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Thermal insulation of buildings

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1975 Physics in Technology 6 164
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THERMAL
INSULATION
OF
BUILDINGS
E A Raynham
Fibre Building Board Development Organization,
London WC2

As energy becomes more and more expensive, so it

becomes necessary to use it more sparingly and to
conserve it more carefully. But even today as the
media are screaming energy crisis and fuel bills
rocket, householders still use (and therefore pay for)
more fuel than they need to harm their homes.
This is despite government campaigns such as
Save it which encourage us to keep the heat we
have paid for so dearly.
Insulation materials and techniques have not
previously received the attention they deserve;
increasing fuel costs will create pressures to correct
this. Insulation is all too often skimped in building
design and left out of household budgets.
This article looks at the main ways heat is lost
from our homes, methods of stopping this loss and
perhaps most important, the economics of it all.

Reasons for improving thermal insulation

Improved thermal insulation of buildings is directed
at reducing the overall rate of flow of heat from them,
thereby conserving fuel in cool weather and securing
better comfort when ambient temperatures are
164

high. It is also directed at improving comfort

at reduced cost by reducing draughts which may
originate from admission of cold air through direct
openings to the outside or from local regions of
high thermal loss, such as windows.

Causes of heat loss from buildings

A hermetically sealed building is ideal from a heat
loss point of view. Clearly if no cold air is coming
in, being heated, and then flowing out, one source
of heat loss is eliminated. However this is not a
practical proposition since sufficient air must be
allowed to flow through a building to permit the
necessary combustion processes to proceed with
safety and comfort. These are the burning of fuel
for cooking, heating, to a lesser extent lighting
and, most important of all, breathing. The guide
book (1970) of the Institution of Heating and
Ventilating Engineers (IHVE) suggests, for example,
half an air change an hour as that which is necessary
for bedrooms, one per hour for living rooms,
one and a half per hour for lavatories, two for
bathrooms and five for cells in police stations!
Physics in Technology

J u l y 1975

Figure 1 Comparison between conduction and air

infiltration heat losses through windows (a) is air
infiltration through a weather-stripped window, and
(b) is the equivalent heat loss, (c) is heat loss by
conduction through a double glazed metal window,
(d) is air infiltration through a window without
weather-stripping window, and (f) is the equivalent
heat loss, (e) is the heat loss by conduction through
a double glazed metal window
In fact, one and a half air changes per hour is
considered adequate for most situations in dwellings,
offices, shops, factories, hospitals, etc.
Excessive ventilation
Tests conducted some years ago by the Building
Research Station on brick built houses with standard
factory-made joinery indicated that they suffered
some two and a half air changes per hour. Such a
level of ventilation would result in a heat loss from a
pair of typical semidetakhedhouses of approximately
470 W/K temperature difference between the air
inside and outside the dwellings. This is 50 % worse
than conducted heat loss through cavity brick walls
of the same two dwellings, and nearly twice as
much as the heat loss through their uninsulated
roofs. Clearly then, to reduce heat loss from buildings
the first priority is to control ventilation. This can
be done by weather stripping doors and windows,
either with metal strips or with self-adhesive
plastic foam. These measures are not perfect and are
most unlikely to reduce the air change below the
one and a half referred to above as the acceptaMe
minimum.
Windows
It would perhaps be convenient here to compare
heat lost by ventilation with conducted heat losses
attributable to windows. It is commonly assumed
that double glazing reduces heat loss through
windows by 50 %. In fact the IHVE guide book
shows that the conduction heat-loss through a
double glazed wooden window is 2.5 W m-2 K-l
compared with 4.3 W m-2 K-l through a similar
single glazed window. The corresponding figures
for metal windows are 3.2 and 5.6 Wm-2 K-l
respectively.
It should also be realized that in the case of the
Physics in Technology

July 1975

Figure 2 Use of dense linings to form an insulating

cavity with low emissivity
pair of houses already referred to above, conduction
heat losses through windows amounted to some
130 W/K temperature difference between inside
and outside air. Double glazing would reduce this
by not much more than 50 W K-l.
Two Building Research Station reports (Thomas
D A and Dick J B 1953, Dick J B 1950) permit a
comparison to be made between the effects of
weather stripping, and double glazing. This comparison is summarized in figure 1 and shows that
weather stripping does far more to reduce heat loss
than double glazing. Indeed, unless double glazing
is fitted in such a manner as to reduce ventilation
losses as well, it will not be effective or economical.
It must be remembered, however, that double
glazing does provide other benefits, such as reducing
down draughts, reducing condensation and improving security.
Walls and roofs
Any material or technique used to reduce heat
flow through walls or roofs does so by incorporating
air or other poorly conducting gases into the
structure. This is often done by using lightweight
materials which themselves contain trapped air.
The lightweight materials that are available include
mineral wool, quilts and slabs, expanded polystyrene slabs, foamed polyurethane slabs, lowdensity wood-fibre insulating boards, cementbonded slabs and strawboard. Heavier materials,
which nevertheless make a contribution to thermal
165

insulation, include lightweight aggregate concrete

blocks and aerated concrete blocks. Apart from
the use of such materials, air can also be incorporated into a structure by forming a cavity, ie the
conventional cavity wall used for house building.
The insulation performance of such walls may
now be further improved by injecting in situ foamed
plastic cavity fills.
Whilst some of the above materials are best
installed during initial construction (lightweight
concrete blocks for example), others may be added
at any time (mineral wool quilts in loft spaces,
providing loft access is available). Fortunately,
there are further techniques and materials which
may be employed to effect thermal insulation
improvements to existing walls and roofs. An
additional wall lining fixed to timber battens creates
an insulating cavity. Moreover, since half the heat
flowing across such cavities is radiated, the insulation performance of the cavity may be almost
doubled by including a low emissivity surface
within the cavity. This is done, for example, by
using aluminium foil backed plasterboard. An
alternative, used by the author in his dining room,
is to fix the foil under the battens and then use a
predecorated rigid form of medium density hardboard (see figure 2).
Since the effectiveness of the above materials is
dependent on thickness it cannot be compared with,
say, the effectiveness of a cavity by referring to
thermal conductivity figures. It is usual therefore to
use thermal resistance as a parameter. This is the
product of thermal resistivity, k-', (where k is the
coefficient of thermal conductivity) and thickness,
and is expressed as m z K W- I.

Insulation performance of structures

The ability of a wall, floor or roof to conduct heat,
ie its thermal transmittance, is called its U value.
It has the same unit as thermal conductivity,
except that since a U value refers to a given construction, the thickness of whichis takeninto account,
it has the unit W nir2 K-l. U values are computed
according to the formula

U=(R,,+ R e , + R , , , + k , - l + k , - ' + ) - l .

Limitations of the U value

The primary purpose of the U value was, and still is,
to assist heating engineers to determine the size
of heating installation required in a building. It
was first used as a legislative instrument for factory
roofs in 1957 and then extended to residential
buildings in Scotland in 1964 and to dwellings in
England and Wales in 1966.
The limitation of the use of the U value even for
its initial purpose will be immediately obvious
to the physicist. It is computed from thermal
conductivity data for materials of a given moisture
content measured under steady state conditions.
However, steady state heat flow conditions across
walls and roofs seldom, if ever, occur in the U K .
Even if the internal air temperature is constant,
the external air temperature is not. The engineer

...

where R i s ,R e , are the thermal resistances of internal

and external surfaces respectively; R,,, is the sum
of thermal resistances of any cavities; k1-l, k2--' . . .
are the thermal resistances of each material used.
Ri,and R e , are in fact practical expressions of
coefficients of convective and radiative heat transfers from and to the air on either side of the wall
or roof. Naturally because of wind effects and so
on which facilitate convective transfer on the
outside R e , is a lot less than Ri,.

Legislative standards
At the time of writing (December 1974) building
regulations may only prescribe maximum U values
for floors, walls and roofs of dwellings and other
residential buildings. The principal provisions are
166

indicatcd in table 1. However, it is known that these

will be improved before the end of January 1975
as the table also shows. The figure of 1.7 W m-2 K-l
shown for roofs of industrial buildings is that
required by the Thermal Insulation (Indirstrial
Buildings) Act 1957. The Health and Safety at
Work A c t 1974 now confers powers for thermal
insulation regulations to be applied to walls,
floors and roofs of all new buildings, and table I
indicates the levels expected by the insulation
industry.
Current regulations for floors next to the ground
in Scotland call for a U value no more than 1 .O W m - 2
K-l, and in England and Wales 1.42. The latter
figure is expected to be decreased to that in Scotland.
In fact the common floor constructions used in
housing do not always comply with these regulations,
and it therefore follows that as insulation standards
are improved generally, to ignore the floor is to
leave a proportionately larger gap unplugged.
Improvements can be made to concrete ground
floors by using water impermeable insulating layers
beneath and at the edge of the slab. Alternatively
an insulating membrane can be installed above the
slab. This can also be done with suspended timber
floors.

Table 1 Existing and expected thermal insulation

requirements for roofs and walls ( U values in
W m K-l). Column A dwellings, B other residential buildings, C industrial buildings, D other
residential buildings
"Other than hospitals, sanatoria, etc.
Roofs

England and Wales

Scotland
Expected

1.4
1.1
1.1"
0.60 0.60

1.7
1.7
1.0

1.0

1.2

1.2

Walls

England and Wales

Scotland
Expected

1.7
1.7

1.7"

1.0

1.0

Physics in Technology

July 1975

realizes this and makes allowances for intermittency.

Moreover it is usual to assume an average external
air temperature for the whole heating season in
the U K of 5.5 "C. Thus the U value may be used
for long term calculations, but even then only with
care. It is only comparatively recently that the
calculation has been refined to account for the
moisture content of masonry walls.
In legislative use it is even more of a blunt instrument. The new Health arid Safety at Work Act
enables regulations to be made in the interests
not only of health, but also of energy conservation
and condensation control. If provision is to be made
for energy conservation on an equitable basis,
taking into account the geometry of a building, a
more sophisticated approach than just a U value
will be required, even within a given building type.
For example, an examination (Raynham 1971)
has been made of the conductive heat loss characteristics of a range of dwellings constructed by a
single large contractor, both for local authorities
and for private sale.
The value of total conducted heat loss was
derived for each of nine different types of dwellings
and three levels of insulation: A, wall U value of
1.7, roof value of 1.4, with single glazing of U
value of 5.7, B, wall U value of 1.0, roof U value
of 0.5, and with single glazing: C, wall U value of
0.5, roof U value of 0.5 and with double glazing.
A is the requirements of the Building Regulations
for England and Wales. Floor U values, when
relevant, were taken to be 1.0 W m '' K - ' . These
assumed values were then divided by the occupied
volume to give the rate of heat loss per l o o m 3 of
occupied volume. The symbol I was assigned to the
resulting value. A summary of these calculations
for the three levels of insulation is given in table 2.
The first column of results in table 1 is broadly
related to the insulation levels set for dwellings
since 1966 by the Building Regulations for England
and Wales. It demonstrates that the specification
of uniform standards for thermal transmittance
of each component of the boundary surfaces of the
different types of dwelling does not result in uniform
standards of insulation. (For example, if you want
to be warm economically the regulations encourage
you to live in a ground floor flat rather than a
detached house.) This is no more than is to be
expected since the I value takes into account those
aspects of the geometry of the duelling which are
significant heat loss considerations -. the ratio of
external wall, roof and floor area, to the volume
they enclose, and to each other. The results suggest
that such considerations are necessary if a realistic
performance specification is to be derived for thermal insulation of any building, particularly dwellings.
The point is well illustrated for example by comparing the values for a local authority flat, a detached
house and a bungalow built for private sale.
It is suggested that one way to exert sensible
control on heat loss from dwellings would be to
specify a maximum value for I. It can be seen from
Physics in Technology

July 1975

Local Airthority Contract

Terraced
Semidetached
Top flat
Intermediate flat
Ground flat

120
155
167
61
105

B
86
110
110
47
91

57
69
87
23

250
160
178
137

180
122
128
125

120
75
80
85

67

Private sale

Bungalow
Semidetached
Detached
Ground flat

Table 2 Summary of the calculations of heat loss

(W K-' 100 m-3) for three levels of insulation
A, B, C (see text)
table 1 that middle flats enjoy the lowest rate of
heat loss at any given level of insulation. It will also
be realized that to consider a block of flats as a
whole rather than as the individual dwellings in it,
will indicate that flats in general have the lowest
heat loss characteristics. Indeed, if all dwellings
were insulated to give a value for I not greater than,
say 100 W K - l 1 0 0 r r 3 (approximating to the
value for ground floor local authority flats derived
from current legislation requirements), this would
ensure a uniform standard for all dwellings irrespective of their geometry. If desired, this figure could
be subject to refinements such as relating it to the
cost of fuel used, and to preserving a reasonable
balance of heat loss between each of the separate
components. It could also be applied to other
building types such as schools, offices, shops and
factories, taking into account their intermittent
use and other relevant factors.

Economics and physics

The provision of higher standards of thermal
insulation is frequently a matter of economics;
of spending money on materials to save money by
reduced heat losses thereafter. The financial return
for a given expenditure is clearly greater if the
building is occupied and heated continuously
(a house for example), than if it is only occupied
for eight hours a day, five days a week (a school,
shop or office for example). Factories may fall into
either of these categories. Thus the question of
intermittency has to be considered when determining
the amounts of insulation to be used, always accepting that adequate comfort levels must be achieved
throughout the period of occupancy.
Thermal mass and thermal diffusivity
When buildings such as schools are intended for
intermittent occupation there is a n advantage to
be derived from using lightweight walls of low
thermal capacity, because they will warm up quickly.
In so doing they will achieve a higher surface
temperature at the early stages of the heating
cycle than would a more massive wall of high
167

thermal capacity (see figure 3), and higher surrounding surface temperatures lead to improved comfort
conditions. This effect gives an added reason for
using lightweight concrete blocks for the inner
leaf of a cavity wall rather than a brick inner skin.
Partition walls of high thermal capacity are,
however, an advantage when off-peak heating
equipment is used, since they can absorb this heat
during the night charging period, and slowly release
it during the subsequent day.
Finally it is worth considering that for fuel
conservation and economic reasons it may in
future no longer be possible to heat whole buildings
throughout a heating season. Some of the rooms
may only be occupied either for a fairly short time,
or not very often. The need hould then be for an
insulating lining which would raise the air temperature and the radiant temperature of the boundary
surfaces as quickly as possible for any given heat
input. This subject was investigated by the Building
Research Station soon after the war ( I H V E
Joirrnal 1974). They investigated the use of 13 mm
wood-fibre insulating board on 13 mm battens,
and a number of different appliances, both radiative
and convective. The rate of temperature rise without
the lining was 1.7 "C h-l and with it was 2.8 ' C h-I.
Moreover it was found that after about an hour's
heating of the lined room it was possible to reduce
the rate of fuel consumption and still maintain a
comfortable temperature. The fuel savings were
calculated to be 54 "/, in the ventilated room heated
by tubular heaters, and 32 O 0 in that with a gas
fire.

Shorter heating seasons

It is possible to use such large amounts of thermal
insulation that the heat created within a building
may almost suffice for maintaining comfort temperatures, although this may not be a very practical
solution. However, it has been pointed out on a
number of occasions, most recently by Billington
1974, that provision of adequate insulation makes
heating unnecessary until the daily mean outdoor
temperature falls below about 14 'C. In other
words the heating season for most of the U K
could be reduced by almost two months, to run
from late October to mid April, instead of from
early October to mid May.
Fuel costs
The sensible level of expenditure on insulation is
directly related to the cost of the heat lost, and to the
length of time required to produce an appreciable
return in terms of fuel saving. Since fuel costs differ
so widely, it is not possible to generalize on amounts
of insulation which should be used. Until recently
it has been thought reasonable to assume a two
or three year period for the insulation cost to be
compensated by the accumulated fuel bill reductions.
However since fuel costs are likely to go on rising in
the foreseeable future it would seem prudent to
provide more than this amount of insulation.
168

c\

-10.06s

CI

-7.2

eE

-4.4

Time Ch)

Figure 3 Effect of thermal capacity on wall surface

temperature. A is air temperature, B is for a lightweight wall, and C for a 280 mm cavity brick wall
(A house extension currently being built for the
author will have 150"
of mineral wool roof
insulation.)
The significance of the cost of different fuels
can be understood when it is realized that the cost
of heat lost annually through a 275 m m thick
6 m long, 2.5 m high cavity brick wall is f 9.80
using coal, f 5.95 burning gas, f 11.80 using oil
and f 6.60 using off peak electricity. The corresponding figures when the wall is lined with 12 mm
hardboard on an aluminium lined cavity are E 6.00,
f 3.60, f 7.20, f 5.70 respectively.

Other benefits of insulation

Most readers will have seen the pattern in a lath
and plaster ceiling, or something similar. This is
caused by smoke and dust deposition on surfaces
of structures having unequal thermal transmittance
through adjacent parts. The dust is directed against
the cooler surfaces having higher thermal transmittance. Adequate extra insulation eliminates
this phenomenon, because it reduces the differential
heat transmission between adjacent parts.
Temperature stress reduction
Regardless of any insulation placed beneath roof
decks, especially concrete ones, insulation is also
required above the deck to limit thermal expansion
during hot weather. This point is perhaps best
made by quoting the results (table 3) of temperature
measurements taken over a 24 h period in a 150 m m
roof deck in London, covered with asphalt, but
only partly provided with insulating board between
the deck and asphalt. The maximum and minimum
air temperatures in the shade were 25.5 and 14 "C
respectively.
Physics in Technology

July 1975

Uninsulated

Upper concrete surface

Centre of slab

Max.
37.8
34

Min.
15.5
18

Range
22.3
16

29
27.5

21

20

7.5

Insulated

Upper concrete surface

Centre of slab

Table 3 Temperature ( " C ) variation in concrete

roofs

Figure 4 Double glazing is an effective way of

preventing heat loss (F Squires, London)

These figures demonstrate how the insulation

not only reduced temperature differentials through
the day, but throughout the thickness of the slab.
Clearly this reduction in temperature differentials
implies a reduced expansion in the insulated slab.
Condensation
To avoid condensation on the surface of walls, etc,
it is necessary to have sufficient ventilation, and
adequate insulation and heat input. It is also necessary to consider the question of whether condensation is likely to occur within a structure. Since
most structures experience a falling dew point as
well as temperature gradient from inside to out,
it is possible (especially where insulating internal
linings are provided) for the temperature on the
cold side of the insulation to fall below the dew
point, causing interstitial condensation. This can
be controlled by providing water vapour barriers
on the warm side of the insulation. This may take the
form of polythene film or certain types of paint
treatment, such as chlorinated rubber on the insulated
lining. In some situations such as factory roofs and
some timber flat roofs, ventilation is provided above
the insulation to remove any water vapour that has
penetrated that far.
Fire hazard
When fire breaks out in a compartment the contents
of the whole room are heated up, leading to accumulation of flammable gas. Eventually a point is reached
when these gases, together with the materials
evolving them, suddenly ignite and thus involve
the whole room in fire.
Tests done many years ago at the Fire Research
Station (Raynham 1973) investigated the factors
Physics in Technology

July 1975

leading to a short, and therefore dangerous,

flashover time. Tests involving fires in domestic
sized rooms with insulating board and hardboard
wall linings, showed that flashover occurred at
between 8.5 and 12min. Two further tests made
with a noncombustible sprayed insulating lining
gave flashover times of 8 and 4 . 5 min, thus suggesting
that the thermal insulating characteristics of a
lining are probably more significant from a fire
development point of view than its combustibility.
If this is true to any extent, significantly improved
standards of thermal insulation, such as we are
about to adopt in this country, are almost certain
to accentuate the fire risk, especially in dwellings.
Conclusions
It can be seen that clear benefits accrue from insulating existing buildings to a higher standard, and that
when doing so the first priority should be reduction
of adventitious ventilation. The insulation techniques
and materials required are readily available and
easy to apply.
In new construction the prospect of improved
standards is welcome. The scale of the improvement
is such as to call for new techniques and combinations of materials. The result may indeed be such
as to have a profound effect on building design and
construction generally.
The matter will need constant review as fuel
costs change. Moreover if the maximum benefit
of all these efforts is to be achieved a more sophisticated approach to heat loss calculation and control
is required.
Finally the problems of interstitial condensation
and increased fire hazard which may result from
improvements in thermal insulation must not be
ignored.
References
Dick J B 1950 IHVEJournallS (17.9) 123-34
IHVE Journal 1946 14 (135) 103-12
IHVE Journal 1974 42 63
IHVE Guide Book 1970
Raynham E A 1971 Proc. First Nat. Symp. on Structural
Insulation (London : Structural Insulation Association)
Raynham E A 1973 Fibre Building Board Development
Organization Technical Bulletin TB 10-73
Thomas D A and Dick J B 1953 IHVE Journal 21 (214)
85-97

169