Walls and insulation
From Green Garage Detroit
return to As Built
Contents
Sustainability goals for our wall system
Because we were designing a Super Insulated Building Envelope, our wall system design was extremely important. Our goals included:
- Minimize thermal bridging.
- Reduce energy use of existing building by at least 70%.
- Use envelope and insulation materials that do not harm building occupants or the environment.
- Use envelope and insulation materials that are existing, recycled, and/or local materials wherever possible.
Wall design
Historic side
Built second wall inside the brick/block walls to accommodate super insulation while preserving historic appearance and keep block from entering waste stream. Modeled wall system with WUFI software to determine how best to achieve high R-value and also deal with moisture within our super insulated wall assembly design
- Historic brick/block layer 8" thick
- Weep holes at base of wall to drain moisture from behind masonry layer
- Drainage plane 1" thick
- This air layer helps control thermal bridging by separating the inner wall from the outer wall
- Also helps control moisture build up in the wall by providing a path for condensation or rain water to run down to weep holes
- Firring blocks 1" thick
- Controls thermal bridging by holding stud wall away from drainage plane behind masonry
- Polyiso rigid foam board 2" thick, 2 layers with staggered seams (total of 4" thick)
- Cellulose blown-in insulation (and wood studs) 5" thick
- Absorbs and dissipates moisture like a living organism
- Contains fire retardant and mold inhibitors
- Gypsum wallboard 1" thick, 1/2" reused from existing, 1/2" new material
- Total thermal resistance for the walls is R-42
- Total wall thickness is 18.5"
- Historic brick/block layer 8" thick
Use of homasote
Annex side
The importance of insulation
Suppliers and materials
Drawings
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Resources
- Insulation specialist
- Byczynski, Ken (Building Science Consultant)
- Kenco Energy Services
- kensr.kenco@gmail.com
- 248-895-8161 - Mobile
- 7273 Tucker Road
- Holly, MI 48442
- Insulation Supplier
- David Volpe
- Insulation Depot/
(Used rigid insulation supplier)
- 508.532.1851
- Comparisons of insulation
- Insulation Comparison from UK
- Fiber Glass vs.Cellulose Comparison
- Long List of Insulation Material Comparison
- Rocky Mountain Institute Insulation Guide for Home Envelopes
- Shurcliff, Wm. Super Insulated Houses and Air-to-Air Heat Exchangers
- Wall Systems
- Building Science Insight 001: The Perfect Wall
- Oak Ridge National Lab Wall Insulation Guidelines ...nice picture of basic system.
- Oak Ridge National Lab Wall Moisture Insulation Guidelines by Climate
- Vapor Barrier Guidelines Put the vapor barrier on the warm side of the exterior structure.
- Wall System R Value Calculator
- The Perfect Wall