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Sammon Passive House
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Comfort
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High Marks
Built for a professional couple in Toronto, the Sammon House is designed to withstand blackouts while providing a healthy indoor environment. The retrofit of the 1940s house targets EnerPHit Certification from the Passive House Institute is fully electrified and will be Net Zero when, in the future, PV panels are installed on the roof of the addition.
A Forever Home
As an age-in-place strategy, the main living spaces are located on the ground floor, including the main bedroom, kitchen, living room, laundry, and washroom. The second floor has a working space/family room and a second bedroom with a full washroom for guests.
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Maintaining the Integrity of the Home
About 80% of the original brick enclosure and roof were maintained to preserve the character of the neighborhood and the history of the house. The inside was stripped back to the framing and additional framing was inserted and insulated with blown cellulose.
A three-layer airtight, vapor-permeable membrane was wrapped around the existing joist ends of the first floor to create a continuous membrane transition with the wall framing. A new second floor was built inside of the new framing and membrane.
All livable spaces have tilt-and-turn windows with 90% of the above-grade areas having natural light coming either from the windows, clerestory, or skylight. An operable skylight improves the cross-ventilation through the stack effect.
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Tightly Insulated
About 75% of the insulation was blown cellulose. The insulation around the windows was either mineral wool or expanded foam tape that comes pre-pressed and expands without any binding. The basement was fully excavated with rigid foam insulation added below the new cast slab.
Preventing Moisture Degradation
New wood framing in the walls and floor joist cavities were insulated with mineral wool to help avoid any potential moisture degradation and the whole was finished with an intelligent vapor membrane that will allow the wall assembly to dry inwards in case of high moisture content.
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Enabling Excellent Indoor Air Quality
The ventilation system includes a highly efficient, energy recovery ventilator. Normally, this would be sufficient to create a healthy indoor space within such a tight home; however, in this case, the client has severe dust allergies. In order to protect the client, and maintain their health, ZON Engineering decided to supplement the ventilation system with a HERO HS300 HEPA system.
The HS300 provides full-spectrum air cleaning throughout the entirety of the house, up to 3,000 sq ft. The system captures and removes pollutants and allergens from the air—0.3 microns and larger—that would otherwise impact the client’s health. The ventilation system and HEPA filtration system work in tandem to keep the air fresh and clean while optimizing the energy required to do so.
The Results
The indoor air quality monitor shows very high quality of air, with CO2 levels similar to the exterior throughout the day and no VOCs. It has to be noted that, per the client's requirement, no spray foam insulation was used in the project and that the materials and finishes were carefully selected.
Architects: Coolearth Architecture
Passive House Consultant/Designer: Green Tectonics
Structural Engineer: Gabris Associates
Mechanical Engineer: ZON Engineering and Mentor Xhumri
Commissioning Agent: ZON Engineering
Photography: Teagan McCanny
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