Flatrock Passive House: A Passive House in Newfoundland

During the design phase we played around with several configurations for the front overhang.  There were hip configurations and gable configurations.  The roofline of the garage played a large part in how the house would present itself from the front driveway.  What we settled on works nicely:  it is not too complicated and really connects the house and garage together in a cohesive unit (Photo 1-1) The timber posts and beams played a large part in the look of the building facade.  Geometrically they are simple: spaced evenly across the front of the building provides for some uniformity in an otherwise asymmetrical structure.  Large timbers aren't common in Newfoundland...they call it "The Rock" for a reason.... So I looked towards the west.  After looking into shipping costs and lead times required for douglas fir (not to mention the amount of energy requried to ship the timber from BC) I looked towards our southerly neighbour: Nova Scotia.  Percy Delaney of Kodiak F

It has been another productive week.   The main level is almost framed.  There are a few deficiencies like blocking and window bucks that are yet to be completed but we are moving along (Photo 1-1). As described in the previous post, air sealing should be incremental: carried out at the necessary step to ensure that the air tight barrier is continuous throughout the whole structure.   The next step in the process is to ensure that the rim joist space is air tight and can be connected to the interior OSB sheathing.  Since the joists are laid on top of the double top plate of the wall, there needs to be some way to connect the OSB to the top plate and to be able to caulk the space with acoustical sealant.  Once the joists are in place it would be too late.  The designer's construction details for the rim joist space relies on two parts:  Acoustical sealant/Tape sealing the OSB to the top plates and then spray foaming the rim joist space.  I had to come up with a way to do this whic

The typical air tight barrier in our neck of the woods is polyethylene plastic.  Although people call it a vapour barrier, its primary function is an air barrier.  Passive houses also have air barriers and vapour control layers.  In our house that air barrier/vapour control layer is 7/16" OSB applied to the interior of the 2"x 8" stud wall.  In a code built home I have seen how a vapour barrier is completed.  It is usually an afterthought:  patched in like a quilt after insulation has been completed.  Often times there are wall intersections where there would be no way to seal under the stud sill plate.  If you think about how many interior walls can intersect with exterior walls, there will always be a joint at the intersection of the walls that can't be dealt with unless there was some proactive measures with placing an air barrier behind the stud and sealing appropriately before the intersection wall is erected.  Air sealing really should be implemented incrementa

We started framing!  We hired a local company,  KeoCan, owned by Patrick Keogh.  They were keen to take on our job and we were happy to get started.  They will continue framing walls this week as space permits on the slab.  They are completing walls and erecting as they go in order to make space for the next exterior walls to be framed.    Having a poured floor to work on is a luxury to these guys.  Normally when they start framing there is nothing but a foundation to work on. The exterior portion of the thermal envelope is pretty conventional.  It is composed of a 2"x 8" stud wall at 24" o.c.  This is as advanced as it gets.  Although framers here have lots of conventional experience, there is little to no advanced framing experience in the residential construction industry.  This is unfortunate since using less studs decreases cost and also saves energy and resources.    The battle in my head on this has been won...and lost....Using my house as an experiment for OVE

Septics systems are a dirty business...well, at least if you need it replaced!  Starting from a new installation makes for a much easier (and cleaner job).   A septic system is both simple and complex.  It is composed of a holding tank, a distribution box, and perforated drain lines that exit into a leech field.  Thats really where the simplicity ends.   Provincial guidelines from Service NL ( http://www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca/publications/private_sewage_disposal_and_water_supply_standards.pdf ) provide a prescriptive approach to designing a septic field.  The design depends on many parameters e.g. number of bedrooms, type of soil, percolation tests, separation from residential water sources, etc.  It is not something that you can do yourself!  It requires the knowledge of an approved septic designer that is licensed to practice.  In this case the company I have used for excavation, Wade's Excavation and Septic Services,  not only provides the design but also does the installation.

Good vapour barrier is thick.  Although 6 mil poly is great for a vapour barrier, 15 mil will stand up to much more abuse on the work site.  Being thicker also makes it harder to work with, especially in corners.  I have always fumbled over vapour barriers in corners and came up with an inside fold that looks much like the corner fold for wrapping paper on a box.  This allows the vapour barrier to stand vertically in the corner and then follows the shape of the corner.  Although it looks nicer than just letting the flow of concrete determine how it folds you end up with a vertical piece of vapour barrier (Photo 1-1) One of the construction details requires the vapour barrier to be pulled out over the top of the stem wall where the weight of the stud wall will keep it in place.   Blueskin will then be taped to the interior OSB and sealed to the vapour barrier using the self adhered backing and acoustical sealant.  Leaving the framers to drop the wall onto the vapour barrier and having

The forecast was showing two good days at the end of the week (June 8 and June 9).  Pouring a slab requires good weather.  I was told, to be safe, we really needed 36 hours.  This would provide time to pour, wait for the slab to be finished and have another 24 hours for it to really set up hard before bad weather.  It was already Wednesday morning and we had discovered that the company that I had originally approached had a backlog of slab pours due to bad weather.  They recommended another company, East Coast Concrete Finishing, to pour and finish the slab.  I called them and they were good to go!  We had a lot of work to complete before we could pour a slab.  We had to lay the vapour barrier, seal all overlaps and penetrations, and lay rebar for the thickened load bearing slab. We were in such a rush I really didn't get any photos till the next morning but I will describe our procedure for laying the vapour barrier.  The vapour barrier was a 15 mil polyolefin film from Raven In

Time was ticking and we ran out of 2" type II EPS.  Luckily our local building suppliers carry a small supply of 2" 2'x8' Foundation Plus.   The next morning we finished up placing the foam.  Pipe and conduit penetrations in the foam were cut slightly oversized to allow some room for aligning the foam pieces together.  After the foam was laid, we spray foamed around the pipes (Photo 1-1).  This serves 2 purposes:  The first is to insulate, the second is to stabilize the pipes during the cement pour. On to the next task:  Vapour barrier, air sealing, and rebar!