1500 Watts... here when its -30C+ i feel like that is going to do almost nothing then again my house is not so insulated, its crazy seeing BC doing homes like that and here i don't see it that often
@@emko333 Yeah. I wonder if its just concentration of money, to build these fantastic homes in an area that doesnt totally need it? This level of insulation/sealing would be super useful in my area, but we have a very seasonal, tourism based economy and we see lots of poverty in full-time residents.
@@curiousfirely The R value and how much more insulation to add is dictated by the energy modeling done by a certified PH consultant and location, climate, foliage, are all taken into account. For instance, his house is not insulated enough for my area, and it sounds like not enough for emko333's area either, but is fine for vancover. Still, people say the total cost to build to this higher standard is around 5-15% more than building to code, and that gets offset by what you save off your energy bill. So it might be more money initially, but his mortage payment + energy bills are probably the same, or very very close, as someone that bought a home built to code(all things equal).
Here in southern ontario its normally pretty mild no more than a foot of snow in years. The southern most tip (point pelee) of Canada is only 45 minutes from me in windsor. We are more south than a large part of Michigan. Don't worry people still complain about the cold here lol.
Any new house in a similar climate zone as Vancouver would have radiant floors instead of blowing hot air out of tubes that transmit sound all over the house.
Growing up in Northern Minnesota, I always wanted to build a house that could be heated with about 5, 100 Watt light bulbs. But, now retired so I still love seeing stuff like this. Most builders build to code, they don't go above & beyond. You can pay some extra up front to save on heating & cooling for the life of the building OR pay to heat & cool forever!
I would not want anything built to code. That is the minimum that you can get. I don't want the cheapest building I can get. I would want something that would last, that is built to exceed code.
@@mike86mike that's just silly cliche nonsense. The data doesn't support your claim, economic inequality information doesn't support your claim, the gini coefficient argues against your belief, etc etc.
There are number of Habitat for Humanity homes built to passive house standards, including one I designed and helped build. Habitat considers the true cost of the materials for the mortgage for the homeowner so it's critical to deliver high performance in a simple and cost effective manner. Matt specializes in high end homes, so that's what you will see on his channel. However there are a lot of small builders around the country that do build reasonably priced Passive Houses, they just don't run a UA-cam channel.
To be totally honest I love the;passive home. However to call that snowy cold Canada is very misleading. the weather pattern there does not even require a footing at 8" deep. you might as well be talking about insulating a home in south Carolina!
@@jimwhite4270 Vancouver is far from being cold compared to cities like Winnipeg or Eastern Canada. Vancouver weather is far from being as cool in the winter nor as hot in the summer than cities like Montreal or Toronto. Ithas the mildest weather in the country.
Oliver, you really lack basic debating skills. Please make a sad attempt at enlightening us as to how Vancouver doesn’t suffer from perma frost? Right, you can’t....
2 minutes 40 seconds into the video he says you can get decades out of the windows. I live in the US they would never allow that, in their minds that would diminish jobs and put people out of work, so we are stuck with a crap that we're stuck with. Kudos to you for building such a great home
upvc windows have been used in the uk for the last 40 years. The first editions weren't very efficient but nowadays you can very good A rated efficiency windows for a very reasonable price
Great House, great design, great detailing! What I was pleased to see was in the showroom shots at the end, where the two window mock-ups were shown side by side, you could see how the window casing worked. It's clear that the casings would be easy to unfastened and then just slid out, and then the entire window can be removed from inside the house. This is great because the exterior insulation prevents the windows coming out the front!
I have fallen in love with your videos. I'm starting to plan out how to make a home for myself. And this kind of information is super helpful, because it allows for long term savings in all kinds of ways.
I grew up & have always lived in drafty old homes & I swear the constant flow of fresh air is why I have never been seriously ill. Wood heat either with firewood or pellet stove wood pellets is the most economical heat. Plus it is renewable - you plant another tree to get more.
Here in The U.S. we are far behind the curve on affordable quality energy efficient products available for the average person to install in their homes . Just walk through the home centers and building supply stores , quality is very low on most all the products they carry . Nice to se you sharing these companies with us that we can look into .
bobwatters hello, but that ‘answer’ is loaded, FLORIDA is the cheapest I HAVE SEEN, here in NJ USA. We pay US$ 0.23 kw , the same as. someone said in AUSTRALIA but there is some area there that mandated SOLAR & wind, solar is fine, but wind has not, so EVERYBODY HAS TO USE A GAS OR DIESEL GENERATOR. OVERNIGHT ! Does. Such a system work for you ? So much for forcing people into a failed system,.! Cheers From NJ USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Watching Matt's reactions from Northern Europe is really interesting. Much of what amazes him has been standard over here for decades. But it is great to see that the whole world is finally working towards more sustainable buildings! Just imagine the drop in power consumption if all southern homes were built like this, they could get by with much smaller AC units
@Red Nexican If you have a need for air conditioning (which large parts of the US does), a house built like this would slash your summer electricity consumption in half (or even down to a quarter). But of course, if you live somewhere where its neither really hot or cold it probably does not make sense.
bobwatters , what state are you in ?, we pay $295/month ELECTRIC & GAS, this is an equal pay /month for 11 months then they adjust up or down, gas we cook, heat water & a steam boiler , an old colonial, built in 1939, 3 bed, 1..5 bath, 1 car garage , our next move is Broward county Florida, we both have trouble climbing stairs , everybody , in FLA Cheers From NJ🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Hi Matt, Enjoyed this video. All your posts are very informative. One comment I have about the wall/insulation design of the house you featured is this: we the same wall/foam/rain screen design for our post and beam house that sits in rural Ontario Canada. It’s now over 25 years old and I’ve been replacing the cedar siding it was built with since it has aged poorly. In doing so I’ve discovered that mice love foam insulation. I have uncovered several areas where the mice have burrowed into the foam, in some cases all the way to the drywall, and created nests. The same thing is going to happen to the house you featured. I think you need to have some kind of barrier on the outside of the foam to pest-proof the insulation. I don’t know if you have done any research on this issue but I’d appreciate seeing a future post from you addressing this issue. The windows and doors you featured from Innotech look very intriguing. How do you think they compare with those you featured from I think it’s called European Architectural Supply? I’m going to get a quote from Innotech on Pella patio sliders I want to replace. I wonder if they have a competitor in eastern Canada.
The mice/rat problem with foam is always over looked, haven't seen anyone address it yet. Its the main reason I am making my own insulated zip system sheathing (foam insulation behind the plywood siding), and doing a staggered double thick interior wall instead. This house will have so many families of rats living in it its not even funny, Vancouver is known as rat city.
UPVC window frames have been used for 30 to 40 years in UK and Europe. Low E glass reflects heat back into the house (or outwards if facing the other way) is equivalent to triple glazing.
@@hailexiao2770 yeah, if they have a long wave coating on the inside, which they often don't. I live in zone 5, where more energy is consumed heating than cooling, and I've never seen someone install low E correctly here. It's always installed backwards (most likely with a coating blocking short wave thermal energy from the sun) and no one notices. Evidently the decision of which coating to put on what side of the glass is too complicated for some large window companies that don't want to overcomplicate their inventory and manufacturing...
I just finished building our house in Upstate New York! I have no idea why anyone would build a 5ft crawl space, instead of a 8ft basement! Extra few ft don't cost nearly as much as you get from all that space! Hahahaha, I am an artist and I told my wife that she can have the top floors, as long as I get the basement for a studio! I love it,although it's much smaller than this house! Our is 1500Sq ft,but in total, we get over 3000 sqft of usable space!
We don't... you build expensive high efficiency homes because you pay top dollar for a few KW we build low efficiency homes and pay fuck all for power.
John Spencer that’s the issue .... the energy cost in America is so cheap compare to Europe. That’s why no one give a f#$% to build more energy efficient. It makes no sense any home builder to build to the European standard when u get almost no return in savings. Maybe when u sale it you make a $$$$
@@Jmoneysmoothboy That is not true. One thing that proves this are cheaper and better windows! Generally all the quality products in Europe are cheaper than US. That's why you need to import Siga tape for example... We have triple glazed windows starting in as early as 1980's in houses. In Europe and Scandinavia, we typically also consider running costs of a house for a period of 50 years. That is NOT ONLY energy costs, but also maintenance and replacements costs in whole houses lifetime. This house shown in the video is just more complicated than necessary and is not any more durable than a standard house... This foam insulation would get stucco directly on it and lightweight masonry blocks in Europe and would be more fire resistant, better waterproofed and cheaper. It's a proven technology that lasts.
@@96Lauriz So i'm not trying to jump down your throat here but I wasn't saying there is no reason to build high thermal efficiency homes. I was commenting on the OP's opinion that Americans get amazed by a couple inches of foam on the outside of a house. I was also proposing a reason for Americans less thermally efficient housing. The cost of powering a 100W light bulb is the power consumed ( 100 watts ) multiplied by the duration of use so watt/hours or more commonly kilowatt hours. Kilowatt hours cost money and in the US they cost less on average than in Europe. In the US there are also extreme climate differences and houses are insulated accordingly but not unnecessarily to average the cost of a house over its lifetime.
We have those screens as well in Europe Matt, had them put in in every window opening when I had the windows replaced on my own 1970's remodel in The Netherlands. Love the option to vent without letting a lot of mosquito's in! Must be extra nice in Canada is I gather the mosquito is their "national bird".
Lieuwe de Vries I visited family in GERMANY 2001, THEY HAD THOSE WINDOWS BUT NO SCREENS , I saw ZERO SCREENS IN GERMANY, but I recently , they can be retrofitted from inside , also had metal shutters on each window , W it’s slots for ventilation , if you chose . Cheers From NJ. USA. 🇳🇱🇺🇸
Never heard of a passive home before. But I'm glad people are doing it. My next project on my house in Denmark is to do exterior insulation with foam like that guy, but if I wanna be an A+ house according to Danish building code I have to slab on 8 inches of the same foam as shown in the video. So Guess im making a passive home at some point too
Keep studying Matt, particularly his personal remodeling of his prior home and other high performance decisions. I am trying to design home fundamentals for a new build, in Texas but too far from Matt, and will have a hard time training the trades in new techniques, which would be prone to too many mistakes and misapplications. The obvious core principles are avoiding moisture, a barrier that works, permitting drainage below and evaporation above, continuous insulation where you can as suited to your environment, and the best suited insulation to your budget and health concerns. The best all around for health and performance is clearly mineral wool (rock wool by one brand). And look at his recent video of INSOFAST. !!!!!! This might be the best all around performer when you include economic concerns. That video might be 2 hours long and is only about a week or 2 old. I will see if I can find the title and edit this for you.
@Canuck Amok 100% get that. I work outside, and having people ask me if I went south for a trip because of the colour in my face is getting old. I'm in Ontario as well.
If you think Vancouver has bad winters... come across the mountains to Alberta, where we often have 6' of frost come spring, so having just a crawl space isn't a good thing! In Vancouver, with the ocean there moderating the temperature, it isn't as bad as areas that are much farther into the continent. I do like all the foam insulation getting really good insulation value. But there was no talk about the roof/attic insulation! That is the biggest spot for heat escaping in winter and the worst of the heating in summer! Adding insulation in the attic is the cheapest upgrade to do and the biggest benefit in retrofitting.
You did a fantastic job of showcasing the quality and excellent engineering of Innotech products. Must have taken several days filming multiple locations and the mock ups, then editing the cuts into the video. AND what incredible products they are! I now hate my house for wasting so much energy. At least I know what replacement doors and windows to buy when the time comes.
Im currently installing my new build with Innotech Defender 76TS triple and am very impressed with the level of precision engineering and construction. The mechanics of these are impressive especially compared to other higher end units.
By far the best I have seen and I have been in construction my hole life I'm now 52 years young . Your product needs to be in the line of building materials in the US and State of Colorado
Matt, those windows, TWIST &Tilt were in my cousins place in Germany, also with drop down metal shades, you can pull up slightly to expose the ventilation slots , to get air inside when tilted in while you sleep or block out thunderstorms,the ONLY thing missing with them were screens, I saw Zero screens in GERMANY , heard that you can retrofit them now. Wish there were in USA. Cheers from NJ🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I have just framed a R42 wall with nudura foam blocks. The energy auditor told me I could heat the house with a hair dryer. This house is on pender island with triple pane windows. My house is built with a double wall 2 x 4 wall with a 3 1/2 inch void between the two walls.
After spending a few weeks in Europe in 2017 we have decided to build our house to at least near passive levels. I have been looking at Innotech for several years as they seem to be the very best of the North-American builders of tilt and turn windows and doors. Hopefully our 1200 sq. ft. house will be close to the requirements of this monster! I like that you left in the editing portions of the video, Keep up the great work!
I’ve been watching you for over a year and have made many decisions renovating our homestead due to your videos, thank you. Will be checking with Innotech about windows, hopefully shipping to WV doesn’t make them too pricey. They’d be an excellent option for our passive home build back in the 80’s. We see 20F+ temp differences with full sun in our home without heating before any current updates we’ve done. And I can assure you, we do not have an air-tight home!
*Nice house for a large family* and grandparents too. Good to see that Americans are now building homes that save energy and the environment too ! Good for all of us !
building a new home doesn't save the environment. especially a 5,000sf single family home. celebrate those that choose to live in multi-family housing... by far the most sustainable approach
@@guitarchitectural Feel free to live how you want, but noway in hell would I live in a multi family home. I'll build a damn hut before I have to do that. The only reason that even needs to be considered, is due to our stupid central grid paradigm. Plenty of advancement today, to break off the grid and use efficient means to fulfill all the needs, much more responsibly. But of course, the governments and corporations cannot let the plebs remember how to be independent.
@@debtminer4976 multi family housing can also be townhouses, condos, etc. Indolent necessarily mean you have to live with the mother in law you detest ;)
@@guitarchitectural Agreed. . And that works for some, but most people are couch potatoes anymore. Being in the woods is below them.. No big projects going, don't maintain their own vehicles etc.. need elbow room for that.. and i'm not opposed to environmentally friendly sources for everything, i'm just convinced that the governments and big companies are.. At least, not in the way that benefits anyone but them.. Mike Reynolds, of the Earthship project, gave a talk on this very thing. Amazingly efficient homes that provide almost everything the dweller needs.. using nothing but ''green'' tech. The problem? Governments, regulators and utility companies. Independence will not be tolerated.. that's why they're selling us on these ant farm cities, where you wake up with your neighbor's elbow in your ass 😆 No thanx. . I'll just build myself, like our free ancestors did.
@Ashley Haadt Yeah.. They've really stolen peoples imaginations. The greatest polluters in the world (governments and corporations) are really going to provide the ''solutions''? That's hilariously sad, that people believe this nonsense...🤣😟😂😢
I live in South Central Alaska and I built my home with double stud walls. It is a 3000 duplex and I used a little less than 500 gallons of heating oil last winter which was one of the coldest winters we have had. I burn most of my oil in the dark months because I have over 200 sqft of glass on the south wall. In March even when it is 0F out if the sun is shining the heater isn’t running. The daylight basement has 4” of foam on the exterior of the wall because with ICF you won’t store heat. The house framing is double stud wall with a 2x8 top plate. The walls have R40 closed cell foam and the ceilings are R38+R21 fiberglass batts. I used a lot of acoustic seal to seal the vapor barrier on the ceiling. I have an HRV system for fresh air and put an outside vent for my wood stove.
man oh man, I need these here in Georgia. I still have the 70's single pane 4 section windows. Don't even have storm windows. The humidity is insane. Water just drips off them. But fixed income sucks. Will take me a few years to save that much. These windows were about 300 cheaper than i was guessing. The savings when you mentioned HEAT, I am assuming would be the same for Cooling.
As built, many older residences have cracks and holes that, when added up, are the equivalent of a two-foot hole in the wall. That needs to be fixed before spending money double-glazing and triple-glazing.
Hi Matt. I love your videos. You may see the comments here about Vancouver not being very cold, but it is nice to see that the province of BC is definitely leading the way for Canada in terms of code standards. That being said, I would love to see you travel an extreme cold weather environment, such as Fairbanks, Alaska, Whitehorse, Yukon, or Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It would be amazing to see the absolute best of standards in those locations.
Matt great video. Really appreciate you giving a ballpark on the price of windows, just adds some context to what we're looking at. It's always nice to be able to think in terms of $$? Is that achievable?? etc. Thanks for the video. Your production value is right there with Tarantino and Spielberg, nice job.
I am really envious of that house. It looks amazing. I live in Alaska and the regional builder made our houses like they should be in Florida. They installed compressed insulation in the floors without uncompressed them. They leak heat like crazy. The floors and walls are always cold in the winter. R-14? On the floors with compressed insulation. Walls can't be much better. Our floors are also warping like crazy in some of the houses can even see the subfloor.
Matt the windows from Inotech that you like that has the screens and the tilt for ventilation is an Eastern European design from Russia and Ukraine. I am an Oklahoman living in Ukraine, and when we had our balcony rebuilt, and replaced the windows that Inotech is manufacturing, but made in a Ukrainian factory, with dual glass, the cost of the windows cost less that 500 dollars for all windows combined, and we have 7.5 meters of windows with 3 tilt windows, and one of the tilt windows also open double wide to bring large items into the apartment. To have all the windows 3 pane would have just cost 50 dollars more. It you can you really need to travel to Ukraine and Russia to see how they build. I think that you may know my cousin Dennis who has Built Green Texas.
Heard somewhere that some unscrupulous companies in that part of the world skimp on the windows by not including the frame metal tubing reinforcement. Might be something to watch out for if the prices seem too good to be true as it wouldn't be possible to inspect without drilling or poking a hole through the frame.
rafflesmaos I can tell you all the manufacturer’s all use the same manufacturing processes and design in this part of the world, and have to meet a certain standard that is defined by the government. They all have to meet the energy efficiency and safety standards, as well as durability. In cold climates you you generally do not want metal tubing in in window frames because it loses the thermal efficiency and allow for heat loss, and increase heat transfer. The government keeps a tight control on the energy efficiency, and are tightening the standards since most of the former USSR built buildings are on the central hot water boiler heating infrastructure, only some of the new built apartment buildings built in the last 20 years have individual heating sources. With Ukraine having to import 80% to 90% of the natural gas for heating, the government has a system that promotes energy conservation. The more you use, the higher the tariffs you pay for Gas, Electricity, Hot water and cold water. As for heating the buildings on the central heating plant, we have no control over the Temperature of the apartments and that is strictly controlled by the government heating enterprise. The prices is basically the same at all the vendors of the windows per Square Meter, since the windows are all made by the same manufacturers which was a former governmental enterprises.
Hi All, Just a couple of comments. I know Mike well and rich he is not. He is from a great working class family. Smart is how I would describe him. 3 generations of family to be living here. Regarding cold, this home is in the Fraser valley which had a foot of snow just a week ago with a temperature of - 13 Celsius. Add in windchill factor at night it was closer to - 18. Not exactly Florida. Not as cold as most places in Canada but passive House will work well in extreme temperatures. And lets be honest, temperatures like - 40 last a few days at most then more reasonable temperature settle in. I lived in Alberta for 3 years.
What's to keep the house from being a "sick" house due to the lack ventilation from outside. I've read alot about problems having to put in a super expensive air filtering devices due to lack inside outside air exchange 10-15 %
my thoughts on this: as long as you don't have attic air getting sucked into your ducts or sucked into the living space through spaces in the framing , the dry wall , the wiring or the pipes, then the air will be fine.
@@realmofmetal8696 What? Moisture....breathing, cooking, bathing, etc...are going to have to be managed, to say nothing of carbon dioxide, and off gassing from from all that plastic and foam. Significant amounts of fresh air are going to have to be circulated through the house. Yes, this can be done properly, and in a more efficient way than with a drafty old house, but the only way this place can be heated with a 'hair dryer' is if the outside temp is 70 degrees and you want it at 72 inside.
Passive houses typically have an air exchanger system in the furnace that pulls clean air from outside, filters, and conditions it, while pushing equal airflow out of the house. This system is healthier than the conventional closed loop system that continually heats and cools the same air. The efficiency is boosted by having a heat exchanger passing the heat between the input and output ducts without mixing the air.
Spacing ranges from 10" OC to 14" OC in different areas. With the spans involved, they're necessary to get the solid feel and avoid the vibrations that cause increased noise in the home. It's really not an option to use dimensional lumber. They don't make much impact on the cost, anyway. Given a larger budget, I would have opted for an open-web truss joist. This would have allowed me to eliminate the drop beam in the living room and would have made rough-ins a breeze, but the TJI is a great balance between performance and cost.
@@probuilder961 with a crawl space like that? those are heavy duty i-joists as well. i can't imagine they wouldn't have saved a ton of money by going with standard joists 24" OC with intermediate bearing pony walls
I love to hate watching all your videos on passive homes. But, it makes me want to actually have my next home built as a passive home. Love everything you do. Stay safe.
Matt Building in Vancouver is a cakewalk building a Passive house on the Coast in B.C. They are in a climate zone or 2 or 2a. It is a little harder to build a Certified Passive Standard house in Calgary ... a zone 7A. Greater temperature differentials = More fun. Keep up the good work.
Amazing house but snowy cold Vancouver, seriously, it is a huge misrepresentation. Vancouver is the warmest place in Canada, it almost never freezes in winter and doesn't even snow every winter. It also doesn't get very hot in summer either. It's a very temperate climate. I lived there for 25 years after growing up in Quebec, Vancouver is called "Lotus Land" for a reason. I thought I have moved to paradise. Although I have seen the same system in Montreal with the same heat requirement, 1600-1700 watts to heat the place.
Exactly. I'm a Michigander who has been to Canada in the winter. Edmonton was butt ass cold while Surrey was warm. First and only time I was on the Coquihalla and in the winter no less.
2 years later and still a great video and I just reached out to Innotech to see if they're selling in other places than the Pacific NW but sadly no, or at least not yet. Texas and Florida have seen such an increase in construction in the last 2 years that they (and us) would benefit from this type of product vs our normal run-of-the-mill windows and sliders.
I agree on the exterior jamb extension. Our EverLog Concrete Log Siding material is anywhere from 1-1/2" to 4" thick and a lot of folks like the low profile trim option that this would provide.
I’ve lived in the north many years and tried various things to keep winter time comfort n my feelings r this : u have to heat it all. While u can lower temperatures there is the phantom draft created with different temperatures in the same building. Yes U need those better windows n air sealing but u can’t beat even temperatures throughout the home but u still have to provide the heating require as we’re all different in what we want. I have a portion of the house partially unfinished n not really used n it’s always a different temp n I can feel the “draft”. I heat with o d wood boiler which comfortabley provides enough heat for me n the whole 4500’. In a nut shell I’m saying there’s much more to it than one thinks. U still need ample heat especially if you have females residing in. Been doin my thing 15 years n the energy codes still don’t compare very well
Those tilting windows, including the screens, are pretty standard here in Europe. In Belgium, where I live and study, brands such as Schüco, Belisol and Winsol are pretty standard. Im studying architecture, where passive houses are seen as standard, we get a lot of classes about it. Our landcodes are getting to passive houses as the standard, but not fully yet though.
Building is dominated by large companies that pay off politicians. The building code is very lax. Anyone who knows anything builds much better than the building code. Small companies do the custom builds. The worst quality is a 1970's houses. Things are improving, and more people are getting to know the higher standards.
Great info on how tight and energy efficient this house is. The issue I have is on indoor air quality. Bringing in outdoor winter air in Canada will take more than 1500 watts of energy to heat up. Not to mention how are they venting cooking fumes and what about make-up air when cooking? Humidity, is that even discussed?
ERV systems can retain 70-80% of the heat from the indoor air, and many now have built in balancing. And as long as the hood fan isn't 600cfm or something crazy they will be just fine.
As a fellow Canuck, I must chuckle at the guy from BC commenting on "harsh winters here", LOL! To all of our non-Canadian friends I assure you, the Vancouver area does not get really cold. Vancouver shuts down roads and major services if 2 inches of snow stays more than a day!!!!!! We have many places in Canada that consistently get colder than -40 Fahrenheit (and colder), and Vancouver is not one of them! LOL
It's true Siga tape is very high quality and also can be used for chemically sensitive people's homes. We used it to fix a tarp garage door (over 12 feet) and even though it's not meant to be exposed to the elements, it's hanging in there no problem in real cold Ontario.
He basicaly build a house by Euro code on lower side (15:40 wrong!) more or less, but 2000W aint realistic in winter with snow and with temperatures under 0 C for such a big house. I work on similar houses in EU for more than 10 years and I know a thing or two about this type of houses. The real number in winter with average temp -5C will be approx 4000/5000 W If he do the job right of course. Windows with triple glazing+low emission coating+argon gas inside, effective passive recuperation for air, etc About windows: cross section of his windows frames look a lot like frames from euro company Trocal ;)
i love the screens on the windows. we've lived in 3 places in Germany with those style windows, and none of them have had screens. after living with those windows for a few years, i don't actually like them. when you tilt them, they move a tiny bit of air, they are actually too restrictive. and when you open them like a casement, i've yet to see one that has detents, so when the wind shifts, they will sometimes fly open or slam closed. the grass is always greener :)
I think Matt hesitated for a second when he noticed the foundation/crawlspace wall had a double moisture barrier. EPS foam will suck up water i̶f̶ when it gets in and so will the concrete. I have to assume the water can evaporate out the bottom at the base of the ICF system.
Commercial projects test window assemblies to a standardized pressure of 30 PSI for one minute held 15” from the window. Not allowed to drop below 25 psi for building envelope spray testing according to the spray testing standard we use. I typically find about 1/3 of the window assemblies I’ve tested leak water through the assemblies on the first try. The most common failure points occur at caulk joints (by far) but also internal water drainage channels for letting water escape from behind the window frame at the vapor barrier. These weep systems and seals typically aren’t field assembled correctly and that’s why the testing is done commercially to prevent water intrusion inside the building. I wonder if this testing will be required on window assemblies for houses, as well soon. It’s something that should be done on high end homes I think with complex window assemblies.
Passive house design requires a maximum energy consumption power unit of floor area. So, it is climate specific. If you are in a moderate climate, is easier to hit passive house standards. Super cold and super hot climates are more complex.
It might be useful to do a followup on this house showing all the other alterations needed to make a house this well sealed and insulated livable. I assume it has some kind of recovery ventilators, but it also should have a refrigerator that directs the heat out in the summer and a dryer that reclaims the heat in the winter and avoids sucking heated or cooled air from the interior. I like the extra insulation, but I wonder if those expensive windows and doors are overkill; the tilt-turn windows look annoying, especially if you want them fully open in the spring or fall, and while the lift&slide door are ingenious, I have to wonder if how well they stay sealed in the long run.
They mention the HRV/ERV when in the crawlspace. The unit has a heater built-in they use to heat the whole house. In a tight house like this, if you want an indoor laundry room you would use a heat pump clothes dryer. Unvented and 1/5 the energy. To get a passive house level of airtightness you really need fancy windows with good seals. You can't use traditional sliding doors if you want it to be airtight. To be airtight the door must disengage the seal before it moves. I would go with the french door style myself. It's the same reason why they don't use double-hung sliding windows. The casement windows are much easier to design airtight.
Omg that crawl space was amazing lol just made me remember a couple months ago had to put t1-11 underneath this addition we built and had to crawl around on my back under there with a palm nailer nailing all that on it was MISERABLE lol have had to do that quite a few times but this was the worst... just no clearance and there was a big piece of concrete left from an old stair case that was none to comfortable to crawl over on your back with a sheet of plywood on your face!!! 😂😂 sorry for my long off topic comment 🥴
19:25 Screen on the outside of the window is very common is the south of Europe. Almost all new build windows with screens have them like you show in the video. Also, you can roll it sideways or upwards out of the way on the high-end models and yet the screens will last 20 years easily.
Love the content, especially in the more northern regions. Would be interesting to see a cost breakdown of a structure like this vs heating/cooling costs of a standard stick frame.
I'm not a builder but I am a thermal engineer and I think you are chasing diminishing returns with insulation this thick. How long is the payback for all of this over a more conventionally built house?
I know someone who did it, two 2x4 walls quarter inch from each other separated by a layer of double bubble with staggered studs…doesn’t work,change a diaper it stinks for a week,air gets stale so he had to cut fresh air intakes (4”) from outside to the cold air return because fresh air is easier to heat than stale air,door and window sills are so deep it’s like a tunnel…law of diminished returns is reached at two by six wall thickness
@@markmaendel434 i am sure everyone knows someone that doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to a passive house which is why you should hire someone that does
Payback now with these energy prices is a few years 🎉 the MHVR system provides ventilation with 90% heat recovery. UPVC windows nothing great about that wood lasts much longer.
I'm really curious what kind of appliances they are planning on. A couple TVs, a desktop computer or two, plus a refrigerator in the kitchen, and a houseful of even energy efficient LED light bulbs is going to be way more than 1500W. Will this home, like many business office buildings, rarely need heating, but most of time require cooling?
$1200 a window. At what point do we not break the envelope, make foe windows on the outside just for aesthetics, then use a framed monitor on the inside of the house for cameras on the outside. That way you could look out any window, from any or multiple locations. Also, there's the benefit of being able to move a window inside the house to any wall or hight you'd like. I think I'm on to something!
Having lived outside of Vancouver for many years and now living in the frigid parries, hearing them say that they have some awful winters in the lower mainland, I chuckled, quite a bit! (I wish the builder would have used better quality materials when building our home which experiences -40C winters).
I had the German brand of Veka installed for my house windows from the year 2004. The temperature range here is from 5 degrees Celsius to 57 degrees in summer. Almost no maintenance needed during this period. The middle space between the glass panels was filled with the Argon gas
hamad qatar yea that’s hot. When I first read your post as if you are in Germany and that temperature range just didnt look right. But I now realize you live a few kilometers further south.
I like how the windows and doors are shown like some crazy new thing. They are around here since +20 years. Oh and vent-tilt windows are here since 40 or 50 years!
I liked the behind the scene that was left in going to the crawl space. I also just saw this is Miami-Dade approved for use... There is hope I can build my next house with ICF.
6:46: another 6.67 inches of exterior insulation for an R-value of 25. That is how it is done, my friends. Love seeing this high efficiency construction. Thanks for the video Matt. Btw, you mention those Innotech windows priced at ~$1200. How does this compare to some other other similar R-4 windows from other fenestration manufacturers? Thanks!
@@altergreenhorn I came to the comments section just to find somebody who will point out that the lower frame detail wont actually work. The wind driven rain will cause bulk water to penetrate between lower frame and EPS foam and it simply wont get out of there. There need to be metal flashing that extends below frame to prevent that. Correct?
We have same bug screens here in Europe, some windows even has integrated ones which you can roll down when you need. Those are way better because you don't need bug sceen all year in our climate zone.
That's a very typical UK window under test at the factory. uPVC is welded at the seams so unlike to cause leakage unless the window manufacture is really rubbish.
@@dublinlad33 think that's a bit of an exaggeration, that window would be about £400 - £600 and they said $1200 (though he was in Canada and didn't specify which type of $) assuming US$ would be just over £900. Of it was Canadian$ then it's even cheaper so about double the cost.
Snowy, cold....Vancouver!?! Its like the Florida of Canada.
1500 Watts... here when its -30C+ i feel like that is going to do almost nothing then again my house is not so insulated, its crazy seeing BC doing homes like that and here i don't see it that often
@@emko333 Yeah. I wonder if its just concentration of money, to build these fantastic homes in an area that doesnt totally need it? This level of insulation/sealing would be super useful in my area, but we have a very seasonal, tourism based economy and we see lots of poverty in full-time residents.
Yeah, it never snows or gets cold in Vancouver except for when it does which is a lot more often than those who live there want to admit.
You could live pretty comfortably most of the year in a wood shed in the Fraser Valley. Just make sure the roof doesn't leak.
@@curiousfirely The R value and how much more insulation to add is dictated by the energy modeling done by a certified PH consultant and location, climate, foliage, are all taken into account. For instance, his house is not insulated enough for my area, and it sounds like not enough for emko333's area either, but is fine for vancover. Still, people say the total cost to build to this higher standard is around 5-15% more than building to code, and that gets offset by what you save off your energy bill. So it might be more money initially, but his mortage payment + energy bills are probably the same, or very very close, as someone that bought a home built to code(all things equal).
Guy from Vancouver- We've got some pretty awful winters here
Almost the entirety of Canadians apart from the pacific coast- That's cute
Here in southern ontario its normally pretty mild no more than a foot of snow in years. The southern most tip (point pelee) of Canada is only 45 minutes from me in windsor. We are more south than a large part of Michigan.
Don't worry people still complain about the cold here lol.
Lol meanwhile people from Manitoba want to slap this man.
Currently -31 in Canmore.
A bitterly -2 in Vancouver.
@@stephenmorrissey1254 my thoughts exactly.. NE of Edmonton here
north of thunder bay on. had a good chuckle...cold in vancouver.....
Love it when he says "i have not seen this in Germany" and shows all the stuff that's standard in Europe for years.
Any new house in a similar climate zone as Vancouver would have radiant floors instead of blowing hot air out of tubes that transmit sound all over the house.
@@arrzfr so true, its hard to get something more efficient than radiant floors
Growing up in Northern Minnesota, I always wanted to build a house that could be heated with about 5, 100 Watt light bulbs. But, now retired so I still love seeing stuff like this. Most builders build to code, they don't go above & beyond. You can pay some extra up front to save on heating & cooling for the life of the building OR pay to heat & cool forever!
I would not want anything built to code. That is the minimum that you can get. I don't want the cheapest building I can get. I would want something that would last, that is built to exceed code.
Actually the major key to success is an unlimited budget. I'd love to see some major builders putting out homes that the 'average person' can afford
Succes is a choice. Average Joe did this on himself.
@@mike86mike nonsense.
Mr: Succes in life IS a choice. Just simple determination.
@@mike86mike that's just silly cliche nonsense. The data doesn't support your claim, economic inequality information doesn't support your claim, the gini coefficient argues against your belief, etc etc.
There are number of Habitat for Humanity homes built to passive house standards, including one I designed and helped build. Habitat considers the true cost of the materials for the mortgage for the homeowner so it's critical to deliver high performance in a simple and cost effective manner.
Matt specializes in high end homes, so that's what you will see on his channel. However there are a lot of small builders around the country that do build reasonably priced Passive Houses, they just don't run a UA-cam channel.
To be totally honest I love the;passive home. However to call that snowy cold Canada is very misleading. the weather pattern there does not even require a footing at 8" deep. you might as well be talking about insulating a home in south Carolina!
Obviously you don’t know Canada!
home renovision diy does know canada...he lives there lol
Yup. Vancouver
@@jimwhite4270 Vancouver is far from being cold compared to cities like Winnipeg or Eastern Canada. Vancouver weather is far from being as cool in the winter nor as hot in the summer than cities like Montreal or Toronto. Ithas the mildest weather in the country.
Oliver, you really lack basic debating skills. Please make a sad attempt at enlightening us as to how Vancouver doesn’t suffer from perma frost? Right, you can’t....
2 minutes 40 seconds into the video he says you can get decades out of the windows. I live in the US they would never allow that, in their minds that would diminish jobs and put people out of work, so we are stuck with a crap that we're stuck with. Kudos to you for building such a great home
When i watch your insulating videos it adds thousands of dollars to my home's plans. Thanks.
Great video Matt. Since I was in the window business for 31 years, I especially enjoyed this video.
upvc windows have been used in the uk for the last 40 years. The first editions weren't very efficient but nowadays you can very good A rated efficiency windows for a very reasonable price
yawn - in Manitoba, we don't even turn the furnace on when we have Vancouver weather...
Great House, great design, great detailing! What I was pleased to see was in the showroom shots at the end, where the two window mock-ups were shown side by side, you could see how the window casing worked. It's clear that the casings would be easy to unfastened and then just slid out, and then the entire window can be removed from inside the house. This is great because the exterior insulation prevents the windows coming out the front!
I have fallen in love with your videos. I'm starting to plan out how to make a home for myself. And this kind of information is super helpful, because it allows for long term savings in all kinds of ways.
I grew up & have always lived in drafty old homes & I swear the constant flow of fresh air is why I have never been seriously ill. Wood heat either with firewood or pellet stove wood pellets is the most economical heat. Plus it is renewable - you plant another tree to get more.
These houses have hrv/erv systems which is fresh filtered air
Here in The U.S. we are far behind the curve on affordable quality energy efficient products available for the average person to install in their homes . Just walk through the home centers and building supply stores , quality is very low on most all the products they carry . Nice to se you sharing these companies with us that we can look into .
bobwatters hello, but that ‘answer’ is loaded, FLORIDA is the cheapest I HAVE SEEN, here in NJ USA. We pay US$ 0.23 kw , the same as. someone said in AUSTRALIA but there is some area there that mandated SOLAR & wind, solar is fine, but wind has not, so EVERYBODY HAS TO USE A GAS OR DIESEL GENERATOR. OVERNIGHT ! Does. Such a system work for you ? So much for forcing people into a failed system,.! Cheers From NJ USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Watching Matt's reactions from Northern Europe is really interesting. Much of what amazes him has been standard over here for decades. But it is great to see that the whole world is finally working towards more sustainable buildings! Just imagine the drop in power consumption if all southern homes were built like this, they could get by with much smaller AC units
@Red Nexican If you have a need for air conditioning (which large parts of the US does), a house built like this would slash your summer electricity consumption in half (or even down to a quarter). But of course, if you live somewhere where its neither really hot or cold it probably does not make sense.
bobwatters , what state are you in ?, we pay $295/month ELECTRIC & GAS, this is an equal pay /month for 11 months then they adjust up or down, gas we cook, heat water & a steam boiler , an old colonial, built in 1939, 3 bed, 1..5 bath, 1 car garage , our next move is Broward county Florida, we both have trouble climbing stairs , everybody , in FLA Cheers From NJ🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
you can't even afford a house in Europe, many of them are inherited and the rest just rent
Hi Matt, Enjoyed this video. All your posts are very informative. One comment I have about the wall/insulation design of the house you featured is this: we the same wall/foam/rain screen design for our post and beam house that sits in rural Ontario Canada. It’s now over 25 years old and I’ve been replacing the cedar siding it was built with since it has aged poorly. In doing so I’ve discovered that mice love foam insulation. I have uncovered several areas where the mice have burrowed into the foam, in some cases all the way to the drywall, and created nests. The same thing is going to happen to the house you featured. I think you need to have some kind of barrier on the outside of the foam to pest-proof the insulation. I don’t know if you have done any research on this issue but I’d appreciate seeing a future post from you addressing this issue.
The windows and doors you featured from Innotech look very intriguing. How do you think they compare with those you featured from I think it’s called European Architectural Supply? I’m going to get a quote from Innotech on Pella patio sliders I want to replace. I wonder if they have a competitor in eastern Canada.
The mice/rat problem with foam is always over looked, haven't seen anyone address it yet. Its the main reason I am making my own insulated zip system sheathing (foam insulation behind the plywood siding), and doing a staggered double thick interior wall instead. This house will have so many families of rats living in it its not even funny, Vancouver is known as rat city.
UPVC window frames have been used for 30 to 40 years in UK and Europe.
Low E glass reflects heat back into the house (or outwards if facing the other way) is equivalent to triple glazing.
Eh depends on your climate. Counter productive in cold climates, neutral in moderate climates.
@@awhodothey Reflecting heat back into the house is definitely productive in cold climates.
@@hailexiao2770 yeah, if they have a long wave coating on the inside, which they often don't. I live in zone 5, where more energy is consumed heating than cooling, and I've never seen someone install low E correctly here. It's always installed backwards (most likely with a coating blocking short wave thermal energy from the sun) and no one notices. Evidently the decision of which coating to put on what side of the glass is too complicated for some large window companies that don't want to overcomplicate their inventory and manufacturing...
I just finished building our house in Upstate New York! I have no idea why anyone would build a 5ft crawl space, instead of a 8ft basement! Extra few ft don't cost nearly as much as you get from all that space! Hahahaha, I am an artist and I told my wife that she can have the top floors, as long as I get the basement for a studio! I love it,although it's much smaller than this house! Our is 1500Sq ft,but in total, we get over 3000 sqft of usable space!
Sometimes there is rock and you cant have a full depth basement without blasting.
I always find it funny how Americans get so amazed about houses like this. In Scandinavia all new house got to be built even more efficiently.
We don't... you build expensive high efficiency homes because you pay top dollar for a few KW we build low efficiency homes and pay fuck all for power.
John Spencer that’s the issue .... the energy cost in America is so cheap compare to Europe. That’s why no one give a f#$% to build more energy efficient. It makes no sense any home builder to build to the European standard when u get almost no return in savings. Maybe when u sale it you make a $$$$
isn't it sad that they started to import the horrid plastic windows as well, with that bauhaus handle :(
@@Jmoneysmoothboy That is not true. One thing that proves this are cheaper and better windows! Generally all the quality products in Europe are cheaper than US. That's why you need to import Siga tape for example...
We have triple glazed windows starting in as early as 1980's in houses. In Europe and Scandinavia, we typically also consider running costs of a house for a period of 50 years. That is NOT ONLY energy costs, but also maintenance and replacements costs in whole houses lifetime. This house shown in the video is just more complicated than necessary and is not any more durable than a standard house... This foam insulation would get stucco directly on it and lightweight masonry blocks in Europe and would be more fire resistant, better waterproofed and cheaper. It's a proven technology that lasts.
@@96Lauriz So i'm not trying to jump down your throat here but I wasn't saying there is no reason to build high thermal efficiency homes. I was commenting on the OP's opinion that Americans get amazed by a couple inches of foam on the outside of a house. I was also proposing a reason for Americans less thermally efficient housing. The cost of powering a 100W light bulb is the power consumed ( 100 watts ) multiplied by the duration of use so watt/hours or more commonly kilowatt hours. Kilowatt hours cost money and in the US they cost less on average than in Europe. In the US there are also extreme climate differences and houses are insulated accordingly but not unnecessarily to average the cost of a house over its lifetime.
I actually liked the mix-up with the video editing.
Made me smile. :D
Me too. I like seeing “behind the scenes” a bit.
Was about to literally type the same sentence.
Lol . I enjoyed it
The video is still interesting anyway.
We have those screens as well in Europe Matt, had them put in in every window opening when I had the windows replaced on my own 1970's remodel in The Netherlands. Love the option to vent without letting a lot of mosquito's in! Must be extra nice in Canada is I gather the mosquito is their "national bird".
A Mosquito ate mah bahbee.
Mosquito is the national bird, that’s funny.
But I agree, there is no reason to not have a screen on the windows.
AvE?
mosquito is the minnesota state bird
Lieuwe de Vries I visited family in GERMANY 2001, THEY HAD THOSE WINDOWS BUT NO SCREENS , I saw ZERO SCREENS IN GERMANY, but I recently , they can be retrofitted from inside , also had metal shutters on each window , W it’s slots for ventilation , if you chose . Cheers From NJ. USA. 🇳🇱🇺🇸
Never heard of a passive home before. But I'm glad people are doing it. My next project on my house in Denmark is to do exterior insulation with foam like that guy, but if I wanna be an A+ house according to Danish building code I have to slab on 8 inches of the same foam as shown in the video. So Guess im making a passive home at some point too
Keep studying Matt, particularly his personal remodeling of his prior home and other high performance decisions. I am trying to design home fundamentals for a new build, in Texas but too far from Matt, and will have a hard time training the trades in new techniques, which would be prone to too many mistakes and misapplications. The obvious core principles are avoiding moisture, a barrier that works, permitting drainage below and evaporation above, continuous insulation where you can as suited to your environment, and the best suited insulation to your budget and health concerns. The best all around for health and performance is clearly mineral wool (rock wool by one brand). And look at his recent video of INSOFAST. !!!!!! This might be the best all around performer when you include economic concerns. That video might be 2 hours long and is only about a week or 2 old. I will see if I can find the title and edit this for you.
"Snowy, cold, Vancouver area"
That's the funniest thing I've heard this year so far
He's from america. Canada is always snowy and cold.
Well, we did have snow at the time that episode was filmed. But it is a rare enough event that people do go nuts when the white stuff falls.
You bet. Vancouver is warm Canadian speaking. Try Winnipeg, MB or Prince Albert, SK or better yet go north further.
@Canuck Amok 100% get that.
I work outside, and having people ask me if I went south for a trip because of the colour in my face is getting old. I'm in Ontario as well.
@@anthonynyman167 Timmins is interesting. I'm from Edmonton 😁
Nice yeah, I have seen these window systems way back, over 15 years ago in Poland and Germany. Glad they're finally making it over to North America
They've been here in Van for just as long. I think this company is bringing them back and making them mainstream.
If you think Vancouver has bad winters... come across the mountains to Alberta, where we often have 6' of frost come spring, so having just a crawl space isn't a good thing! In Vancouver, with the ocean there moderating the temperature, it isn't as bad as areas that are much farther into the continent.
I do like all the foam insulation getting really good insulation value.
But there was no talk about the roof/attic insulation! That is the biggest spot for heat escaping in winter and the worst of the heating in summer! Adding insulation in the attic is the cheapest upgrade to do and the biggest benefit in retrofitting.
Its probably cellulose sprayed in as thick as possible with rafter baffles to maintain ventilation.
You did a fantastic job of showcasing the quality and excellent engineering of Innotech products. Must have taken several days filming multiple locations and the mock ups, then editing the cuts into the video. AND what incredible products they are! I now hate my house for wasting so much energy. At least I know what replacement doors and windows to buy when the time comes.
Im currently installing my new build with Innotech Defender 76TS triple and am very impressed with the level of precision engineering and construction. The mechanics of these are impressive especially compared to other higher end units.
By far the best I have seen and I have been in construction my hole life I'm now 52 years young . Your product needs to be in the line of building materials in the US and State of Colorado
Mike and Matt. Thank you very much for keeping us up to date with some fantastic building products. Much appreciated. Thank you.
Matt, those windows, TWIST &Tilt were in my cousins place in Germany, also with drop down metal shades, you can pull up slightly to expose the ventilation slots , to get air inside when tilted in while you sleep or block out thunderstorms,the ONLY thing missing with them were screens, I saw Zero screens in GERMANY , heard that you can retrofit them now. Wish there were in USA. Cheers from NJ🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I have just framed a R42 wall with nudura foam blocks. The energy auditor told me I could heat the house with a hair dryer. This house is on pender island with
triple pane windows. My house is built with a double wall 2 x 4 wall with a 3 1/2 inch void between the two walls.
Nice
Did you fill the foam with concrete? Need to search videos how those work😁
After spending a few weeks in Europe in 2017 we have decided to build our house to at least near passive levels. I have been looking at Innotech for several years as they seem to be the very best of the North-American builders of tilt and turn windows and doors. Hopefully our 1200 sq. ft. house will be close to the requirements of this monster! I like that you left in the editing portions of the video, Keep up the great work!
I’ve been watching you for over a year and have made many decisions renovating our homestead due to your videos, thank you. Will be checking with Innotech about windows, hopefully shipping to WV doesn’t make them too pricey. They’d be an excellent option for our passive home build back in the 80’s. We see 20F+ temp differences with full sun in our home without heating before any current updates we’ve done. And I can assure you, we do not have an air-tight home!
*Nice house for a large family* and grandparents too.
Good to see that Americans are now building homes that save energy and the environment too ! Good for all of us !
building a new home doesn't save the environment. especially a 5,000sf single family home. celebrate those that choose to live in multi-family housing... by far the most sustainable approach
@@guitarchitectural Feel free to live how you want, but noway in hell would I live in a multi family home. I'll build a damn hut before I have to do that. The only reason that even needs to be considered, is due to our stupid central grid paradigm. Plenty of advancement today, to break off the grid and use efficient means to fulfill all the needs, much more responsibly. But of course, the governments and corporations cannot let the plebs remember how to be independent.
@@debtminer4976 multi family housing can also be townhouses, condos, etc. Indolent necessarily mean you have to live with the mother in law you detest ;)
@@guitarchitectural Agreed. . And that works for some, but most people are couch potatoes anymore. Being in the woods is below them.. No big projects going, don't maintain their own vehicles etc.. need elbow room for that.. and i'm not opposed to environmentally friendly sources for everything, i'm just convinced that the governments and big companies are.. At least, not in the way that benefits anyone but them.. Mike Reynolds, of the Earthship project, gave a talk on this very thing. Amazingly efficient homes that provide almost everything the dweller needs.. using nothing but ''green'' tech. The problem? Governments, regulators and utility companies. Independence will not be tolerated.. that's why they're selling us on these ant farm cities, where you wake up with your neighbor's elbow in your ass 😆 No thanx. . I'll just build myself, like our free ancestors did.
@Ashley Haadt Yeah.. They've really stolen peoples imaginations.
The greatest polluters in the world (governments and corporations) are really going to provide the ''solutions''? That's hilariously sad, that people believe this nonsense...🤣😟😂😢
I live in South Central Alaska and I built my home with double stud walls. It is a 3000 duplex and I used a little less than 500 gallons of heating oil last winter which was one of the coldest winters we have had. I burn most of my oil in the dark months because I have over 200 sqft of glass on the south wall. In March even when it is 0F out if the sun is shining the heater isn’t running. The daylight basement has 4” of foam on the exterior of the wall because with ICF you won’t store heat. The house framing is double stud wall with a 2x8 top plate. The walls have R40 closed cell foam and the ceilings are R38+R21 fiberglass batts. I used a lot of acoustic seal to seal the vapor barrier on the ceiling. I have an HRV system for fresh air and put an outside vent for my wood stove.
I kept a mechanics creeper in my crawl space (3' tall) so I could get to the water shut off which was at the opposite end of my crawlspace access.
man oh man, I need these here in Georgia. I still have the 70's single pane 4 section windows. Don't even have storm windows. The humidity is insane. Water just drips off them. But fixed income sucks. Will take me a few years to save that much. These windows were about 300 cheaper than i was guessing. The savings when you mentioned HEAT, I am assuming would be the same for Cooling.
As built, many older residences have cracks and holes that, when added up, are the equivalent of a two-foot hole in the wall. That needs to be fixed before spending money double-glazing and triple-glazing.
Hi Matt. I love your videos. You may see the comments here about Vancouver not being very cold, but it is nice to see that the province of BC is definitely leading the way for Canada in terms of code standards. That being said, I would love to see you travel an extreme cold weather environment, such as Fairbanks, Alaska, Whitehorse, Yukon, or Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It would be amazing to see the absolute best of standards in those locations.
Matt great video. Really appreciate you giving a ballpark on the price of windows, just adds some context to what we're looking at. It's always nice to be able to think in terms of $$? Is that achievable?? etc. Thanks for the video. Your production value is right there with Tarantino and Spielberg, nice job.
I am really envious of that house. It looks amazing. I live in Alaska and the regional builder made our houses like they should be in Florida. They installed compressed insulation in the floors without uncompressed them. They leak heat like crazy. The floors and walls are always cold in the winter. R-14? On the floors with compressed insulation. Walls can't be much better. Our floors are also warping like crazy in some of the houses can even see the subfloor.
Man I love these guys! What amazing products, really next level materials.
I know a home that has a lot of foam block to it, similar to this one. The mice love it, they find it easy to make networks of tunnels through it.
Matt the windows from Inotech that you like that has the screens and the tilt for ventilation is an Eastern European design from Russia and Ukraine.
I am an Oklahoman living in Ukraine, and when we had our balcony rebuilt, and replaced the windows that Inotech is manufacturing, but made in a Ukrainian factory, with dual glass, the cost of the windows cost less that 500 dollars for all windows combined, and we have 7.5 meters of windows with 3 tilt windows, and one of the tilt windows also open double wide to bring large items into the apartment.
To have all the windows 3 pane would have just cost 50 dollars more.
It you can you really need to travel to Ukraine and Russia to see how they build.
I think that you may know my cousin Dennis who has Built Green Texas.
Heard somewhere that some unscrupulous companies in that part of the world skimp on the windows by not including the frame metal tubing reinforcement. Might be something to watch out for if the prices seem too good to be true as it wouldn't be possible to inspect without drilling or poking a hole through the frame.
rafflesmaos I can tell you all the manufacturer’s all use the same manufacturing processes and design in this part of the world, and have to meet a certain standard that is defined by the government. They all have to meet the energy efficiency and safety standards, as well as durability.
In cold climates you you generally do not want metal tubing in in window frames because it loses the thermal efficiency and allow for heat loss, and increase heat transfer.
The government keeps a tight control on the energy efficiency, and are tightening the standards since most of the former USSR built buildings are on the central hot water boiler heating infrastructure, only some of the new built apartment buildings built in the last 20 years have individual heating sources. With Ukraine having to import 80% to 90% of the natural gas for heating, the government has a system that promotes energy conservation. The more you use, the higher the tariffs you pay for Gas, Electricity, Hot water and cold water.
As for heating the buildings on the central heating plant, we have no control over the Temperature of the apartments and that is strictly controlled by the government heating enterprise.
The prices is basically the same at all the vendors of the windows per Square Meter, since the windows are all made by the same manufacturers which was a former governmental enterprises.
Hi All, Just a couple of comments. I know Mike well and rich he is not. He is from a great working class family. Smart is how I would describe him. 3 generations of family to be living here. Regarding cold, this home is in the Fraser valley which had a foot of snow just a week ago with a temperature of - 13 Celsius. Add in windchill factor at night it was closer to - 18. Not exactly Florida. Not as cold as most places in Canada but passive House will work well in extreme temperatures. And lets be honest, temperatures like - 40 last a few days at most then more reasonable temperature settle in. I lived in Alberta for 3 years.
Doug Langford shut up
Wind chill doesn't affect buildings or any inanimate objects.
What's to keep the house from being a "sick" house due to the lack ventilation from outside. I've read alot about problems having to put in a super expensive air filtering devices due to lack inside outside air exchange 10-15 %
my thoughts on this: as long as you don't have attic air getting sucked into your ducts or sucked into the living space through spaces in the framing , the dry wall , the wiring or the pipes, then the air will be fine.
@@realmofmetal8696 What? Moisture....breathing, cooking, bathing, etc...are going to have to be managed, to say nothing of carbon dioxide, and off gassing from from all that plastic and foam. Significant amounts of fresh air are going to have to be circulated through the house. Yes, this can be done properly, and in a more efficient way than with a drafty old house, but the only way this place can be heated with a 'hair dryer' is if the outside temp is 70 degrees and you want it at 72 inside.
Passive houses typically have an air exchanger system in the furnace that pulls clean air from outside, filters, and conditions it, while pushing equal airflow out of the house.
This system is healthier than the conventional closed loop system that continually heats and cools the same air.
The efficiency is boosted by having a heat exchanger passing the heat between the input and output ducts without mixing the air.
@@jimmydyurko Thank you for a coherent answer. I really wasn't buying crack the windows open.
@@donalddench608
That's working good enough but more expensive in heating.
These products I've to use. This, I have to copy. Thanks MR for taking us beyond the border to show us the best we can get/do. & Thanks Innotech.
It would be great to see an update on this house now that it has been finished and operating for 2-3 years.
I missed this a year ago - now I have a place for windows and doors, that does not involve ordering directly from Germany, thanks for sharing.
7:56 - crazy close TJI spacing, maybe 12”spacing? What one can do when budget is a non-concern.
I imagine that was done due to large spans - I've done the same thing for that reason.
Spacing ranges from 10" OC to 14" OC in different areas.
With the spans involved, they're necessary to get the solid feel and avoid the vibrations that cause increased noise in the home. It's really not an option to use dimensional lumber.
They don't make much impact on the cost, anyway.
Given a larger budget, I would have opted for an open-web truss joist. This would have allowed me to eliminate the drop beam in the living room and would have made rough-ins a breeze, but the TJI is a great balance between performance and cost.
@@probuilder961 with a crawl space like that? those are heavy duty i-joists as well. i can't imagine they wouldn't have saved a ton of money by going with standard joists 24" OC with intermediate bearing pony walls
mike is amazing .. the layers and layers involved in the details of this house is mind boggling !! this is the be all end all of houses.
I loved the included outtakes.
I love to hate watching all your videos on passive homes. But, it makes me want to actually have my next home built as a passive home. Love everything you do. Stay safe.
In Europe, Hungary we have this kind of windows everywhere at least for 10 years
Finland double pane since like late 60s and triple pane from late 90s
Still a new technology in UK! :)
Matt Building in Vancouver is a cakewalk building a Passive house on the Coast in B.C. They are in a climate zone or 2 or 2a.
It is a little harder to build a Certified Passive Standard house in Calgary ... a zone 7A. Greater temperature differentials = More fun. Keep up the good work.
Amazing house but snowy cold Vancouver, seriously, it is a huge misrepresentation. Vancouver is the warmest place in Canada, it almost never freezes in winter and doesn't even snow every winter. It also doesn't get very hot in summer either. It's a very temperate climate. I lived there for 25 years after growing up in Quebec, Vancouver is called "Lotus Land" for a reason. I thought I have moved to paradise. Although I have seen the same system in Montreal with the same heat requirement, 1600-1700 watts to heat the place.
ya, try out the praires......crispy cold out here. Sask represent!
I thought the exact same thing when the owner said he gets terrible winters. Van is a lot of things but a harsh winter city it ain’t.
Exactly. I'm a Michigander who has been to Canada in the winter. Edmonton was butt ass cold while Surrey was warm. First and only time I was on the Coquihalla and in the winter no less.
Yeah, try living in Calgary for a while to see what cold weather living looks like!
ouagadougou62 bear in mind Matt is from texas...
2 years later and still a great video and I just reached out to Innotech to see if they're selling in other places than the Pacific NW but sadly no, or at least not yet. Texas and Florida have seen such an increase in construction in the last 2 years that they (and us) would benefit from this type of product vs our normal run-of-the-mill windows and sliders.
imagine if their was ever a fire. that foam would light up like a christms tree
@@randomrazr I was talking about the windows but you're talking about the ICF, right?
Try getting them direct from Europe, Matt did a show on how it was cheaper since their standards are higher than north Americas.
Your video editor is doing a bang out job! Good Vid, Great House!
I agree on the exterior jamb extension. Our EverLog Concrete Log Siding material is anywhere from 1-1/2" to 4" thick and a lot of folks like the low profile trim option that this would provide.
uPVC windows have been installed in homes in the UK for over 35 years and some triple glaze with Pilklington K energy efficient glass
I’ve lived in the north many years and tried various things to keep winter time comfort n my feelings r this : u have to heat it all. While u can lower temperatures there is the phantom draft created with different temperatures in the same building. Yes U need those better windows n air sealing but u can’t beat even temperatures throughout the home but u still have to provide the heating require as we’re all different in what we want. I have a portion of the house partially unfinished n not really used n it’s always a different temp n I can feel the “draft”. I heat with o d wood boiler which comfortabley provides enough heat for me n the whole 4500’. In a nut shell I’m saying there’s much more to it than one thinks. U still need ample heat especially if you have females residing in. Been doin my thing 15 years n the energy codes still don’t compare very well
I really like this passive house stuff you have been covering
Me too
First. 17:00 Thanks for showing I'm not the only one that edits out my thoughts/ramble. Matt, you are human after all. Be Blessed
Those tilting windows, including the screens, are pretty standard here in Europe.
In Belgium, where I live and study, brands such as Schüco, Belisol and Winsol are pretty standard.
Im studying architecture, where passive houses are seen as standard, we get a lot of classes about it.
Our landcodes are getting to passive houses as the standard, but not fully yet though.
Building is dominated by large companies that pay off politicians. The building code is very lax. Anyone who knows anything builds much better than the building code. Small companies do the custom builds.
The worst quality is a 1970's houses.
Things are improving, and more people are getting to know the higher standards.
is that why buying a house isn't an option for many of your middle class?
Great info on how tight and energy efficient this house is. The issue I have is on indoor air quality. Bringing in outdoor winter air in Canada will take more than 1500 watts of energy to heat up. Not to mention how are they venting cooking fumes and what about make-up air when cooking? Humidity, is that even discussed?
ERV systems can retain 70-80% of the heat from the indoor air, and many now have built in balancing. And as long as the hood fan isn't 600cfm or something crazy they will be just fine.
As a fellow Canuck, I must chuckle at the guy from BC commenting on "harsh winters here", LOL! To all of our non-Canadian friends I assure you, the Vancouver area does not get really cold. Vancouver shuts down roads and major services if 2 inches of snow stays more than a day!!!!!! We have many places in Canada that consistently get colder than -40 Fahrenheit (and colder), and Vancouver is not one of them! LOL
"Harsh" meaning the effects of weathering on materials...
It's true Siga tape is very high quality and also can be used for chemically sensitive people's homes. We used it to fix a tarp garage door (over 12 feet) and even though it's not meant to be exposed to the elements, it's hanging in there no problem in real cold Ontario.
2000W to heat the place? Fill it with 20 people and you won't have any heating bill :D
You'd have to un-airtight the house (open the windows) to keep it cool!
A lot of humidity so keep that air exchange running
Just don't feed them beans.
Lmao
He basicaly build a house by Euro code on lower side (15:40 wrong!) more or less, but 2000W aint realistic in winter with snow and with temperatures under 0 C for such a big house.
I work on similar houses in EU for more than 10 years and I know a thing or two about this type of houses.
The real number in winter with average temp -5C will be approx 4000/5000 W If he do the job right of course.
Windows with triple glazing+low emission coating+argon gas inside, effective passive recuperation for air, etc
About windows: cross section of his windows frames look a lot like frames from euro company Trocal ;)
i love the screens on the windows. we've lived in 3 places in Germany with those style windows, and none of them have had screens. after living with those windows for a few years, i don't actually like them. when you tilt them, they move a tiny bit of air, they are actually too restrictive. and when you open them like a casement, i've yet to see one that has detents, so when the wind shifts, they will sometimes fly open or slam closed. the grass is always greener :)
I think Matt hesitated for a second when he noticed the foundation/crawlspace wall had a double moisture barrier. EPS foam will suck up water i̶f̶ when it gets in and so will the concrete. I have to assume the water can evaporate out the bottom at the base of the ICF system.
The future in home building is all about the science!!! 💯 I would love to see a tour of the finished home!!! ❣
Commercial projects test window assemblies to a standardized pressure of 30 PSI for one minute held 15” from the window. Not allowed to drop below 25 psi for building envelope spray testing according to the spray testing standard we use. I typically find about 1/3 of the window assemblies I’ve tested leak water through the assemblies on the first try. The most common failure points occur at caulk joints (by far) but also internal water drainage channels for letting water escape from behind the window frame at the vapor barrier. These weep systems and seals typically aren’t field assembled correctly and that’s why the testing is done commercially to prevent water intrusion inside the building. I wonder if this testing will be required on window assemblies for houses, as well soon. It’s something that should be done on high end homes I think with complex window assemblies.
Seen their stuff in west Vancouver, it is very nice, that sliding door does glide like butter
1600 W at what temperature and what day of the year?
You can heat a house with only 1600 watts in cold places like Montreal too. The concept started in Germany where it's colder than Vancouver.
1600 watts on a 70 degree day. ;)
does it even go below zero in Vancouver? i don't get whats so special about this
my house uses 2700 W at -20 C/-4 F in January (aka coldest period of the year)
Passive house design requires a maximum energy consumption power unit of floor area. So, it is climate specific. If you are in a moderate climate, is easier to hit passive house standards. Super cold and super hot climates are more complex.
Another great video! Great perspective of the reverse of what we are trying to block out, Heat vs cold,
It might be useful to do a followup on this house showing all the other alterations needed to make a house this well sealed and insulated livable. I assume it has some kind of recovery ventilators, but it also should have a refrigerator that directs the heat out in the summer and a dryer that reclaims the heat in the winter and avoids sucking heated or cooled air from the interior. I like the extra insulation, but I wonder if those expensive windows and doors are overkill; the tilt-turn windows look annoying, especially if you want them fully open in the spring or fall, and while the lift&slide door are ingenious, I have to wonder if how well they stay sealed in the long run.
They mention the HRV/ERV when in the crawlspace. The unit has a heater built-in they use to heat the whole house. In a tight house like this, if you want an indoor laundry room you would use a heat pump clothes dryer. Unvented and 1/5 the energy.
To get a passive house level of airtightness you really need fancy windows with good seals.
You can't use traditional sliding doors if you want it to be airtight. To be airtight the door must disengage the seal before it moves. I would go with the french door style myself.
It's the same reason why they don't use double-hung sliding windows. The casement windows are much easier to design airtight.
I really appreciate what you guys are doing here.... Nice one thanks.
Thom in Scotland.
Absolutely excellent content, as always. Consistently one of my favorite channels and I don't even work in the building industry!
Omg that crawl space was amazing lol just made me remember a couple months ago had to put t1-11 underneath this addition we built and had to crawl around on my back under there with a palm nailer nailing all that on it was MISERABLE lol have had to do that quite a few times but this was the worst... just no clearance and there was a big piece of concrete left from an old stair case that was none to comfortable to crawl over on your back with a sheet of plywood on your face!!! 😂😂 sorry for my long off topic comment 🥴
19:25 Screen on the outside of the window is very common is the south of Europe. Almost all new build windows with screens have them like you show in the video. Also, you can roll it sideways or upwards out of the way on the high-end models and yet the screens will last 20 years easily.
same in Canada ... an exterior screen makes sense since we want to to stay out .. but Americans seem to put them on the inside I guess
Love the content, especially in the more northern regions. Would be interesting to see a cost breakdown of a structure like this vs heating/cooling costs of a standard stick frame.
I'm not a builder but I am a thermal engineer and I think you are chasing diminishing returns with insulation this thick. How long is the payback for all of this over a more conventionally built house?
That’s not really why he’s doing it. He will have no drafts and every room will be comfortable.
I know someone who did it, two 2x4 walls quarter inch from each other separated by a layer of double bubble with staggered studs…doesn’t work,change a diaper it stinks for a week,air gets stale so he had to cut fresh air intakes (4”) from outside to the cold air return because fresh air is easier to heat than stale air,door and window sills are so deep it’s like a tunnel…law of diminished returns is reached at two by six wall thickness
@@markmaendel434 i am sure everyone knows someone that doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to a passive house which is why you should hire someone that does
Payback now with these energy prices is a few years 🎉 the MHVR system provides ventilation with 90% heat recovery. UPVC windows nothing great about that wood lasts much longer.
Awesome to see the bloopers and editing mishaps! I can't wait to build my passive house in a few years!
I'm really curious what kind of appliances they are planning on. A couple TVs, a desktop computer or two, plus a refrigerator in the kitchen, and a houseful of even energy efficient LED light bulbs is going to be way more than 1500W. Will this home, like many business office buildings, rarely need heating, but most of time require cooling?
Love your channel and how you explain. Thanks for coming up to Canada!
My house is passively drafty, we like it that way so we can keep heating it like we own the hydro company.
Now that there is REAL funny. Heat it up like a Boss😝
When the guy said there's a tarp around the footing that's when I knew he is on board 💯
$1200 a window. At what point do we not break the envelope, make foe windows on the outside just for aesthetics, then use a framed monitor on the inside of the house for cameras on the outside. That way you could look out any window, from any or multiple locations. Also, there's the benefit of being able to move a window inside the house to any wall or hight you'd like. I think I'm on to something!
Virtual windows. Not a bad idea. I could see this being done on North facing walls. Of course, the light from monitors is not natural light....
@@jpbouffard Why north facing? Windows have the lowest r value no matter what wall they are on.
Having lived outside of Vancouver for many years and now living in the frigid parries, hearing them say that they have some awful winters in the lower mainland, I chuckled, quite a bit! (I wish the builder would have used better quality materials when building our home which experiences -40C winters).
Also nice to get a look into matt mind in making these videos 17:03-17:41
That was entertaining
Huh? Lol
I had the German brand of Veka installed for my house windows from the year 2004. The temperature range here is from 5 degrees Celsius to 57 degrees in summer. Almost no maintenance needed during this period. The middle space between the glass panels was filled with the Argon gas
hamad qatar 57 degrees in summer?
@@4philipp In Celsius . That is more than 120 or 130 in American scale. You really can fry an egg on sun rays
hamad qatar yea that’s hot. When I first read your post as if you are in Germany and that temperature range just didnt look right. But I now realize you live a few kilometers further south.
@@4philipp You are right. I suppose to point out that I am in Qatar. In Germany I noticed they use UPVC windows almost everywhere
hamad qatar they have always been very advanced in their desire for better home building.
Quick edit missed before minute 17 Matt. Great video!
I like the behind the scenes! Need more editing "mistakes".
@@ae1ae2 agreed
I like how the windows and doors are shown like some crazy new thing.
They are around here since +20 years.
Oh and vent-tilt windows are here since 40 or 50 years!
I liked the behind the scene that was left in going to the crawl space. I also just saw this is Miami-Dade approved for use... There is hope I can build my next house with ICF.
Love how Matt throws in a healthy dose of "sorry" while he's here in the great white north.
Now if you could show people how to do this in an older house. That would be incredible
Agree. Id like to see what I can do about insulating my Phoenix block home against the heat.
The bug screens exist here, also the advantage of windows tilting inward like that, it doesnt rain in.
6:46: another 6.67 inches of exterior insulation for an R-value of 25. That is how it is done, my friends. Love seeing this high efficiency construction. Thanks for the video Matt.
Btw, you mention those Innotech windows priced at ~$1200. How does this compare to some other other similar R-4 windows from other fenestration manufacturers?
Thanks!
And they say that inches dont matter....
Those frames looking a lot like frames from Euro producer Trocal and btw 14:30 thats wrong you cant do like that at least here in EU
I have a current Marvin Elevate quote. the 6'x5.5' double casement is about $1100. R value 3.7
@@leehammond3289 thank you Lee, much appreciated
@@altergreenhorn I came to the comments section just to find somebody who will point out that the lower frame detail wont actually work. The wind driven rain will cause bulk water to penetrate between lower frame and EPS foam and it simply wont get out of there. There need to be metal flashing that extends below frame to prevent that. Correct?
We have same bug screens here in Europe, some windows even has integrated ones which you can roll down when you need. Those are way better because you don't need bug sceen all year in our climate zone.
17.36 Love it your human and is your team, could you do a video on how you do videos? Great Videos as per usual.
Being from europe, i find it funny to watch Innotech windows and sliding doors, which are basically european style windows we use for over 20 years.
They still sell 1960's style window frames at Home Depot in Canada.
That's a very typical UK window under test at the factory.
uPVC is welded at the seams so unlike to cause leakage unless the window manufacture is really rubbish.
And about 1/4 the cost of what they showed here.
@@dublinlad33 think that's a bit of an exaggeration, that window would be about £400 - £600 and they said $1200 (though he was in Canada and didn't specify which type of $) assuming US$ would be just over £900. Of it was Canadian$ then it's even cheaper so about double the cost.
We,ve had them here for so long that they are now going out of fashion. That would be a £300 window here,a bit more for triple glazed.
yeah would be about £250-£300 in the UK at trade/cost price for double glazed.