The Whole House Approach

To improve the performance of any building or home it must be considered as a whole.

It helps if you think of a house as a complex system where different products and measures can interact optimally to improve performance and sustainability.   

There are four key principles for low energy building (insulation, airtightness, heating, and ventilation) and their complex interaction means that they all need to be considered together. Piecemeal product improvements to a house design, without fully considering the four principles, can result in ‘unintended consequences’, such as condensation and mould growth.  The whole house approach also means paying attention to the detail at all the physical junctions and interfaces in our homes. Not considering the interaction of these principles can potentially lead to houses that do not perform well, and are uncomfortable and unhealthy.

Enhabit and Green Building Store are committed to using a whole house approach on every project we work on. We are working together to offer their clients the benefits of the whole house approach, to provide better performing buildings from a comfort, cost and carbon perspective.