High-performance Passivhaus EnerPHit deep retrofit in Ireland

Barry McCarron, Chairperson of the Passive House Association of Ireland (PHAI), lived in his 1970s bungalow for eight years before he decided to embark on this full retrofit to EnerPHit standard.
“Our plan for a long time was to build a new home on our family farm not for away for the current house. However, as the years went by, I suppose we had made the house a home and therefore it made a lot of sense to look at retrofit. Knocking down the building and starting again could have been an option, however there was many benefits in keeping what we did, including the foundations, rear and both side external walls, which accounted for 35% of overall structure. There were planning implications, regulation implications and embodied carbon to consider”, explained Barry, when we met him on a sunny August day.
High energy bills of €4,500 per year was not the only issue that they faced in their old building. It was also the lack of comfort. There were huge temperature variations, especially in winter, throughout the house - from 30 degrees C around the solid stove in the sitting room, to below 16 degrees C in the kitchen. Together with poor indoor air quality, the only solution was to carry out a deep retrofit. Working with his architect, Barry, and his wife began to design a home for their family that was energy-efficient and comfortable.
Read the full case study and information on the Internorm product range for Passivhaus and EnerPHit projects on our website: uk.internorm.com/news/certifi....