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Thermal Insulation Assembly Talk with Tiffany
Dear Tiffany,
Thank you for accompanying me walking around the neighborhood.
You asked me to show you different options for keeping your shed cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Here are the perspectives on how I approach this issue.
How can we apply insulation?
In the old days, the maximum resistance to heat flow (R-value) was limited by the depth of studs and ceiling joists when building a platform framing house. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s, the desirable R-value could be reached by simply filling the available voids in the framing.
There are three general ways of insulating masonry walls: on the outside face, within the wall, and on the interior face.
What choices do we have?
Option 1: External panel
Your shed uses CMU blocks (concrete masonry units). In many cases, the EIFS (exterior insulation and finishing system) is used for insulating the existing masonry structure because that method is easy to apply without altering the existing building elevation. EIFS are panels of rigid insulation covered by thin layers of polymeric stucco reinforced with glass fiber mesh. You can often see this material at a suburban shopping mall.
Option 2: Within the wall
We can use a polystyrene foam inserted inside the CMU cavity. Korfil insert, for example, is the proprietary concrete masonry system designed with polystyrene foam inserts to provide a high degree of thermal insulation.
We can also insulate the CMU core by pouring dry-fill insulation, such as vermiculite. The insulation is noncombustible, inorganic, non-settling, and treated to repel water. So that can prevent the CMU block from condensation or leakage.
Option 3: Interior side of the wall
On the other hand, this shed is located at the corner of the backyard, abutting the fence of the south and west ends’ neighbors. It seems…
