SHOWHOUSE
Our show house viewings and presentations are available every Wednesday at 3pm. No need to book.
Extra show house viewing and presentation:
Sat, May 25th 2024 at 12pm
#397 Nordica 125 with converted attic, raised roof and square dormer feature, 35° roof pitch in Co.Tipperary, construction in April 2024
#398 Nordica 115 with converted attic, raised roof and square dormer feature, 35° roof pitch in Co.Kilkenny, construction in April 2024
#396 Baltica 135, single storey, 35° roof pitch in Co.Clare, construction in March 2024
#394 Baltica 153, single storey and L-extension, 35° roof pitch in Co.Limerick, construction in February 2024
More previous houses built (click here for photo gallery)...
Sustainability
The building of timber houses is a genuinely environmentally sound method of construction. Coniferous wood is a sustainable natural resource and it’s growth and production is a farming industry. Careful management means that more trees are planted than are cut down each year. The exterior and structural timber is pressure impregnated with copper salts only where necessary. The timber used is exclusively Swedish grown Baltic Pine (Pineus Silvestris) and Norway Spruce (Picea Abies). Scientifically developed construction methods ensure that no moisture can arise – this is the environment friendly way to eliminate the risk of mould and rot attacks.
Green alternative – quality of life
As we become more conscious of the detriment that is caused to the environment in order to achieve our basic needs, we often choose a “green alternative” which may unfortunately be more expensive than the regular more unsound product – organically grown vegetables is one example. In a timber frame house from Scandinavian Homes however, the opposite is true. The standard of living is substantially increased while the cost of living is substantially decreased and at the same time the method of building and running the house is environmentally friendly.
Our houses are built from a natural resource; coniferous trees from managed forests in Scandinavia.
Energy waste and pollution in the production of a house
Considerably less energy is used to produce a timber house compared to a house with masonry walls. Timber requires relatively small amounts of energy to grow and process. Timber is also lightweight in relation to its size and strength. This makes it economical to transport and to work with. Another bonus is that the waste from primary processing of timber can be used to make particle boards.
Most important perhaps, is to avoid polyurethane insulation materials, so often used in masonry construction. These artificial materials provide excellent insulation but we consider them environmentally dubious: during production in chemical factories, in the usage with possible off-gassing, and the harmful waste products at the end of the life-span.
We choose to use harmless natural insulation materials that work well with timber frame methods; Rockwool in the walls and recycled newspaper insulation in the roof.
Timber is a low pollution material – in felling, processing, use and disposal. Preservative treatment with copper salts are needed for timber in some cases. The treatment is carried out under properly controlled conditions. But in contrast to other building materials it does not contribute to the “sick building” syndrome. This is often caused by moisture penetrating and staying in the walls of houses with masonry external walls.
Life cycle and burden on the environment.
The expected life length of the house – and the time before major repairs are necessary – is an important environmental as well as economic issue. A house that works well over a long period of time will naturally be a lesser burden on the environment than one that needs frequent overhauls. An ordinary house using plastered concrete blocks as the external skin will need repainting with very short intervals if it is to stay looking good. A timber panel of dense Scandinavian timber that is treated with tung-oil would need maintenance every 4-10 years mainly for visual reasons. The concrete wall usually needs major repairs after 30 – 50 years. The effects of water and frost can cause cracks and movements of the concrete blocks, which makes the plaster fall off in places. The pressure treated timber cladding is made of close-grained pine with high levels of natural resin. It is generally estimated that the cladding will last for 100 years in a maritime climate.
The fact that different types of materials, such as brick, PVC, aluminium and wood shrink and expand differently is important for the maintenance and the life span as well. In a house built of a mix of different materials, such as a regular cement-block house, the following happens: Different parts of the house contracts and expands variously. Problems with cracks and leaks will occur. A timber house won’t develop these problems because the whole structure moves in the same way when temperature and moisture levels change over the year.
Energy savings in the running of a house
By far the most important environmental aspect is the enormous saving on energy that living in a passive . Houses consume almost two thirds of Irelands annual energy bill. The average outside temperature in Ireland is +10°C. The desired inside temperature is about +20°C. The difference is only 10°. In a well built house it does not take much energy to make up this difference. In Sweden, the difference between inside and outside temperature is often between 30° and 50° and people manage – because they just had to develop better houses. With better built houses, less waste of fuel and money would take place simultaneously with reduced air-pollution and increased standard of living. (all rooms habitable and relatively warm at all times).
Philosophy
Consider what you want from the perfect house. Make a list of your requirements! You might come up with things like:
History
The Scandinavian settlers of islands like the Faroe Islands and Iceland built as much as possible of their houses of wood. The lack of forest forced them initially to build partly underground with only the top part of the walls, and of course the roof, being made of wood. All available timber was used, such as salvaged parts of boats and driftwood. Another example of the stone versus wood construction culture can be found in the forest-less southern Swedish province of Skåne and the neighbouring forested province of Småland. There are hardly any houses made of stone in Småland where timber is abundant. In Skåne timber had to be imported, so consequently the buildings economize with the amount of wood used. Most houses were made with a timber post-frame filled in with stones and mortar. Where timber was available it was always the preferred building material for the family home! – Today we have more choice than ever before, and we can use the materials best suited to the local climate.
We came to the conclusion that the two factors which are most essential to consider in achieving the goals stated above are:
Building in the Irish climate
In Ireland the average external temperature is around +10° and the lowest temperature is around -8° with relatively windy conditions. We estimate that we need a U-value of around 0,2 W/m²K for the walls in order to minimize heatlosses to a tolerable level through the envelope of the house. . This is provided that we use other energy saving components such as triple glazed windows and heat recovery to minimize the ventilation heat losses as well. Translated into insulation thickness this means that we need a minimum of around 150mm of some kind of carefully installed insulation in the external walls. (note: this text was written in 1991, before we improved all our houses to passive standard with walls between <0.16 and <0.1)
The external skin of the house must be capable of withstanding frequent wetting and sometimes driving rain conditions. For us this rules out the usage of external materials such as bricks or concrete block as they absorb moisture. There are modern methods that can easily meet our insulation design criteria such as blocks of expanded polystyrene, very much resembling large Lego building blocks, filled with pumped concrete. (We have used this method for the underground back wall of the garage at our old show-house and it works very well!) It is however difficult to meet our other criteria about environmental concerns and low-cost with this method.
If we consider that an external wall has three primary functions to fulfill we can gain a better understanding of how well different construction materials are suited to various tasks.
Scandinavian Homes construction methods:
Scandinavian Homes construction methods:
Our choice of optimal construction method is based on the belief that the primary technical challenge in the Irish climate is dampness and driving rain. The external skin of the wall in both the timber and plastered versions has to be ventilated. The roof construction has two ventilation gaps. In the foundation the edge to edge insulation provides a natural advantage as the moisture moves away from the warmer to the colder side of the insulation.
We at Scandinavian Homes did a lot of thinking about such issues and researched the diverse techniques available. The building methods available can be divided into two groups – heavy and light. In places like Ireland and Britain the heavy methods have been totally dominant. This is also the case in hot countries like Spain and countries in South America. The light methods have been used in cold climates such as Scandinavia, North America but also in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The reasons for this could be ascribed to climatic reasons, but also availability of building materials and cultural traditions. Generally, in Europe at least, timber has been used where it was available. In areas without local timber people have been forced to use other materials.
Our solution is a simple one. We use a timber-framed wall, a method well established for over 100 years, with 145mm Rockwool within the frame. Externally a rigid Asphaboard construction board is fixed directly to the frame. This gives a wall which is absolutely airtight, yet breathable, as the Aspha board is permeable but waterproof and structurally strong. The external skin consists of either a timber-panel or a silicate-fiber sheet with a lightweight silicate plaster system, behind both of which there is a ventilation gap. Passive upgrade of 70mm or 120+70mm Rockwool insulation is added on the inside after the shell is erected.
The roof from outside to inside: Slates or tiles, battens and counter battens, mineral-felt, 20mm tongued and grooved solid timber sarking, air-gap for ventilation, 3mm board, cellulose insulation, age-proof polyethylene vapour barrier and plasterboards on the inside.
The floor from below to above: Quarry stones, single size clean stones, 280mm expanded polystyrene insulation, vapor/radon barrier, power floated concrete, underlay, floating engineered timber floor. Insulated base units are installed all around the circumference of the base.
Guidelines for how we work at Scandinavian Homes:
Present facts so our customers can make informed decisions.
Inform about the building methods used by our company and the reasons why we use certain techniques.
Present the limitations of our modular building method and the drawbacks that can be encountered if we stray too far away from our standard methods.
Let the prospective buyer see and feel the end result by visiting the show-house, no one should be allowed to buy a house without first seeing the show-house. The best houses are usually built for/by people with a deep interest in their future home. Often they have been planning their house for years, made many simple sketches of their dream-house, before finally deciding on a certain plan.
Inform about how a standard Scandinavian Homes house could be improved even further.
Transparency and openness
An open direct relationship between the customer and Scandinavian Homes should be established. The customer should be personally informed and involved in the following areas as far as possible:
The building techniques, the drawings, the contract, the payments, the quality control, the checks to ensure all supplies are correct. The company will respond quickly to telephone calls, fax and e-mails and we expect our customer to do the same.
Relations with customers
We like to have informed, demanding and enthusiastic customers. We also like to see our customers taking an interest in maintaining their houses in the future. We will be there with advice and spare parts whenever needed. We buy system components from reliable companies with a long-term perspective on quality and spare-parts availability. A house built by us is not any timber-framed house – it is built by Scandinavian Homes Ltd. – an established brand name.
Avoid complex materials and substances
In today’s world we are all exposed to a multitude of new chemicals and materials almost everywhere. We believe it is beneficial to reduce the complexity and amount of chemicals that we expose ourselves to in the home. All materials emit particles to the surrounding air. What we can do as producers of houses is to use building materials that are un-complex, and to provide ventilation-systems to keep the particle-count in the air low. We use pure timber and plasterboards made of gypsum and paper, Masonite boards made of wood fibers and natural cellulose binders. The concrete in the foundation is separated from the livingspace with barriers of simple polyethylene film and foam. We strive to keep our customers informed about un-complex surface treatment methods and cleaning agents.
Keep It Simple
We use simple constructions and systems that are easily understood and maintained in the future by whoever lives in the house. Our design philosophy entails investing more in passive structures than in complex systems. For example: We use triple glazed low emission shield, argon gas filled windows, that are located in the walls so that we maximize the passive solar heating in all houses. A more complex active solar heating system with special collectors, heat-storage and distribution system can be added if desired. We use a relatively simple ventilation / heat recovery system as opposed to a more complex heat-pump arrangement. Installation of solar collectors and/or a heat pump can be a very good addition to a Scandinavian Homes house, but we think that you must have the basic house right first.
In the forefront of sustainable design
Scandinavian Homes Ltd. ensures it stays informed of the latest in energy-efficient and ecological design. For example: We offer a total “Passive house” upgrade, 2-4 liter flush water-saving WCs, biological toilets and urine/fecal separating WC systems. We monitor research and development, especially in the Nordic countries and take advice from other European experts. We are however interested in other methods as well, as we believe most of our customers are too. On this web page we would like to share some of this information with our existing customers as well as stray visitors. If you have information that you think could be of interest to others, please let us know.
