Pro Clima supplied us with some of the key ingredients for building a Passive House — the airtightness heroes: INTELLO®, TESCON EXTORA®, CONTEGA® PV, SOLITEX MENTO® and more. These products support dry construction, keep moisture where it belongs, and help prevent mould from turning your home into a biology experiment.

Wholeheartedly speaking: without Pro Clima’s special support, we would never have hit the Passive House airtightness threshold of 0.6 ACH. For perspective — traditional New Zealand homes often sit between 5 to 20 ACH. That’s not ventilation… that’s a wind tunnel.

Our ICF system was solid, but after the first blower door test I had a full nervous breakdown, shed some tears, and sat outside staring at the house wondering why we ever started this horror‑movie building journey. We had poured so much effort into getting to that point, and the result felt like a punch in the guts.

But then, thanks to CEO Thomas and the many hours I spent crawling around the roof fixing micro-holes in the airtightness layer, something magical happened. We pulled it back. We hit the target. We achieved certification.

The relief was enormous. Throughout our way‑too‑long, way‑too‑chaotic, way‑too‑out‑of‑our‑control building journey, we had countless moments where giving up seemed easier. But we didn’t. We kept going. We didn’t default. And we didn’t let the crooks win.

Your support and the on‑the‑fly training you gave our fifth builder and me proved that airtightness perfection is possible, even in New Zealand, even in a project that felt cursed at times. Thank you Thomas, Richard, Simon and Jon.

Pro Clima — world‑leading German manufacturer of interior and exterior sealing systems since 1978: https://proclima.com/

Pro Clima New Zealand, established in 2006, brings this proven building science to Aotearoa, working closely with architects, builders, and educators to improve the health, durability, and energy performance of New Zealand homes: https://proclima.co.nz/

STIEBEL ELTRON New Zealand supplied our LWZ 170 E Plus, the central MHRV system that quietly does the mahi while you relax. It constantly swaps out stale indoor air for beautifully filtered, purified fresh outdoor air… and it saves up to 90% of the heat from the outgoing air.

Basically: it inhales your humid, smelly kitchen‑bathroom‑laundry air and exhales fresh, crisp, German‑engineered goodness. The warm outgoing air passes through a clever heat‑exchange core that pre‑warms the incoming air without mixing the two streams. No mingling, no drama — very German. And the built‑in filters catch bugs, dust, pollen… wunderbar for anyone with allergies.

Now, our project was a bit of a curveball for NZ standards. Most Passive Houses here keep the MHRV inside the airtight envelope. But we said: Nein danke, we’re doing it the traditional German way, one dedicated Technikraum behind the garage with the solar inverter, hot water cylinder, MHRV, laundry… the whole efficiency party. The result? Our laundry/garage is so warm that we can hang up washing year‑round and even in winter everything dries without a dryer. Passive House meets Kiwi practicality — auf geht’s.

A massive thank you for the excellent support, clever problem‑solving Jason Kerr, Grant Anderson and to Brad and his crew at Efficient Air for a top‑notch, stress‑free install. Purified air is life‑changing for people with allergies — honestly, nothing beats it. Danke, team 💛

Efficient Air website: www.efficientair.co.nz
STIEBEL ELTRON Group — world‑leading German manufacturer of energy‑efficient heating, renewable energy, and building tech since 1924.

German‑Kiwi Houseiversary Edition

Two‑year houseiversary and our backyard has finally stopped looking like a post‑apocalyptic construction zone. After hauling 1500 STO buckets (yes, we counted… we’re German), and walking 30km from the front to the back because heavy machinery took one look at our driveway and said, “Yeah nah,” we somehow survived.

Thanks to our legendary construction nightmare, we ended up reverse‑engineering half the project like two stubborn Bavarian engineers trapped in a Kiwi DIY show. Armed with nothing but hands, shovels, determination, and the kind of passion that makes neighbours question your sanity, we transformed chaos into our own little magic backyard.

And because we’re German enough to love precision and Kiwi enough to give anything a go… we even built a tiny tennis court.

Not quite Wimbledon — but definitely “Wunderbar‑don.”

Out of my comfort zone and into my first podcast. Recording started… vocabulary ended.” 🎧😂

https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/podcast/283-wunderbar-passive-house-with-andreas-gertz

Thank you Matthew, you made it easy for me. 😁