Self Bulding query

Deemol

Hey all hope I'm in the right place for this question:

The house has been drawn up and ready to be submitted for planning but I just want to make sure of one thing before the next step.

Scenario:

Story and a half house
Canopy at the back but with a hallway and bathroom overhead leading from the main house to a second story of the garage. (hope this makes sense)

My query is given Irelands cold frosty winters will this bathroom and hallway always be cold and therefore make the rest of the house cold and costly to keep heated. Has any engineer out there seen this or anyone who is currently living in a house with this design?

Thanks

Penn

Deemol wrote: »

Hey all hope I'm in the right place for this question:

The house has been drawn up and ready to be submitted for planning but I just want to make sure of one thing before the next step.

Scenario:

Story and a half house
Canopy at the back but with a hallway and bathroom overhead leading from the main house to a second story of the garage. (hope this makes sense)

My query is given Irelands cold frosty winters will this bathroom and hallway always be cold and therefore make the rest of the house cold and costly to keep heated. Has any engineer out there seen this or anyone who is currently living in a house with this design?

Thanks

Not entirely sure what you mean, but if sufficient insulation is used there shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps if you're concerned or still think there may be a problem, you could dryline in those rooms only

BryanF

Deemol wrote: »

Hey all hope I'm in the right place for this question:

The house has been drawn up and ready to be submitted for planning but I just want to make sure of one thing before the next step.

Scenario:

Story and a half house
Canopy at the back but with a hallway and bathroom overhead leading from the main house to a second story of the garage. (hope this makes sense)

My query is given Irelands cold frosty winters will this bathroom and hallway always be cold and therefore make the rest of the house cold and costly to keep heated. Has any engineer out there seen this or anyone who is currently living in a house with this design?

Thanks

alarm bells! (when i see people looking for building fabric/ house design advice from an engineer):D to be honest I've seen similar spaces that tend to be cold, however this is generally because of a lack of insulation and major thermal bridging and air-tightness issues. imho this is caused by a lack of understanding and a rushed-to-site/ cost cutting approach.

one observation, without having seen your plans, is to leave this corridor (link to garage?) as a cold space and close it off from the house...

to answer the real question here: will your home be "cold and costly to keep heated", depends on how sprawling the house layout is? and how good your Architect/ architectural Technician is at detailing and specification of this house? and whether you go with this high level of specification and stick with it! this includes:

• building fabric (insulation, thermal bridging, junctions, windows, air-tightness etc) to reduce your msq kw/hr
• and secondly how you heat and get your HW and ventilate efficiently (the msq kw/hr figure will help give you the parameters and calc's for your energy costs)

may I suggest you get a PHPP calculation done prior to submitting planning
and read the following to get an idea of what is now becoming the standard to build to http://www.passivehouseacademy.com/downloads/New-Build-Passive-House-Guidlines.pdf

and the best of luck...

BryanF

Barrington wrote: »

Not entirely sure what you mean, but if sufficient insulation is used there shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps if you're concerned or still think there may be a problem, you could dryline in those rooms only

he's building a new house and your already talking remedial dry-lining measures?

Penn

BryanF wrote: »

he's building a new house and your already talking remedial dry-lining measures?

Dry-lining isn't just for remedial measures. I'm just saying that without knowing the layout of the house or the insulation and heating system being used, if he feels these rooms are still likely to be colder than the rest of the house one way around this would be if he dry-lined them internally as well as the standard insulation in the cavity. But like I said, once the sufficient insulation is used anyway, there should be no need for it.

Deemol

Hi Bryan

Thanks for your reply. I definitely won’t be scrimping on insulation etc. I will settle for sitting on the ground for a year rather than spending money on furniture over good insulation and heating!!

The main part of the house is “square” with this corridor leading from the centre (landing) through to the second floor of the garage. The main bathroom and hot press is on the corridor and there can be a door put at either end.

I will take a look at the doc attached tonight, thanks again for your reply

sydthebeat

deemol,

each element of construction of this glorified walkway will have minimum insulation values to be met. the walls, roof, and floor will all have to be adequately insulated to at least minimum regulations.

AMG86

The Passive House standard is the ultimate target. It is achievable. It will give you some ideas re the simple things that you can do to make the house energy efficient and comfortable. The more of them you implement the nearer to Passive you will be at the end. Workmanship is key to all that is done by all trades on the site.