Hello everyone,
I am currently looking for a single-family home for my partner and me, with a baby on the way.
Over the past few weeks, we have viewed around 30 houses ranging from built in 1860 to 1980. The variety included sandstone, rubble masonry, and brickwork, with many extensions, renovations, and added floors. Some were partially refurbished during the 1970s or 1980s. The windows were made of wood, aluminum, or PVC, roofs included fiber cement (Eternit) sheets, and heating systems ranged from oil, coal, coke, electric, storage heaters, wood gasification, gas condensing boilers to pellet stoves.
Preliminary conclusion: due to the current interest rate situation, the market for houses affordable to us is almost empty. There are only expensive prestigious properties starting at 300,000€ or houses at the lower price range around or below 100,000€, which require significant renovation. The "middle" market mostly consists of heavily overpriced houses that actually belong in one of the other price categories mentioned.
For this reason, it currently seems likely that we will buy a house that is more or less in need of major renovation. In all the houses we have viewed in this price range, the walls, ceilings, and roofs (windows definitely) were uninsulated.
Typically, one only hears of adding insulation from the exterior with polystyrene boards or similar materials.
Since nearly all the houses we have seen also need a complete overhaul of water pipes and electrical wiring, and since I would also like to install network cables and possibly KNX wiring at the same time, here is my idea:
Instead of chasing channels all over the masonry to lay new cables and insulating the exterior walls, would it make more sense to build complete wooden stud walls with insulation wool (stone wool?) on the interior and lay the cables within these walls?
Now my questions:
- Does this idea generally make sense, or is added insulation only effective on the outside?
- Are there special considerations for different types of masonry, e.g., ventilation to prevent mold?
- To what extent does it make sense to insulate (intermediate) ceilings? For example, I would insulate all ceilings that have usually cold rooms above them (bedrooms, corridors, storage rooms, attic).
That’s it for now; I assume further questions will arise.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
I am currently looking for a single-family home for my partner and me, with a baby on the way.
Over the past few weeks, we have viewed around 30 houses ranging from built in 1860 to 1980. The variety included sandstone, rubble masonry, and brickwork, with many extensions, renovations, and added floors. Some were partially refurbished during the 1970s or 1980s. The windows were made of wood, aluminum, or PVC, roofs included fiber cement (Eternit) sheets, and heating systems ranged from oil, coal, coke, electric, storage heaters, wood gasification, gas condensing boilers to pellet stoves.
Preliminary conclusion: due to the current interest rate situation, the market for houses affordable to us is almost empty. There are only expensive prestigious properties starting at 300,000€ or houses at the lower price range around or below 100,000€, which require significant renovation. The "middle" market mostly consists of heavily overpriced houses that actually belong in one of the other price categories mentioned.
For this reason, it currently seems likely that we will buy a house that is more or less in need of major renovation. In all the houses we have viewed in this price range, the walls, ceilings, and roofs (windows definitely) were uninsulated.
Typically, one only hears of adding insulation from the exterior with polystyrene boards or similar materials.
Since nearly all the houses we have seen also need a complete overhaul of water pipes and electrical wiring, and since I would also like to install network cables and possibly KNX wiring at the same time, here is my idea:
Instead of chasing channels all over the masonry to lay new cables and insulating the exterior walls, would it make more sense to build complete wooden stud walls with insulation wool (stone wool?) on the interior and lay the cables within these walls?
Now my questions:
- Does this idea generally make sense, or is added insulation only effective on the outside?
- Are there special considerations for different types of masonry, e.g., ventilation to prevent mold?
- To what extent does it make sense to insulate (intermediate) ceilings? For example, I would insulate all ceilings that have usually cold rooms above them (bedrooms, corridors, storage rooms, attic).
That’s it for now; I assume further questions will arise.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
D
Deliverer18 Apr 2017 14:58What are the disadvantages of thermostats? Possibly programmable ones...
Stefanseiner1 May 2017 18:19Are there any recommendations regarding the thickness and thermal conductivity (WLG) values for interior insulation depending on wall thickness and the materials used, perhaps in the form of a table?
So far, I have only found information on the websites of relevant insulation manufacturers stating that the insulation varies (understandably) depending on the wall material and thickness.
Currently, the issue is potentially a 55cm (22 inches) rubble stone wall. For the planned timber stud walls, I would like to keep the thickness reasonably compact and use mineral wool compression batts with a thermal conductivity of 0.032 W/(m·K), but how thick should they be?
So far, I have only found information on the websites of relevant insulation manufacturers stating that the insulation varies (understandably) depending on the wall material and thickness.
Currently, the issue is potentially a 55cm (22 inches) rubble stone wall. For the planned timber stud walls, I would like to keep the thickness reasonably compact and use mineral wool compression batts with a thermal conductivity of 0.032 W/(m·K), but how thick should they be?
Our house has a solid masonry ground floor and a timber frame upper floor. The walls on the ground floor are insulated from the inside using composite panels attached to the masonry with adhesive dabs. This means drywall (not my favorite) combined with 3cm (1.2 inches) of polystyrene. Installing electrical wiring is very easy this way since all cables run on the masonry beneath the composite panels. There is a small air gap between the panel and the wall because of the adhesive dabs. With this type of internal insulation, it is essential to ensure the insulation is airtight to prevent air from flowing behind it. For this purpose, using full-surface bonding is better than dabs. If air gets into the gap and cools down there, mold can develop. Otherwise, I find this kind of internal insulation very effective to prevent mold since there are no cold spots anymore. Our house was unoccupied and unheated for one year; the ground floor is still unheated and stays around 14-15°C (57-59°F) in winter. We ventilate very little, at most once a day, and there is no mold anywhere. So, this method works well if airtightness is properly considered.
You can find tables in U-value calculators!
You can find tables in U-value calculators!
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