Our last house build project in Gower, South Wales is a high spec eco house designed to be ultra energy efficient. The main frame is constructed using ‘I beams’ from a British company called Touchwood Homes. This new technology from Germany allows the walls of the building to be up to 300mm thick with very little cold bridging. The voids between studs are then filled with Warmcell insulation(recycled newspaper.) The envelpope around the building is air tight but breathable and should get an airtight rating of 0.5-1.5m3/m2.hr @50Pa (UK building regs rating is 10m3/m2.hr @50Pa, Passivhaus rating is 1).

Heating will be supplied by a ground source heat pump to underfloor pipes and supplemented by a small woodburning stove in the main living area. All joinery will be high performance timber frame and triple glazed.

The client also required a certain amount of greenoak throughout the building to give a more natural feel. The kitchen/dining area is a traditional oakframe handmade and supplied by us.

The final deatailing will be feather edge wood cladding and a slate roof covering. The frame was completed in early March. The client expects to be in by Chistmas 09

What you see in this picture is the result of five weeks work. Total frame erection time is six weeks. Using pre-fabricated  frames allow a shorter ‘on site’ build time. Other frames can be erected in even shorter periods depending on the frame system(see news).

This house is still under construction although our part in the process is over. More up to date photos to follow.

Tags: eco house, i beam, timber frame, touchwood home