The Pro’s and Con’s of Kingspan Kooltherm In The Domestic Environment

Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 9:48 am

System 1: Cavity Wall Insulation
Cavity walls became popular in Ireland in the 80s. Quite simply they are two walls built side by side with a gap of about 60mm between them. The cavity between the two walls in older houses can be filled will insulation and new homes nowadays are built with excellent approved insulation material in the cavity. If you have a cavity wall, it is fast and easy to pump in insulation. Of the three systems mentioned here this is by far the cheapest. If you don’t have a cavity then this system will not work.

floor,

Also please don’t confuse cavity blocks with a cavity wall. With a cavity block 80% of the heat loss pass through the block and only 20% crosses the air gap. So even if you could find and fill all cavities you would only fix 20% of the problem.

System 2 Internal Insulation:
Internal insulation is where you attach insulation to the inside of a wall. So where the wallpaper is currently you stick about 100 mm of insulation material on to the wall and finish it with plaster board, then you can redecorate. This solution is cheaper than external insulation and if you are redecorating it can be included in the project with a minimum amount of hassle.

If you want to insulate a single room where there are no thermal bridges, this can often be the easiest way to make that one room warm and cosy. The flip side is you can also loose space in valuable space like on a staircase or where your fitted kitchen should be. Plus you need to shift radiators, light fittings, skirting boards etc as well as redecorate any room that has an external wall, so the total project can be very expensive.

System 3 External Wall Insulation:
External Insulation this is where you wrap the entire house in an insulating blanket. It tends to be about 110 mm thick and is composed of an insulating layer and a coloured render or brick finish. It is applied from the outside so there are no problems with thermal bridges, no loss of space and no need to redecorate. By insulating the outside you make the entire house a single thermal block, like a storage heater. In this way the house stays warm in winter and cool in summer. When the external insulation is being fitted down pipes may have to be moved and window sills extended. So there can be a fair amount of work involved and this can appear to be the most expensive solution. But when the project is complete you get a completely fresh facade and the best thermal properties of the three systems.

polystyrene,

All three systems outlines above are eligible for grants under Sustainable Energy Ireland’s Home Energy Saving Scheme.The value of the grant varies according to the system chosen.

System – Grant
Cavity – 400 euro
Internal – 2 500 euro
External – 4 000 euro

Author: Michal Studzinski

Wall Insulation is an Irish Engineering company specialising in External Wall Insulation Systems (EWIS). For more information visit us at: http://www.WallInsulation.ie

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michal_Studzinski

large refurb project

1) As we lay the UFH I was intending to insulate below the UFH with kingspan kooltherm k3 boards to keep the UFH warmth in the room it supposed to be in and the downstairs heat (aga/radiators/w… Read more…

mixing internal and external insulation

would the cheapest, easiest option in this room not be to get them to attach insulated plasterboard such as kingspan kooltherm k17 to the inside of the internal wall instead of whatever plaster… Read more…

re: spackling sucks!

no, these blocks are construction/interior only. next layer is 65mm kingspan kooltherm (rc=4!), same insulation as 250mm rockwool! then 20mm air. then this. i like… Read more…