ᐅ Which material should be used for building a house? Is it possible to use bricks without insulation?

Hello Forum,

As the title suggests, we are considering which type of masonry to use if we want to build thin walls without additional insulation.

My parents built their house almost 20 years ago using traditional bricks (36cm (14 inches)) without any insulation. Now an architect told us that this is probably no longer allowed because of energy-saving regulations, but he wasn’t sure either ("not my area" ).

• We want to make the most of the interior space, so preferably thin walls
• The house is located on a very quiet street, no aircraft noise or similar, so sound insulation is not an issue
• We do not aim to build a passive house, KfW55 standard, or anything comparable

Is 36cm (14 inches) brick masonry still possible without insulation nowadays? Are there any regulations or restrictions? Any information or links would be appreciated!

Regards,
Stephan

For what you describe, a 36.5cm (14.4 inches) brick wall is more than sufficient for the exterior walls without additional insulation. This applies whether it’s a plan brick (T9) or aerated concrete block. There used to be a great thread listing the types of blocks and their thicknesses for each standard—you might want to look that up.

However, you still need to consider other factors for the 2016 energy saving regulations, such as insulation of the floor slab and ceiling (i.e., the entire building envelope), the exterior door, and the windows. Don’t forget the heating system either.

Do you need an energy consultant for the 2016 energy saving regulations? If not, then advising on how to meet them should be the responsibility of your architect (because who else would do it!).

By the way, your architect is incompetent (what an excuse, seriously). They should at least have some basic knowledge and understanding, especially since they have to plan the building envelope as well.

@toxicmolotow thanks for the correction

Zaba12 schrieb:
Do you need an energy consultant for the 2016 Energy Saving Ordinance? If not, then the responsibility to provide advice on how to comply lies with your architect (because who else should do it!)

No, the consultation can be done by the person who provides the thermal insulation compliance report. Usually, this is not done by the architect themselves. In most cases, this task is likely handled by the structural engineer.

However, I agree with Zaba that a basic understanding should be present. Whether a 36cm (14 inch), 38cm (15 inch), or 40cm (16 inch) masonry unit is suitable should ideally be decided by the person preparing the compliance report.

Great, thank you very much for the information!

Hello Stephan,

We are in a similar situation – we want to extend an existing semi-detached house from the 1950s. The house has a wall thickness of only 29 cm (11 inches), so we didn’t want to add anything over 40 cm (16 inches) next to it... Definitely no external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS) retrofitting...

We will probably go for a Poroton brick from Schlagmann, which comes with mineral wool filling. It should meet the current energy saving regulations even at a 30 cm (12 inches) thickness, so with plaster it’ll be about 35 cm (14 inches)... That sounds good .

Good luck and success with your build!

Carsten

With suitable windows and doors, monolithic Ytong 30 cm (12 inches) walls with plaster are also possible. It probably doesn’t get more cost-effective than that without using expanded polystyrene.