Course · Enclosures · Builders and trades

Introduction to Passive House Trades

A four-hour course for builders and trades on how Passive Houses are built: the basics, typical construction types, windows and their installation, air barriers and insulation, and new Passive House products, with the details that make performance predictable.

Key points

• The five key principles of Passive House projects.
• Typical materials and methods for insulation and air barriers.
• Challenging details in wood- and steel-framed construction, and how to solve them.
• Common approaches to air barriers and insulation on residential and commercial projects.
• Systems that provide space conditioning and ventilation.

Learning objectives

• Describe the five key principles of Passive House projects.
• Summarize typical materials and methods used for insulation and air barriers on Passive House projects.
• Explain challenging details seen on wood and steel framed construction projects and propose solutions on how these can be overcome.
• Describe the common approaches for air barrier application and insulation installation on residential and commercial projects.
• Explain systems that can be used to provide space conditioning and ventilation on Passive House projects.
• Describe how lighting selections and lighting controls impact electrical energy usage on a project.

Topics: Airtightness, Insulation and assemblies, Quality assurance, Thermal bridges, Ventilation, Windows