Hello everyone,
We are currently starting to deal with the technical aspects of our single-family home.
I haven’t found a thread discussing whether a ventilation system generally makes sense or not. So here is a general discussion thread on the topic:
At first, we looked into various timber frame construction providers, which made us quite sensitive in this area. Naturally, a ventilation system is quite important due to the tighter building envelope, which I can completely understand. However, everything is also marketed accordingly...
Since we have now decided to go with a regional solid construction company, completely different questions arise:
I currently have a detailed offer from a solid construction company:
- $10,000 additional cost for thermal insulation measures
- $13,000 additional cost for a central ventilation system or $9,000 additional cost for a decentralized ventilation system
--> So the repayment subsidy of $18,000 is of little use to me; on the contrary, I am even paying extra for this (of course, I get a “better” house in return).
Key Data:
- Single-family home city villa, 150m² (1,615 ft²) with basement
- Air-to-water heat pump
- Building material: brick
The questions I am now asking myself:
1. Is a ventilation system even necessary to achieve KfW 55 standard?
2. If yes, would it maybe make more sense to go for KfW 70 and forget about the subsidy?
3. Is a ventilation system really that great? There are many reports about noise, high maintenance, etc.
4. If yes, in our building project would a decentralized or central system be better? I have read a lot of positive things about decentralized systems, so central ones might not be an option? Is that correct or not?
5. Is it even possible to reach KfW 55 standard otherwise? Do you really have to ventilate every 2 hours? Are there any experiences?
6. Is the additional $10,000 cost for KfW 55 without a ventilation system justified? Are the prices for the ventilation systems justified?
I know this is an endless debate and there are clearly two opinions here. However, we find it really difficult to make a decision. Maybe a few discussions and information here will help us make up our minds.
We are currently starting to deal with the technical aspects of our single-family home.
I haven’t found a thread discussing whether a ventilation system generally makes sense or not. So here is a general discussion thread on the topic:
At first, we looked into various timber frame construction providers, which made us quite sensitive in this area. Naturally, a ventilation system is quite important due to the tighter building envelope, which I can completely understand. However, everything is also marketed accordingly...
Since we have now decided to go with a regional solid construction company, completely different questions arise:
I currently have a detailed offer from a solid construction company:
- $10,000 additional cost for thermal insulation measures
- $13,000 additional cost for a central ventilation system or $9,000 additional cost for a decentralized ventilation system
--> So the repayment subsidy of $18,000 is of little use to me; on the contrary, I am even paying extra for this (of course, I get a “better” house in return).
Key Data:
- Single-family home city villa, 150m² (1,615 ft²) with basement
- Air-to-water heat pump
- Building material: brick
The questions I am now asking myself:
1. Is a ventilation system even necessary to achieve KfW 55 standard?
2. If yes, would it maybe make more sense to go for KfW 70 and forget about the subsidy?
3. Is a ventilation system really that great? There are many reports about noise, high maintenance, etc.
4. If yes, in our building project would a decentralized or central system be better? I have read a lot of positive things about decentralized systems, so central ones might not be an option? Is that correct or not?
5. Is it even possible to reach KfW 55 standard otherwise? Do you really have to ventilate every 2 hours? Are there any experiences?
6. Is the additional $10,000 cost for KfW 55 without a ventilation system justified? Are the prices for the ventilation systems justified?
I know this is an endless debate and there are clearly two opinions here. However, we find it really difficult to make a decision. Maybe a few discussions and information here will help us make up our minds.
M
majuhenema5 Apr 2021 23:04Tego12 schrieb:
First of all, try to panic a little less..! If the system fails, no air will come into the house, and you won’t be able to breathe and you’ll die. I’m working my way through the entire thread right now, and this is a real highlight. Thanks! 🙂
M
majuhenema5 Apr 2021 23:45Reading this thread has been really valuable. Initially, we wanted to build a prefabricated house, but that was ruled out for various reasons. Our three general contractors have completely different opinions regarding mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. These range from "it's not necessary for a solid construction house and we do it in 90% of cases without it," through "we could install it on explicit request," to "we plan for mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, but if you reject it, we remove the warranty against mold from the contract."
After reading this thread, I’m really happy that our last contractor is currently our favorite. Our simple approach was to trust the general contractor with whom we felt the best instinctive connection. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery was not a decisive factor (especially since we know someone in building services in our social circle who warned us about the "really bad ductwork" stories). Now I’m glad that, for other reasons, it will probably be the contractor who includes mechanical ventilation with heat recovery as a standard feature.
After reading this thread, I’m really happy that our last contractor is currently our favorite. Our simple approach was to trust the general contractor with whom we felt the best instinctive connection. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery was not a decisive factor (especially since we know someone in building services in our social circle who warned us about the "really bad ductwork" stories). Now I’m glad that, for other reasons, it will probably be the contractor who includes mechanical ventilation with heat recovery as a standard feature.
majuhenema schrieb:
Reading this thread was really valuable. Initially, we wanted to build a prefab house. This was ruled out for various reasons. Our three general contractor (GC) options had completely different opinions regarding the mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery. These ranged from "it’s not needed in a solid (masonry) house and we do without it in 90% of cases," to "we could do it upon explicit request," to "we plan a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery. However, if you choose to remove it, we exclude any warranty against mold from the contract."
After reading the thread, I’m really glad that our last GC is currently our favorite. Our simple idea was to trust the GC we felt best about. The mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery was not a decisive knockout factor (especially since we know someone in building services engineering and had heard the story about the “really bad ducts”). Now I’m happy that, for other reasons, it will probably be the GC who includes the mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery by default.It was similar for us too – which is why I originally started this thread 😀
The opinions vary widely – but in the end, we also decided to trust the GC to include the mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, and that makes us feel much more at ease 😀
M
majuhenema6 Apr 2021 09:30exto1791 schrieb:
It was similar for us as well – that’s why I originally started this thread 😀
Opinions differ a lot – but in the end, we decided to trust the general contractor to install the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, which makes us feel much more at ease 😀 I witnessed your change of opinion up close in fast-forward over the course of an hour yesterday. I’m sure you’ve thought more than once in the meantime that this forum is simply amazing.
Has your construction already started?
majuhenema schrieb:
I witnessed your change of opinion up close yesterday within just one hour. Surely, you must have thought more than once in the meantime that this forum is simply amazing.
Has your construction already started? We have really gained a lot of valuable information from this forum – it has helped a great deal in almost every area! However, you really need to be careful and "filter" the information accordingly – not everything that shines is gold, and everyone has their own ideas and preferences in certain areas.
In the technical field and so on, we have had almost exclusively positive experiences and have taken those lessons into our build. I hope we mostly made the right decisions and got the best out of it for ourselves 🙂
Our construction will start at the end of May 🙂
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