Jordan Lake is a 213-acre residential lake in Wisconsin’s Central Sand Prairie Region, just 15 miles from Wisconsin Dells. Dan and Charla Zinke were looking to build a new high-performance residence on Jordan Lake that used the passive house-building principles to enhance energy efficiency, lower the home’s carbon footprint, and achieve durable building assemblies. Phius is a federally recognized standard for building energy performance, comfort, and durability. It is a standard that is 80% better than a model code-compliant home. The residence is 4,397 SF of conditioned space.
Services Provided
CR-BPS were patient, timely, professional and valuable in providing construction input and advice. Regular virtual construction meetings were supplemented with onsite visits as needed.”
Renee Parlow – Project Manager
Gallery
Challenges
I would like to have had CR-BPS hired earlier and had a meeting to review the plans with the team up front.” I would recommend assembling a coordinated project team including owner, owner’s rep/project manager, Passive House designer and consultant and Passive House Tradesperson/team at the beginning of any project and especially on a Passive House project.”
Renee Parlow – Project Manager
Approach
Upon hiring CR-BPS, we worked with the owner’s Architect of Record to understand the existing design and intended construction methodology. After the schematic design was approved, CR-BPS developed the energy model and reviewed the findings with all the stakeholders. After receiving feedback from the team members, CR-BPS updated the energy model. CR-BPS reviewed the working drawings and assemblies, giving regular feedback to the Architect of Record regarding achieving the stated goals. In addition to Jim Larson’s two onsite visits, virtual meetings also occurred throughout the construction process to leverage CR-BPS’s expertise in building the Zinkes high-performance home within their budget.
Identifying air leakage before interior wall and ceilings material is installed.
I learned a lot from the CR-BPS Team.” I would highly recommend CR-BPS Team. I loved it.” I would welcome the chance to work with the CR-BPS team again.”
Renee Parlow – Project Manager
Results
CR-BPS served in an advisory role on energy-responsible design and construction practices, making this high-performance home possible.
Phius Principals
Phius is widely considered to be the wisest path to a zero-carbon built environment. Its high standards for energy consumption and dedication to sound Building Science principles have made it the standard for efficiency and performance in the industry. While the Zinke house did not pursue Phius certification, it achieved 56% better envelope air-tightness results (.29 ACH 50 and 0.026 CFM/ESA) than what a certified Phius project requires for certification.
The striving for Passive House goals and lack of on-site Passive House construction experience was addressed through regular construction meetings supported with CR-BPS’s development of detailed instructions on sequencing and installation.” CR-BPS expertise was critical to the success of our project.”
Renee Parlow – Project Manager