Great video, thank you! For those of us trying to build modest Passive homes on a tight budget, the official certification is way too expensive. The performance and comfort are what count. I would rather spend that money on the house itself.
Thank you - it was fun to share not just our lessons learned, but also all of the advice the passive house community has openly given to me and our team.
Amazing breakdown. Thanks so much. In my attempts to explain, PH has always been met with that blanket defense -” those houses are very costly!” But now, an objective listener can and should grasp this. Thanks again so much for this energy-conserving building design development.
I must confess that the background music is unnecessary, it doesn't help the video quality at all. The content is important, that's what the viewers want to listen to.
I'm an architectural designer that's studying for my tests. I would like to have or work for a firm that designs primarily net zero net positive homes. My current position I'm directed to design just to code. 😢 but I'm trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can about passive house and energy efficiency.
It’s all at once exciting and nerve wracking, but I left my Industrial Design career and, Lord willing, about to begin my first new construction as a licensed homebuilder in Alabama. I’m trying my absolute best to fall within PHIUS standards, spending countless hours researching and learning and drawing up building envelope details in CAD. It truly is addicting. What kind of costs could we expect if we decided to try the certification route?
I agree that passive house is a great standard; it will be part of the house I plan on building. However, what are the practical benefits of actually being certified a passive house, rather than just building to that standard?
This is a great question @wustywench. My answer may seem long, but hopefully worth it. Even in houses where we can't certify (not gutting the whole house for one reason or another - or due to cost), we still use our passive house consultant during our design and drawing phase. It de risks these phases and brings a ton of benefit to the client and project because we aren't guessing (this is even more important when you are doing passive measures as you want to be sure to run those through the model to ensure it performs the way you want). We make sure there is enough $ in the contractor’s budget (we put it in as a required allowance, so the builder doesn’t feel uncomfortable adding it to their bottom line). This de risks it a bit for the builder as things go left and right during construction (especially on retrofits like we do). Then we test once the house is sealed to ensure we don't have any issues before we close (no needles in a covered-up haystack) and test once completed. That process de risks it for the owner (and everyone else) as you never really knew if there were issues if you don't. One certification - although I believe in the process above (even if we must tweak it a bit as we go) - working with the certifying body as a tool (precertification) is a great check before a lot of $ is spent - maybe you can get away with doing less vs more in some cases. I feel that is the best part about certifying vs not. I like the certificate at the end of course - but looking at it from a client’s perspective - it is a great check. I hope that rambling answer helps - Michael.
I was wondering why my air intakes go through the attic and crawl space despite being right next to the a/c unit, now it makes sense. They didn’t follow the 10 steps.
Do you renovate existing house to passive house standard or do you just build new construction house as passive house although I heard that retrofitting existing House can be challenging depending on the design
almost all of my houses are renoavations in historic homes in NY - I think it works incredibly well for reno projects and can really bring new life into these buildings.
I have a question regarding passive house I'm interested in the idea although I'm not a homeowner but does it have to be a 100% passive house design can't it be some traditional and some have design like double pane glass instead of a triple pane glass
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is a mixture of pumice cement and water mixed and poured into a set of reusable forms walls are poured from 12"to 24" thick pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls Pumicecrete can be built for a fraction of the cost and time and pumice is one of the few building materials that can go directly from the mine to the job site ready to use without any additional possessing and zero waste Google all the walls of my house are made of pumicecrete Take care Ray
I'm just going to save this and watch it quarterly as a reminder.
Thanks :) - me too btw
Great video, thank you! For those of us trying to build modest Passive homes on a tight budget, the official certification is way too expensive. The performance and comfort are what count. I would rather spend that money on the house itself.
Love the idea of PH meaning MORE not less! Kudos for a very thoughtful video! MORE!
Thank you, Brian!
Thanks Brian :)
this gave a better understanding on just how to approach the design process, at the very least.
Such a great informative video for not just potential clients, but builder, architects, designers and stubbies, well done and thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you - it was fun to share not just our lessons learned, but also all of the advice the passive house community has openly given to me and our team.
Amazing breakdown. Thanks so much. In my attempts to explain, PH has always been met with that blanket defense -” those houses are very costly!” But now, an objective listener can and should grasp this. Thanks again so much for this energy-conserving building design development.
Thanks - greatly appreciated.
It’s impossible for ppl with hearing loss to hear what’s being said when the background music is this high.
CC- with hearing issues, I assume you're accustomed.
I must confess that the background music is unnecessary, it doesn't help the video quality at all. The content is important, that's what the viewers want to listen to.
I'm an architectural designer that's studying for my tests. I would like to have or work for a firm that designs primarily net zero net positive homes. My current position I'm directed to design just to code. 😢 but I'm trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can about passive house and energy efficiency.
It’s all at once exciting and nerve wracking, but I left my Industrial Design career and, Lord willing, about to begin my first new construction as a licensed homebuilder in Alabama. I’m trying my absolute best to fall within PHIUS standards, spending countless hours researching and learning and drawing up building envelope details in CAD. It truly is addicting. What kind of costs could we expect if we decided to try the certification route?
Taking my CPHB exam right now. 😅
I agree that passive house is a great standard; it will be part of the house I plan on building. However, what are the practical benefits of actually being certified a passive house, rather than just building to that standard?
This is a great question @wustywench. My answer may seem long, but hopefully worth it.
Even in houses where we can't certify (not gutting the whole house for one reason or another - or due to cost), we still use our passive house consultant during our design and drawing phase. It de risks these phases and brings a ton of benefit to the client and project because we aren't guessing (this is even more important when you are doing passive measures as you want to be sure to run those through the model to ensure it performs the way you want). We make sure there is enough $ in the contractor’s budget (we put it in as a required allowance, so the builder doesn’t feel uncomfortable adding it to their bottom line). This de risks it a bit for the builder as things go left and right during construction (especially on retrofits like we do). Then we test once the house is sealed to ensure we don't have any issues before we close (no needles in a covered-up haystack) and test once completed. That process de risks it for the owner (and everyone else) as you never really knew if there were issues if you don't.
One certification - although I believe in the process above (even if we must tweak it a bit as we go) - working with the certifying body as a tool (precertification) is a great check before a lot of $ is spent - maybe you can get away with doing less vs more in some cases. I feel that is the best part about certifying vs not. I like the certificate at the end of course - but looking at it from a client’s perspective - it is a great check.
I hope that rambling answer helps - Michael.
Nicht schlecht. Nach über 30 Jahren wird es auch langsam Zeit in die Kontakte zu kommen. 😅😅🐌🐌🐌👍🇩🇪
😉
I was wondering why my air intakes go through the attic and crawl space despite being right next to the a/c unit, now it makes sense. They didn’t follow the 10 steps.
Do you renovate existing house to passive house standard or do you just build new construction house as passive house although I heard that retrofitting existing House can be challenging depending on the design
almost all of my houses are renoavations in historic homes in NY - I think it works incredibly well for reno projects and can really bring new life into these buildings.
I have a question regarding passive house I'm interested in the idea although I'm not a homeowner but does it have to be a 100% passive house design can't it be some traditional and some have design like double pane glass instead of a triple pane glass
I just answere this one above - great question. Check it out and let me know if you have other questions.
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is a mixture of pumice cement and water mixed and poured into a set of reusable forms walls are poured from 12"to 24" thick pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls Pumicecrete can be built for a fraction of the cost and time and pumice is one of the few building materials that can go directly from the mine to the job site ready to use without any additional possessing and zero waste Google all the walls of my house are made of pumicecrete
Take care Ray