Above you can see the floor panels in place. They were assembled off site and trucked in as components. They were built as empty boxes and once installed, you can see the holes were cut in the top faces and they were filled with a small diameter gravel material. This construction provides the sound deadening to isolate the floors and perhaps add a little mass. I'd never seen wooden construction used in this way and I have to say it appears to be a fairly simple and effective approach. The green Siga Rissan tape that you see is what is used on all of the exterior joints where the large wooden wall assemblies meet and an air seal is needed. Over these faces, the rock wool exterior insulation is applied to create the exterior thermal insulation layer. This application is continuous and has no thermal breaks in the layer other than the windows and doors.

Mommy... There's something in the basement...

Patrick and I were heading back to the car and came down the wrong staircase looking for the way out. When we walked into the room at first we were really puzzled about what was going on here. Then we got it. We were standing in the buildings Biomass Plant. 

The arms in front of Patrick is what is used to stir the pellets and make them fall into the opening in the arm just this side of the wheel. There is no door to the room other than a man door that we came in. The light at the end that you can see in the picture, is a roof opening that the pellets are dumped in once every couple of years. The whole room gets filled with pellets.

Above you can see the the opening in the arm. Within the opening is a wrom gear drive that will bring the pellets back up the arm to the furnace. To the right in the above picture is an alcove that houses the hot water system that is plumbed throughout the building. The below picture is looking into that alcove. Once finished, the Bio Mass Plant will draw the pellets into the fire chamber, incinerate the pellets at extremely high temps with low emissions, heating the water system that is pumped thought out the building.

While the habitable construction of this building is Wood CLT's (cross laminated timber's), there is a concrete and masonry exterior staircase. The two elements are separated (sorry... I thought I had a better picture!) by a layer of 6" Rock Wool high density panels between the two. The rock wool is also an exceptional material in my opinion and blends well with both masonry and CLT construction. Its R 4.3 per inch, vapor open, and inert. It resists rot, bugs, fire and most anything you can think of. I think it's a great companion to wood construction because it will insulate at the exterior while letting the wood absorb and release moisture as it needs to. Functionally its dense enough to make an exterior house wrap redundant and won't be harmed by driving rain penetrating the facade.

With a combination of Masonry, CLT's, and complimentary exterior insulation like rock wool, it's possible to prefabricate all of the building major components in an indoor controlled environment and then set the building structure in the field quickly, plumb and wire in service cavities at the interior, and add a continuos thermal insulation layer around the entire exterior, while providing a thermal break to exterior masonry elements. All in all it looks like a very efficient and high quality building process. I'm happy to say that while CLT's are now common in Europe, there is now a company in Montana working to start up the first CLT plant in the US. You can find them here: http://www.smartwoods.com/. It's a big step to bring this lever of building quality and planning to the US market and I'm hoping that we continue to see growth in the area's of material quality, as well as energy and construction efficiency.

Since I was in Switzerland to learn about air sealing technics and products from the Swiss Company Siga, then of course the air sealing products were Siga. Regardless of the vendor, what you see here is typical for the central european climate region: An air and moisture barrier at the interior that is protected from damage by aservice cavity, and then a vapor diffusion gradient increasing to the exterior. In this case it's accomplished by the Siga white membrane Majpel (.68 perms) and the yellow Sicral tape.

And below joining the Majpel membrane to masonry with the Primur Roll. 

Next post: The bio mass in the basement.

While in Switzerland, I got a chance to walk a job site with Patrick Haake of SIGA. This building is a typical construction for the region. "Typical" is either a massive construction of ceramic and concrete block, or Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). In this case it's concrete from the parking garage to the ground level shops (framed in steel studs) and then CLT's for the residential apartments the rest of the way up.

I think CLT's are a fantastic material to work with. It's a cross lamination of approximately 1" solid wood in 3 or more layers. Each layer is perpendicular to the preceding layer. It's plywood made of solid 6" wide strips. Its very strong and can be made in very large pieces depending on the plant capability. Often a CLT will be  wall height by 16 to 20'. 

After the panel is laminated together, it goes to a machining center in the plant such as a Hundegger. Here the panel is cut to size, window and door opening are cut, and if planned, the plumbing and wire chases are machined into the face of the panel. Once completed, its set by crane at the job site.

 This building is being built to the Minergy Code. It's the minimum energy code in used Switzerland. A project will not receive an occupancy permit without meeting it. The highlights are design requirements that minimize thermal bridges, Have high insulation values, and an airtight (1.2 ACH) envelop.

Here you can see what the insulation plan is. A small amount of pink EPS and lots and lots of Rock Wool. Although I was not able to verify it, it appears that the EPS was going to be used in ground contact and the rock wool all above grade. In this region common practice is to apply the rockwool to the exterior of the CLT panels with long screws similar to SIP screws but with a much larger shank for vertical loads. Making an entire layer of 6+ inches of rock wool is the thermal break you typically see in CLT construction.

Next posing will be thermally broken stair case, air sealing, timber framed roof and  the bio mass system.

I spent today learning about vapor diffusion, convection and air sealing at the company SIGA near Lucern Switzerland.

I have to say... I have a few weekness: to name a few it's timberframe buildings, good beer and being in a beautiful setting. Today had all three in one: I'm used to good beer and am regularly in beautiful settings, but I can't say that I've ever been in a manufacturing plant, complete with robotic packaging stations, that were all housed in a Timberframe. My TF Guild friends would be proud.

The class at Siga was insightful and filled the day with a really interesting subject still new to most of the US: how to build airtight without creating a breading ground for mold spores. I can't say that I ever thought I'd look forward to spending a day on that subject, but things change.:)

Happily, I got to spend some time with a PH Consultant from Latvia. It was interesting to hear that PH is gaining ground steadily in the Balitic region. He was here to take in all he can on airsealing for the same reason as me... 0.6 ACH. It's great to meet people from other parts in the world walking the same trail at the same time.

Seville Spain: One of the most impressive cities I've seen. It's character is one of ease joined with an energetic style. The Real Alcazar in old Seville is where Christobal Columbus planned his journey of 1492. The Alcazar is an amazing expanse of chambers and serene gardens.

Above is one of the many grand entrances to the Real Alcazar, one of the largest standing castles in the world.

When I was in my teens I had a woodshop in our attached garage. The flip up style garage door was the only way to the outside without going through the house. Needless to say, I grew tired of raising the door and loosing the heat every time I needed to go in or out.

So... While my Mother was away at work one day, I cut a perfect man door complete with brass deadbolt into the door. My Mother was astonished and conflicted. She had not planned on having her door modified, but had to allow that it was a workman like job.

The next owners of the house were also impressed as they had never seen a feature like this before.

I sent the above picture to my mother this week with a note describing the location, and the fact the door within a door was certainly good enough for royalty.

I got a note back from her that: "Although it had taken me years to come up with the perfect response, I was now off the hook".

Reading too much Christopher Alexander (UC Berkley, "A Pattern Language" series, and finally, "The Luminous Ground") has left me continually working out the question: "Does the space create life, or is it the activity that happens in it that gives life to it ?"

Wrestling with the question does not offer much. It has no structural lessons to offer. No adventures in thermal excellence to chase (my current pastime) and will not get you far with anyone trying to make a buck in this miserable economy.

I can't get away from it because a picture like this asks it so well...

Would the entrance be so interesting without the guard, my wife and daughter?

I´m on a trip through Spain, and then up to Switzerland for more research and training. Have camera... will shoot...

I´ve decided that the focus will be on doors. They are really interesting here. Both the Grand and humble. The doors here work the same but have a different feel. Probably it's because I'm seeing older buildings in the traditional idiom. Maybe it's because they look so grand when they are this big. We are right in the heart of Old Madrid. The doors are on the street. With the street activity, they look dramatic.