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?

Aerial view of land plots with white parcel boundaries, red line marked.


Aerial image of a yellow-outlined plot next to a street; measurement window shows 1,670.24 m².


Floor plan of a house with living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, office, hallway, stairs, and garage


Schematic plot plan with green-outlined house and yellow-bordered garage, street at top.


Floor plan of a house with rooms: Child 1, Child 2, hobby room, office, bathroom, hallway.
S
Specki
15 Apr 2020 15:34
I think you would be better off asking that question in a different forum. That’s where the experts on this topic are.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to ask for support there soon as well.
S
Steven
15 Apr 2020 15:39
maleba89 schrieb:

Here is my consideration regarding the collector.

Hello maleba89

I get the impression that you are not writing to ask for advice, but rather to have your plan confirmed.

Steven
M
maleba89
16 Apr 2020 08:02
No, that is not my intention. I’m asking about the collector to find out if it would actually work the way I imagine. Also because I first need to connect the line to the collector.

I think a trench collector is more advantageous for this property than ground drilling. Since it belongs to the heat pump system, it might also qualify for BAFA funding.

We have decided 90% in favor of timber frame construction based on some good tips from this forum, with the following structure:

Wall:
1. Board cladding 15mm (5/8 inch)
2. Air gap 30mm (1 1/8 inch)
3. Wood fiber insulation mat 60mm (2 3/8 inch)
4. Timber stud frame 200mm (7 7/8 inch) with Pavaflex or Steicoflex
5. OSB board as vapor barrier
6. 60mm (2 3/8 inch) installation cavity
7. OSB 15mm (5/8 inch)
8. Gypsum board 12.5mm (1/2 inch)

Roof:
1. Roof tiles
2. Battens
3. Wood fiber insulation board
4. Roof rafters with insulation between rafters (Pavaflex or Steicoflex)
5. OSB board as vapor barrier
6. Gypsum board

What are the differences between insulating the concrete slab from above or below? We have received proposals for both options. I think it’s important, especially because of the underfloor heating.
Mycraft16 Apr 2020 08:24
Under the underfloor heating and on top of the slab, you definitely need insulation, regardless of how the rest is constructed—unless you plan to heat the floor itself.
S
Steven
16 Apr 2020 08:39
maleba89 schrieb:

I’m asking about the collector to find out if it actually works the way I imagine it.


Hello maleba89

The collector is initially cheaper than drilling. The drilling pays off quickly.
Calculate this: How warm is it one meter (3 feet) underground during a frost? You need to keep in mind that you are extracting heat from the ground for an extended period. After a short time, the compressor will have to run continuously because there’s no more heat coming through. Most likely, the electric heating element will be constantly turning on as well.
Cooling in summer? You can forget about that quickly. At that point, an open refrigerator door would be more effective.

Now, about the drilling: Even if there’s minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) outside for weeks, the temperature at depth remains constant. You can’t remove enough heat to deplete it. In summer, it’s always cool down there. For me, at 75 meters (246 feet), it’s always 15°C (59°F).
You save several thousand euros initially. But those savings are quickly offset by higher electricity consumption (compressor, electric heating element).

Steven
K
knalltüte
16 Apr 2020 08:50
Steven schrieb:

...
Now about the drilling? Even if it's minus 20°C (-4°F) for weeks, down deep it’s always the same temperature. You can’t remove that much heat, so nothing stops it from coming up. It’s always cool in summer. At my place, it’s 15°C (59°F) at 75 meters (246 feet).
You save a few thousand euros at first. But these are quickly offset by the higher electricity consumption (compressor, heating element).

Steven

... I have already done some research on air-to-air heat pumps or brine-to-water heat pumps, trench collectors (shallow / deep) or drilling or whatever ... and asked three people and got four different answers.

Where does the info about 15°C (59°F) at 75 meters (246 feet) depth come from? It seems very high to me when the temperature only increases by about 3°C (5.4°F) every 100 meters (328 feet).

zapp

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