Heating Headache New Build

joejoe said:
We are talking about new buildings not old ones. In Germany currently the average sized new family house 125m2 or 1,345 sq ft. Building costs in Germany are on a par with Ireland.

Joejoe
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Now we are not comparing apple with apples as its probably the same size average size in Ireland. What we are looking at is larger rural/suburbs housing.

My experience of German buildings costs is that it is much cheaper, my last house I built I basically imported it from Germany in lorries and a crew came over and built it. They basically undercut every Irish timber frame supplier by over €40k.
 
Geo thermals are great if used correctly and are prepeared to play by the rules as such.
Underfloor is a must downstairs at a minimum, and use large surface area low temp emitter rads, then it will work fine for you.
The new generation of air to water heat pumps are getting to COPS that are close to an ideal ground source collector.
If you like heat forget geo-thermal etc and get an oil or gas condensing boiler.
As stated if you running heating from outside spend the money on Calpex or similar insulated pipework.
Buy yourself a decent hot water tank, an akvatherm or similar hot water tank.
Solar is money well spent.
Dont get caught up in all the hype, and spend on your insulation.
Good luck.
 
where bouts in cork ye building Krissovo?was reading through the blog there whats your view so far of building your own home?
 
glic83 said:
where bouts in cork ye building Krissovo?was reading through the blog there whats your view so far of building your own home?
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Its in Rathcormac.

This is my 3rd build and so far the most stressful!

1st Build - Hannover Germany, this was an almost pleasant experience compared to Ireland.

2nd Build - Kerry, Got the lads over from Germany who built my 1st house.

This build is a near disaster so far. At the start I couldn't get hold of a builder or quotes as my previous builder only builds timber frame but as this will be home for life I wanted a concrete build. Now I can get builders but the mortgage is held up and with the amount cowboy renewable energy consultants its hard to find a suitable solution.
 


krissovo

have you any professional input in your build?
 
sydthebeat said:
krissovo

have you any professional input in your build?
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In what way?

We had an architect initially at the start but he was no use at all. He only wanted to offload a design he already had and would not use any of our input at all. He was soon sacked!

We have a good engineer and I have a lot of faith in him.

We went to 2 energy consultants and both were cowboys hence this post.

The builder we are using has been using the ICF system for a while and we have seen two of his houses as references.
 
Bayjon,
Not sure what you mean "if you like heat stay away from geo".
I looove heat and find the constant warm heat of the geo brilliant, we're delighted we put it in. The high level of insulation we put in I'm sure helps too.
 
krissovo said:
........ my previous builder only builds timber frame but as this will be home for life I wanted a concrete build..
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I don't understand that point - are you saying TF is not a 'home for life' ? If so, that's nonsense - if you have experience of building in Germany you will know that using timber is entirely suitable for your, and your children's - and beyond - life.
 

Having lived (& built) in timber frame homes and concrete homes my personal preference is concrete. My main reasons are stop the creaking, fire safety, air tightness, hanging things on the wall etc etc. Now I know full well that you can counter the argument for all of those reasons and list negatives but there really is nothing better than the feeling of a solid home.

I am not saying that timber frame is not a home for life but what I am saying is that I want the home I am going to spend the rest of life in to be built to way that I would be most happy with.
 
Krissovo,

We installed an air to water heat pump in Aug (€13000 minus €2000 from SEI). We are very happy with it and i estimate that our heating costs for the year could be less than €500. The house is 2500 sq ft, timber framed with lots of insulation.
 

Now that looks more like it, how did it perform during the recent cold spells?

Would you mind PM'ing the company?
 
sfag said:
Is it wise to have a house airtight?
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Its extremely important to have a house airtight.... actually vital, from an energy efficiency point o fview.

theres loads of threads already on this issue so theres no point going into it here.
and note that under the building regs 2007 all new builds wil lrequire an air tightness test done, with a minimum air change value to be met.
 
OK. Was just wondering.
I had thought air tightness leads to black walls, sickness and asthma. Isnt air tightness one of those curses of modern living.
I deliberately put vents in all my rooms to let air in.
Looks like I'll have to block them if I ever go to sell.
 

I agree with that quote. I lived in one of those housing estate mass production houses before that was timber framed and by Christ it was noisey. From friends that self built timber frame houses they say that there is no money saving & no time saving due to delivery allways being late and plenty of mistakes. If you remove those two arguements for going timber framed there is not much incentive left.
 
I have to say I've yet to get an accurate estimate of the costs of the geo thermal running costs from anywhere. I know some people with it and they say it costs little to run but when you visit their houses they have the heating off all day long despite having uf heating which is supposed to be on call 24/7. I'd love to have an accurate report from someone who doesent scrimp.
 

No you wont, you need ventilation.

Theres a HUGE difference between ventilation and air tightness (or lack of).

The requirement for ventilation is covered in the building regulations and deals with 'controlled' ventilation by means of passive vents and mechanical fans.

Bad air tightness (air permeability) is the process where air leaks out of your building fabric.... at points such as wall-floor junctions, opes, eaves etc. This leakage is not controlled and not what should happen.

sick building syndrome is a result of inadequate ventilation and/or bad construction... it has nothing to do with constructing an air tight house.

If anything good airtightness aids in a healthier internal climate because the controlled ventilation then does exactly what its designed to do....
 
Sfag,

The point of air-tightness is to loose as little energy from your house.If you also include a MHRV in your air-tight house then you will get the ventilation you require but you will minimise your losses but get the desired ventilation that is required for healthy living.

With any build if you are hiring someone - timber frame erector, plumber, blocklayer you cannot just assume that they are competent just because the name on the side of the van says so - their work has to be checked prior to payment.
 

the running costs of geothermal are directly linked to the type of construction they are used in.

if you have 310 cavity wall with passive vents, minimum building reg insulation and bad thermal bridging then expect to pay at the top of the scale...
however if you build a well insulated (A rated), airtight construction your heating demands drop significantly and you pay at the lower end.....

comparing running costs without comparing build spec is comparing apples and oranges....
 
Yeah I know all that.
But the basics are house size, room tempature and maybe year built as these will confirm to regulation insualtion standards (60 mil hd 3 years ago).
Thats a good enought yardstick to start comparing against.
 
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