Passivhaus

[biff]

errr,,wot,,??
          oh,, me, ah well see, profiles,? exellent idea, four detachable  upright 3"x"3 or equivelant but must be straight and true.
     these can clamp onto the blockwork below dpc,,each profile is market identically with the courses of block and cills and lintils are noted also. because the corners are level and the profiles are all the same,the walls will rise level and plumb,the clamps at the base of the profiles have adjustable screws to facilitate the plumb from both sides,
    the builders line is attached to a corner block which runs up the profile course by course,held under tension. it is an exellent way to build a wall but care must be taken to make sure that the profiles dont get knocked or you could be building a wide spiral staircase instead,,
  i might have suceeded in making it sound complicated,,sorry, it is actually a very simple and foolproof method of building.
  a cornerblock is a piece of wood,,say "3x"2 with a lip on it,a piece of old window rebate is ideal,a saw cut is made across the lip of the rebate down to wood, a small nail is driven into the back of the block,the line is hooked on the nail and drawn through the slit in the rebate,this allows you to place the block up to the profile,to run the line,plumb with the corner, the other cornerblock is hung on the far profile and the line is drawn tight, done the same way,using this method does away with line pins,meaning you do not have to go back and fill in unsightly holes left by the pins. just keep an eye on your profiles and you will have an exellent finish,
    tip,,,set up your profiles,ordinary 4 x 4s,make sure they are right,chuck a couple of shovels of concrete around the bottom of them and they will never move until you are ready.i wish i could make it clearer for you eleanor,, but you are already a builder, !! good luck  biff

[biff]

well morning came and i had a look at the above and i have to say that it must be difficult to understand,
   So,,,  the profiles are set at each corner,,each inner surface of the profile lines up with each wall running out of corner,so the profile stands verticle,its corner edge kissing the corner of the proposed wall. this means that the lines coming off the profiles are true.
    the advantage of profiles means that no large corners is required to hang the cornerblocks on, large corners need skilled bricklayers who know exactly what they are doing, another advantage is that the whole house rises uniformly,because the course of blocks are marked on the profile and all is needed is to hitch the line on the cornerblock to the mark or gauge on the profile so cills and frame heads have to be level and correct.
     very few subbies use profiles because of the danger of them getting knocked,too many workers in the area but for someone working alone or with an apprentice,the profiles soon pay their way.
                       i hope this is of some help,    biff

[clockmanFR]

Well done biff, ever the ex-plainer.  

Now days, the profiles (approx £50 each) are box section metal 75mm by 75mm and 2.5m high, they clamp to the bricks below dpc and you allow a gap in a vertical mortar joint, about .5m away from the corner, for the clamps to go in. The base of the profile has a corner plate that has adjuster screws that once clamped up you can get the vertical profile pole absolutely vertical for both walls. The pole has a simple bracket that slides up and down the pole and this has 2 thumb screws for locking off and 2 studs for tying your strings.

Gauge stick, this for me is a roof battern that is good and straight, on the bottom i fit a thin flat plate that protrudes say 30mm, this will from now on will sit on the corner brick at DPC on all four corners of the building, Just remove a little mortar so it slides in, that is your datum level. I mark the gauge stick (Biro pen) all the way up and show exactly the mortar joints and brick thickness, after each course of bricks go round all 4 profiles use your gauge stick and up all 4 to the next course.

When you get to about 2m and the milk crates and planks are to low, you can't reach, then on the third course before the last course row, allow a mortar gap for the profiles clamps again. Install your scaffolding but be carefull that your corner upright scaffold pole will need to stand away from the corner to allow for the profiles or use 2 uprights scaffold poles for each corner and stand them away.

There are also internal corner profiles as well.

Rember keep your string tightish and lay your brick onto the mortar and tap out the mortar until the brick is tight to the string and level with the string. This whole method works well with hand made bricks with different thicknesses and you can use it with natural stone as well.
Good luck


If you are really interested in this then i can post some pics, and pics of some tech drawings of this particular raft building. I told biff i am expecting a new camera any moment as the Mrs is away again and taken the camera with her.

[Eleanor]

but the only decision really seems to be whether to go slab or suspended timber floor. If they were equivalent with regard to embodied energy and saved energy I'd go for the slab.

No contest Eleanor, stuff the embodied energy, you're on the west coast of Scotland not the home counties, you'll NEVER stop the draughts on a suspended timber floor.

Stands back and awaits barrage of west coast home owners with draught free houses  

Good luck, Paul

Paul, you’re right and I think I'd reached that conclusion really, just wondering if someone would come up with something different that would work and assuage my guilt. At this point it's probably best that they don't as it’s complicated enough as it is! Clockman, interesting that you’re a Structural Engineer – I think that’s the one person we can’t do without. I find the foundations the scariest part and won’t do this myself. Most of the croft has several feet of peat but the upper part is sand and gravel and I think it will be fine. I did a part time HNC in Architectural Technology during the first two years here which has helped but it’s really an introduction and no substitute for the experience of people like you, Biff and others who have done it. We’re committed to the stone on the outside which isn’t structural and timber frame is popular here as it can be weathertight in a few days. In some ways I’d prefer something with thermal mass on the inside – I’ve gone off at a tangent already. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the “Denby Dale” house – they achieved airtightness by plastering but I’ve only lived in houses where the plaster is falling off the walls! Any pics would be welcome. Biff, when you’re up to it you’ll have to come and demonstrate, I’m a bit slow so it will probably take a few walls before I catch on  
Sun is shining so better get out and get things done and look at this in more detail later when it’s dark. We seem to have hijacked the OPs thread  

[camillitech]

 I think I'd reached that conclusion really, just wondering if someone would come up with something different that would work and assuage my guilt.

Don't worry about it Eleanor, you will make up for it in other ways  I spent most of my life despising concrete floors and cursing the clown that ripped the wooden floor out of my current house and replaced it with concrete  It seemed to be all the rage thirty years ago and I've spent much time raising and insulating it, something that now means our house is only suitable for dwarves  However, done properly with UFH I can't see any better option in this part of the world. In more temperate zones, close to supply chains and far away from regular storm force winds I'd probably think differently.

Good luck, Paul

PS, we should do a 'stone swap', some Raasay gneiss for whatever it is you have there 

[clockmanFR]

Will post a few pics Eleanor.

Eleanor's NEW HOUSE to passivehuas standards.

And i feel sure some of the maths chaps out there will be able to do the sums.

May i suggest that you get your spade out and go and actually dig a 1m by 1m by 1m hole where you think your house is going to be, and see how firm your sub soil actually is. Try and dig the hole in one go/day and don't let any water get in it. If you have a good sharp digging spade, and the subsoil is good you will find it difficult to get the spade blade more than 75mm in depth with your full weight on the spade then a raft should be okay, but don't quote me.
Make your hole tidy and photograph it well showing the spade test, from these photos any good real Builder or proper architect should be able to give you some tech details on his /her site visit, if you can keep the hole open and dry even better for inspection on the site visit.

Its never good to put foundations on land that is backfilled, you can but there are allot of equations involved with proper rate of compaction.

As i said i am not registered or certified in the UK, but out here my original training is very handy.

So dig that hole.

[Eleanor]

PS, we should do a 'stone swap', some Raasay gneiss for whatever it is you have there  

Paul, if you want to lob some gneiss across I'll chuck some sandstone back. If you could attach a few electrons which been generated by the Arnish Power Corp that would be even better   ....... Wonder if he'd notice a small interconnector cable to the mainland  

Clockman, thanks for the help. It's always been the intention to get a second opinion on the ground. I did the course to avoid paying an architect so I think I'd rather go with the Builder option. The course was pretty thorough with regard to foundations and the Scottish Domestic Handbook covers the necessary calculations for straight forward buildings so I probably just need to get on with it and get all the calculations for the whole house checked by an SE to make sure I haven't made any silly mistakes. We dug quite a few holes when we were doing percolation tests but not exactly at the location of the house site which we will do as you have suggested.

[clockmanFR]

Eleanor, sorry for the delay, i have use of the camera again. Here's one of my raft designs, these as you can see are my working drawings, the good ones are filed away somewhere!.

Basically minimal material use but really insulated. The ceilings upstairs were dropped 400mm so i could get 500mm insulation then boarded out in the loft for storage.

Pic3 shows the result, must remove the cement on scaffolding splashes of the brick work one day.

[Baz]

I notice we lost the OP way back and he hasn't even tried another topic. - no staying power.
Anyway having seen the mention of 500mm loft insulation how about interfloor and if internal walls are stud insulating them too so that smaller sections can be heated, and with a view to a much earlier post and my own preference the bedrooms can be fully vented without major compromise of the rest of the building.

[clockmanFR]

Baz, No studding anywhere.  

This bit of building is the New extension.

In-between floors is insulated with 200mm but if you look at the walls the internal blockwork is 200mm thick thermal blocks (siporex) 100mm air gap with 50mm insulation and then the normal brick skin, so we are not far off 500mm thick walls.

Internal walls are 150mm thermal block, and the concrete floor has 150mm insulation with electric underfloor heating, 1.2kw, on the whole downstairs floor just under the floor tiles.

 Upstairs bathroom and bedroom have electric storage heater that are 1.2kw and 0,8kw respectively, the wife likes 22degrees c but i am happy with 18c. This heating is Incorporated into the wind turbine switch over gear, so if not working on night economy rate, then the Wind turbine runs the whole heating system. The electric ratings are max but in general the normal consumption is half, we have only had max heating when we had 2 weeks of minus 15c outside.

You will also see that the room heights are 9ft to 10ft high so are room volumes are big and there is not the feeling of stale air or claustrophobia you get with modern house low ceilings, and i have not used sealed internal doors.

Trust this helps.
 

[Eleanor]

Clockman, thanks for posting the drawings  I shall study them and see how I can adapt them our situation. The brickwork looks perfect to me but I expect Biff might notice any slight imperfections. I like the idea of storage heaters and it's something we have been considering. It seems slightly old fashioned but ideal for storing excess generation. Threads like this remind me of what can be done and that we don't all necessarily have to do it in the same way.

[Baz]

I was picking up on the general theme of the thread as it was initiated on PH in general. So it is interesting that have incorporated the interfloor insulation in an actual build.
I like the wind into storage heater arrangement. Might be worth putting some more details in the turbine part of the forum.

[billi]

Does a Passiv house need much heating ?    more for electricity and hot water , i thought

underfloor heating seems a waste of resources then to me , as well as  storage heaters

Better idea is to get a  renewable idea working to produce electricity


Billi

[clockmanFR]

billi,
I am trying to keep the house heating system simple, low maintenance, low installation cost and no fuss/dust, ie ash etc from the woodburner.
As i said on this particular building (the extension) the heating is not required for about 6 months of the year as the interior temperature is very stable, but we can regulate by carefully, and at the right outside temp, opening and closing a window or 2.

The only draw back is keeping an eye on the weather forcast for temperature if the temp is going to plummet then i have to be on the ball to get the floor heating on, as this system can take several days to come up to 20c.

But the extension, (size of a small house) only draws 3.2Kw per hour for about 8 hours then it just hovers at about 1kw if left permanently on. The storage heaters are designed for a 8 hour charge i have tried leaving them on for longer but they get mighty hot, so i will stick to the design limitations.

The rest of the house (4 brick thick walls 1880's) is seriously insulated and is heated by a wood burning stove in the salon, and the library end is also at this moment getting underfloor heating.

Eleanor, when my cabinetmaker/joiner came out, he's 80, "bloody hell Les, you could have got rid of the cement splashes" and "whats happened their" any way i get grief, as his father was a master brickie. His final passing comment, "but i suppose its okay for you" and then, "you got some work on boy".
And of course the whole floor becomes a huge storage heater especially with the insulation under the concrete screed.

I am also doing Eco gite 2, (master changeover electric switch to run from the wind turbines) to the same standard of insulation, and again i am fitting electric underfloor heating onto the concrete floor and then tiles. But in this old building i have used internal raft foundations in each room, and a bit of separate underpinning here and there, and then put 150mm thermal block walls inside, that then supports the upstairs bedroom. So you loose 300mm in the rooms, whats the problem? if your gaining minimal heating requirements.