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Interview with site manager Robert Reitinger

Scandinavian Blockhaus

Healthy, sustainable and ecological - three words that are becoming increasingly important. At Scandinavian Blockhaus, they have been the basic principles from the very beginning. The family and traditional company has been building houses from wood for over 25 years. "Conscious and healthy living means taking responsibility for the world today and that of our children," says Robert Reitinger, summarising the philosophy. 

In this interview, the construction manager reveals what is special about Scandinavian Blockhaus, what is important in sustainable construction and why they have switched entirely to sheep's wool.

ISOLENA: Mr Reitinger, Scandinavian Blockhaus is a family business that has been dedicated to the element of wood for over 25 years now. How would you describe Scandinavian Blockhaus yourself? 

Robert Reitinger (RR): For us, "healthy living" is a top priority. This not only means that we ensure that our customers can live well in our homes today, but that we also think about future generations.

That's why we have dedicated ourselves entirely to wood as a material - healthy, sustainable and ecological. In recent years, we have tried to avoid construction chemicals and various chemical products as much as possible and have been able to switch to many materials, such as sheep's wool products.

ISOLENA: What is so special about Scandinavian Blockhaus?

RR: What makes us special is that we specialise in a niche product - log houses. We have been around for a very long time and can therefore look back on an incredible amount of experience. And although we have built so many houses, we have remained a small, down-to-earth company.

What we do and where we certainly stand out from the rest: You can get anything you want from us - from pure kit delivery to a turnkey house. Everything is possible. Everything is possible, even with on-site assistance. 2/3 are still self-builders, for 1/3 we do the interior work.

ISOLENA: How many houses do you build each year? And what has been the biggest project so far?

RR: We now build 40 to 50 houses in a year. One of the largest projects is actually on our site. It is a block building with 20 x 20 metre outer walls and three storeys. It houses six residential units. It's quite a sizeable project.

ISOLENA: Apart from wood, what other natural materials do you use?

RR: We have now completely switched to sheep's wool for the insulation. Sheep's wool in the interior walls as sound insulation is already standard, as is exterior wall insulation. In some cases, we leave our customers with no other choice. We only use soft wood fibre in the roof area due to its weight.

ISOLENA: Why sheep's wool?

RR: Over the last two years, we have actually switched completely to sheep's wool as an insulating material. However, we don't just use sheep's wool for this, but also for table tapes, inserts between the block rolls, various types of sealing tape, etc. Sheep's wool has many advantages.

One is that there is no waste. Any leftovers can be recycled - that's a big plus point. And it is a natural and renewable raw material.

" Our people really like working with sheep's wool, it has a good grip and feels good. Especially when you compare it with mineral wool, for example. It is much more pleasant to work with. Even when sheep's wool is lying around freely, it doesn't create dust - you can already feel the special room climate. "

Engineer Robert Reitinger
Site manager Scandinavian Blockhaus

ISOLENA: What should I look out for when insulating log cabins?

RR: We make log houses in a wide range of variants: Internal insulation, external insulation or solid. Depending on the size, each house requires between 30 and 50 cubic metres of sheep's wool. Insulation is a special issue because it is built in, i.e. you can't see it. So you could easily say that you don't care what's inside, as long as it works.

Sheep's wool was therefore often a problem due to its cost. However, what has now definitely become apparent is that the benefits simply outweigh the costs. Not only do people enjoy working with the material, they are also significantly faster.

This is a clear advantage, especially in today's world where professional hours are becoming increasingly expensive.

ISOLENA: Why exactly should a client choose you and what is the feedback like?

RR: A lot of our business comes from recommendations, as we have been around for more than 25 years. We have a lot of "repeat offenders". We have customers who are building with us for the second or third time. The feedback from all of them is that they appreciate the special room and living climate.

We have many customers where the parents have already built with us and the children are now also building with us. That's actually the best compliment or feedback you can get.

You can see that there is trust here and that you can really count on the quality of our buildings and that we have done a lot of things right in recent years.

ISOLENA: Which customers come to you, how does a consultation work?

RR: Our customers come from all sections of the population. In general, however, our customers tend to be nature-loving people. Many also have an affinity with animals; horse and dog lovers, for example, are often among them.

Our consultation then takes place in our own show house park in St. Florian. We do have a catalogue, but this is primarily intended to provide food for thought. From the size, the room layout, from turnkey to on-site assistance to save costs - with us, everything is possible and can be customised.

You can then take a close look at everything on site and get a concrete idea. The special room and living climate is also immediately noticeable in our show homes. And that is also the feedback from our customers: The sense of space is very special and you feel connected to nature.

Construction site visit at Scandinavian Blockhaus

Our sales representative Christian Radlmair visited our partner Scandinavian Blockhaus on the building site. Manuel is the expert on site and explains how to install the insulation.

Here is the structure of the insulation:

  1. Block beam
  2. Wooden battens
  3. ISOLENA Optimal
  4. Vapour barrier
  5. Installation level
  6. Shuttering


Tip: For details and translations please activate subtitles on YouTube!

Interview partner: Robert Reitinger, Scandinavion Blockhaus BauGmbH, Hausleiten 17, A-4490 St. Florian -  www.blockhaus.co.at
Picture credits: Scandinavian log cabin

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