A Passive House

When we first talked about the possibility of building a passive house, Rosies initial reaction was the same as mine - "why would we build an airtight box that would be stuffy?".

The answer according to passive house fans was MVHR - Mechanical Ventilation & Heat Recovery. Having never experienced a building with MVHR we were both sceptical, so the Passive House Trust Open Days 2016 timing was perfect, if only we could a property to visit.

As luck would have it, there was a property taking part that wasn't far from us. Ostro is being built by Paper Igloo as their home and with their own hands. They have a great blog about their journey that provides a lot of information and inspiration.

As Rosie was busy during the open day weekend, I went alone to visit the property on Sunday 13th November 2016. Martin & Mhairi were amazing hosts and very graciously showed me around their house. The weather outside was cold and windy (it was November in Scotland so not a big surprise). The house wasn't completed but a long way advanced. Contrary to my initial fears, the atmosphere within wasn't stuffy but felt voluminous. Triple glazed windows made the interior quiet and kept the weather where it belonged.

Following my visit I was keen for Rosie to experience the property and Martin & Mhairi kindly agreed to a repeat visit a couple of days later. This time we both went and the visit confirmed for us how refreshing and pleasant the interior of a passive house could be.

Despite the challenges building a passive house could present the results seemed worth the effort and as we were building our forever house. Time for more research!