Building Envelope  »  Thermal insulation

The house has a masonry construction. The basement wall is made of 30 cm concrete blocks, externally insulated with 22 cm foam glass and internally finished with 3 cm clay plaster. From the first floor up, there is a 3cm external insulation of cellular glass, other 24 cm foam glass insulation to protect a 25 cm brick layer, finished on the inside with clay plaster. The ground floor is made of 12 cm lightweight concrete towards the ground. Between it and the above 10 cm foam glass insulation there is a bitumen seal. Above the insulation there is a 27 cm concrete slab, 10 cm air cavity, 12 cm wooden beams. The structure is further insulated with 8 cm cellular glass layer and it’s finished with a floating floor. The roof is ventilated. It is finished on the outside with ceramic tyles and protected by a water barrier underneath. The air cavity is 4 cm thick. The roof is insulated with 5cm XPS (extruded polystyrene) above rafters and 20 cm XPS through them. For more information on cooling loads and energy savings please check the good practice example here.

The structure is heavy with high thermal capacity combined with an insulation layer of 50 mm mineral wool in the cavity walls of the envelope. The U-values for the wall systems range between 0.4 – 0.5 W/m²K. The windows are made of steady steel frames with good weather stripping and double glazing. For more information on cooling loads and energy savings please check the good practice example here.