Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation Re: Insulating 7 Start + new house 23Aug 29, 2018 1:48 pm Has anyone got an answer for stme question "how can I avoid the thermal bridging of the alfresco with the house slab" ? Is it viable to place XPS panels (or any other materials) as thermal break during the formwork without compromising the monolith nature (also integrity and strength) of the slab? Re: Insulating 7 Start + new house 24Sep 03, 2018 1:34 pm I'm not sure that that's possible - a thermal break almost by definition involves disrupting the monolith. Personally, I'd do two separate slabs - an insulated one (including slab-edge insulation, most important) for the house, and have a separate (uninsulated) slab for the alfresco. Extending the house slab to the alfresco doesn't actually help with slab strength and integrity (in fact, an argument can be made for the reverse, as larger slabs are typically more prone to issues) - it's only done that way because it's cheap to do. Doing two slabs will be more expensive (but you might be able to make some of it back by downgrading the specification for the alfresco slab, since it won't be carrying house loads). Of course, having a thermal break means that you'll also have lower energy bills, so would probably be better off in the long-term (where 'long-term' is admittedly ill-defined). Re: Insulating 7 Start + new house 25Sep 03, 2018 1:37 pm BTW, I am really not convinced that doing two slabs should be more expensive than doing a bigger one (if the area is the same). $10K difference is outrageous, the rate is $65 for formwork + granno/steelfixing labour per sqm, the rest is the cost of concrete and steel. Moreover, for alfresco slab you could potentially use lighter reinforcement (e.g. SL62 mesh instead of SL82). Re: Insulating 7 Start + new house 26Sep 03, 2018 3:29 pm Thank you algernon and alexp79, very informative response as usual. I shall seek to have separate slabs for alfresco and porch (which is rather long - 9 x 1.6 m ). Sorry CheeseNWine, for hijacking your tread! Yes well there solution is to blame everyone else while I a 65yr old woman with major medical problems have to just continue to boil water and wash myself in a bucket… 2 16005 If you make sure all taps inside and out are turned off, what does the water meter show if you leave it for a while. 2 20235 13 6632 |