I'd love to see a video about the differences in performance and cost (material and labor) between rigid exterior insulation outside the WRB + a single stud wall vs interior thermally broken double stud wall, with all insulation inside the WRB. I think this kind of comparison would be very helpful to a lot of viewers.
The clip product is called Crossfix by EJOT - a German company. The clips are stainless steel and are part larger system used to mount cladding on buildings. Typical use is commercial, but this looks like a great use on residential building. I have a crappy early 90s house that I am considering coccooning in rockwool outsulation, covering the exisiting brick and everything. These clips might be a good choice.
The late Vancouver Architect Arthur Erickson has inspired many Architects and builders in Vancouver. These details are leading edge and Mr. Erickson encouraged builders to go beyond the code.
I got to work on one of his homes in Kelowna. Mr. Erickson had an amazing ability to create uniques structures in both their design and methods of assembly
Had the pleasure of working on a kitchen renovation on one of his houses in the Point Grey neighborhood. 25 years on now the beauty and character of the house is still with me 😊.
I love these kind of videos, but most of this stuff seems like it's almost only applicable to either fairly wealthy DIY folks, or incredibly wealthy folks who can afford the absolute builders/teams. I say this because most folks can't afford this level of detail, and even if they can, they better plan on DIY because very few builders/crews will actually be willing to (or couldn't be trusted to) build to this level. I've tried hiring folks over and over here in the states, and they're only interested in slapping crap together they way they've always done it, or they will take (all) your money to do what you want and either screw it up royally, or cut every corner they can the second nobody is looking! This level of builder is very rare, and no doubt very cost prohibitive to all but the very wealthy!
OK, but they probably thought about that when cars were introduced, indoor plumbing, electricity? I consider these stepping stones, not solutions, these provide us insight and direction........not only that, these details can be scaled down, the concept here is to provide insight to thinking, not what you should do exactly....
@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 Understood, but that's the problem Steve! 95%+ of the builders I've seen are not interested in thinking or change, just maximizing their profit by slapping things together they way they've always done as quickly as possible to keep the money-train rolling. They typically could care less about longevity, efficiency, etc... just doing the minimums and turning the job as quickly as possible to grab the next $!
It’s been a challenge to get everyone on the same page, my plumber couldn’t comprehend splitting the line set and running each pipe and wire out its own hole until I spent the few hours to install it with him and show him the reason behind it. He’s always run the two lines and the wire from outside into the house as one but now he’ll do it the way we did on anything he does for me and it will just be the new standard.
I've been a big fan of mineral wool for a while: I re-insulated my under-house garage ceiling about 12 years ago, and the difference between that and fiber-glass insulation is tremendous! Love the exterior mounting system too - that's next on my home-upgrade checklist.
real life Economic costs of a "passive' house ....Far exceed the Energy savings. For Very Many years Too many truth be told (use your calculator if doubting) . These are invariably interesting "affections" built to satisfy Egos.... more than Anything else. Power pipe :-) Only has effect when heated water drains thru it. An Intermittent effect.. at best.
How can that lvl be attached to the ledger properly with 6in of foam wedged in between. What about the shearing forces? It looks as though the cantilevers moment of force is mostly resisted by the foam?
@@UrR2KBA EPS (and XPS) comes in different qualities regarding compressive strength and don't forget that the legder board (LVL) also spreads the compressive forces.
There is another company that makes what you're describing. I can't recall the name but I know NS Builders (Boston) has used them; might want to check their videos.
Thanks for sharing! Always love seeing more of these ideas! I would love to see on your site, one day, an index/table of contents of sorts, where you list out the good, better, best type of solutions for builders/DIYers to be aware of - with things like cost breakdown, pay off period given certain assumptions, etc. All this great information is often times disconnected, and for most people who don't have the luxury of building a custom home, they miss out on all this amazing knowledge because most production builders are trying to cut corners everywhere to make more profits.
8:11 the eminent people at Building Science have a piece on this wall type: _ETW: Wall - 2x6 Advanced Frame Wall Construction with Mineral Fiber Insulation Board_
That is a really well designed and built house! Steve didn't specifically mention the drainage membrane rapped around the foundations, but you can guarantee there is a french drain around the entire property; the membrane is there to ensure that any water that approaches the house will be drained away from it quickly. Ejot and Soudal are big companies in Europe. Ejot make a very large range of different fixings for insulation, including the plastic-headed screw fixings seen in the video.
Finally, a thermally broken clip for exterior insulation. Screws and plastic washers destroy the idea of exterior attached thermally broken rigid insulation.
The clips in the mineral wool are cool. My masonry walls look similar with all the masonry wall ties going through the mineral wool batts and boards. I like the Euro sills on the window. We do masonry sills which don't insulate and have mortar joints. But we do timber frames so they are minimal 12" thick plus zip sheating. Thanks Steve.
Can't the furring strips be place flush up against the insulation? The mineral wool could still drain reasonably well, and it's got plenty of ventilation in the adjacent cavities. What about pressure equalization and wind driven rain? An excessive gap could also lead to more rapid movement of air during a cladding fire.
Great work; thank you for the new (for me) information and very pleasant and easy to understand presentation; what a difference from the “old construction methods/details”…
We tried that bump out with doors and windows but found they were colder. That's why we install in plane with wall and with thermal breaks. A recessed window or door is warmer then in plane. Commercial doors seem like they are the worse for heat loss and condensation.
There are a bunch of different manufacturers making similar clips. In Canada, we also have ACS A-CLIPS (made up of two pieces, so it's adjustable in depth) made by Soprema (same people who do waterproof membranes. I can't remember the name of the manufacturer, but there is one up here who makes thermally broken, adjustable type. One part is made from glass fibre, and attaches to the wall, and the other type is steel (I think) which is used to attach the exterior cladding.
Very very interesting - I have a 100+ year old brick home that desperately needs insulation - the interior is finished with impressive walnut that I hesitate to take apart to allow for adding interior insulation - so the exterior rock-wool seems like the best way to go - but how to attach anything to that real old brick? Maybe this hanger system would be viable?
It's got a water-proof coating, so, in theory, it doesn't need it. For buildings where you want a very long life (100 year+), you might want to add a breathable weather barrier over rockwool, but you'll always have penetrations for the brackets going through that barrier, so doing it properly would require a weather seal for each bracket.
@@tlangdon12 For wool-like materials, the WRB has a double function, it's also needed to keep the wind out of the insulation layer. That's why the WRB had to be finished _"as much as possible"_ as if it was an (external) air barrier. _(The WRB Majvest 200 is placed at the wrong location in this project)._ Personally, I would rather use a capillary active material as air barrier, i.e. MDF.RWH, fibre cement board,... In general, a vapour barrier is less important than an air barrier.
Wow Steve I really like that exterior insulation system. However, if I were the contractor on that build I would add some yellow tape across those glass doors that already installed. With the tape it would lessen the chance of someone breaking them during construction. Just sayin'
Steve, check out Ekobuilt out of the Ottawa area. They are doing Passive house for the broader public. I used them to build my own and it’s fanatastic!
Exterior insulation is so great from efficiency and resilience perspective. It does seem like it's out ahead of labor efficient and cost effective solutions put a rainscreen on when there is 6-8+ inches outside of sheeting. Hopefully systems like this become more mainstream available.
Vapour Barrier goes on the inside, usually just behind the drywall. But mineral wool is vapour and air permeable, and it doesn't change when wet. It's basically stone made into a thick cotton candy. It will breathe and dry on its own.
There is 6” of exterior insulation so the sheathing will stay warmer and although I’m sure they’ll use Majrex as a vapor retarder it’s possible that if you modeled it they don’t even need one.
And we wonder why houses are getting so expensive when you see this type of construction there are far simpler methods of achieving insulation values than this. I suggest you take a look at quick therm for one. It's not the wall structure that loses heat, but the windows
I'm about to renovate my entire plumbing system, that powerpipe is a fantastic idea (I live in Northern Canada, so incoming water is very cold in the winter, this would help tremendously).
Large roof overhangs add beauty and protect doors, windows, and siding from rain, water and sun damage. More architects need to bring back large overhangs on buildings they design.
So many questions-is the balcony part of the interior conditioned space-but also has a thermal break? The balcony connection is through a wide block of Joan only held by cantilevered bolts? What? Fascinating. Obviously an ultimate build, but with everything you show I see $$$$$. That money would go a long way to relocating to a better climate.😊
I love your videos and realize you show different construction ideas. However, do you agree that the material and labor costs would be MUCH cheaper if you simply installed comparable R-value rigid board insulation with wood slats instead of all of those brackets, metal rails, mineral wool/Rockwool, and wood slats?
Overkill. If you build a large fireplace in the basement you can control where you want the majority of your heat depending on where the sun is located.
Cost of the exterior mineral wool system? Love its use and ingenuity, but soaring costs of everything making me rethink many things, however, no debating its effectiveness!
New homes in canada (and i assume the us too) are completely toxic. The last thing I would want is to live in one of these tight chemical boxes. I guess if you don't care about your health. Much better to live in an old, drafty home made of real pure wood. The best air quality I ever had was in a home built in the late 1800s. It was glorious and so solid. My asthma flares up in basically all new homes here, they are gross.
@@alantittle299 Definitely. I find it sad that we have prioritized energy efficiency over health. I think homes need to be designed to be chemical free FIRST, then efficiency comes secondary to that, as long as health isnt compromised. Inhalation of urea formaldehyde, isocyanates and various other esters, polyols, resins etc is incredibly detrimental to health and longevity. It also amazes me how so little research is done in this regard. Efficiency is great and all, but who cares if you are sick or have taken years off your life.
@@DkBu-zy6ui I am sure you are well aware that even without new construction that average household air is more polluted than average city air due to all the additional proximity of all our chemical cleaners which should be outside the envelope and vented, garage should be detached and vented on a timer. I eventually investigated for other Trojan horses and came up questioning cutting board glue. Artisans glue up beautiful designs but most glue is toxic for a double dose of air and gastronomic.the heavily laminated bamboo products are frightening, as well as flooring. Even if I bought a used home it would have to have a substation mechanical room for the ERV and ducting.
@@alantittle299 Definitely. I don't use any of that in my space. I use no chemical cleaners at all. No garage, vehicles are parked outside. I've been building the place and all the furniture in it with typical non toxic wood glue. I use no laminated products, no bamboo. only real wood and no soft woods as their terpene content is high (cedar, etc). I stick with maples and oaks as they don't trigger me. I also use a mechanical HRV in my space and run it between 3 and 5 air exchanges per hour. It makes a huge difference!
@@DkBu-zy6ui Great info. Thanks for sharing. It is well worth the extra cost of the ERV/HRV for the wealth of health (wholeness). Of course in TeXas I will keep it to ERV with model selection or options with an eye on humidity management. I just spent as much as an ERV install on the Pompa method detox program a couple weeks ago. Bad mercury, mold and eating out too much. All in for huge life change.
When a washing machine is draining it is not simultaiounsly filling so only a shower. It has to be water in, water out at the same time or totally ineffective@@markgrabowski8662
Has anyone Done any research as to what you accomplish with a thermal break. I can't find any. Is it cost effective? Hey Kids Great PHD there. You Might even get someone to pay for your DEGREE. Very Interesting building system. But I have to say I'm pretty sure I would've defaulted to a foot of concrete wrapped in foam. But Maybe I'm wrong and Just Old School.
My picture window is vinyl split frame ie thermally broken its the only window in house that does not get frost on inside when it's -40 c outside, not sure on savings but certainly works
They almost certainly use nothing on the inside cavity! They don't need to with the insulation on the outside of the wall, and they don't have any cold bridges caused by studs.
@@tlangdon12this is Canada, almost certainly will use (probably rockwool ) why go through all that effort outside and NOT do the easy inside and greatly increase r value ?
but why use metal across 90% of your thermal cross section? if its -20 outside that grid of steel has to be reducing the performance of that wall.@@GregsStoneYard
@@carlosbourdet5415 You have to bridge 6" and support the cladding. WIthout seeing some thermal imaging, I'm going to assume that bracket manufacturer has done some, and that the orange nylon/plastic part is enough to break the thermal bridge.
