Longford Home Improvement: The first step to building a new home

Your consultant will give you direction, time frames and goals to achieve your new home.

Every project, from a design point of view is different but there is some important things you should consider for your new home.

The aim to have a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological all at the same time.

Considering a design or choosing to build a Passive House is not brand, but a construction concept that can be applied by anyone and that has stood the test of practice.

Passive House buildings allow for heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical building stock and over 75% compared with average new builds.

In terms of heating oil, Passive House buildings use less than 1.5 litres per square meter of living space per year – far less than typical low-energy buildings. Similar energy savings have been demonstrated in warm climates where buildings require more energy for cooling than for heating.

Passive House buildings are also praised for their high level of comfort. They use energy sources inside the building such as the body heat from the residents or solar heat entering the building – making heating a lot easier.

Appropriate windows with good insulation and a building shell consisting of good insulated exterior walls, roof and floor slab keep the heat during winter in the house – and keep it out during summer.

A ventilation system consistently supplies fresh air making for superior air quality without causing any unpleasant draughts. This is e.g. a guarantee for low Radon levels and improves the health conditions.

A highly efficient heat recovery unit allows for the heat contained in the exhaust air to be re-used.

What to achieve:

* good levels of insulation with minimal thermal bridges

* passive solar gains and internal heat sources

* excellent level of airtightness

* good indoor air quality, highly efficient heat recovery

- Brendan Quaine QA Design