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Undecided with Matt Ferrell: how he arrived at the decision to buy a prefabricated house.
In the next instalment of how a YouTuber arrived at the conclusion to buy a prefabricated home, Matt Ferrell elaborates on how the build and installation is progressing.
It’s probably one of the more compelling, and easily understood accessible explanations that deconstructs the entire prefabricated building process, that any consumer considering buying a new home should add to their playlist.
Ferrell is building his prefabricated home with U.S.-based prefabrication builder, Unity Homes, in this edition he examines the thermal efficiency of his prefabricated home, installation processes and time saved.
Watch his story
Ferrell said: “The wall panels have an insulation value of R-35, the attic space will be over R-50 (it may even be R-60), and the windows are triple glazed European style tilt/turn. Just for comparison, the climate zone I live in requires R-20 for walls I believe. The higher the number the better.”
All of the timber for the house is pre-cut in the factory for easy installation on site, and the wall panels have the exterior doors and windows preinstalled. Reduced waste and costs are some of the benefits to this approach because they’re buying supplies in bulk that can cross multiple projects.”
An objective of Ferrell’s was to have the modular home built to Passive House standards where “after they’ve assembled the shell of the house is to test it for airtightness with a blower door test, a fan is attached to an open doorway in your home. After calibrating it, the fan pulls air out of the house, which lowers the air pressure inside. Higher outside air pressure then tries to get into the house through unsealed gaps.”
The test is run at 50 pascals of pressure differential (between the inside and outside of the house) and the blower door measures that leakage as air changes per hour (ACH). To achieve passive house standard, you have to be at .6 or lower ACH50. The lower the number the better.”
“Unity got the house fully assembled on site in about 9 days (including the prep time). It only took about 3 days to raise the entire shell.”
