Thermal insulation – is it always worth to and possible to insulate a building?

With the aim of reducing the cost of heating the house, as well as improving living comfort, more and more people are opting for thermal insulation. In such a situation, the question arises, is it always worth it and can every building be insulated effectively?

Thermal insulation of a building – what is it and what does it consist of?

Thermal insulation is the process of insulating a building or specific parts of it (such as the roof, walls, windows or pipes). It involves creating a barrier that prevents, first of all, the loss of heat on cold days, but also reduces the amount of heat that reaches the interior of the house in summer. It is like a sunshade and a down jacket in one. The quality of the thermal insulation is determined by two parameters: thermal resistance (R) and heat transfer (U). We can say a building is well-insulated when its thermal resistance is high and heat transfer is low.

How is the insulation of the building carried out?

Various materials and methods are used in thermal insulation. Among the most popular materials are: styrofoam, mineral wool and glass wool, as well as polyurethane (PUR) foam . In contrast, the most common technique is to attach insulation materials to the exterior wall of a building.

Although it is worth knowing that in the case of houses with two-layer walls, the main thing that comes into play is filling the air gap between one layer and the other with an insulator. Historic buildings, on the other hand, whose outer layer is too valuable to undergo modification, are subject to fixing thermal insulators on the inside. This solution is avoided in standard construction because, first of all, it takes up valuable usable space and, secondly, it is cumbersome to implement.

Thermal insulation of the house – when is it possible?

It is widely recognized that any building can be thermally insulated. Regardless of when it was built, with what materials and with what technology. Of course, insulating some homes is easier and cheaper, while others require both more money and work.

The poor condition of the plaster is enough to make the implementation – extended to include plaster replacement – up to 20% more expensive. Buildings with two-layer walls also generate trouble. If the gap between the two is unventilated, the exterior insulation can lead to moisture build up inside the wall. On the other hand, if the gap is characterized by intensive ventilation, the insulation will not be as effective as the investor expects. What about old buildings that were already insulated, but today do not show as much thermal efficiency as the owner expects? In this case, it is permissible to apply a new thermal insulation over the old one. Provided, of course, that its technical condition allows it. Such a solution can save a lot of time and money, but it requires more skill. This is because it is very important to maintain the correct method of fastening – with an adhesive layer supported by mechanical bonding.

Thermal insulation – wall and roof sandwich panels

Innovative materials such as sandwich panels are increasingly being used in modern construction. Behind their relatively simple design comes great functionality. This is because they are both a structural element and act as an insulator – thermal and even acoustic. Most available sandwich panels are based on a core of mineral wool and PIR foam. However, innovative materials are already occurring, such as QuadCore® hybrid cores from Kingspan’s catalog. They exhibit the lowest thermal conductivity on the market at 0.018 W/m2. In comparison, mineral wool allows a value of 0.0400 W/m2 to be rached.