|
Page 5 of 5
A Palazzetti biomass stove is the focus of the living room
Windows and doors were specified as being from temperate softwood FSC. I had previously used cedar on my own house and Hillcrest joinery sourced the same wood and made the windows and doors in their joinery.
Insulation, as mentioned, was of natural origin. Principally this was sheep’s wool with wood fibre Holzflex installed in the inner services cavity. To allow back diffusion in summer, these were combined with the Intello dynamic air-tightness/vapour control layer supplied by Ecological Building Systems. In our new Emerald project, now under construction, we will supplement this approach with an extra anti cold bridge wrap of Gutex insulation outside the studs.
Our approach to the external envelope is consistent with ecological precepts. The walls here are clad in (again) cedar heartwood – untreated – to the south and west. To the north and east, they are finished in a lime render laid onto Heraklith wood wool boards, a detail we’ve employed in the Daintree Building and elsewhere. The roof cladding follows our principle of using a small amount of copper where necessary, a high embodied energy material to protect a large amount of a lower embodied energy material (the timber frame and cedar cladding). Critically, copper is one of the few materials that, due to its value, attractiveness and the fact that it is mostly used on the outer surface of a building, is salvaged and reused over and over again.
All finishes and protective coatings were organic, with Auro paints supplied by Healthbuild Consultancy through their Dublin distributor, Klee Paper. To avoid the use of tropical hardwood (an absolute no-no in Solearth, FSC or not) we chose to specify a composite ‘new’ material called Earthwood. It’s a blend of chipped plastic (HDPE), wood dust from sawmills and benign polymer binders.
In the end, much credit goes to the builder Martin Sherwin, of MTS Construction, for creating a beautiful green home on a tough site under a demanding architect!
Insulation is principally sheep’s wool with wood fibre Holzflex installed in the inner services cavity
Selected project details
Architect: Solearth Ecological Architecture
Structural engineer: Casey O’Rourke Associates
Main contractor: MTS Construction
Mechanical contractor: Ecosave
Sheep’s wool insulation: U-Value Insulation
Wood fibre insulation, boards & air-tight system: Ecological Building Systems
Windows & doors: Hillcrest Joinery
Floor screed: Jerry Beades Concrete
Natural paints: Auro Paints/Health Build Consultancy
Biomass stove and solar array: Glas Energy
Pellet bin: Biobin
Wood polymer composite: JFC Earthwood
Trackback(0)
 |
Brian O’Brien |
| About the author: |
| |
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next > End >>
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comment form