We actually built a building within another building
Short introduction
We are Wim van den Essenburg, young pensionado and Janneke Rijpstra, communication manager. We have one daughter who lives with us, she is studying Social Sciences and a son who works for Google and lives in Dublin.
Why did this house appeal so much to you?
This is our third national monument. We love the atmosphere and character of these types of buildings. This place has always appealed to us. Actually, since the Water Board left. The carpentry shed is a great place to make a home.
What makes this house so special?
Up until a few years ago, the office buildings of the Water Board were located on the Schepenmakersdijk in Edam. They were bought by the Water Board in 1702 for 260 guilders. On the right side of the courtyard is a wooden building. This building served as a carpentry shed. It has never been a private house before and has always served as a carpentry shed for the water board from 1702.
What condition was the house in?
The carpentry shed was in good structural condition. It was completely restored in 1966. After that it served as an office for years. It was a great challenge to turn it into a sustainable house with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and garden-oriented room downstairs and two more bedrooms and a technical room on the first floor.
What have you done to make the house more sustainable and for what purpose?
Firest we decided that we did not want to be dependend on natural gas. We also had a heat loss calculation made. In order to make the building more sustainable, we actually built a building within another building. All walls and roofs are fitted with a gap-tight insulation suit. Sustainability takes up a lot of space. The walls have come in about 13cm. HR ++ glass was installed behind the existing windows. In order to ventilate properly, we have equipped the building with a balanced ventilation system. There are CO2 meters in the house that monitor the indoor climate and the system ensures that as much air is blown into the house as is left. The exhaust air is at room temperature and through a heat recovery system we ensure that it is used to heat the incoming air. We heat that with an air / water heat pump. Because this is a low-temperature system, radiators have been replaced by underfloor heating. We received a subsidy of € 2,300 for the heat pump.
We also worked with authentic materials as much as possible: tiles that are several hundred years old, taps from England that match the style, and so on. The painter took four months to make to paint both the inside and outside. Despite the radical renovation, the outside look of the building is still the same.
What are you still planning to do?
We are still planning to use solar panels, but in the neighbor's garden is a large walnut tree that blocks a lot of sunlight. It went a bit too far for us to immediately ask whether the tree could be removed during the introduction, but this is actually necessary for a good energy yield.
What problems did you run into?
You cannot insulate airtight without a ventilation system and you cannot use a heat pump without insulating first. You are forced to take all the different steps at once. If you say A, you must also say B. You have to realize that. Start calculating with an investment from € 50,000. I was director of Green Energy at Nuon, so I feel obliged to make the good talk come true.
