Building a passive home requires knowledge of building science that a great number of builders do not take the time to acquire. Kelsch Construction is constantly researching advanced technologies. Over the years, we have formulated a very basic philosophy that acts as our top-level guide in all decisions we do.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
1. Quality first.
2. Time second.
3. Cost third.
We factor all three, in this exact order, and we also factor them together as one complete philosophy. If we reverse the order and put cost first, the tendency is to ignore the first and discard the second. When this happens, mistakes happen, quality suffers, and the project becomes poorly managed and the end product fails.
CAVEAT
Before we move on to our passive home core philosophy, it is important to know what is coming as far as the weather is concerned. Most people look at the Farmer’s Almanac for the next year. Some listen to scientists and climate change experts who greatly say that we are facing greater warming, which they now call climate change. The truth is we are entering what is called a global cooling cycle due to the sun’s transitioning into a 400 year dormancy cycle. Sun is actually going to sleep for a while and this affects our climate.
The sun is calming down with less sun spots, and this means massive cooling. We are entering a mini ice age. They call it the Grand Solar Minimum. Feel free to follow adapt2030 on YouTube. There are many reporting on this, even NASA is talking about a cooling cycle that does not fit within the political narrative of human-caused climate change. The real change in climate is going to be cooling and not warming, and the cause is from direct solar cycles. This means we need to plan for even colder weather than we have experienced in our lifetimes.
PASSIVE HOME PHILOSOPHY
With above in mind, the following are three key points we focus on in building a passive home. We follow them in this order and together.
Thermal Mass
Thermal Break
Thermal R Value
With above in mind, the following are three key points we follow in same order in building a passive home. Thermal mass and thermal breaks are greater in value than thermal R value. Please contact Kelsch Construction to learn why we hold these three principles in this order. We have a complete research PDF that helps detail our findings. We would love to build a passive home for you.