Monday, January 10, 2011

Clay plaster in passive house

We are doing clay plaster in the middle of winter... here some video from the passive house under construction in Bratislava.



The load bearing walls and ceilings are made from massive wooden elements (Lignotrend). Before we put on the clay plaster, reed mats are fixed to the walls. Some partition walls are laid with clay bricks and will also be rendered later. All in all there will be over 15t of clay material in the building.

This will not only give the building some additional mass, but the clay will function as a humidity buffer. If there is too much humidity it will be absorbed, if there is little (below 50%RH), it will give off a humidity. This is very helpful in winter time, when ventilation causes a drop of relative humidity levels inside (due to temperature differences outside/inside).

The house is insulated with blown in cellulose (30cm), the windows are not built in yet and are just covered with the outer soft wood fibre boards (52mm) wrapping the whole building. We are heating inside and at the same time using a ventilator with 5000m3/h to keep the air exchange high. Very good drying potential.

Will come back to this building to show how things work out later...

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