 20-30 k for a new Kitchen but if you quote someone 20-30 k to insulate their entire house they look at you like you killed their mother and sister. The average home has 2000 ft of linear cracks. Everything from poorly sealed doors, windows, and envelope. It's like the equivalent of k…
Also, if you want close to passive house, you'll need way more than R-21. I would say only use spray foam if your wall cavity is limited and you need the maximum R value.
I've also built a simple and small (99sqm) PassivHaus in Romania, 5 years ago. Everybody, and I mean everybody from family to friends called me nuts, but I've got my payback this winter when the energy prices went trough the roof and I'm just slightly affected. The house is elevated from the ground on 12 concrete columns so that I can insulate under the foundation beams using glass foam, insulation on walls is 30 cm…
> What is the big difference between houses built in North America and Europe is that the European houses are built using concrete and masonry which give them a lot of thermal mass which is crucial to this kind of builds. Here's a 500 sq. m. (5000 sq. ft.) house built with heating equipment that uses 1800W (the equivalent of a hair drier): * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vul4vMFdkA The same person building his own…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My understanding was that cavities should actually not be filled, since they allow water to drain out. Is that incorrect?
The issue is will the cavity system allow water to penetrate to the inner leaf which is bad and will cause internal dampness. Cavities can be carefully partially filled with some type of insulation which allows the water soaking through the brick to evaporate and drain back out. The standard technique is to use blown in EPS beads which allow for drainage downwards, reducing the chance that any water loading will make…