Build Your Home Ideas

Construction Update #1 It has been a week or so since I did my last update. With regards to passive house details and different construction techniques, not much new has happened. Basement waterproofing In the Passive House world you hear the term "Belt and Suspenders". Basically double up on things to make sure you get the result you want. We used Mel-Rol ; a water based liquid applied waterproofing membrane. Then we installed a prefabricated dimple membrane over that. Finished grade will come to the top of the black membrane. Above that we will finish with a Conproco waterproofing product. Basement Steel Delivery We will have 4 posts in the basement that support 2 steel beams. The beams will only span from the front (West) side of the basement to the stairs along the back (East) wall. Remember we do have 8" of foam under the footer under the post. Comfofond Heat Exchanger Tubing When we had Zehnder design our whole house ventilation system we had them include the geo...

Super Insulated Slab Insulating a basement slab is incredibly uncommon. It is hardly ever done unless the code requires it. Walk out basements and radiant floors are about the only time you will see insulation under the slab - and you would be lucky to see more than R-10 (2" of extruded polystyrene (XPS) rigid foam). An uninsulated slab will be sucking the heat out of the house all the time (since the ground temperature is semi-constant (between 40-50 degrees all year round). Before I go into detail on how we did it, I will talk about the most common question... Why? Passive House is as much of a comfort standard as it is an energy efficiency standard. All interior surfaces of a Passive House will be within 6 degrees of each other all year round - that includes the basement floor. The basement will be as comfortable as the bedrooms. Rochester NY Soil Temperature  6 feet below grade can vary throughout the year from 57 degrees in the summer to 37 degrees in the winter. An uninsulat...