from the ground up - The Tyee

gram, without importing high-tech windows fromEurope.“I knew that a very high performing building couldbe created using Canadian materials and mechanicalsystems,” he said.Stratka said his house cost about 10 per cent more(per square foot) than a conventional house. He estimatesthat expense will be recovered through energysavings within six to 10 years.“Any custom home in Ottawa will cost about $225 asquare foot to build,” Stratka said. “For $250 a squarefoot, you can have the ultimate in energy efficiency.”Stratka is already at work on another Passivhaus/LEED Platinum design, which he said will be built forthe same construction cost as a conventional customhome.At least a dozen more Passivhaus building projectsare underway across Canada. In British Columbia, thelist of projects on the boards includes two multifamilyhomes in Vancouver, a winery in the Okanagan, and awarehouse on Vancouver Island.In Whistler, an affordable PassivhausMatheo Duerfeld, the veteran Whistler contractor whohelped build Austria House, is also planning a Passivhausduplex.“So you get a project like this [Austria House]. Part ofit is construction. Part of it is, you make some friends.And part of it is you look at new technology,” he said.Duerfeld had been investigating BuiltGreen and theR-2000 standard, but was discouraged by what hedescribed as the heavy use of foam and other chemical-ladenbuilding products in many of those homes.The Austrian emphasis on wood products changed hismind about energy-efficient building.“So we looked at this [Austria House], and we said,‘You can actually build an airtight house that is awood-based house. You don’t have to build a petrochemical-basedbox.’”Duerfeld’s company bought a lot through the WhistlerHousing Authority in a new subdivision calledRainbow, where he expects to break ground in Aprilon a Passivhaus duplex. The side-by-side duplex wasdesigned by Alex Maurer of Marken Design. Thehousing authority expects the Passivhaus homes to beaffordable (by Whistler standards).“That is really going to be the challenge,” Duerfeldsaid. “If I build a custom house for someone in Whistler,and I have a $2 million budget, I know I canbuild that person a Passivhaus. Here, our challenge isgoing to be to build an affordable envelope.”Duerfeld isn’t yet certain what the homes will cost.He plans to invest in insulation and airtightness, whileeschewing expensive alternative energy systems. And,like Straka, Duerfeld plans to build using local materials.“That means made in B.C.,” Duerfeld said. “We’regoing to try to do it so that almost everything can belocally based.”In Williams Lake, hope for new jobs“The other thing we are looking at is doing this inmodules,” Duerfeld continued.“If I was only ever thinking of doing one house, Iwouldn’t think of doing it in modules. But we’rethinking that this is a new little business we might getinto. We have a shop up north. We have space wherewe could actually build walls,” he said.Thus the Whistler duplex will serve as a pilot projectwhere Duerfeld plans to showcase the walls he willprefabricate in Williams Lake.“Ultimately, our goal is we will get to the point thatwe would become a subcontractor for a developer or abuilder. We would build the envelope. We would testthe envelope. And then we’re out of there,” Duerfeldsmiled. “We’d provide a quick build at a fixed price.”Duerfeld’s plan is to prefabricate a wall system thatwould combine a two-by-four inch service wall insidea two-by-ten insulation wall.The exterior (2x10) wall would be insulated withrockwool, and sheathed with oriented strand board.50