103: It’s All About Airtightness

It's all about airtightness

Derek Ward is an Architectural Technologist at Clioma House, bridging the gap between drawing board and construction site.
Derek Ward is an Architectural Technologist at Clioma House, bridging the gap between drawing board and construction site.

Derek Ward’s strength is the science that connects good design with good performance. Clioma House specialises in ‘airtightness and effective insulation’. They help bridge the gap between the drawing board and the construction site.

Call the Experts, Early

The sooner you think about how much you want to do in relation to performance, the cheaper and easier it is to do.

Derek and Roman understand how important it is for them, or someone similar, to be involved in a project as early as possible. When they’re contact near the end on construction, there’s often little they can do to help. If airtightness and performance is considered right from the start, a Passive House standard home can be produced for near the same cost as a regular, code-compliant house.

Good passive house principle affect the health of the occupants, and it’s easy to do if you get the right advice early on.

Clioma House design their buildings to Passive House. They specialise in airtightness and effective insulation
Clioma House design their buildings to Passive House. They specialise in airtightness and effective insulation

Airtightness is Poorly Named

Airtightness is about the control of ventilation and leaks. It’s also an important component of the effectiveness of insulation. Derek cited this blog by past guest, Ken Levenson of 475.

Who Can you Trust?

Derek acknowledged that knowing who to trust is a huge issue for clients, especially when experienced builders rely on the ‘that way we’ve always done it’. Designer and builders can be convincing in their confidence, which is why it’s so important for you as a client to be even more confident about what outcome you want.

Get in Touch

Derek and Roman are both active on Twitter, or you can contact them through their user-friendly website, http://www.clioma.ie/


Comments

3 responses to “103: It’s All About Airtightness”

  1. […] airtightness keeps coming up. Derek Ward of Clioma House shared his thoughts on the topic back in episode 103 and Jon Davies of Pro Clima went into some detail in episode […]

  2. We all love good design and even more when it has performance, and the Intello Graphic seems to indicate that it really works.

    There must be an abundance of Wood building materials in Ireland that everyone is so focused on building with Wood. Is the source local or imported? If imported or not have you ever explored the EPS Composite Systems on the market, super airtight with only I/8 the concrete and double the Insulation of ICFs? Moisture with EPS Composites are never a problem, structurally or for mold problems.

    1. mcutlerwelsh Avatar
      mcutlerwelsh

      I think timber construction is pretty typical in most places ergodesk. It can be done well. And, as you point out, there are also good alternatives.

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