How to Build a House That Uses 90% Less Energy! 

I built my house "Passive" 25 years ago, I have saved who knows how much money because of it, SO why did I not hear you talk about the sun and the orientation of the windows or thermal mass??? Our house uses the sun big windows face the low sun in winter. The opposite side has few windows and lots of brick for thermal storing hot and cold. Grape vines cover and shade the big windows in summer and I prune them right back to let in the sun for winter. In winter with any 60% sunny day we use ZERO hearing! For 20 years we had people asking us about air conditioning we did not have, On 95F days the house was 75F inside. We got a small A/C a few years back to knock off the edge of this.

I'm 60 years old now, but back when I was 23 we built a super insulated house. Two 2x4 walls separated 24 in on center each. The overall wall is 12 in thick filled with blown cellulose. Full vapor barrier on the warm side, that's what they instructed back in that day. R60 blown insulation in the ceiling. Lots of caulking and tape. The best Anderson Windows and doors we could get at the time. Our heating and cooling bill was almost non-existent. Back then you would have thought we were building Noah's ark based on the looks we were getting from contractors. Used the smallest AC and heating central system made, even that was overkill. It's a lot easier to save energy than to create it some way new.

As a former Home Performance Contractor I have never heard such a thorough yet concise explanation of all these great building science principles.

At the university, we studied a project made from all wood construction. No materials for the structure was synthetic; the decking, siding and etc. was wood. The all wood construction was the most efficient home to build and the wood was a sound barrier. We were amazed because it was so quiet and very cool during the summer heat.

Great video! So very true. In 1998 my wife and I built a 2300 sf house. We either subbed or did everything ourselves. We were not really thinking at that time about efficiency but since we lived about 20 miles from the rockwool insulation plant in Leeds Alabama. Guess you see were this is going. My two sons live in that house now. I asked the oldest just the other day how much their power bill was and he said around $120 a month. The house is also pretty close to a very busy road and when your inside, you cannot hear the outside traffic. The rockwool plant at that time would charge maybe $40 for a dump truck load of insulation. My wife insulated the whole house mostly by herself cutting it with a bread knife.

Next I'd like to see you do a video on how you could apply similar techniques to a remodel: interior only, exterior only, or both.

There was a passive house builder a county over from me that built a passive house for a MIT guy with every trick in the book applied to it. The MIT guy studied passive in Europe and had ideas of his own to try also. I got to talk with them both and tour the house under construction. That guy was planning on selling these type houses and nothing came of it. That was 15 years ago when energy was far cheaper. People would pay extra for a nicer kitchen ect vs energy efficiency . Things may change now.

Great video Matt! The “concept” of a passive house was actually developed in Saskatchewan, Canada in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the aesthetics were a little rudimentary, and so the concept was not adopted by Canadians at the time. German engineers visited the “Saskatchewan Conservation House” and took the concept back to Germany where they developed it into what we now know as passive house.

High School Physics - once I applied it saved me over $1000/year AND provided me with my most comfortable summer EVER in Phoenix. I used the principle of thermal mass to cool my house down to 70 degrees F. Then I shut down my refrigerated air conditioning during peak load hours (3PM to 8PM) using a programmable thermostat. My house never got above 80 degrees during that time. The cooling that I had stored in the walls, floors and ceilings the night before provided me with comfort during those blazing hot 112-117 Degree summers we are noted for. My summer bills dropped below $200/month from nearly $400. My house is block and stucco sitting on a slab foundation with a flat foam roof and double pane windows and sky lights. Another tip If your flat screen TV is warm to the touch and you live in southern climes - get ride of it. The new ones are far more efficient and the new one will pay for itself in a year.

Matt, when you get to the end, can you do a video to go over how much this house would cost to a new client as a turn 🔑 house without any sponsors.

As long as the air quality is ensured and being airtight does not translate to mold and mildew. Passive houses are the new build standard in the part of Europe where I live. They are great when built right to avoid mold and mildew. In our part of Europe the continuous insulation goes over masonry which is then covered by brick. In contrast, the 70s era house I rent is very poorly insulated over all and has huge thermal bridges built in (for example, stone sills that go from outside the house to the inside - you could store butter on them in the winter). I rented a 100+ year old farm house here before this 70s era house and the 70s era one is about as bad as the 100 year old in terms of insulation. Passive house concepts are a huge leap forward.

I am in Northern Illinois and when I watch them build a new home they never add exterior insulation to the house or the basement. Those are such easy cost effective ways to improve the building envelope. We get crazy cold here and crazy hot. You want a well insulated house.

Hi Matt. Thanks for the useful information about passive technologies, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the importance of solar considerations. Proper building orientation and window placement to capture the sun’s energy in colder months and minimize heat gain in warmer months costs nearly nothing.

You should do a video that goes along with this one, doing cost analysis how much the old house costed to heat and cool over its life span of 50 years, versus how much it would have costed if it was built to passive standard considering that solar panels weren't a thing back then or efficient later on, to show how much money better built houses can save.

I'm glad this standard exists. Now I have an even better idea of why I _definitely_ prefer natural building techniques.

Great video and informations ! Just a note about the Infrared camera that isn't a good tool to measure heat loss near windows. As it's mostly transparent to IR you will have trouble finding the right emissivity and measure the temperature of the glass. And even harder to get to heat loss. But putting a black opaque surface on your window will allow you to have a good idea of the temperature gradient at that point though.

Could you make a video break down on the cost benefit of all this extra money you're spending... How long do you see a return on your investment? How does it compare to a traditional house and cost?

Hi Matt. I see that technology has improved over the years. Back in 1985 I was living in Edmonton Alberta Canada where the winters can be bitter. I had a four-level split built to the R2000 standard, which was the best standard at the time. It had a lot of the passive items that you mentioned. The insulation values were R60 in the ceiling, R40 in the walls and R20 on all walls below grade. What I noticed when looking at the show homes, most had two furnaces, one furnace for the bedrooms which was 100,000 BTU and another furnace for the rest of the house 150,000 BTU. My house had a 50,000 BTU furnace. In the summer, the house was a lot cooler than outside, and I was asked many times if the house was air conditioned. We need to keep improving on how houses and buildings in general are built. Keep up the good work.

I live in Flanders (Europe), I built my house in 2011 with this air pump heat recovery system. It is fantastic! It gives a very nice climate in the house.

+1 on the windows winter/summer. I've found that reflective film is more important than adding that third glass layer. Bounce the summer heat back out and bounce the winter heat back in. I've used Gila Heat Control Platinum. Matt, I'm sure you have access to better materials.

As always good video. I am a home handyman, mechanic, do it yourselfer kind of a guy and I am such a geek for building tech. I am 62 and retiring in a few years. Building tech has gotten so cool in the last 20 years I wish I had chosen to go into the home building trade. Keep up the good work!👍 David L Lamberson, FS1, USCG, ret.

Best building info on the internet. Period! Thanks Matt

Matt, thanks for all your videos. You add a ton value to all your followers.

Outstanding timing. I've been watching your videos for about a year but I spent 6 hours researching passiv house standards yesterday. Really interested in this concept.

I would have never known about passive houses or heat pump water heaters if this show didn’t exist. Thanks Matt!

Love to see you talk about a fresh air system on this house including humidity management.

Incredible! I could watch these videos all day. Thanks for the great info.

We built a ranch in Iowa 2 yrs ago. Applied lots of your tips into the build. Out in the open, top of hill..yep lots of wind! Added metal roof, and built our own solar. Lots of work, but so much cheaper than our older, smaller ranch. Thanks for the tips!!

More on your new house build please! Love seeing it develop!

I must comment on several comments below. Please DO NOT oversize your windows to pick up more winter-time solar gain in your super-insulated home. We did and we're sorry we did. We followed passive solar guidelines (square feet of south-facing glass per square foot of floor) and although the home performs well at minus 40C (triple-glazed windows) it overheats in the summer if we reach 30C or more. If I had to do it over again I'd reduce that glass area. Overall, we're very happy with the place (R36 floor, R48 walls, R68 ceiling) but as in all unique designs, there are things that could have been done better. Live and learn.

Love watching your videos.. as a builder i get so many different ideas from your videos how to build better. Keep posting please!!

Love your videos with good information. I live in Hawaii where electricity is 37 cents/kWh. I installed solar panels, powerwall battery storage and an EV car. I save $600/month on gas and home electricity. Plus I have power with power outages and sell extra energy to the Grid.

Thanks for continuing to be an advocate for quality! I’d love for you to talk about why you went with Jeldwin windows on your home and also the specs of those which contribute to heat gain and air sealing.

Amazing video. We need more retrofit insulation videos for cold climates

i have build houses like this for years in europe(estonia, sweden, finland)...and your friend steve tolds all that what we have use/done meny years... i thoguht long time ago..when americans will start building like that!... And now you have made it. AWESOME

The more walls you put in....the more you restrict natural air flow, then you have to place pipes to each room which depending on how far the room is from the air handler it cool or heats up depending on the season. So more walls...the more you fight to heat or cool. Limited walls, better insulation in key areas, better ventilation is a must, but I'm afraid my suggestions won't fly here, simply because most Americans are sold on being enclosed by walls where they live, but at the very least my ideas will save you TONS OF MONEY and greatly increase the natural use of your heat or AC. And BTW, some of this man's ideas are sound. I like them. Maybe I'll even add some of them to my home.

Its amazing how much you can save. I have a house built in the 70 in Eastern Canada that I have been slowly working at. Air sealing to 1 ACH50, foam on the house, R60 in the attic with triple pane windows. Completely heated with heat pumps even during the winter, has cut my energy consumption by 60% and CO2 emission by almost 80%.

Nice Video Matt. We have covered quite a few of these homes, and they are dynamite.

Thank you for creating this content for those living in the South! The only comparable content in my opinion has been This Old House & Ask This Old House, but they seem to cater more towards those in the North and Northeast based on where they originated. The only thing one can can really do is teach what you know. Keep up the great work and continue posting this content! I'm not a builder. I'm just a nerd homeowner from Oklahoma that's been a South/East coast homeowner since 2009.

Loving watching these videos again. I remember when they came out, I would love to build my own home.

We just did a blower door test on my almost-a-passivhaus, 0.45ACH :)

Nice video. I wanted to implement some of the passive haus standards on my build over 10 years ago now but there just wasn't much knowledge here about it at the time. Nice to see it's catching on and more efficient buildings are coming along. I'd love to do a sort of fusion of the best of passive haus along with a more earth based & solar build like earthship or rammed earth.

I wish you had spoken of an insulated slab as this is the spot where your heat is lost more than anywhere else during the winter. Well worth the little extra. Good job sir

Great Video Matt! Your videos have been extremely informational. Can't thank you enough.

My house is passive aggressive.

This is the future! Great job.

Congratulations. These are the important topics: Healthy, comfortable, durable - these are the key goals. And the efficiency comes with it. Good success - please report again when you have experience from the first winter and summer.

Hey, Matt! Love your channel and what you do, brother 🙌 I'm currently planning my 1st custom home build. I am hooked on the idea of passageways around the perimeter of the structure as much as possible, and even some branching into the interior. This is, in my mind, a great way to maximize any and all maintenance or upgrade requirements moving forward, as well as access to a bunker/storm shelter.

Another goldmine of essential knowledge for better building. Thanks for your generosity all these years, Matt & Co. God bless y'all.

Man I love this channel! I always learn something new and practical and the way you present things is very easy to watch without losing interest! Thanks for doing this!

Thanks for making this detailed information accessible.

Thank you for bringing this up. I want this to be the new norm. Keep it up man.

Great content Matt! I have been researching passive house standard and this video is so informative. Please keep updating as you progress and show the final results on energy efficiency. Btw first 3 links didn’t work for me.

Love this video! When my home was built, I also insulated the inside walls. The advantages were; better inter-room acoustics and less transfer of heat/cool to unused rooms.

Matt, absolutely love your channel. There is such a wealth of knowledge and information and beautiful presentation. I also love how you seek out and share the latest and greatest technology and pass it on to your viewers. My wife and I reside just outside of Savannah, Georgia in a small apple pie and blue ribbon Town. A town that resembles how America used to be in the golden era of the 1950's. I am in my late 40's and my wife in her early 40's....we just recently had our first child (daughter - 10 months old) and have purchased 10 acres of land that contains 50 to 70 year old pine growth. We are in the process of smartly clearing out some of the trees for a long winding driveway that will lead to a build site under the pine and Magnolia tree canopy. We are going for more of an estate feel rather than just building a home on a 1/4 acre build site. We call it our own botanical gardens in the forest......native wild flowers and vegetation lining the driveway as you approach the home, a thinned out and healthy forest floor to attract wildlife and a home that seamlessly builds a partnership with the land and surrounding environment. To achieve all of this, we are intending to hire Mrs Jane Frederick of Frederick and Frederick Architechts and the current President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She and her team are located in the Hilton Head / Beaufort, South Carolina region just across the border from us and they specialize in building luxury homes in hot and humid climates like we have here in the low country (Southeastern. Georgia). My question to you is this.....we are seeking to build the most advanced home to date when it comes to energy efficiency, acoustics or sound dampening technology, solar technology, advanced electrical and wiring grid and air quality. I would love your input on product lines and or new cutting edge technology that the public may not be aware of. Also, what windows would you recommend? We are not worried about cost and are looking for the highest of high end windows that can take on this ruthless Georgia sun and beat it. We would love to pick your brain and hear your ideas. Thank you for this outstanding channel and the wonderful content you put out. Keep up the great work sir!

thanks matt, i appreciate your intelligence and integrity.

Matt if you take and put bi facial solar panels on those metal frames it will look really cool.. give you great shading similar to using a colored poly panel. Plus you can have a little solar to run all your exterior landscape and sconce lighting.

Great video. But I wanted to point out that more windows don't necessarily mean less efficient. Example: "Underground houses" If you build it facing south, bury the back and sides of the house in dirt (thermal mass, stays at the year-average temperature) and put a glass facade in such a way that most of the winter sun hits that backwall on sunny days, this light can heat your house up good. Of course, you should still look for a low U-factor and so on. But it all depends on how you use those windows. As long there is some sunshine and you have a means to store that energy (that thick wall in the back), you can use it for heating too. At least thats how ive understood this. Correct me if I'm wrong

Nice video's Matt been following for the last 2 years, I'm originally from the flanders in Belgium. Currently am a sparky in new zealand and housing here are shocking to see (even the new build) Really respect you, trying to get all that knowledge out there for better building, this is the future. Sadly its all so expensive, they should promote energy efficiency buildings. Don't let the bad comments get to you, know you get sponsored by some products, but as you said in one of the videos (long time ago) there are other good products out there! Keep up the good work! Cheers!

I'm just finishing my house in Germany. I built on a poured concrete basement with a cement mixture that prevents water from coming through the walls. In Germany, basements are traditionally covered with a cement roof which makes the house build like building on a slab. Insulation starts in the basement. On top of the bottom slab comes 10 cm (4") of styrodur insulation. On the outside of the basement exterior walls come 10 cm again of styrodur. These two installations overlap to minimize the cold breaks. The house is then built on the basement ceiling. Although most German houses are built with blocks, I chose a wood house. The framing is easily recognizable to an American, but it is built with 8 cm (a bit more than 3") of external insulation that also serves as the base for the stucco façade. This covers cold breaks. The wall studs are 6 cm wide but 20 cm (a full 8 inches) deep. With those massive studs, there is no need for the cross braces that are generally code in the US (more on that in a bit). I chose a natural wood fiber insulation for the walls, but it has a similar insulation value to rock wool. The walls are stiffened with 15cm OSB (3/5 inch). OSB is available in several grades, and I chose the grade that also works as the vapor barrier. This requires taping all the seams, corners, top and bottom (for that insect intrusion problem) but there is no additional plastic barrier needed. This OSB sheet also seriously stiffens the frame so the cross braces are not needed, removing another cold break. The interior walls are finished with plasterboard fastened to the OSB. The bottom floor ceiling is built with floor joists in a way that any American would recognize, although with heavier timbers, insulated for heat and sound. Interior walls are insulated for sound and heat as well. The house has in floor hot water heating, and it is common not to heat all the rooms in a house, so the wall insulation. The 2nd floor has not only the insulation in the ceiling below it, but also another 10 cm of styrodur on top of it. Walls and ceiling as on the first floor. Window are of a particularly energy efficient design. They are set into the frame with insulation that also provides a seal to the outside, obviously. The windows, however, open like a door into the room, and when you close them, they close into a 7 chamber seal - no air gets between the window and the window frame. Finally, triple pane glass. A passivhaus also generally must have the heat exchanger that you featured in the video, but the other tricks that take it over the edge are the heating system and a photovoltaic installation. I am fortunate to have a central heating plant that provides my heat and heat for a bunch of my neighbors; that is the most efficient and cheapest heat around, which adds to the passive calculations of the house. Also solar electric panels are a big step towards getting to the passivhaus standard. Indeed some houses having reached a negative balance with solar, meaning that they produce more energy than they consume.

Thank you for discussing how you get the fresh air into the house. This has been one of the confusing items for me around building to high air tightness

You should mention that when framing your house you need to ensure your kiln dried wood is in fact bone dry before sealing both the inside and outside as you describe, because if you don’t , that moisture trapped in all your wood will come out over time, and being that you have sealed inside and outside it will manifest inside your walls creating mold mildew and eventually rot. In the different seasons that moisture will travel internally up and down your walls rotting from ceiling to floor . I know this because I am a 30 yr leaky condo and house expert

Great concept. I want to make my next house that way. Last year, I saw a video of a 100+ year old in Montreal upgraded to passive house standard. So, even old houses can be upgraded. A usual passive house has double walls with 30 cm of insulation and 50 cm in the ceiling. Of course the air exchanger is key to that air tight system. In northern climates, you want big windows to heat up your house in winter, whereas in the south, you want small windows to keep the heat out. I hope more people aim for that standard, we can't keep burning fossil fuels wastefully as we have in the past.

Matt I love watching your videos! You have inspired me to be a better project manager.

@Matt Risinger, there appears to be a missing joist hanger in the upper right of the frame at 15:10. Is this intentional? Thank you for providing a clean, educational show that the whole family including young kids can enjoy!

Building with ICF as the base structure would seem to be the ideal way to build a passive house design. The wood frame structure requires many steps to seal possible air leakage points, for instance, that are inherently sealed with ICF construction. Thermal efficiency, sound insulation, wind and fire ratings are also improved with ICF construction.

Nice to see a builder interested in construction, instead of just profit, and the latest trend to make it marketable..

Hey Matt, I'd love to see some content on what the techniques and effort would be to apply the perfect wall system and passive house principles to a renovation project with a traditionally vented roof and eave system. Possibilities for converting existing rafters and joists to monopoly framing and whether it would be worth it. Thanks!

I keep hearing you talk about the same stuff for the most part, over and over. And I can't get enough! We need more smart building tech fundamentally. Keep on uploading!

wow this video speaks on how i want my home built.. less bug great heat and cool air exchange

Hi Matt, great exppainer video, love your channel. I think it would be worth to mention one of the most important principles of pasive house design. In my opinion this is the orientation of the building. Maening that you set out your house so that large glazing faces south to enable solar heat gains. And in order to minimise these gains during hot periods you could also plan to design a balcony that shades the glazing or a large tree that limits the amount of heat coming through the summer. The same tree allows the sun to go inside during winter once the leaves fall down. The U value pf your windows is quite high . In my house whichI build now all of the windows have U value below 0.9. Which is getting as a standard on all tripple glazed windows in Europe. Keep up the good job, looking forward to seeing more videos.

thats pretty cool youre helping demolition ranch dude with his abandoned mansion.

“Gee wiz two by fours”. Classic Matt! Lol Great video. Thank you.

Straw. STRAW! Matt, our house is post and beam with straw bale infill. Hay isn't used in construction due to its high food value and much lower R value. And your condescension for natural building is noted.

Great information! I have learned so much from this channel.

Texans did not see this yearly 2021 winter storming coming, how did the house fare in this year winter temperature drop ?

Need to show the finished product working with thermal imaging

Am I the only woman that enjoys watching these videos for educational purposes only? I’m not a construction worker/architect/designer or anything of that nature. I just like to know how houses are built and how to do things myself. I like woodworking and building my own things but I feel that’s rare for a woman especially where I live! Maybe one day I’ll be able to build my own home (with help of course) but for now I enjoy picking up the knowledge that Matt puts down. Thanks Matt! ✌️

I also live in a Hot Humid climate in NC and when I renovated my 60's Brick home, it had no wall insulation when I gutted the home so I did the poor-man's spray-foam technique by using 2" owens pink foam board and foam spray cans to fill the wall cavatie's. Nothing like you are doing but this channel inspired me to experiment. My little house is doing a much better job keeping cool. Unfortunately I still suffer from thermal bridging.

Everyone harps on being "too tight," then forgets about the fresh air systems which ALWAYS go hand in hand!

Next question. How much more on average does a PHIUS house cost to build compared to conventional building?

Love what this channel brings

Very nice work, Matt!

Matt, I would like to know more about the ERV/HRV run times. Does it run continuously? Does it only run when your HVAC system is running? Or is it schedule/timer driven? Also, what is the CPM, and is it variable? One last thing, you have not addressed “Makeup Air”. How do you manage the bathroom exhaust fan, kitchen exhaust hood and your clothes dryer? Do they all tie into the ERV/HRV?

Very interesting video. Thanks Matt, I learned a lot!

This was really useful, thank you Matt

It's probably a bit unaffordable for me to build to this level, but I hope to use a few of these solutions on my new house.

I can confirm. The wall temperature of your house has more affect on your comfort than air temperature. For air, its humidity is more important than its temperature

DEFINITELY GIVING ME IDEAS FOR OUR NEW HOUSE !!!

My dad did something similar to the house he had built in PA. Doing so saved him a TON of money to the power company. Many power companies will give you a major discount in your electricity rates if your house has X, Y, or Z certification.

I would love for you to design and build an earthship style house. I think the earthship folks have all the right ideas, but often they don't choose the materials and technology you do.

What? No hay bales? Well, that shot my dream home to pieces.

I had an old mobile home (1977) which had central air with a return "duct" underneath that drew air from every room. That was until an incident that smashed out the bottom of part of the "duct" and started pulling in nasty air from the in-ground crawl space underneath. I tried to get it fixed but it was so leaky, I gave up on it and modified my air handler with a 20x30 filtered opening (like right in the side of the air handler, lol). Suddenly, a vacuum was being pulled inside the house and MAN did I discover air leaks EVERYWHERE. It was fun getting blasted by hot air around ceiling AC vents, the ceiling connector for the two halves of the house and even the inside wall corners, where a layer of dust was pulled out from underneath the quarter round moulding! I fixed all that as best I could and as a bonus, my electric bill dropped by about 20%. Design matters!

Thanks Matt, great video and even better information ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Goals for my next house. I’m in TX. Way too damn hot !

I have passive solar with R40 ceilings and R40 walls in upstate NY .

Learned so much. Thanks

Excellent information, in the 1980s I rented 4000 Square feet of a old woollen mill. It was a basement and it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Pretty much like a cave, we used little heat in the winter to make that area cozy. Your house will be brilliant in avoiding the extremes in temperatures. I would love to build from new, land with building permission in the UK 🇬🇧 is expensive and hard to aquire.

To keep with your trend for air quality, have you thought about installing a central vac? I'd say it's a highly underrated technology and is actually quite cheap considering the longevity of the systems