iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ideally this membrane, like any roof, would go on the outside and life would be so much easier. I will happily take any tips for these complex junctions to work around.

Beginning of getting breather membrane into stud wall. First few staples in and beginning to fold around the inset corner.

Membrane dressed into back of stud wall. Progress on working around the corners

Close up image of the folds to get this all flat between the two inset studs.

Left stud is the entirely folded method. Right shows membrane cut and then taped. Taping is more complex in this scenario though. Bottom of membrane cut to go between the floor joists.

The bricks went down a further 30cm from floor level, which took careful removal. uPVC window was screwed into leadwork, supported by expanding foam. Added a sill plate as there were none. Carefully trimmed nails. Added these laths to protect the weather membrane.

Photo from above looking down bay window wall between timber studs.

From top to bottom:
- uPVC window
- Tidied up lead work which covers tops of tiles outside
- New sill plate between studs. Looks to have been one there in the past.
- Laths screwed to battens to ensure weather membrane is pushed away from the nails protruding from the battens
- Curved top plate which sits above the downstairs bay window
- Lath and plaster ceiling from down stairs
- Floor joists which connect to a bressummer beam (unseen) which spans left to right from wall to wall
- floor boards

More SDS action to remove the brick infill. Can see the backs of tiles here where I’d already removed the previous brick.

200

First I needed to remove the plaster to expose the brick. SDS ist sehr gut.

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 04/12/2025

For reference this is what I’m working with. It really should not be that cold.

Thermal image of my bay window wall. Cold point being 5.5c, mid wall 8.2c and curtains 12.4c. It’s ~6c outside.

210

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 03/12/2025

Got my work cut out for the weekend. Bedroom bay window is a stud wall filled with brick off cuts. To be insulated with 160mm of the finest German made woodfibre. New book for if I get bored too. More details in alt text. Current U-value is ~2.1W/(m²K), will be ~0.22W/(m²K) #retrofit #aecb

Pack of STEICOflex 036 wood fibre insulation batts, with a book called "What the Builder Won't Tell You" and behind some STEICOinternal rigid woodfibre insulation.

Build up detail made using ubakus.de. The baywindow wall is basically a vertical roof so I'm going with a similar method of how you insulate a roof. All mebranes will be taped with pro clima tescon vana air tight tape

1. Tiles
2. Battens
3. pro clima Solitex Plus (vapour open membrane, allows the build up to "breath") this will actually be installed from the inside zig zagged around the studs.
4. STEICOflex 036 between studs
5. STEICOinternal rigid boards over the top
6. pro clima Intello Plus (air tight membrane, which varies it's vapor diffusion)
7. Plasterboard

Total build up reaches a U-value of 0.22 and a phase shift of 11 hours.

160

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 22/11/2025

What microcontroller do they have? ESP32 or the nRF I've see your posts about? I'm still not sold on Matter, but would be interested if it can run esphome. This janky setup is still going strong though: bsky.app/profile/snhd...

Chart from Home Assistant showing boiler temperatures from 4 sensors connected to an ESP32: Flow Temp, Return Temp, DHW Temp, Mains Water Temp, Outside Air Temp.

100

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 22/09/2025

Going to do some testing. Saved this chart for my boiler currently pump speed 2. Already very different from the first chart top of thread. Maybe due to outdoor temps in Jan? Is there a calculation to translate heat loss at ODT to heat loss at a different temperature? i.e. 4.2kW @ -3.3 == nnkW @ 6c

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 15/09/2025

Hadn't checked the data in a while, so this is last night: −1 * ln((545−420)÷(1300−420))/9 = 0.22 ACH

Chart plotting co2 ppm over night with an exponential decay. Starting at 1300ppm at 11pm and slowly tailing off until 8am at 545ppm. With a sharp upward spike shortly after 8am

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 09/09/2025

Spent an evening in Walkley at an SY Ecofit event. Chatting all things retrofit, insulation, moisture in buildings and also enjoyed this lovely curry. #sheffield #retrofit

Introduction to SY Ecofit and home retrofit presentation.

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 06/09/2025

She walked 6.5km for this photo but we forgot the biscuits.

Sandy coloured greyhound in front of some street art of a sandy coloured greyhound with its nose in a packet of hobnob biscuits. In Sheffield

080

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 25/08/2025

Flat white, cheese toastie and the latest copy of Passive House Plus magazine. Solid bank holiday Monday activities.

On a table in a coffee shop: half drank flat white in a green cup, cheese toastie with salad and crisps, above open Passice House Plus magazine

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 20/08/2025

It took me a bit of time to get used to it. However not too dissimilar to the shock of driving on the M20 after coming back from France.

Screen shot of Facebook post:
Sean Hood - 1 June 2017
"Holy fuck, Italy's roads/drivers are bloody awful."

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 19/08/2025

Read this book at the weekend, would highly recommend to any homeowner, even if you aren’t planning a renovation. I especially liked this little illustration feat ASHP and solar panels. #retrofit #renovation #mvhr #ashp #passivehouse

Book: Beginners guide to eco renovation:
Understand the basics and the best questions to ask by Judith Leary-Joyce

Black on white illustration of a Victorian end terrace with solar panels on the roof and an air source heat pump on the large rear extension in an “old cottage” style

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 19/07/2025

This is some very expensive parcel tape…

Cardboard box wrapped in blue Tescon Vana air tightness tape.

Tape retails for £1/meter

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 11/07/2025

TIL my house has a built in summer storage heater. Bay window is tiled and filled with single skin of brick. 33c at 11pm at night! At the time of reading room temp was 26c and outside 21c.

Thermal image of bay window of house. Red dot showing 33c within the bay. Spot 1 showing 29.7c on side wall. Cold dot outside reading 15.8c

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 19/06/2025

In the afternoon we focused on air tightness tapes and membranes. Installing them around joists, services and windows.

Stud wall rig after we installed insulation. A hemp insulation on the left and wood fibre on the right.

Overall shot of the air tightness membrane fitted around the services and other penetrations

Detail of taping around a pipe through the membrane

Window corner air tightness detail. First using split tape to lap the membrane to the window edge. Then making corner reinforcements and taping them on

000

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 19/06/2025

Yesterday I spent the day with @be-stbuild.bsky.social & @coaction.bsky.social putting Passive House theory into practice. In the morning sequencing insulation and membranes into a retrofit rig. So helpful even as a homeowner and not being in the trade.

Installing intello plus air tightness membrane into a mock up of a roof/ceiling of a timber house

Taping details of connoting the air tightness membrane to the timber joists

Wind membrane installed between rafters to prevent wind washing thermal bypass, followed by Rockwool insulation

How you may insulate between I joists, using layers of insulation with staggered joints to prevent any gaps from front to back

242

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 18/06/2025

PassivHaus Planning Training today!

Passive house practical training document

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 13/06/2025

"Phase shift" was the phrase I was looking for. And this was the outputs I have saved for both. Left 240mm woodfibre ~0.17W/(m²K). Right 130mm kingspan ~0.18W/(m²K). WF has much more density which it can then hold onto that heat, resulting in narrower temperature fluctuations is my understanding.

Phase shift diagram for woodfibre roof build up. Showing a 13.5h phase shift of temperature from outside to inside

Phase shift diagram for kingspan roof build up. Showing a 6.4h phase shift of temperature from outside to inside

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 20/04/2025

My 3D printer feels like a waste of space half the time, but when you can go from “I have a problem” to “I have fixed that problem” in <30min it’s such a winner. Anyway, plz rain soon!

Green house plastic gutter end cap with small circular down spout. 3D printed adaptor of outer circle and inner circle. Black flexi conduit for water butt

Green house gutter assembled with 3D printed adaptor for water to flow directly into water butt. Pictured in a sunny garden

050

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 20/04/2025

What better things are there to do on a bank holiday than a nice long ride. My 3rd metric century this year, I had only aimed to do 2. Visited Caffe Velo Verde outside of Nottingham, then mostly hard pack gravel for a fair way back. Popped through Sherwood Pines which looks fun but not after 80km.

Forest trail, trees with mostly bare but some leaves. Center is hard pack gravel road/lane

Selfie of me with green cycling jersey, helmet and sun glasses. Green hedge in back ground

Green gravel bike leaning against stack of cut logs

Strava map of route from Nottingham east to cafe then north west up to Sheffield. 124km, 1053m elevation gain, 5h53m

230

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 13/04/2025

New circular saw go brrrrr. Built this raised bed type thing. Mitre joints on sleepers take some effort!

Wide shot of sleepers arranged as garden edging

Sleepers arranged as garden edging. Red and yellow tulips in beds

Sleepers arranged as garden edging. Black tub behind edging for future pond

Sleepers arranged as garden edging. Silver birch behind edging.

Then on Sunday I saw the pros hit the same climbs. #rvv #rvv25

Women’s Ronde van Vlaanderen hitting Oude Kwaremont. Centre in white is Lotte Kopecky, the winner.

Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen hitting Oude Kwaremont. Wout van Aert picture in yellow in center

Alison Jackson of EF on Oude Kwaremont in Ronde van Vlaanderen

Tadej Pogačar leading the pack on Oude Kwaremont in Ronde van Vlaanderen

000

128km of Flandrian countryside and several sectors of cobbled climbs and pavé. Completed it! Only took photos with a disposable camera so gonna be a few days for those but here’s a nice map for now. The answer is eating far more carbs than you think you can.

Starva map showing my 128km route. 1611m of elevation 5h52m

130

I was mostly there looking at getting Zinc guttering which is like 1/4 of the price in France compared to the UK. Then I saw they also did galvanised, also cheaper than UK.

Zinc gutter half rounds. Texture isn’t that shiny more like a mottled grey

Zinc gutter corner piece. Texture isn’t that shiny more like a mottled grey

Galvanised steel corner piece. Texture is bright even shine

Zinc down pipes, galvanised half rounds, galvanised down pipes.

220

They even stock wood fibre insulation batts, cellulose too. I’d have got some but i would have preferred 375mm wide

Stacks of wood fibre batts stacked on pallets €27.33

100

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 28/03/2025

In France in their version of B&Q, and they have this lovely lot in the entrance. Insulation with the build ups detailed, continuous ventilation, heat pumps and plug in solar. Quite a nice sight to see. They seem to have their heads screwed on.

Entrance foyer to Leroy Merlin a French DIY shop.

Toutes nos solutions de rénovation énergétique pour une maison plus économe et confortable.

Translated: All our energy renovation solutions for a more economical and comfortable home.

From left to right showcasing: Insulation buildups with details. Continuous ventilation system for kitchen and bathrooms. Heat pump and solar. All shown along side technical details of their efficiencies and possible monetary savings.

140

Felt that way earlier today

Sheffield Town Hall surrounded by recently finished paving of the Fargate area

000

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 19/03/2025

eBay purchases are arriving. I now have some foam duct for an MVHR. Featuring: dogs

Lurcher face view through a dark grey tube

Greyhound face view through a dark grey tube

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 15/03/2025

Put up a new shelf today. Got a whole bunch of live edge Ash a while back from a local timber place.

Living room alcove with wooden shelf. Green chimney breast with large round mirror

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 10/03/2025

PH+ Magazine arrived, courtesy of becoming an AECB member. Having a read through that an EnerPHit w/ SHD 23kWh/m2/yr and 0.35ACH only gets an EPC of “B” is wild.

Passive house plus magazine on lap in a cosy living room

070

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 07/03/2025

The other direction is starting to look pretty nice. Feels a bit like those big empty spaces you get in European cities

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 06/03/2025

Important lunch activities. Getting out for a ride during lunch.

Bicycle propped up against a bench with a coffee in a take away cup

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 13/02/2025

Up in Huddersfield visiting a retrofit project this afternoon. #aecb

House wrapped in scaffolding with lots of people in high viz and hard hats

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 29/01/2025

Weekends ride is looking fun

Map showing wind direction in reference to cycle route. Side wind from Dunkirk until Bruges, headwind into Ghent

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 26/01/2025

Ain’t gonna be an architect but I do have an MVHR plan. Boxing in ducts in the corner of front/rear and party walls seem to be my easiest option.

Top: Hand drawn cross section of house showing ducting runs between floors to be boxed in following the front and and rear walls

Bottom: Hand drawn floor plan showing 2nd floor. With dotted lines representing duct runs to the rooms.

030

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 18/01/2025

Took my 70-200mm to a gravel ride, I should do this more often.

A group of cyclists in center of frame on gravel path surrounded by trees

A cyclist in center of frame on gravel path surrounded by trees

A group of cyclists in center of frame leaving bikeshop car park. Intense sunlight behind

140

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 10/01/2025

I wish my chart looked like that. And yeah I think this is it cycling. This is just the boiler, stat is on 100% from 6am until 10pm, it's set for 19c and roughly flat lines 18.5c. Yesterday:

Chart showing my boiler flow and return temps. Lines spiking between 40c and 50c for flow.

100

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 07/01/2025

Should I have a bigger temperature drop between my flow/return of my boiler? And I keep seeing the phrase "delta T", that's not this is it? Seems to be ~5ºC, high of 48ºC Flow and 43ºC Return. They are all type 11 radiators.

Chart depicting flow/return temps of my boiler over an hour. 5 peaks with highs of 48c for flow and 43c for return

210

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 06/01/2025

That's impressive! Some more Qs: Which unit & type of ducting? Self install? And curious how airtight the house is too. Examples of MVHR in retrofits seems so few and far between. I have just plotted 2 years of RH from my living room, and it's not great.

Chart showing 2 years of relative humidity from my living room. Trend/avg is ~65%

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 24/12/2024

You'll be visited by three spirits. The three spirits:

The three pillars of observability: Logs, Metrics, Traces

031

Sean Hood @snhd.co · 08/12/2024

The sensor is now running 4 channels. Added domestic hot water and the mains supply to the boiler.

Microcontroller on a breadboard with a display reading:

Flow 42.3c
Return 37.2c
Channel C 29.9c
Channel D 17.9c