ᐅ Solid construction or timber / Borehole or trench collector
Created on: 14 Apr 2020 11:35
M
maleba89
Hello to all building experts, and thanks in advance for your support. I hope I’m posting in the right subforum with my questions.
We are currently planning our single-family home and would appreciate some assistance. We already own a plot of land, and I have a few questions about it. I’ve attached some pictures of the property and our plans. The marked stream runs underground in a pipe about 25-30cm (10-12 inches) deep. However, the land slopes down from the street about 90cm (35 inches) toward the middle and will be leveled at street level with fill.
We intend to build a single-family house with two floors, no basement, a knee wall height of 1.60m (5.25 feet), and a roof pitch of 38°. The residential area is very quiet and not on a main road. The site elevation is 540m (1772 feet).
We don’t plan to apply for KfW funding, but we do want to achieve at least the KfW 55 standard regarding energy efficiency.
We will only have the shell construction done professionally: foundation slab and roof. The rest we will do ourselves, as my father owns a carpentry/joinery business specializing in windows, and we also have a plastering company in the family. So we will handle floors, windows, doors, stairs, installation layers, roof insulation, non-load-bearing interior walls, interior plaster, and possibly exterior plaster ourselves.
I will take care of the electrical work; I’m a certified master electrician and work professionally in this field.
Currently, we are still undecided between timber frame construction and solid masonry.
For timber frame construction, I have concerns about sound insulation inside the house (children’s rooms above the living room with home theater). Is good sound insulation between floors achievable in this system?
With timber frame construction, we can do much ourselves since only the stud frame with plaster carrier board (or wood fiber board with an air gap and wood facade) would be installed by the builder. We would take care of wall insulation and cladding ourselves. We already built my uncle’s house ourselves this way about 10 years ago. What bothers me there is that when the children play upstairs, the noise is clearly audible in the living room below. However, his house has an open beam ceiling with ventilation ducts running above the visible boards.
1. Are there any experiences with other floor constructions here in the forum? We don’t need an exposed beam ceiling and have also considered a cross-laminated timber (CLT) ceiling.
2. As an alternative, solid construction is also an option—only the outer walls and load-bearing walls. However, I would prefer to avoid external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS / external wall insulation) and build monolithically if possible. Or do you think there are better alternatives currently?
3. We plan to use a heat pump with geothermal energy. Given the lot size, I considered trench collectors, but I wonder whether they have to be placed directly next to the house or, as in the drawing, can be a bit away from the building? The piping would then connect in the garage approximately.
4. Heat distribution is planned via underfloor heating throughout the rooms, and a stove with a water jacket in the living room is intended to support heating. I thought the heat from the stove would be fed through a mixing valve to both the underfloor heating circuit and the hot water circuit.
5. A central ventilation system is not planned; instead, decentralized ventilation will be used in the living area, kitchen, bathroom, and possibly bedrooms.
Maybe you have some additional ideas?
We are currently planning our single-family home and would appreciate some assistance. We already own a plot of land, and I have a few questions about it. I’ve attached some pictures of the property and our plans. The marked stream runs underground in a pipe about 25-30cm (10-12 inches) deep. However, the land slopes down from the street about 90cm (35 inches) toward the middle and will be leveled at street level with fill.
We intend to build a single-family house with two floors, no basement, a knee wall height of 1.60m (5.25 feet), and a roof pitch of 38°. The residential area is very quiet and not on a main road. The site elevation is 540m (1772 feet).
We don’t plan to apply for KfW funding, but we do want to achieve at least the KfW 55 standard regarding energy efficiency.
We will only have the shell construction done professionally: foundation slab and roof. The rest we will do ourselves, as my father owns a carpentry/joinery business specializing in windows, and we also have a plastering company in the family. So we will handle floors, windows, doors, stairs, installation layers, roof insulation, non-load-bearing interior walls, interior plaster, and possibly exterior plaster ourselves.
I will take care of the electrical work; I’m a certified master electrician and work professionally in this field.
Currently, we are still undecided between timber frame construction and solid masonry.
For timber frame construction, I have concerns about sound insulation inside the house (children’s rooms above the living room with home theater). Is good sound insulation between floors achievable in this system?
With timber frame construction, we can do much ourselves since only the stud frame with plaster carrier board (or wood fiber board with an air gap and wood facade) would be installed by the builder. We would take care of wall insulation and cladding ourselves. We already built my uncle’s house ourselves this way about 10 years ago. What bothers me there is that when the children play upstairs, the noise is clearly audible in the living room below. However, his house has an open beam ceiling with ventilation ducts running above the visible boards.
1. Are there any experiences with other floor constructions here in the forum? We don’t need an exposed beam ceiling and have also considered a cross-laminated timber (CLT) ceiling.
2. As an alternative, solid construction is also an option—only the outer walls and load-bearing walls. However, I would prefer to avoid external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS / external wall insulation) and build monolithically if possible. Or do you think there are better alternatives currently?
3. We plan to use a heat pump with geothermal energy. Given the lot size, I considered trench collectors, but I wonder whether they have to be placed directly next to the house or, as in the drawing, can be a bit away from the building? The piping would then connect in the garage approximately.
4. Heat distribution is planned via underfloor heating throughout the rooms, and a stove with a water jacket in the living room is intended to support heating. I thought the heat from the stove would be fed through a mixing valve to both the underfloor heating circuit and the hot water circuit.
5. A central ventilation system is not planned; instead, decentralized ventilation will be used in the living area, kitchen, bathroom, and possibly bedrooms.
Maybe you have some additional ideas?
kbt09 schrieb:
It’s also worth considering where you want direct access from the kitchen/dining area to the terrace, for example, for summer evenings at the grill. It looks like all the access points are blocked by furniture. No, the access will be where the armchairs are marked; a sliding door will be installed there. The armchairs will be moved from that spot.
Of course you can, it’s not a problem. We will be going to the architect anyway because we need the drawings, structural calculations, etc. for the building permit / planning permission, but we wanted to have a design with our ideas beforehand.
So, we reviewed everything again yesterday and the upper floor will be changed to include a large bathroom for everyone upstairs, while the downstairs bathroom will keep the shower. You are right that financially, having three bathrooms doesn’t make sense. Better to have one bigger bathroom upstairs.
The hobby room will also be modified so that it can be accessed from the hallway.
The bedroom will stay where it is, with the view.
The asymmetry of the windows doesn’t really bother me. Especially since the garage side and the opposite side won’t be symmetrical anyway, and floor-to-ceiling windows don’t make sense in the kitchen area, but they do in the living room.
@superzapp: The floor structure looks good, but I have a question: what is meant by WADA? Do you mean the mats used to secure the underfloor heating pipes?
So, we reviewed everything again yesterday and the upper floor will be changed to include a large bathroom for everyone upstairs, while the downstairs bathroom will keep the shower. You are right that financially, having three bathrooms doesn’t make sense. Better to have one bigger bathroom upstairs.
The hobby room will also be modified so that it can be accessed from the hallway.
The bedroom will stay where it is, with the view.
The asymmetry of the windows doesn’t really bother me. Especially since the garage side and the opposite side won’t be symmetrical anyway, and floor-to-ceiling windows don’t make sense in the kitchen area, but they do in the living room.
@superzapp: The floor structure looks good, but I have a question: what is meant by WADA? Do you mean the mats used to secure the underfloor heating pipes?
Hello maleba89
My two cents on the heating:
Mixing geothermal energy with a tiled stove won’t work. If it’s even possible, adapting the system will be so expensive that it won’t be economically worthwhile.
Get drilling done. It’s much more efficient, and you can cool the house in summer.
I have two boreholes, each 75 meters (246 feet) deep. I extract 15°C (59°F) all year round. It heats in winter, and in summer I send the 15°C (59°F) through the underfloor heating. Wonderful.
Steven
My two cents on the heating:
Mixing geothermal energy with a tiled stove won’t work. If it’s even possible, adapting the system will be so expensive that it won’t be economically worthwhile.
Get drilling done. It’s much more efficient, and you can cool the house in summer.
I have two boreholes, each 75 meters (246 feet) deep. I extract 15°C (59°F) all year round. It heats in winter, and in summer I send the 15°C (59°F) through the underfloor heating. Wonderful.
Steven
I was considering horizontal ground collectors, as they are cheaper than drilling and allow for a lot of DIY work, plus I have the space for it.
In theory, this system could also provide cooling during the summer.
Additionally, a mechanically controlled ventilation system with humidity recovery should address the issue of dry air in winter.
The wall construction will be timber frame with 200mm (8 inches) studs and a wooden facade. For insulation, I am thinking of using Steicoflex. The roof will feature insulation between the rafters (also Steicoflex). The intermediate ceiling will be a cross-laminated timber panel with a structure similar to what superzapp described.
In theory, this system could also provide cooling during the summer.
Additionally, a mechanically controlled ventilation system with humidity recovery should address the issue of dry air in winter.
The wall construction will be timber frame with 200mm (8 inches) studs and a wooden facade. For insulation, I am thinking of using Steicoflex. The roof will feature insulation between the rafters (also Steicoflex). The intermediate ceiling will be a cross-laminated timber panel with a structure similar to what superzapp described.
Similar topics