Floreat Passive House Sustainability Tour. Architecture by Ben Caine, Leanhaus 

Glad you enjoyed it. Its a amazing how many designers forget about acoustic comfort. High ceilings and hard surfaces are a nightmare to live in.

Thanks Chris and for the encouragement to get off my bum and finally do a video. More to come soon.

Thanks for sharing! Roller shutters are common here on project homes but rarely seen on architectural homes. They make a lot of sense if they can be incorporated neatly.

Glad you like them!

Thanks Wayne! You need to drop by for a beer one friday.

Yes. We have done the maths and find that in our climate, it is more cost effective and practical to include air conditioning and have it powered by the solar PV , than create a building that is somewhat impervious to summer heat gain. Here is our blog post on the topic: www.leanhaus.com.au/leanarchitect/air-conditioning-strategies-in-a-passive-house

@@theleanarchitect thanks for that. I am in the same climate zone (Busselton).

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you! Cheers!

We have not had any issues with dust in the ceiling. Dust levels are definitely lower than on a normal house being that the house spends more time sealed up and the HRV filters out airborne particles.

Thankyou. Its hard to compare with "average'' because the average standard is so much lower in specification in a thousand different ways. If this exact same house was built, but without the features that make this a Passive House it would save maybe $50k. We believe our homes are exceptional value for money when you compare the functionality, performance, comfort and specification against a typical custom or architect designed home.

Yes we have termites in Western Australia. The timber is treated, plus we use barriers at the base of the frame.

Ýes, the floor is polished concrete. . The ACH

Yes we do two blower door tests. Once at Lockup stage, and a second test juts before completion. Both tests achieved better than the Passive House Standard of 0.6 Air Changes / hour at 50 pascals.

By all means, get in touch via our website leanhaus.com.au to see if it is viable for us to help you.

Freedom Pass from USA

We left the flyscreen off the front door for aesthetic reasons. All other windows have screens.

Thankyou, its a pleasure to live in it everyday. The building does a great job of blocking external noise.

Much less than a typical Architect designed home, but more than the usual brick project homes that are prevalent in Perth, WA.

Hello, Great Questions: The roof has a phase shift of 6.9hrs. In terms of energy use for heating and cooling: There is 0kw/h/m2/a for winter as we have never needed heating. (well below the Passive House standard of 15kwh. In Summer we have some cooling but this almost negligible (0-5kwh/m2/a) It is completely offset by Solar PV. For reference there is a single 6kw split system for 200sqm treated floor area. This operates for less than 100hrs a year at less than 50% capacity.

@@theleanarchitect thanks for your kind answer. Usually in Europe we tend to build with insulation in mind plus mass in order to fight both winter cold and summer heat. All insulation material work against cold, but not all work against the heat. I believe, with all due respect, that 6 hours phase shift for your climate is insufficient for a good passive house since it means that the roof will not be able to damp and delay the heat wave efficiently. Maybe you did it on purpose, since you have only a 300kWh yearly consumption, but in Italy, where I live, we normally aim for at least 14 hours phase shift, preferably 20-24 hours shift. Thanks again, and wish you a great day

There are few local difference to account for: 1: We have good diurnal temp change day/night. Peak daytime heat at 2pm, but by 7pm there is typically a cool shift from the ocean breeze. 2: Local construction materials and norms would make it prohibitively expensive to build with 12 + hours of phase shift in roof and walls. Better to install a small AC for hot spells and power this with SolarPV. Also worth noting that a 6kw ac system only draws about 1.5kw at normal operating speeds. Our AC rarely operates above 50% so assume 500-750w of draw (same as our hot water unit). AC power draw is irrelevant anyway because we easily generate 4kw of power from solar.

Sorry to hear you didn't have a great experience. Sad to say that most architects don't know or care about building science, health or economic construction. Read this for more info: www.leanhaus.com.au/leanarchitect/the-7-deadly-sins-of-award-winning-architectural-homes-that-you-wont-see-in-a-leanhaus

@@theleanarchitect Thank you kindly! If we can ever afford to buid again, we know who to call!

Thanks for the tip. The next video will be better I promise!

Thats my next purchase for sure!

We used Shutter Co here in Perth. These are a pretty standard product but we worked to integrate the roller pelmet into the cladding zone and the flashings for neater than usual finish.

@@theleanarchitect thanks for your response. I’m an old chippy who after years of building other peoples homes I have now started building my own passive house design in Walpole. Thanks again

Hi Matthew, We were fortunate to sign a building contract in late 2020 before building price rises hit hard. The cost for the house alone was approximately $3000/sqm FECA. Replacement value today would be around $4000/sqm

@@theleanarchitect thanks for that insight

Its our first video so next time I will be mic'd up!

@@theleanarchitect 👍 can’t wait for the next one!

Hello! Is your question whether or not Air Conditioning can be considered on an otherwise Passive Solar or Passive House?

@@theleanarchitect I guess he meant the term "passive house" should use more passive principles like shading and using the hot from the sun by orientations. AC usually not needed in Hungary where we live if the passive component are correct. A good passive house - in my mind - have a massive thermal mass inside so it can provide stable temperature. As this house is wood, walls can not preserve heat or cool. Do floors have this mass?