Take a look inside this unique holiday home in Haspengouw: “We want to give our guests a taste of life almost off the grid” | My guide

The Limburg fruit region has many holiday homes. But Bart and Graziela's Brazilian vacation home caught our attention. Not only because of the architectural wood frame structure and designer furniture, but also because of their special lifestyle. Bart chose a new, semi-off-the-grid home with a vacation home attached to it. “The two are completely separate from each other. But all the materials, gadgets and technologies in our home are also in the holiday home. This way, visitors can experience and taste life almost off the grid.”

Is timber frame construction something for you? Find out all about this construction method here.

The modern timber frame house is located on a triangular lot, and this immediately presented several challenges. Bart, in collaboration with architecture firms Eprojecten and in-Lijn, had to think outside the box, especially regarding the design of the spaces. The result is an open and airy house with a 6-meter high glass facade with panoramic views of the fruit trees and surrounding meadows. Materials used in a private house can also be found in a holiday home. “Wood flooring is recycled This creates a special pattern, because not all boards have the same width and cutting line. “They were used at trade shows and we restored them directly through the manufacturer.”

By the way, wood is the main theme, because Bart chose to build the wooden frame. “The timber frame is dry construction, not a drop of water is used, and that's what you feel in this house. When we moved from a 1970s brick house to here, it was a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.” He also looked into natural alternatives to insulation .Linen and cellulose (paper chips) provide insulation for the energy-efficient home.D ventilation system creates an even temperature and supports underfloor heating and cooling.

There is a wide range of insulating materials to insulate your home: From mineral wool, over PUR and PIR, to paper chips.

This timber frame home is (almost) self-sufficient with water, heating/cooling and electricity. Almost all the water you use in your vacation home is… Filtered rain water. For this purpose, Bart installed a plant filter with two 10,000 liter water tanks underneath. The plant filter was filled with lava stones (for their purifying effect) and water plants. Filtered rainwater is also used to fill Weltevree's hot tub.

“To heat the water, guests can use firewood from the surrounding apple farms. From the bathtub you can enjoy a beautiful view of the surroundings, plus it really catches the eye on the terrace. We then let the water flow back into the plant filter. The collected rainwater is also used For showering. The LED strip in the vacation home also detects the water temperature. “The LED strip in the living space changes color from blue to red as the water gets hotter.”

BART uses solar collectors for sanitary water heating and underfloor heating. Heat pump assistance is only welcome in the depths of winter. This is then intelligently controlled through surplus self-produced solar energy. Bart has really focused on the energy consumption of his home.

“When we first moved here, I was very frustrated. Despite our sustainable facilities and technology, our energy bill remained high. I started looking into it and seeing what we could fix. That's how I discovered that my solar panels weren't working at their full potential: they were wired wrong.” Not true! But I also modified the heat pump in detail and put the solar collectors at a different angle, so they can capture the sunlight better. I'm constantly making adjustments and finding out where the energy is leaking.

According to Bart, it is mainly about consumption during the night. “TVs while sleeping, LED light drivers… consume more at night than you think. That's why I installed a lot of relays in the electrical box, and smart plugs in the sockets. A total of 50 smart plugs are spread throughout the house and the holiday home. I I monitor everything via an open source software system and make constant adjustments.

Thanks to this intelligent control, BART was able to significantly reduce energy consumption. “There is little strain on the house battery because everything is coordinated as best as possible. By living this way, we are not dependent on the electricity grid for 9 months. I also want to pass that on to our guests. I want to show them what is possible in energy “So you don't have to do it as fanatically as me, but every little bit can help,” laughs Bart.

1. Try to use as little electricity as possible at night, as solar panels cannot absorb your consumption. For example, run your dishwasher during the day so you can use self-generated solar energy in real time.
2. By lowering the hot water temperature (45°C instead of 70°C), you can save a lot of energy.
3. Do you have a heat pump? Be aware that it does not work efficiently if you dial more than 45 degrees.
4. Address your sleep consumption. The reserve consumption of an average family is 500 kWh per year or 10 percent of the total consumption. You can measure your sleep consumption using a power meter. Turn off your digital set-top box, leave chargers unplugged, unplug your coffee machine (or install a push or intermediate switch), etc.

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