They wanted a passive house and built it on a wooden structure

Ioana and Ciprian Radu wanted a house where they could use modern systems to control it, but also reduce their energy consumption to zero, and possibly even produce their own energy. Being IT-savvy, it wasn't hard for them to find out how they could do this. So they came up with the idea of building a passive house. But until Litarh to build their passive house, Ioana and Ciprian had to find the design team to think and make all the necessary calculations to ensure the strength, energy efficiency and comfort of such a house. The passive house concept is common in Western European countries, but is still little known in Europe. Even if more and more architects and designers are specializing in this type of construction, it is necessary for the beneficiaries to have the mentality of a passive house owner, to understand its principles. We thought the story of the Radu family's house could be helpful to those who want to build their own home, so we're rushing to tell it.

First of all, the architectural project

Ciprian and Ioana did a lot of research before starting to build their house. That's how they learned about Passive house and the advantages of timber frame houses and they wanted one. And following the tip line, they came to Creative Engineering. But here they learned that before calling in a strength and energy efficiency engineer they needed an architect to design the house. And not just any kind of architect, but one who knew what a passive house was and the principles that had to be followed to achieve its level of performance. This is how they came to Sînziana and Pierre Bortnovski, Team Built.

Sînziana and Pierre first talked to Ioana and Ciprian to understand what they wanted the house to be like, but also to make sure that the future owners understood what a passive house is. "The passive house has an active owner, and to have a passive house you have to prove passive householder behavior." says Pierre. Influenced by the Buhnici house, they initially wanted a CLT. Pierre explained that a house the size of the one they wanted did not need the oversized strength structure provided by CLT. The structure timber frame, proposed by Pierre and Cătălin Caraza, from Inginerie Creativă, offers the necessary resistance for such a construction and, in addition, allows you to gain useful space because the insulation is part of the wall structure.

Initially, Ciprian wanted a special, ideally round house. However, difficulties with the layout and the prospect of paying an extra 20-30% for such a house led them to accept the architects' proposal. The house has 155 m² of usable space on two levels, ground floor and first floor. It has a contemporary look with straight lines, large windows to the south and as few as possible to the north. The positioning of the windows on the south side of the house is in line with one of the principles of a passive house, which is to take advantage of the light and warmth of the sun in winter. Inside, the house has a central area - the living room - open up to the roof where a skylight has been designed. Area breathe in 5 directionsas Pierre sets, being the core of the house. The living room communicates with the kitchen, also on the ground floor, where there is a technical room and a bathroom. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The high central living room also connects to the bedrooms upstairs, thus linking the floor plans.

You need a builder who knows what a passive house means

With the architectural design in place, the next steps were strength and energy efficiency calculations and finding a builder who knew how to make a passive house. They turned to Creative Engineering for sizing the strength structure and insulation to provide the energy efficiency required for a passive house. When it came to the construction, they contacted several companies specialized in timber frame construction, and finally chose to work with Litarh. The choice of builder was also helped by the fact that one of Ioana's former university classmates had already worked with Vlad Liteanu to build the house and was satisfied with both the result and the collaboration. We wrote about this house at the time, and you can find the article here here.

In February 2019 the last details of the collaboration with the builder were finalized, and in May the foundation was poured in Gulia, near Mogoșoaia, where the Radu's had the land. The actual construction started at the end of June and lasted 5 weeks, so that by the beginning of August the house was standing and roofed.

Construction in the factory took two months, during which time the walls, ceiling and roof frame were made. The walls are 200 mm thick, with 60 mm studs. On the exterior is 16 mm DWD wood fiberboard from Egger, followed by 200 mm Rockwool acoustical 200 mm basaltic basaltic, vapor barrier foil and 15 mm OSB. The floor consists of laminated beams, 22 mm OSB and basaltic wool. The terrace roof has a load-bearing structure of 400 mm I-Joist I-Joist beams from STEICO, over which a 16 mm DWD wood fiber board, vapor barrier foil, ventilated space and 22 mm OSB is installed. This results in a flat ventilated roof. On the inside, 400 mm basalt wool and vapor barrier foil were installed. Both the walls and the flat roof are open vapor diffusion.

In addition to the substantial insulation in the walls, another layer of basalt wool was installed on the outside of the house. This has resulted in a very well insulated and soundproofed house, and the continuous foil fitted along the walls, floor and ceiling prevents any exchange of air with the outside and automatically prevents heat loss. Leak test done at the completion of the construction proved this, but to confirm perfect sealing it will have to be repeated now, after all the electrical, water and thermal routing installation work has been done.

They haven't moved into their new home yet, but they will soon

After the actual construction work was completed, the installations, the ventilation system with heat recovery, the interior and exterior walls were finished. For the interior finishing of the walls, Pierre proposed the use of plaster and clay paint. Clay is recognized for its ability to retain interior humidity. The use of these natural products will also ensure a very pleasant atmosphere during hot summer days. Materials from Naturalpaintapplied by the company's own team.

Unfortunately, the pandemic came and the work did not continue at the initial pace. But now they are very close to finalizing the final tests and fitting out. As well as the pandemic, they have had other problems with the electricity connection, but that will soon be sorted out soon. Until then, I asked Ioana what she thought of the house. She told me that she was satisfied and liked how it turned out. She found it amazing that although the house has been totally unheated and unoccupied for more than a year, the temperature inside has not dropped below 10-15°C even during periods when the nights were -20°C. And the house is on a plot of land on the outskirts of the locality, not between houses that still keep shelter.

At the end of the discussion, Ioana and I agreed to go and film them in their new house after they move in. We want to find out what it's like to live in a passive house and what the energy costs are. So, to be continued!