ᐅ Renovation: Wall Insulation and Glass Blocks

Hello,

my parents want to renovate their house. Part of this involves filling the cavity within the walls (7-8 cm (3-3¼ inches)) with foam.

In one wall in the stairwell, they have some glass blocks in the exterior wall. Has anyone had experience with how these react? The foam will probably flow into the gaps between the blocks and effectively seal them. Does this look really bad, or would it be better to remove all of them and close the wall (this is what the consultant suggests; they don’t have a cost estimate for this yet, but it seems like a huge effort to us)?

The house also has radiators recessed into wall niches. These will be boxed in and the radiators relocated in front of the walls. Does this have a significant impact?

Looking forward to your feedback!

Maya2011

Hello,

Maya2011 schrieb:

Foam is supposed to be filled into the wall cavity (7-8 cm (3-3.1 inches)).

What kind of foam?

Maya2011 schrieb:

In a wall in the stairwell, they have some glass blocks in the exterior wall.....
....The foam will probably also run into the gaps between the blocks and “seal” them.....

How exactly should I imagine this?
Glass block - air gap - glass block????

Maya2011 schrieb:

There are also radiators recessed into wall niches inside the house. These niches are meant to be closed off and the radiators moved outwards. Does that make much difference???

Radiator niches always create thermal bridges. Adding insulation to the exterior wall actually increases this effect. So, it’s best to close off radiator niches.

Regards

Hello,

What a foam

For example, a two-component foam that expands and hardens (white material).

How am I supposed to imagine that now?
Glass block - air cavity - glass block ????

Yes, exactly, since one block is not as thick as the entire exterior wall.

Radiator recesses always create a thermal bridge. Adding additional insulation to the exterior wall actually makes this effect stronger. So, radiator recesses should be closed.

Okay, thanks!!!

Maya2011 schrieb:

For example, a two-component foam that then expands and hardens (white material)

Wait a moment, you want to fill the air cavity between the wall shells with assembly foam? Who suggested that?

E.Curb schrieb:
Wait a moment, you want to fill the air gap between the masonry shells with expanding foam? Who suggested that?

I’m not exactly sure what the structural engineer planned here.

For other houses, he has used the following, sorry, I got the other information from a modernizer’s brochure:

Aminoplastic synthetic resin insulation foam

What do you think about this?

However, the main question would be, “What do we do about the glass blocks?”

Thanks

OK, that probably does exist. However, I can’t really comment on it, as I have never heard of it, seen it, or been told about it.

Well, I would definitely remove the glass blocks. Maybe replace them with a window or something like that. What kind of facade is it?