It took a long time – and a lot of perseverance by Jonathan from Passivhaus Homes and the Passivhaus certifier, Naomi from Etude – but finally we received confirmation that we are now officially Passivhaus certified!
When the second airtightness test had been done last Autumn (see airtightness and ventilation post), we had naively thought that all was straightforward from there in terms of certification. However, as our house was very much on the limit in terms of pass requirements, a lot of different calculations and checks had to be done. Once Naomi was satisfied that everything was ok from her side – including the most detailed calculations of areas of living space (minus skirting boards, low height areas under eaves etc), specification of every single material used in the house; weather, shelter and shading details; and down to precise models of all electrical appliances – everything was submitted to Passivhaus certifying body. Generally, Passivhaus just accept the data they’ve been given but every so often they choose a project to double check everything – and yup, ours was selected for that too, so more time spent. Noone can say it isn’t a thorough process…
Once we’d had electronic confirmation, a few weeks later we received our Passivhaus plaque in the post. Whilst not sure we will be fixing it by the front door of our house (as they suggested), it’s currently sitting decoratively on one of the sitting room window ledges, and I do feel quite proud of it.
We also had the option to load up our project onto the Passivhaus map, and aside from the visitor centre in Gairloch, we are currently the only certified Passivhaus on the West coast. Hopefully it won’t be too long before others join us.
