Technique

Off Site & Closed Panel Timber Frame Construction

We use only high quality materials and dry timber to manufacture our high quality homes. Our German Homes-Wolf Haus timber frame superstructure is durable and constantly controlled by independent institutions. Wolf Haus is established over 100 years ago and has a long family tradition in building houses all over Europe.

Our houses are issued with a free Energy Rating Certificate (BER-Cert)

Key-Points of our Superstructure

External Wall & Internal Wall Construction:

Our external smart thermo insulated wall has A-rated energy saving & load bearing attributes, that are estonishing. The actual wooden timber frame superstructure is 220 mm wide and therefore extremly strong. Fully insulated between the timber-frame and with additional insulation mounted on the outside. A specially designed service cavity wall is build on the inside of the external wall. On that service cavity wall all the sockets, switches and plumbing works are mounted and don't interfere or damage the main external wall or the airtightness at all. German Homes-Wolf Haus are aware, that this construction is more complex but results in outstanding air-tightness and is therefore perfect for passive houses. Once again it shows, we do not skimp on quality, even if it is more labour and material intensive.

Our internal walls are sheathed with wooden material boards (OSB boards) and natural plasterboard on both sides. This means, you can fit have objects like kitchen units etc. everywhere - on the entire wall - without any problems. All internal & external walls are sound and heat insulated.

External Wall U-Value: 0.14 W/m2K

The left hand side wall picture shows our A-rated standard insulation wall section
The right hand side wall picture shows our A-rated ecological wall section (diffusion open = breathable wall construction) - with an additional emphasis on natural and environmental materials.

For more information on environmentally friendly eco homes - please click here

For more information on passive-houses - please click here

Insulation Materials:

Available are a choice of different insulation materials like hemp, wooden fibre, mineral wool, rock wool, polystyrene etc. For more information on insulation materials please contact us.

Triple Glazed Windows

As a standard fit-out of all our homes, we are installing highly energy efficient triple glazed windows. The windows are manufactured by the German brand manufacturer HBI and surpassing the building requirements by far. You can choose from a selection of different window materials (sturdy uPVC windows, wooden windows, wooden-aluminium windows) and from a vast choice of colours. The uPVC windows are glass-fibre reinforced and therefore extremely sturdy and strong. Different window shapes (e.g. windows etc.) and sizes are no problem to produce and install.

Triple Glazed Window U-Value: 0.7 W/m2K

Floor Build-up - on Top of Foundation:

The floor build-up is not less impressive. We put additional multi insulation layers on top of the finished foundation, to protect any heat losses through the base. A solid Anhydrit floor screed is applied on top of the insulation layers. It has great attributes of optimising the heat gain from the underfloor heatinging system in comparision to normal cement floor screed or self leveling compound. The final floor layer can be choosen from a wide variety of materials and finishes e.g. tiles, carpets, parquet, laminate, wooden flooring etc.

Roof Construction:

Our smart thermo insulated roof construction is working together with the smart thermo insulated wall and floor build-up to provide a completely & intelligent insulation package for the entire house. Roof insulation is fitted tightly between the chunky rafter beams - the full depth of the rafters! The immense thickness and high attributes of the insulation used in our construction highlights again, the attention to detail and outstanding quality we put in our homes for you. The timber we work with are from controlled forestry grows, dryed and planed. The timber quality is comparable with the timber that is needed for furnitures. High strength gluelaminated engineered timber beams are used in our roof and house construction and have the strength to withhold heavy snow bearings as well as outlast earthquakes.

Roof Construction U-Value: 0.17 W/m2K

Visible timber beam roof construction (left picture)
Closed and painted roof construction with partly exposed timber beam structure and window sky-lights (right picture)

Ceiling Construction:

The ceiling construction consists of solid & chuncky wooden beams (joists). Insulation is fitted between the joists as well as on top of the ceiling-floor to prevent heat losses and to avoid noice transmission between the different rooms/floor levels. Another layer of insulation is fitted between the wall and the floor-layers in order to protect from sound transmision via the wall. On top ot the ceiling floor insulation we apply solid Anhydrit floor screed to achieve a noise reducing ceiling structure which can be used even for apartments. Anhydrit solid floor screed has great attributes of optimizing the heat gain from the underfloor heatinging system. Our multiple construction layers make the engineered ceiling structure very sturdy. Home owners will benefit from saving money on heating costs as well as enjoying a comfortable, peasefull and relaxing living environment - noise free. The final floor decor will be choosen by the home owner from a wide selection of finishes e.g. tiles, carpets, parquets, laminates, wooden flooring etc.

Visible wooden beam (joist) ceiling (left picture)
Closed and painted ceiling (right picture)

Comparision to Standard House Constructions

DEAP (Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure) analysis which is the standard procedure for assessing buildings under the new Energy Performance of Building Directive. Houses built according to the latest building regulations would have to achieve a rating of between 110 and 130 kWh/year/m². Houses that where built before current regulations (year 2003) are performing considerably worse and in the region of 200 to 800 kWh/year/m².

With our standard Wolf-Haus insulated house envelope, we are achieving a value of about 40 kWh/year/m². This means our standard smart thermo insulated house envelope is already "A-Rated" classified and far more superior to standard concrete or common timber frame homes.