9 June, 2021 | Deep retrofit, EnerPHit, Events, General, Passivhaus
The 2021 IHBC online Summer School, “Historic Places – People Places” is on 17th and 18th of June and but Individual sessions are available for just £12 per session. See the programme here. To book a single session go to Booking and enter the discount code SINGLE. Jo Saady will be chairing the session on Thursday 17th June (11.00-12.30 BST) entitled Retrofit in Practise with local passivhaus designer Jim Miller followed by Harry Paticas MBE of ‘Retrofit in Action for Tomorrow’. The session ends with a 30min Q&A session so expect a heated debate on the hard face where sustainability meets heritage!
5 March, 2021 | Deep retrofit, Events, General, Materials
APU webinar now confirmed 3pm (GMT) Thursday 11 March. Still time to register your interest with Peter.Joerimann@apu.ch (and cc me if you would) and let him know if you’d like to receive samples in the post.
25 February, 2021 | Deep retrofit, General, Victorian 'EnerPHit'
6 years on from my ‘exemplar’ woodfibre external wall insulation (EWI) project and hairline cracks have appeared at the bottom of the reveals, just above the sills, mainly to the more exposed windows. The cracks run along the edge of the window reveal bead and the render has been weathered away where it is thinly applied over the plastic. The solution would appear to be a more robust reveal bead which allows more movement and also a thicker render coat at this critical point. The render bead was specified by NBT back in 2014 but there are better solutions available such as APU.
The installer is no longer trading and there seems no facility for redress through the (2014) Green Deal Home Improvement Fund who contributed £6,000. The insulation system was Diffutherm by Pavatex with Baumit Nanopor render all provided by NBT who are now owned by Soprema and who no longer support historical NBT projects, so there’s nobody left to offer support – a situation the industry can’t repeat too often if it wants to avoid poor public perception.
The repair was actually quick and easy, simply removing any lose render with a screw driver and brush and then applying Sikaflex EBT (kindly suggested by Chris at Back to Earth). I guess the system will need keeping an eye one and likely to need minor maintenance every so often which is the case with a traditional rendered wall, but it does highlight the increased maintenance required. An EWI system needs to last decades and ideally 60 years or more (with periodic ‘recoating’) to be truly sustainable and it would be interesting to see whole life costs (both monetarily and in terms of carbon).
Another issue has been mould growth during the colder months (which clears up in the summer) but does suggest that the silicate render specified by NBT (due to its high breathability) may not have been the optimum solution and a silicone product may be more suitable. EWI limits heat escaping and so the render is colder than for a traditional sand cement render applied directly to the masonry which may result in more mould growth and the granulated surface to the EWI may also attract more dirt – there are certainly many examples of tired looking EWI systems.
That said, the EWI works fantastically well in keeping the building warm and comfortable and I wouldn’t be without it.
24 February, 2021 | Deep retrofit, Events, Fenestration, General, Materials
External wall insulation (EWI) is likely to be one of the corner stones of the retrofit drive to reach zero carbon but requires careful detailing. One of the most critical elements is the reveal bead which seals the EWI to the window frame but many systems seem to rely on basic components potentially increasing the risk of failure. APU (often used as a generic name for reveal beads) are market leaders and will be discussing how to specify this critical item during a free webinar, open to all. Please register your interest with Peter.Joerimann@apu.ch (and cc me if you wopuld) and let him know if you’d like to receive samples in the post (which will greatly assist understanding during the webinar). The date of the webinar is TBC but will be in early March. Worthwhile waching this video which shows how the expanding foam tape allows greater movement.
10 February, 2021 | Deep retrofit, Listed building deep retrofit, Projects
2 December, 2019 | Deep retrofit, General, Listed building deep retrofit
The listed Lodge was remodelled in 2012 along with a massive extension including glazed link, rotunda, basement, garage and indoor and outdoor pools. Although works were only completed around 2012 there were so many issues with the oringinal design and implementation that Jim Miller Design were appointed to rethink the entire project from scratch. The lodge itself has already benefitted from secondary glazing and a whole house ventilation system (MVHR) but It’s taken 4 years of painstaking investigation and planning to get to a position to be able to commence with rebuilding the extension.
The basement alone is 100m2 and was built without adequate waterproofing or insulation to the walls! The photos show the cavity drain membrane system applied to the walls and the Foamglas insulation to the soffit (ceiling). Foamglas is installed with bitumen creating a completely impervious layer, which is critical in this unusual situation and will last for decades so meeting the ‘Do it once and do it right’ mantra.
Photos by Edward Bishop (www.edwardbishop.me)
21 February, 2019 | Deep retrofit
EBS have just published a very helpful article about a best practice approach to insulating timber suspended floors, although it should be mentioned that in practice this option can be difficult to implement. The potentially more invasive option of completely Infilling the floor should always be considered as it offers improved performance and removes many of the moisture risks associated with retaining the sub floor ventilation and may well be a better choice in the long run an all counts
14 February, 2019 | Deep retrofit, Events
RetrofitWorks is a coop setup looking to roll out retrofit nationwide and their Sussex event should be interesting
