ᐅ Insulating a Sand-Lime Brick Wall / Upgrading the Construction for Energy Efficiency

Hello everyone,

Our house is built with calcium silicate brick walls and glass (a shoutout to the 70s).

Now, as part of the renovation, we want to improve the energy efficiency of the walls (unfortunately, this can only be done from the inside). What would be a sensible approach, and what should we pay attention to?

Currently, there are wooden chipboards screwed onto the walls, which will be removed first. The electrical wiring will then be surface mounted, and after that, insulation will be added in front of it.

Thanks and best regards, Claudia

DieScholz´ens schrieb:
our house is made of sand-lime brick walls

Well, at least for some of the interior walls, I would leave them as exposed masonry; it also suits the character of the building nicely.

DieScholz´ens schrieb:
Currently, there are wooden chipboard panels screwed on in front,

I can’t quite imagine that.

You mention the 1970s – are we talking about 30 or 36.5 cm (12 or 14 inches) solid walls here, or a cavity wall construction?

By the way: has it been confirmed whether the renovation must comply with the current Energy Saving Ordinance 2016 standard?

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11ant schrieb:
You mention 70s – are we talking about 30 or 36.5 cm (12 or 14.4 inches) solid wall construction, or a multi-layered structure?

Oh dear, no idea (I am a complete layperson). If we remove these wood panels, we see the calcium silicate bricks... From what I quickly read, the standard energy-saving regulation 2016 shouldn’t apply here, as it apparently only applies to new buildings from 2016 onwards?

With exposed brickwork, you should be able to identify the materials used by looking at the formats and the bonding pattern; and hopefully, you didn’t buy the house without any plans (otherwise, an inquiry at the building authority / planning office should help). There, you can also find out whether the planned renovation legally classifies as substantial work affecting the original structure, requiring compliance with current standards.

I can’t quite imagine what the wooden panels underneath might be. Even if – which would be unusual – sand-lime bricks had only been used as an external facing back then, the interior would typically have been plastered directly onto them. Wall constructions with screwed-on wooden panels don’t align with contemporary building methods that I know of. Was the previous owner not the original builder and perhaps attempted some kind of energy retrofit without a proper plan, as an inexperienced DIYer?

Single or double layering should be easiest to recognize in the window reveals.

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https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Building plans and construction description – good keyword... well, I actually have something like that!

It says:

Exterior walls: Basement concrete wall 30cm (12 inches) thick / upper floor exterior wall 36.5cm (14 inches) brick masonry with outer sand-lime brick cladding as exposed masonry – plastered on the inside.

During the laminate installation, when the baseboards were removed, you could see wood fiber boards (see picture below). These were probably added later and then wallpapered over? But they are still not fully installed at the bottom. Currently, you can push the entire construction aside at the window and see the masonry behind it.

Attached is the building plan....