Differences in insulation between solid construction and prefabricated house

Good morning,

we also have to decide soon whether to build a solid house or a prefab house. However, we tend to prefer the solid house. The prefab house providers always argue that a prefab house is always better insulated and also has thinner walls and is more space-saving. What do you think about that? A gas connection is only possible with great effort on the property, so I would like to use a heat pump. I have also heard negative opinions about this for a solid house.

Best regards
Tobi

Hello Tobi,

first of all: you can't go wrong with any construction method (provided the workmanship is right...), I simply followed my gut feeling when building the house and am currently building solid with a Poroton T8 at 42.5 cm without additional insulation (U-value of 0.18). Of course, you can achieve better values with thicker bricks or extra insulation. What is true is that with timber frame construction you get thinner walls (with the same insulation value) than with solid construction.

Whether a heat pump is worthwhile or not does not primarily depend on the wall structure, but much more on factors like (location, floor plan, orientation, windows, roof, heating behavior, ...). It is worthwhile to invest in an independent energy consultant here.

Prefab house providers always argue that a prefab house is always better insulated and also has thinner walls and is more space-saving.

However, in a single-family house, sound and heat protection is usually better....

You can also build a Kfw70 house with ~30cm walls in a single-family house... Prefab houses usually don't have thinner walls either, but they usually offer a better U-value of the wall.

Depending on how important wall thickness, heat and sound protection, or insulation are to you, you can weigh the advantages and disadvantages yourself...

OK, thanks for the info. I see it similarly.