A Swedish House is not so much manufactured as precision engineered.
We build our houses to probably the highest specification in the world. Swedish specifications. For example, we don’t use plasterboard for our walls, but dense gypsum fibreboard which will easily take knocks, heavy shelves and the sound of rock music on the other side – without giving way. Our external doors have thick internal insulation and a layer of metal which makes warping impossible (and helps security).
Steel-like timber provides the framework for each new house. The dense, close-grain timber we use grows slowly, very slowly, straight and true in the dark depths of Sweden’s Dalarna forests. It cannot be beaten for structural strength and stability. Its quality and dimensions far exceed even the Swedish regulations. Which may be why the Japanese in earthquake zones like our houses so much.
The torture test for perfect fit
With the climate in Sweden plummeting to 40º below zero, you can imagine that this is the perfect torture test for seeking out any flaws in a building and tiny gaps in the insulation. In the houses we build, we allow absolutely no gaps whatsoever in the insulating cocoon of the structure – particularly vital around the windows. In our factory, the windows are actually incorporated into the insulated structure of the walls.
It is not just the thickness of the insulation that matters; it’s the quality of the insulating material and how meticulously it is fitted. The u-value of the insulation we use is far superior to that found in most British homes. We install it in the factory so our quality controls can check that each panel butts up perfectly to the next and that insulation overlaps where desirable. No gaps, no flaws, no mistakes, no cold bridging.
A breath of fresh air
We have gone to a lot of effort to find the best heat exchanger-based ventilation system. Our houses are draught proof and so we bring in constant natural fresh air from the outside, warmed in a heat exchanger by the outgoing stale air and with filters for dust and pollen at your wish. We have incorporated our whole house mechanical ventilation into our homes as standard since 1986; we believe it to be important for health and fundamental to energy conservation.
By the way, the combination of heat recovery and hyper-insulation means your central heating has very little work to do. That reduces your fuel dependency dramatically, of course but it also means even temperatures everywhere, zero condensation and zero cold draughts!
The air in one of our homes is constantly being refreshed; on average, the stale air that is extracted is replaced once every two hours. By clean, fresh, natural air.
That’s why we say that a Swedish House Company house is not so much manufactured as precision engineered.
