Research results: - insulation

Commissie Duurzaam
Jan 28
2 min read

Updated: Feb 9

Table of contents of insulation

Introduction (this page)

The roof

The floors (undersides) of gallery walkways and balconies, including upstands

Front and rear facade: wall and brackets

Front and rear facades: window frames, glazing and air gaps

Ground-floor floors

Loose ends

Introduction

During the period when Kleiburg was built, in the 1970s, there were hardly any regulations regarding insulation. The EBA cast construction system was used for Kleiburg 's construction in 1973. The EBA system does, however, create so-called thermal bridges .

A thermal bridge is a place where heat and cold easily intersect because insulation is lacking or broken. In winter, heat leaks out and cold enters. In summer, the reverse can happen: heat enters through the same connection. In many 1970s apartment buildings (such as Kleiburg), concrete floors, balconies, and galleries extend from the inside to the outside without any insulation interruption. The concrete conducts heat directly – as if the inside and outside are connected.

Since 1996, insulation requirements have become stricter. This is shown in the diagram below:

the blue Numbers indicate the thermal conductivity of a building component such as a wall, roof, or window (U-value). The worst insulation has the highest number. The lower the number, the better the insulation retains heat;
and the Red numbers indicate thermal resistance (RC). This is a measure of how well a material or structure impedes heat transfer. The higher the thermal resistance, the better the insulation capacity of the material or structure.

This chart also shows that insulation yields significantly more at low initial levels, with the effect decreasing as insulation improves.

This means that the biggest step in energy savings per euro invested is achieved by insulating those parts of our building that were not renovated and/or insulated in 2013.

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