Passive Home Transform in a Historic Neighborhood

Merely exterior of downtown Austin, Texas, our 1914 Craftsman-style house is a case have a look at for Passive Home renovation, attaining PHIUS+ 2018 Certification and PHIUS+ Present Zero Certification in a hot-humid native local weather. This renovation fulfilled each a personal {{{and professional}}} mission. My associate, Adrienne, and I purchased the home bigger than a decade before now after falling in love with the neighborhood. Now we’ve been all the time crucial about what it could in all probability be and deliberate to change it. Given my expertise as an architect at Forge Craft Building + Design, and with Adrienne’s emphasis on healthful and sustainable interiors at her firm, Studio Ferme, we noticed this as our totally different to point out the possibilities for a small, healthful, high-performance residence.

Collectively, we improved the growing envelope, which lacked insulation; added sq. footage with a updated addition; and created a versatile flooring plan that matched our youthful household’s life-style whereas sustaining the integrity of the historic improvement. Electrification is a precedence for any Passive Home mission, so we furthermore added a 6.3kw PV array and battery backup.

Ranging from close to scratch

The home is positioned in a Nationwide Register Historic District, so we wished to maintain up as a great deal of the present improvement as potential. We met with a pal who oversees Preservation Austin to speak by way of our proposed modifications. The plan was to keep away from losing a variety of your complete framing, nonetheless as rapidly as a result of the siding obtained proper right here off and we noticed the extent of the water and termite damage, the plans modified. What stays of the distinctive improvement is the porch and columns (the piers have been redone all through the ’80s).

Ranging from close to scratch allowed us to transition from 2×4 framing to 2×6, providing a deeper cavity for insulation and additional true partitions. We furthermore wished to type out a basis that was 2 in. out of stage. New piers have been put in to…