Passive House retrofit of a three story wood frame Victorian house in Brooklyn

Since its introduction and proliferation in the mid 20th century, the detached wood frame single-family home has come to epitomize American housing, continuing to make up a large portion of the current US housing stock (approx. 60%), which makes it a critical typology to adapt to the Passive House standard.

Built in 1907, this house was designed in the Victorian style typical of the area, with its characteristic features largely preserved. The 2×4 wood framed walls were not insulated and the windows and exterior were poorly maintained and in need of replacement — a perfect candidate for a Passive House retrofit (EnerPHit).

The general scope of work included recladding and insulating the building envelope, updating interior finishes, and opening up the floor plan to improve functionality of interior spaces. After we sealed the envelope, we performed a blower door test on the building to determine air tightness. We achieved a rate of 0.29 ACH50 — to put this into context the goal for Passive House EnerPHit is 1 ACH50 (and the new mandated minimum rate is 3 ACH50). To our knowledge this is the most air-tight EnerPHit project in the world.