Mill Maust

An old mill transformed into a passive house with vacuum insulation

The community of Teichland near the city of Cottbus set itself the ambitious goal of turning an uninhabited water mill into a passive house. First, the mill was stripped down to the 65 cm thick outer walls. The aim was to keep the build-up of the external thermal insulation composite system as slim as possible; therefore, the planner Dipl.-Ing. Dirk Böhme opted for the ETICS weber.therm LockPlate. This system contains highly insulating vacuum insulation panels (VIP) with an unrivalled low thermal conductivity value of 0.007 W/mK. The company Schweizer GmbH, which was commissioned with the facade work, levelled out the masonry in a first step. Thereafter, the insulation professionals, technically advised by Saint-Gobain Weber, applied the EPS-coated VIPs in two overlapping layers to avoid thermal gaps. Afterwards, they applied a 7 - 8 mm thick reinforcement layer on the facade with a woven mesh with a mesh size of 8 x 8 mm. Finally, a weather-resistant silicone resin render was applied. The total construction height is only 120 mm despite the top insulation performance. The result: a historic jewel in new splendour, certified by the Passive House Institute.