Detached house (timber) in Velký Týnec

This low-energy family home, in which ECOFLOOR electric floor heating is installed, is situated 8 km to the south-east of Olomouc, in the village of Velký Týnec. The house was completed in 1. 12. 2012 and has been in use since then.

Basic information about the building

The building was designed as a one-floor timber house with living space in the attic. It has a floor plan of 11x11 m and a built-on area of 121 m², which includes a covered parking area for two cars. The structure of the house is self-supporting and constructed wholly from wood. Oriented strand board is used for the wall cladding, supplemented by 160 mm-thick mineral thermal insulation, vapour-tight foil, 50 mm-thick thermal insulation and 12.5 mm plasterboard cladding. The façade is constructed from cladding boards with an outdoor coating and also 50 mm of insulation on the outside. The building has a half-hip roof. 

The ground floor of the house features a mud room, corridor, bathroom, separate WC and utility room. Aside from those, it also contains the main living room, connected to the kitchen and corner dining area, and a bedroom and one other room are also present. In the habitable attic there are more rooms, but as the house is inhabited by a young and so far childless couple, the space in the attic isn’t being used at the moment.

Heating and warm water heating system

The whole ground floor, with the exception of the utility room in which an ECOFLEX direct heating convector is installed, is heated by ECOFLOOR electric floor heating. This involves PSV heating cables placed onto floor insulation and embedded in an anhydrite layer. The floor covering is made up of heavy-duty wood-pattern vinyl flooring. A temperature regulation system ensures the heating operates economically – there is a programmable room thermostat with floor probe in every room.

Four ECOFLEX 1000 W direct heating convectors are installed in the attic, though they are permanently turned off at the moment as this area isn’t currently in use. Even so, thanks to the warmth from the ground floor, the temperature in the attic ranges from 13-17°C.

The stove located in the main living area on the ground floor is an important source of heat. It is regularly used in the winter, unlike in other similar buildings, where the stove is often just a supplementary heat source. Electric floor heating maintains a permanent global ground floor temperature of 20°C, except for in the bedroom where it is 18°C. The home is kept in this state all day to around 4 pm, when the users return home from work and heat the building using the stove, which is the main source of heat in the afternoon and evening. According to the users, in the winter season of 2012/2013 they burned 4 m³ of wood, while in the 2013/2014 season they only burned 2 m³ of fuel wood due to the very mild winter.

The heating of warm water, which significantly contributed to the total energy balance of the building, is provided by an ARISTON 200 dm³ storage heater with integrated air/water heat pump. The heater with the heat pump is located in the utility room; air is drawn from and released to the outside of the house through an opening in the external wall. The heat pump has a wattage of 750 W, and a supplementary heating rod features a wattage of 1.5 kW.

Acquisition and operating costs

Because a large proportion of the work carried out on the house was performed by the investor himself, it isn’t possible to calculate the price of the heating system completely precisely. However, with regard to the size of the building and the list of materials used it is possible to come up with a relatively relevant estimate. Just for interest’s sake, the costs of the heat pump for warm water heating and the stove have also been included, as both devices have an important influence on the operating costs and are regularly used (stated prices include VAT):

• Electric heating, including regulation system and installation: 82 thous. CZK

• Water heating with integrated heat pump: 36 thous. CZK

• Hot air-producing stove: 34 thous. CZK

Operating costs are derived from regular billing for electric energy consumption; however, the cost of heating with wood hasn’t been included. According to the users, it is possible to buy wood from small suppliers for around 1 500 CZK/m³, which means an average increase in costs of about 4.5 thous./year.