Personal story:

Dora and Zsolt are a young couple with small kids. Zsolt is a medical doctor and IT engineer, Dora is an IT engineer and got certified as PassivHaus Consultant following the renovation.

They bought a single glazed solid wall property in 2010 and pioneered to convert it to the first PH refurbishment in Ealing. Their limited budget forced them to undertake the  lionshare of the organisation and research work mandated by their project. They were not afraid of getting their hands dirty either. Thus they have plenty of on-site experience which they happily share to help fellow families.

Motivations:

Desire to heavily reduce their footprint and the environmental damage associated with“civilised”, “globalised” lifestyle

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Property background:

The original property was a 88m² semi detached council house in the Tree Estates in Ealing. It had single glazing throughout and solid walls. When bought in 2010, the property was in need of refurbishment. Gas consumption used to be 3700 m³ annually. This covered heating, hot water and cooking of a single household.

The new owners extended the property on the side to 125m². Later they split the property into two self contained flats and now live in one of them. Currently they are planning to extend their property to the back while keeping their PassivHaus  certificate.

The house has a 12.3kWh/m² designed annual heating demand, although the apartment didn’t require heating since the renovation. It kept a minimum 19-20 degrees even when the external temperature was -3C for a week. New gas consumption is 500m³/year for the 2 flats, 2 households, covering hot water and cooking.

Key changes made:

• External Insulation
• MHRV
• Airtightness 0.44 air changes/h @50Pa
• PassivHaus Certified windows, doors
• Solar Thermal
• Solar PV
• Energy Saving Devices (A+++ fridge, LED lighting, etc.)
• Grey water system – not fully functional yet, pipes installed

Measures installed in detail:

• External Insulation: 200mm Kingspan K5 Phenolic with acrylic render, 500mm mineral wool loft insulation, PIR and EPS, XPS solid floor insulation
• MHRV: Paul Novus 300F
• Airtightness 0.44 air changes/h @50Pa,
• PassivHaus Certified windows, sliding door, entrance doors: Variotec EF IV, insulated timber frame and Alu cladding
• Solar Thermal System: Wolf Topson F3-1 Panels,
• High Efficiency Gas Boiler: Wolf CGB 11 Condensing Gas Boiler, 11kWh modulating down to 3.6kWh, fitted with class A pump
• Solar PV: 3.75kWp system, 15 panels
• Energy Saving Devices: A+++ fridge, LEDs, etc
• Grey water – not fully functional yet, pipes installed

Benefits of work carried out:

• No heating required in the last 4 years in a row.
• Even temperature in the year
• ~50% relative humidity – clothes dry, no mould

Favourite feature:

• Clothes dry, no mould
• No heating needed (we wish we didn’t install the radiators)
• No cold corners, no cold bathroom

Contact this homeowner