Projects at a Glance:

Lotus House

This building was originally a shop with a flat above and we completely renovated the property converting it to a single home.
An extension forming the kitchen/breakfast with two story ceiling was built in timber frame and three new bathrooms and completely new gas central heating system installed.
The garden was completely restructured with a 32m 2m high retaining wall built to create a level garden.An underground gas tank was included.

Conservation Suggestions:

Save energy by constructing energy efficient buildings. Renovate older buildings and upgrade insulation levels and install environmentally friendly heating methods.

Make buildings healthy; reduce damp, condensation and mould. An ideal internal relative humidity is between 40% and 60%.

Install thermal insulation and double or triple glazed windows and shading.
Include under floor heating if possible; a low temperature radiant heat is more comfortable.

Eco-Construccion

Constructing in an ecological way is SH Construcciones main aim. This can be achieved in many ways, the degree of achievement depending on the materials and details chosen.

The choice of materials will depend on many factors and will be derived from consideration of aesthetics, cost, availability, environment, benefits of use, maintenance, details, constructability etc.

Timber Frame

For new build we believe that constructing in timber frame using CLS results in a high degree of ecological design and provides many positive benefits. A timber frame building will generally have structural timber walls, floors and roof structure supported on foundations generally formed in reinforced concrete detailed to suit the site soils strata.

Walls

Walls can be formed in studs (90,140, 180) sections covered with OSB (oriented strand board) or beam and column design. Walls have insulation incorporated between the studs and internally we line walls with, Ecobrite high reflectivity low emissivity foil, followed by OSB overlaid with skimmed plasterboard. Externally studs are covered in OSB, a breather membrane with thermal reflecting layer and a cavity. The way this is formed depends on the external finish which can range from brick skin to lime based render on mesh or acrylic render on boarding. Openings are spanned with glulam beams where required.

Floors

Floors are formed with Ecojoists. These are engineered highly accurate and strong joists formed with timber flanges and pressed steel diagonal struts permitting large clear spans. The benefits are many. The floors are decked in 22mm water resistant chipboard flooring and can be finished in any choice of material. Sound insulation is installed between the joists and ceilings are generally formed in skimmed plasterboard.

Roofs

Roofs can be formed by any acceptable structural system but generally structurally engineered gang nail trusses provide the most economical use of materials and allow larger spans. Above the trusses are covered with Ecobrite foil, timber battens and dry roof tile system, usually concrete tiles are more ecological. Below the ceiling joist are covered with thermal insulation and ceilings formed in skimmed plasterboard.

Benefits of Timber Frame

The benefits of constructing using the system described above are many:

Highly ecological
Engineered
High standards
Accurate
Lighter construction (less foundations, fewer, generally no visible, columns)
Fast erection
High insulation values easily achievable/Low energy consumption
The installation of services such as electricity, water, heating, drainage etc. are far easier
Fixings to walls easily achieved without drilling and plugging.