Clearing The Air

Through design and construction we have ensured that our building has plenty of highly efficient insulation in order to greatly reduce the amount of heat lost through the fabric of the    building, however, the effectiveness of our ‘thermal envelope’, also relies on the building being airtight, therefore steps are taken to seal any areas where air leakage may occur, some of which are highlighted below.

Above:Polyurethane expanding  foam has been applied to seal around posi-joists at each end. 

 Below: Sealant has been applied around insulation at window and door reveals, and to full depth

               around each frame. The excess foam will later be trimmed flush before  rendering.

Of course an air tight building will very quickly become a ‘sick’ building unless adequate air circulation and ventilation is provided. We can immediately see conflicting requirements, on one hand we have the need to prevent heat from escaping, and on the other a building and occupants that we must keep healthy by preventing the build up of moisture and stale air. In short, we need to keep the heat in, the moisture out and provide fresh air for everyone inside to breathe. In order to achieve all the above requirements and tick this seemingly contradictory set of boxes, our clients new home will have an MVHR system designed and installed. MVHR stands for  Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery, this will allow the building to be properly ventilated with very little loss of heat.

The first roof trusses arrive on site.

The roof trusses are craned into position.

The diminishing truss set is put in place.

The roof trusses are braced and tied as the gable walls are completed.

The main structure is ready for rendering and the roof ready to be covered and tiled.

Internal Insulation

We do not only insulate the exposed areas of the building, we also use insulation within the internal floors and partitions. Here we have specified 200mm thick mineral wool between the floor joists and also 100mm mineral wool between the members of any stud partions. Insulating what would otherwise be structural voids in this way, not only reduces the risk of fire spread, but also offers better sound insulation between rooms and floors.

  Good insulation between rooms and floors also increases the potential to save energy by providing greater control over the dispersal of heat throughout the building. This means that energy is not wasted trying to keep the temperature in one room higher while heat otherwise escapes through the walls and floors into another.