Blog

Latest articles and insights from sustainable architecture

Topic
Year

83 articles found

8 min read

House Acoustics: Noise and Reverberation

Sound insulation and reverberation are two different problems. How layout, floors, STN 73 0532 and absorbent finishes in open-plan living solve them.

  • Acoustics
  • Noise
  • Interior
  • Building Physics
An open-plan living room interior under construction with timber slat acoustic panels on dark felt being fixed to a wall, no people

8 min read

Concrete in a Family House: Which and Where

Which concrete goes where in a house, how to read strength and exposure classes, when fibre or SCC pays off, and why retaining walls need an engineer.

  • Concrete
  • Retaining Wall
  • Construction
  • Durability
Fresh concrete being poured into the timber formwork of a retaining wall on a sloping residential plot, with the steel reinforcement visible

8 min read

A House in Town or in a Satellite?

Infill plot in town, satellite suburb or village? What the territorial plan says about growth, and what the plot price hides: cars, commuting, schools.

  • Urbanism
  • Building Plot
  • Suburbs
  • Planning
Aerial view of the edge of a Central European town where older pitched-roof houses meet a new suburban street of identical houses, with fields beyond

8 min read

Smart Home: What Is Worth Automating

What to automate in a family house and what not, KNX versus wireless, what belongs in the design and how to run a heat pump with PV.

  • Smart Home
  • Automation
  • Energy
  • Electrical
A wall-mounted electrical distribution board during the interior fit-out of a house, with neatly labelled bus modules in rows and tidy cabling routed into trunking

8 min read

Kitchen worktops and splashbacks

Laminate, solid wood, stone, quartz, sintered stone or steel: how they handle heat and stains, which splashback suits them, and the details people forget.

  • Kitchen
  • Worktop
  • Splashback
  • Materials
A row of kitchen worktop material samples, stone, quartz composite, oak and laminate, laid out on a plywood carcass in a kitchen under installation, with no people

8 min read

Slovak Folk Architecture: Pavlač, Podlubie

Galleries, arcades, earth walls, wine cellars and wooden churches: what Slovak folk building solved and what a house today should take from it.

  • Vernacular
  • Heritage
  • Folk Architecture
  • Design
An old rural village house under conservation: a covered wooden courtyard gallery partly repaired with fresh pale timber posts beside weathered grey ones, flaking whitewash, a steep wooden shingle roof and light scaffolding

8 min read

Building with Earth: What Makes Sense Now

Adobe, rammed earth, clay plasters and boards. Where earth belongs in a house built today, what it really does and where its limits lie.

  • Earth Building
  • Natural Materials
  • Sustainability
  • Construction
Illustration: close-up of a rammed earth wall with visible horizontal layers of clay and gravel next to a timber frame inside a building under construction

8 min read

Large Glazing in a Low-Energy House

Low-e glass, argon and triple glazing, lift-and-slide doors, frameless corners, glare and shading: what to decide for large windows in a new house.

  • Glazing
  • Windows
  • Shading
  • Passive house
View from inside an unfinished timber house with bare plywood walls and a concrete floor towards a very wide floor-to-ceiling lift-and-slide door with one fixed and one sliding pane in a slim dark frame, a garden beyond

8 min read

Surveying a House Before Renovation

Why an old house never matches its drawings, survey methods from tape to laser scanner and drone, what you receive and what a survey cannot see.

  • Renovation
  • Survey
  • Laser Scanning
  • Existing Building
A tripod-mounted 3D laser scanner in an empty room of an old house with exposed brick masonry and cracked plaster

8 min read

Choosing a Builder and Comparing Quotes

How to run a small tender for a house, read quotes priced on a common bill of quantities, check the firm and what to send in the draft contract.

  • Contractor
  • Tender
  • Cost
  • Contract
A site-office table with two thick stacks of paper, a pencil and a ruler, next to a calculator, a tape measure and a hard hat, scaffolding out of focus behind the window

8 min read

Asbestos and Old Services in a Renovation

Eternit, aluminium wiring, galvanised pipes and old gas: what a 1960s–80s house hides, who removes asbestos and in what order to proceed.

  • Renovation
  • Asbestos
  • Wiring
  • Plumbing
An opened chase in the brick wall of an old house exposing old galvanised steel water pipes and aluminium wires, beside it a grey corrugated fibre-cement sheet wrapped in thick clear plastic sheeting, and dust on the wooden floor

8 min read

Stoves and Fireplaces in Low-Energy Homes

An ordinary stove overheats an airtight house within an hour. What output and type to choose, why room-sealed stoves, and what the chimney needs.

  • Wood stove
  • Fireplace
  • Heat recovery ventilation
  • Chimney
A modern wood-burning stove with a glass door and a small fire on a stone hearth plate in an unfinished room of a new house, a stainless steel flue pipe rising into the ceiling and a small external combustion-air duct entering the stove from behind

8 min read

Prefab House or Built on Site

A prefab shell goes up in days, but design, permits and finishing do not shrink. What gets faster, what moves earlier and when to build on site.

  • Prefabrication
  • Timber
  • Construction
  • Planning
A prefabricated timber wall panel with a window opening being lowered by a crane onto a concrete foundation slab, two wall panels already standing at the corner

8 min read

Flat Roof on a Family House

Warm, inverted or cold build-up; bitumen, PVC, TPO or EPDM. Why flat roofs leak and how to design falls, outlets, parapets and penetrations properly.

  • Roof
  • Waterproofing
  • Construction
  • Building Physics
A flat roof on a single-storey house under construction with a grey synthetic membrane laid over tapered insulation boards, a welded seam, a square roof outlet at the low point and a low parapet with metal coping

7 min read

Self-Building a House: What to Do Yourself

You can self-build a family house, but not without a construction supervisor. Which trades you can do, what to leave to firms and what self-build costs.

  • Self Build
  • Construction
  • Supervision
  • Costs
A half-built ceramic-block wall on a house building site with a mortar tub, a spirit level and a trowel on top of the wall and a stack of blocks on a pallet beside it, no people

8 min read

Thermal Bridges in House Renovation

Why mould appears after insulation, where an older house has thermal bridges (reveal, balcony, plinth, wall plate) and which fixes are worth it.

  • Renovation
  • Insulation
  • Thermal Bridges
  • Mould
The facade of an old brick family house during renovation with scaffolding in front, new white insulation boards being fixed to the wall, a concrete balcony slab projecting from the wall still uninsulated and insulation cut around a window reveal

8 min read

Taking a Plot Out of Agricultural Land

A plot sold as buildable may still be arable land in the cadastre. Who decides on withdrawal, what the levy depends on and what to check before signing.

  • Plot
  • Farmland
  • Land Registry
  • Planning
The edge of a freshly surveyed building plot cut out of an arable field, with survey stakes and string lines, a strip of stripped topsoil heaped at one side and the field continuing beyond

8 min read

Site Geology, Groundwater and Radon

What a geological survey of a plot reveals, how groundwater sets waterproofing and foundations, how radon is measured and when to add a joint.

  • Geology
  • Groundwater
  • Radon
  • Foundations
A small geotechnical drilling rig on an empty grassy building plot, with soil core samples laid out in a wooden core box in the foreground

8 min read

Underfloor or Radiators with a Heat Pump

Floor, wall, radiator or fan coil with a heat pump: water temperature, comfort, bathrooms, old radiators in renovation, zoning and legionella.

  • Heat pump
  • Underfloor heating
  • Radiators
  • Heating
Photorealistic illustration of a floor cutaway: underfloor heating pipes clipped onto insulation before screeding, with a slim white panel radiator on the wall behind

8 min read

House Handover and Defect Claims

How to take over a new house, what goes in the handover protocol, which defects to inspect and how to claim a hidden defect under warranty.

  • Handover
  • Defects
  • Warranty
  • Construction
A hairline crack in fresh exterior render above a metal profile at the base of the wall, a folding rule laid on the tiles

8 min read

Why Builds Overrun and How Much to Reserve

Where build overruns come from, who carries the risk under lump-sum and unit prices, how to agree change orders in writing and how to size a contingency.

  • Budget
  • Construction cost
  • Contract
  • Contingency
A site table in daylight with printed construction drawings, a tape measure and a calculator, a half-built masonry wall softly out of focus behind

8 min read

House Extension or Added Storey

An extension uses plot area, an added storey uses load capacity. What the engineer checks, which ceilings carry a new floor and how to join old and new.

  • Extension
  • Renovation
  • Structure
  • Timber
An older two-storey rendered masonry house in scaffolding with a new light timber-frame storey being erected on top, sheathing boards partly fixed, overcast daylight

8 min read

Roof Coverings: Tile, Metal or Membrane

Tile, metal, slate or membrane? Pitched and flat roof coverings compared: weight, service life, noise, wind, metals and the details where roofs leak.

  • Roof
  • Materials
  • Waterproofing
  • Metal
A sample board on timber battens with four roof coverings side by side: red clay tiles, dark natural slate, a standing-seam titanium-zinc sheet and a black EPDM sheet in soft daylight

8 min read

Roof and Attic Insulation in a Renovation

Insulated loft ceiling or habitable attic? Insulation between, under and over rafters, vapour control, materials and the mistakes that lead to damp.

  • Roof
  • Insulation
  • Renovation
  • Attic
A pitched-roof attic under renovation: mineral wool fitted between timber rafters, a vapour control membrane partly stapled and taped across them, daylight from a roof window

8 min read

Shell, Holodom or Turnkey: What You Buy

Shell, holodom and turnkey have no binding definition in Slovakia. What each usually includes, what is left out and what the contract must name.

  • Construction
  • Contracts
  • Budget
  • Slovakia
Corner of an unrendered clay-block wall with a newly fitted window still in protective film, the roof eave and underlay above and scaffolding boards in front

7 min read

Cut Roof or Trusses: What Carries the Roof

Carpenter-built roof or prefabricated trusses? What decides the attic, the roof shape and pitch, the build-up from rafter to covering and snow load.

  • Roof
  • Timber
  • Attic
  • Structure
A pitched timber roof under construction seen from inside: rafters, a purlin and collar ties, counter-battens over a grey underlay membrane, daylight through the open roof

8 min read

Summer Overheating: Shading and Cooling

Why a new insulated house overheats in summer, in what order to tackle shading, mass and night ventilation, and when and which cooling makes sense.

  • Overheating
  • Shading
  • Cooling
  • Passive house
An aluminium external venetian blind half lowered over a large window in a plain rendered wall, with dappled leaf shadow from a tree falling across the slats and render

8 min read

Damp Basements and Masonry: What Works

Where the water in a basement wall comes from, how to test it and what works on an old house: outside waterproofing, drainage, injection, plaster.

  • Renovation
  • Damp
  • Basement
  • Waterproofing
Illustration: an excavated trench along the base of an old masonry house wall exposes damp stone and brick foundations, with a perforated drainage pipe and a roll of dimple membrane beside it.

8 min read

Replacing Windows in a House Renovation

When to replace windows in a house renovation, how to choose frame and glazing by Uw, and why installation in three sealing planes decides the result.

  • Windows
  • Glazing
  • Renovation
  • Slovakia
Illustration of a renovation: an old window opening in a masonry wall being fitted with a new triple-glazed timber-aluminium window, insulation and sealing tapes visible around the frame

8 min read

Foundations: Strips, Slab or Foam Glass

Strips, a foundation slab, a slab on foam glass or piles: what decides the foundation type, what the build-up holds and which mistakes cost most.

  • Foundations
  • Structure
  • Comparison
  • Slovakia
Illustration of a foundation under construction on a residential plot: an excavated trench and formwork, rebar mesh and a layer of foam-glass gravel, no house yet

8 min read

Functionalist Bratislava: 10 Buildings

Ten interwar functionalist buildings in Bratislava: architects, dates, what to look for, heritage status and what renovating them involves.

  • Functionalism
  • Bratislava
  • Heritage
  • Architecture
The rounded corner of a weathered 1930s functionalist building under conservation: flaking white render, ribbon windows with thin frames, curved balcony slabs with tubular railings and scaffolding along the facade. An illustration, not a specific building.

8 min read

Genius Loci: Why Place Matters

One catalogue house on a Tatra slope and on the Danube plain: what genius loci and critical regionalism mean, and how to write place into a brief.

  • Genius Loci
  • Critical Regionalism
  • Site Analysis
  • Catalogue House
An architect's worktable by a window: a layered cardboard contour model of a sloping plot with a white block model of a house, beside it stones, a clump of soil and a stem of dry grass from the site and two compasses, with a wooded hillside out of focus beyond.

8 min read

Floors: wood, vinyl, microcement

An honest comparison of wood, vinyl, microcement, concrete, terrazzo and linoleum: underfloor heating, screed moisture, impact sound, thresholds, ageing.

  • Flooring
  • Interiors
  • Underfloor Heating
  • Materials
A floor mid-installation in an unfinished room: oak boards laid in a herringbone pattern cover part of a cement screed, with a stack of unlaid boards beside them and three samples, smooth pale grey microcement, stone-look vinyl and terrazzo.

8 min read

Built-in furniture: when it pays off

When made-to-measure built-ins beat catalogue furniture, what to decide before plastering, and how to compare joiners' quotes like for like.

  • Built In furniture
  • Joinery
  • Interior
  • Storage
A half-installed built-in wardrobe in raw plywood fitted under a sloping attic ceiling: two doors hung, two carcasses still open, loose shelves leaning against the pale plastered wall, and a cordless drill and clamps on a dust sheet on a timber floor scattered with sawdust.

8 min read

A Green Roof on a Family House

Extensive or intensive, structure as the first question, the build-up and its weak points, maintenance, and what drives the cost of a green roof.

  • Green Roof
  • Flat Roof
  • Sustainability
  • Rainwater
The edge of a green roof under construction: a parapet upstand with metal coping, a strip of pale gravel around a roof outlet, dark growing substrate with freshly planted sedum plugs, and a roll of grey filter fleece at the side.

7 min read

Atrium House: Privacy on a Small Plot

A house built around a courtyard buys privacy on a tight plot. At what price: daylight, orientation, form factor, drainage, snow and when it is wrong.

  • Design
  • Privacy
  • Small Plot
  • Slovakia
A two-storey white modern family house with timber cladding and a deep covered terrace with rattan seating; the terrace opens onto a large lawn with ornamental grasses, round stone stepping stones set into the grass and a gravel strip running along the wall.

7 min read

Bungalow or Two-Storey House?

The plot and the household decide, not taste. Why a bungalow costs more per square metre, when it is worth it, and the two hybrids that settle it.

  • Design
  • Layout
  • Bungalow
  • Slovakia
A completed two-storey white rendered family house with a flat roof, dark window frames, external blinds and timber accent panels, photographed from below across rough unlandscaped ground under a heavy grey sky, with a lower single-storey wing stepping down to one side.

8 min read

Design Phases and the Payment Schedule

When an architect gets paid and what releases each payment: phases, approvals, the deposit, changes, permitting and author supervision.

  • Fees
  • Process
  • Contracts
  • Planning
A low modern parish building with pale green render, a standing-seam metal pitched roof with rooflights, timber-clad wall panels and a flat-roofed carport wing, on a lawn behind a very large mature deciduous tree, with an older church tower rising behind it

7 min read

Solar PV on a Family House

An array is sized by what the house uses in daylight, not by spare roof: self-consumption, batteries, orientation, shading and connection.

  • Solar
  • Energy
  • Subsidies
  • Slovakia
A modern single-storey family house with a dark tiled roof carrying a large glazed solar array set flush into the covering; the walls are clad in timber, the windows have external blinds, a covered terrace with chairs sits to the right and a lawn with clipped shrubs lies in front.

8 min read

A Plot With No Utility Connections

Utilities at the boundary is a sentence, not a guarantee. How to get operator statements, tell a connection from a main extension, price the gap.

  • Utilities
  • Plot
  • Connections
  • Cost
A three-storey apartment building on a corner plot in a suburban street: white render combined with olive-green vertical timber cladding, garages at ground level, cars parked at the kerb and people walking past on the pavement.

8 min read

Timber House Myths

Fire, lifespan, acoustics, overheating, mould, mortgages and cost: seven timber-build myths, the grain of truth in each and what evidence says.

  • Timber
  • Myths
  • Construction
  • Slovakia
A visualisation of a single-storey pavilion: a continuous bright green shell forms both the roof and the end wall, the soffit and end cladding are timber, and the long glazed elevation has internal horizontal louvre blinds. It stands on a grassed slope beside a large mature tree, with wooded hills behind.

7 min read

From Study to Implementation Project

What each documentation stage contains, who it is for and what stopping there costs you, including the most expensive mistake in Slovak practice.

  • Design Phases
  • Documentation
  • Construction process
  • Slovakia
A visualisation of a small mixed-use building: a white rendered masonry lower volume with a pharmacy unit at street level and French windows with slim metal railings, topped by an olive-green upper storey in vertical timber cladding that cantilevers over an open parking bay carried on a slender column.

7 min read

House Renovation: The Order of Steps

How a renovation runs in the right order: surveys, consent, a real contingency, the sequence of trades on site, phasing and living through the work.

  • Renovation
  • Site Process
  • Planning
  • Budget
A small hotel lobby inserted into an older masonry building: an exposed brick wall, a light steel and timber stair that seems to float, a dark marble floor and a tall arched window with a deep reveal, with a seating area beside it.

8 min read

Layers of light in an interior

One fitting in the middle of the ceiling is not a lighting design. Three layers of light, room by room, colour temperature and a switching plan.

  • Lighting
  • Interiors
  • Design
  • Slovakia
A warm-toned living space: two large white drum pendants hang from a dropped ceiling panel with a continuous cove of concealed light around its edge, a long dark timber sideboard with ceramic vases runs across the foreground, a full-height glazed door with floor-length curtains brings daylight in on the left, and a reading chair with a table lamp and a round mirror sits against a pale stone-clad wall on the right.

8 min read

Replacing a Heat Source With a Grant

The grant decides which box you buy, the building decides if it works. Envelope, water temperature, source choice and the two Slovak support routes.

  • Heat Pump
  • Subsidies
  • Renovation
  • Heating
A modern family house behind a low stone boundary wall along a street: a slatted timber gate, a grey utility meter cabinet set into the stone wall and a metal fence continuing along the pavement, with people walking past on the road.

8 min read

CLT Timber Build vs. Masonry House

CLT panels against masonry without the marketing: programme, summer comfort, acoustics, moisture, fire, cost and who you can actually hire.

  • Materials
  • Timber
  • Comparison
  • Slovakia
An attic bedroom with a sloping ceiling: three roof windows in a row bring light onto a timber clad ceiling panel, an exposed brick parapet on the right opens onto the level below, and the floor is dark timber.

8 min read

The energy certificate and class A0

What the certificate really assesses, which number the class is awarded on, and why the same fabric lands in a different class with a heat pump.

  • Energy
  • Certification
  • Regulation
  • Slovakia
Open living area of a modern family house with large-format stone-look floor tiles, a full-height timber-veneer wall, cove lighting and floor-to-ceiling glazing with external louvre blinds onto a terrace

7 min read

What a House Really Costs per Square Metre

A rate per square metre never says what was divided by what. What it omits, what moves it, and how to budget properly instead.

  • Construction costs
  • Construction budget
  • Cost Estimate
  • Slovakia
Open-plan living space in a family house: a long oak dining table in the foreground, a fitted kitchen with an island and bar stools behind it, a stone-clad wall with an inset fireplace and sculptural pendant lights

7 min read

Notification or Full Building Permit?

When a minor structure notification suffices and when you need full proceedings: limits, documents, the 30-day deadline and the cost of building illegally.

  • Building Notification
  • Minor Structure
  • Building Act 2025
  • Slovakia
Aerial view of a small single-storey roadside service building with a wide flat canopy over its forecourt, standing in open countryside beside a motorway

8 min read

Panelák Is More Interesting Than You Think

The panelák is neither monument nor disgrace. What panel construction achieved, where it failed, what insulation did to it, what to do now.

  • Panelak
  • Housing
  • Renovation
  • Slovakia
A small hotel lobby inserted into an older masonry building: an exposed brick wall, a light steel and timber stair that seems to float, a dark marble floor, a tall arched window with a deep reveal and a seating area beside it.

7 min read

Construction Supervision vs. Author Supervision

Construction supervisor, site manager and author supervision: who pays whom, what each is answerable for, when it is compulsory and what skipping it costs.

  • Construction
  • Supervision
  • Building Process
  • Slovakia
A completed open-plan living room and kitchen in a family house, with a large rooflight, oak joinery, a stone-clad wall and pendant lights in low evening light: the executed result that supervision on site exists to protect.

7 min read

Facade Insulation: ETICS or Ventilated

ETICS with EPS, ETICS with mineral wool or a ventilated facade: what really separates them, how thick to go and which details decide the result.

  • Insulation
  • Facade
  • Renovation
  • Slovakia
Three-storey apartment building in open countryside, its upper facade rendered, the plinth and stair tower clad in stone, timber balcony structures and a shallow pitched roof with deep eaves

8 min read

Blower Door Test: When and Why to Do It

The test worth paying for is the mid-construction one, while the airtight layer is exposed. How to read n50 and q50, how to prepare, what if it fails.

  • Airtightness
  • Blower Door Test
  • Passive house
  • Construction Quality
A low modern parish building with pale green render, a standing-seam metal pitched roof with rooflights, timber-clad wall panels and a flat-roofed carport wing, set on a lawn behind a very large mature deciduous tree, with an older church tower rising behind it

8 min read

Removing a Load-Bearing Wall: What It Takes

A load-bearing wall comes down last, not first: identify it, get a structural design, trace the load to the foundation, prop it, then demolish.

  • Renovation
  • Structural
  • Load Bearing Wall
  • Demolition
An open-plan living and dining space with a pale timber floor, a warm timber-panelled feature wall, a cantilevered timber staircase with a glass balustrade, a grey corner sofa and a round white dining table with moulded chairs beneath two sculptural pendant lights.

8 min read

Rainwater: Retention and Reuse

Holding stormwater on the plot and using it are two jobs. When the municipality requires it, how to choose infiltration or a tank, and when it pays off.

  • Rainwater
  • Sustainability
  • Stormwater
  • Slovakia
A two-storey white modern house with timber cladding and a deep covered terrace with rattan seating, opening onto a large lawn with ornamental grasses, round stone stepping stones set into the grass and a gravel strip along the wall.

8 min read

Buying an Old House: What to Check

An old-house walk-through ordered by what a defect costs: paperwork, structure, damp, radon, services, envelope and hazardous materials.

  • Property Purchase
  • Renovation
  • Building Survey
  • Slovakia
A restored two-storey historic villa at night: steep tiled roof, arched first-floor windows and a warmly floodlit facade, with a paved town square in front and light trails from passing traffic

8 min read

Orienting a House to the Sun

South glazing shades itself with a modest overhang; west never will. How to orient a house at 48 to 49 degrees north, and what if the view fights.

  • Orientation
  • Passive Solar
  • Design
  • Slovakia
A roof terrace with timber decking and circular raised planters of dense green shrubs, full-height glazing fitted with external horizontal louvre blinds under a timber-lined soffit, sharp midday shadows falling across the deck

8 min read

Aerated Concrete or Ceramic Block?

An honest head-to-head of aerated concrete and ceramic block: accuracy, lambda, strength, moisture, acoustics and a clear recommendation.

  • Materials
  • Masonry
  • Comparison
  • Slovakia
Visualisation of a small mixed-use building: a white rendered masonry lower volume with a pharmacy unit at street level and French windows with slim metal railings, topped by an olive-green upper storey in vertical timber cladding that cantilevers over an open parking bay carried on a slender column.

8 min read

Heat pump or gas boiler in a new build

An honest comparison of a heat pump and a condensing boiler in a new build: capital, running cost, flow temperature, noise, subsidies, hybrids.

  • Heat Pump
  • Gas Boiler
  • Heating
  • New Build
A modern single-storey family house with a dark tiled roof carrying a large flush roof-integrated glazed solar array, timber-clad walls, external blinds, a covered terrace with chairs and a lawn with clipped shrubs

8 min read

House carbon footprint: materials decide

The better insulated a house is, the more of its carbon footprint sits in the materials. Where exactly, how to check it, and why renovation wins.

  • Embodied carbon
  • Whole Life carbon
  • Materials
  • Sustainability
Visualisation of a single-storey pavilion with a continuous bright green shell forming both roof and end wall, a timber-lined soffit and timber end cladding, a fully glazed long elevation with internal horizontal louvre blinds, standing on a grassed slope with a large mature tree to one side and wooded hills behind.

8 min read

How to Read a Municipal Land-Use Plan

What actually binds in a municipal land-use plan, how to obtain a planning information extract, and how to read the density regulations for your plot.

  • Land Use Plan
  • Zoning
  • Plot
  • Slovakia
A three-storey apartment building on a corner plot in a suburban street, white render with olive-green vertical timber cladding, garages at ground level, cars parked at the kerb and people walking past. A plot density that a land-use plan permits only in designated functional areas.

8 min read

A House on a Slope: Upsides and Risks

Is the discount on a sloping plot real? How slope is measured, where the money goes, and why survey, access and orientation decide it.

  • Sloped Site
  • Land Purchase
  • Foundations
  • Slovakia
A completed two-storey white rendered family house with a flat roof, dark window frames, external blinds and timber accent panels, photographed from below across rough unlandscaped ground under a heavy grey sky, with a lower single-storey wing stepping down to one side

8 min read

Protection Zones and Easements

A protection zone comes from statute and is not in the cadastre. An easement is on the title deed. How to find both before you pay a deposit.

  • Protection Zone
  • Easement
  • Land Purchase
  • Slovakia
A modern family house behind a low stone boundary wall along a street, with a slatted timber gate, a grey utility meter cabinet set into the stone wall and a metal fence continuing along the pavement, people walking past on the road

9 min read

The Complete Guide to Passive Houses in Slovakia

What the passive house standard requires in numbers, how much it adds to a class A0 new build, where the money goes, when it returns and what goes wrong on site.

  • Passive house
  • Energy efficiency
  • Construction Cost
  • Slovakia
A window seated in an exceptionally deep insulated wall reveal in an unfinished passive house room

9 min read

Renovate or Demolish and Build New?

How to choose between renovating an old house and building new: assessing the structure, the full cost including demolition and temporary housing, subsidies, permitting and embodied carbon.

  • Renovation
  • Demolition
  • Newbuild
  • Slovakia
An abandoned rural house with a collapsing tiled roof and cracked render, standing in overgrown grass

9 min read

How Much Does an Architect Cost, and What Do You Get for It

An architect's fee is not one figure but a structure: the pricing model, the design phases, and what is or isn't included. A complete guide so you can compare quotes on substance, not just price.

  • Architect's fee
  • Construction costs
  • Slovakia
An architect's desk with rolled drawings, a white card model of a house and a fan of material samples

7 min read

Deep Renovation of a House: What Order to Do the Work In

The order of steps in a deep home renovation decides both the savings and the cost. Why the building envelope comes before the heat source, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

  • Deep renovation
  • Subsidies
  • Slovakia
An older house mid-renovation, half its elevation covered in new external insulation boards and half still bare render

6 min read

Occupancy Approval Step by Step + Checklist

Your house is finished, but you can't legally move in without occupancy approval. A clear step-by-step process, checklist, and document list under Slovakia's new building act.

  • Occupancy approval
  • Construction process
  • Slovakia
A newly finished, empty room at handover, its floor still part-covered by protective sheeting

7 min read

How Much Does a Family House Design Project Cost in 2026

The cost of a family house design project is not a single figure — it depends on the fee model, the phases commissioned, and the complexity of the brief. Here's how architect fees are calculated and what drives the final cost.

  • Architect's fee
  • Construction costs
  • Slovakia
Three white card massing models of the same house, showing different arrangements of its volumes

6 min read

Is a Passive House Worth It? The Payback in Numbers

How much more a passive house actually costs, where the investment pays back, and the payback ranges real sources report – no invented numbers, just verifiable ranges.

  • Passive house
  • Energy efficiency
  • Sustainability
Underfloor heating pipe clipped in parallel loops across insulation boards on a floor slab

6 min read

Building Permit in Slovakia 2026: Process and Deadlines Under the New Act

The standalone “building permit” no longer exists in Slovakia — it has been replaced by the building intent decision under the 2025 building act. Here's how long the permitting process for a family house really takes today, and what to watch for.

  • Building permit
  • Construction Act 2025
  • Slovakia
Freshly poured strip foundations with reinforcement starter bars on an otherwise empty building plot

5 min read

What is a Passive House?

A passive house is a building with minimal energy requirements for heating and cooling. Learn about the principles behind this standard and why it represents the future of sustainable living.

  • Passive house
  • Sustainability
  • Energy efficiency
A timber-frame wall build-up with mineral wool between the studs and airtight tape sealing a joint

7 min read

Green Building Certifications Explained

BREEAM, LEED, Passive House - an overview of the most important sustainable building certifications. What do they evaluate, how do they differ, and which one is right for your project?

  • Certifications
  • Sustainability
  • Green building
A green roof under construction, its waterproofing, drainage layer and substrate visible beneath partly laid sedum matting

4 min read

Designing for Slovak Climate

Slovakia has specific climatic conditions that require a thoughtful architectural approach. From hot summers to freezing winters - how to design buildings that work year-round?

  • Climate
  • Design
  • Slovakia
A roof under construction seen from inside, insulated between the rafters, with a snow-covered field beyond the opening