Hi All,
I’ve been following these forums for a while and hope you can give me some advise.

As pensioners with no family we want a low energy house, so a PH or near PH seems the way to go. Doing a little to help the planet also has its attractions. PH’s are pretty expensive to build so we have looked at various scenarios.

We want a small bungalow but a reasonably spacious one: in the order of 110/120 m2. I believe that the smaller the area the harder it is to achieve Passive standard.
We have a budget in the region of £200K (exc. Land.)

The site we are in the process of buying in Scotland is level, south facing and has long views but not too exposed. It has outline PP for a 3 bed 11/2(dormer) bungalow. No gas though.

Our options as we see them are:

1. Build a 2 bed bungalow (with a warm loft or vented loft)

Option1 is fine for us, but in the area where we intend to build, £200,000 buys a new 4 bed detached house.(don’t want one). So should we have to sell to pay nursing home fees , does a PH have any resale advantage?
What are the pros & cons of a warm loft?

2. Build a 2 bed bungalow but allow for the loft to be opened up later, by leaving space for a staircase and include the “loft” in the thermal envelope.

What are the implications to the heating/ MVHR system having a heated volume that, in our time, will not be lived in ?

3. Build a 3 bed 11/2 house.
Option 3 ,Obviously more expensive? How much more?? Very anti stairs. Why have an upstairs when we don’t need it?! It would be easier to sell on though! I think we have to make this decision.

Any comments, thoughts, suggestions would be most appreciated.

If you picked option 2, would you put the windows in upstairs?

I'd install a warm roof and Attic truss's at construction stage. Attic truss's are usually 200 mm deep so I'd fill between them with insulation and floor out the floor with T&G OSB. This could all be done easily within your budget.

Posted By: HOWARDJWe want a small bungalow but a reasonably spacious one: in the order of 110/120 m2. I believe that the smaller the area the harder it is to achieve Passive standard.

You are right that it is harder to make small buildings to PH standard, but it will still cost more to heat a bigger building - just less per m2.

The key is making the ratio of outside surface (roof/walls) to volume -not just floor area - as low as possible - avoiding any sticky-out or sticking in bits, fiddly roof shapes and minimising thermal bridges. Whilst this tends to lead to something rather cube-like it doesn't have to mean a boring building.

I'd go along with Viking House's and Fostertom's comments, and a floorplan that would allow for a later staircase as Tony suggests.

A bungalow with a floor of 110-120m2 is generous, so looking at resale value such a building with loft conversion could easily become a good family home. I briefly lived in a new build house 3 beds, 3 loos and only 87.5m2 - not untypical these days.

I'd check how big a house you need - it maybe better to build smaller and keep some cash in hand. People are very surprised that the house we've built is the same size as our old terrace. It's just that the layout is so much better. It's lighter - and we don't have wasted corridors, rooms that aren't useful sizes etc. When everything is designed well and to your needs less feels like more. With hindsight we could have built smaller.

Now that I've got the PH exams done I'm starting to think about designing a really small PH retirement house for our old-age. Quite a long way off yet though.

Look forward to hearing how it goes.

RobinB

RobinB

Just done a quick calc.on one design.

outside area: inside vol.----0.78.

Is this reasonable?

Howard.

I'd suggest if you're happy where you are, why not rent out the spare garden to someone wanting an allotment / garden space. http://www.landshare.net/

I have no connection to the scheme, but others here may be able to make useful comments on the practicalities.

HOWARDJ - we bought a dormer bungalow as a retirement home 5 years ago. The location/layout/garden are fine but my only regret now is that we didn't go for a conventional bungalow. The rooms in the attic have been a nightmare to insulate, as have the Velux windows in the roof. So I would definitely avoid building a 1.5 house, although maybe it is easier to build in adequate insulation with a new-build rather than a retro fit?

RobinB

Thanks for the link. Don't understand German but will have a look at the link.

The ratio is for a slightly smaller plan---8mx13m (104m2) internal.Perfectly rectangular.

Triassic

Thanks for the thought but I rather underplayed the garden. It is a 3.5Ac woodland garden created by us from a wilderness over the last 30 years and full of rare and unusual trees, shrubs and plants. We could not see it dug up for allotments. If the next owner does that ,fine, but we don't want to see it.

Howard

Howard,

if you went for a 1.5 storey house, and ignored the upstairs (as a number of people have suggested), the Planning Approval, which is mainly interested with the external appearance, would stand. The warrant could be achieved for the fully functioning 1st floor, and then apply for a warrant amendment to take it to a bungalow. That way, you will have drwgs which enable future purchasers to convert the 1st floor, and they'll know it met regs and everything fitted in, just prior to building. I'm doing a build in Perthshire for a retired couple that is passive house style, and is £1000/m2. I have contacts on the west coast who could do the same, depending where your site is.

Viking House

Compared to other costs we've seen that seems a very reasonable figure.Presumably it is in Ireland? If we could get one built for that price we'd be very pleased!

Also we want a masonry structure.

Howard.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: RobinB</cite>It IS much easier to do to a new build.</blockquote>

I thought so!!

fostertom

Thanks for your encouraging comments re costs.

stones,

Your experience gives us hope that we will be able to realise our plans. Coming from the warmer? south we are very concerned that we will not survive the colder winters you get?! so we want the best insulated house we can afford.The plot has no gas and we do not want oil,LPG or wood (we love wood fires from our own wood but they can become a chore).Your costs are a lot less than those we have been advised of.I will certainly contact GreenPaddy. I have been advised that masonry has just about died out in Scotland ,overtaken by timber framing.Can your builder "do" masonry? Good to contact like minded people in the area we intend to move to,and hope we can pick up pointers to help us on our way. BTW our potential plot is near Blairgowrie.

Howard

Howard,
If you don't have an architect yet you could do a lot worse than try Chris Morgan of Locate Architects (www.locatearchitects.co.uk/). He gets around the place and has designed the Craigrothie Passivhaus bungalow. http://www.locatearchitects.co.uk/craigrothie.htm

Mark

Howard,

Winter 2010/11 was very cold up here, as it was of course over the rest of the country. If memory serves it reached as low as -19C in Meigle a few miles from Blairgowrie. That winter was our first in our current 'low energy' house having moved in November 2010. We stay just outside Coupar Angus (about 3 miles from Blairgowrie) in a small hamlet without mains gas. Like you we didn't want LPG or OIL, a decision that seemed a good one when many neighbours started running out and could get re-supplied because of the weather! We went for an electric exhaust air heat pump which unfortunately was not the best choice as it actually increases our energy consumption compared to various alternatives. The merits of the unit are discussed elsewhere so I won't repeat. There are however viable electric based alternatives which would work very well for our energy needs (again many examples discussed on this forum).

That said our energy costs / consumption were significantly lower than our previous standard build timber frame house. At its coldest we were running at £35 per week for electric compared to £150 per week for mains gas friends were spending in recently constructed standard build houses on mains gas a few miles away! We had fit and forget system and maintained 19 C internal temp throughout the period 24/7 topping up in the living area with a small wood burner (sub 5kw external air source) for a couple of hours in the evening for 21 or 22C. Greenpaddy actively managed his energy consumption and internal temperatures to significantly reduce his energy consumption over that period. Based on SAP we use the equivalent of 900 litres of oil per annum, of which around 50% is for DHW. This compares to between 2500 and 3000 litres in previous standard houses.

Perfectly possible to get a well insulated easy and cheap to heat / run home. You are correct in saying timber frame is the main build method here although there are contractors still quite happy to do a masonary build. Certainly the contractor I used does masonary. I can only speak for the building system I used (timber frame injection filled with polyurethane insulation) - if I were ever to build again I would quite happily use the same or similair system. Having looked at and priced out alternatives the system we used was by far the best value. If you want to have a chat / visit when up in the area drop (whisper?)me your email.

Regards

stones

That is all very helpful information. Can you point me to the thread about the exhaust heat pump? We will no doubt use an architect at some stage but we like to have some understanding of the options available.

Howard