Massive passive house as bungalow

We really need to revise or rather rethink the thing with the square and the cube!!! I'm not a fan of a flat roof, even if it may be cheaper in terms of initial costs! Why not??? A shed roof is also an affordable alternative.

The plot is more than enough for a square, so we absolutely wanted everything to be on one level and also in the described size (15.5 x 11m). Not square but cuboid. Have you really checked the floor area ratio and the floor space index?

I had to google a lot first to decipher all the abbreviations.

I'll start with the numbering now and next to it my questions. Hollow bricks are the good old bricks (at least they look like that)?

VWS with EPS = full thermal insulation with EPS rigid foam boards Which incident in Hamburg and why are these unsuitable or what would be more suitable? Apart from the ecological concerns, it's a fire accelerant. In a multi-family house in Hamburg, a fire started, the fire shot behind the EPS facade up to the attic and spread there. The market for insulation materials is infinitely large maybe you should read up on it first.

Regarding the timber construction: My grandmother built a total of 3 houses with bricks that have stood for decades and have no problems, but she had a wooden balcony once and the work we always have with the wooden balcony is simply the worst. Therefore, I want to learn from my grandmother’s experience and actually avoid wood.

As a layman, I also don’t understand the point of a wooden frame that I then cover with plaster, clinker, facade panels, and so on, since the wood always moves and if I put something on top and the wood underneath moves, eventually it will crack and I’ll have to repair it again.

I don’t have that problem with bricks, do I? Of course, you do, too, there is no material without movement and the annoying thing is that everyone moves differently. If you combine plaster and bricks, then the movements are also different which can lead to cracks. This is not a problem of a particular building material but of the execution. And here comes the grinding wheel: building is for professionals and they cost some money, so don’t save on the architect and structural engineer. And as for your grandmother’s balcony, even I as a fully convinced timber builder wouldn’t build a balcony out of wood. Unfortunately, steel is the better building material here, cry.

By Passive House we understand an airtight house with a heat pump (i.e. comfort ventilation with heat recovery), triple-glazed windows, replacing heating through air circulation. The costs of the heat pump and other energy sources are to be offset by solar power.

We have the same, as a Kfw70 house. Significantly cheaper than a Passive House.

The electricity can also be fed in via a photovoltaic system. That is correct. BUT: to my knowledge, there are not yet any affordable systems that can also store electricity. That is why, despite a photovoltaic system, you are usually still connected to the local electricity provider.

A wooden balcony is not to be compared with a timber frame construction. It is exposed to the weather. Of course wood moves, but within a framework that does not cause the walls to collapse.

In my homeland Westphalia there are many houses that have stood for hundreds of years built according to the same principle. These are half-timbered houses and they don’t just fall down.

I do not want to convince you of a timber construction, it just occurs to me that you have not yet dealt much with the different building materials and also with which building material allows which airtightness of the house.

Well, I think you should have mentioned the location of your house first. Then I wouldn't have had to worry about floor area ratio/plot ratio. A discussion about your energy concept also seems misplaced here from the point of view of the location. I hardly believe anyone here knows the legal requirements, energy prices, energy availability, etc. in Hungary. It must be around the Burgenland/Neusiedler See area. So a region with a relatively mild climate. I think it would make a lot of sense to get advice from a local expert, wouldn't it???
Best regards, Friedrich.

Well, I think you should have mentioned the location of your house first. Sorry, I didn’t think of that, it was a mistake and of course, I should have done that right away!!!

I also think a discussion about your energy concept is misplaced here under the aspect of location. I hardly believe anyone here knows the legal requirements, energy prices, energy availability, etc. in Hungary. I don’t see it that way, since I want to build a passive house, and it’s not about how much we save, meaning how high the energy prices are, but about the fact that we want to be independent of the prices!!!

It should probably be the Burgenland/Neusiedler See area. So a region with a relatively mild climate. I think it would make a lot of sense to get advice from a local expert, wouldn’t it??? Regards, Friedrich.

We will do that, but by now I am a very big fan of forums because honest answers are simply given here!!!

According to their study focus, an architect is primarily trained in design. An engineer provides the necessary building physics proofs, but also construction planning, tendering, site supervision, etc. Now it may be that the architect is also a civil engineer and vice versa. Or he is an engineer and, through membership in the [Architektenkammer], is also allowed to call himself an architect. So you can have both in one person, or the office employs both, or the office awards contracts to specialist planners, or you have to award such contracts yourself.

Timber construction: No one can be forced into their own happiness and the forum is certainly not there to convert you. So I will leave it at that. But one tip, keep away from friends, acquaintances, regulars’ tables, and relatives when it comes to building a house, you will only be unsettled. Where did you get your knowledge about the non-existent longevity of wood? You do know that some of the oldest buildings in the world (meaning those where people also live) consist of 100% pure wood. It does not depend on the building material but on how things are built and maintained.

Passive house yes okay, although I have not really found anything about it in the discussion yet. I have spoken about the energy concept. Do you know the legal requirements there regarding consumption and feed-in? I do not currently know what kind of heat pump you are assuming. Heat pumps also need to be approved. What are the regulations there, and so on and so forth.

Regards Friedrich.

Thank you for the info, of course you try to get both in one because then you pay less or do you pay the same for 2?

Of course there are wooden buildings that have been there forever, but I just can't get along with wood...
I just want as little work on the house as possible afterwards and that's why I find bricks simply better!

I get my knowledge about bricks and also generally about something actually from experiences, so from experiences!
I'm just brutally fascinated by the Colosseum and how such a gigantic thing could be built with bricks (and of course concrete) so long ago and that it lasts so long!

I always like to listen to tips from friends, home builders, etc., but the very first thing I searched for on the web was: "The biggest mistakes in house building" and this point is mentioned everywhere and I don't want to make that mistake!!!
But thanks again!!!

Of course we have to clarify all the regulations in Hungary with the architect/engineer, just like the exact price, permits, etc.

For me, it was important now to gather as much information as possible (like earlier with the bricks, the roof shapes, no VWS with EPS or whether wood or not)

Are there any other things I haven't thought of, like the best insulation (plan is set, type of brick too, roof not quite yet (possibly hipped roof))