barton
2013-02-25 08:36:41
- #1
Hello,
I would first like to describe our project before getting to the actual question:
We have a house, partially basement, ground floor, converted attic - intermediate ceiling between ground floor and attic beams. The house is being converted to ground floor + full upper floor + roof. For this, the current roof will be torn down and the upper floor will be built on the remaining ground floor. On the ground floor, two walls will be moved and the ground floor will be built up by one brick in height in order to have enough room height after installing heating and floor insulation – because the house is not insulated towards the basement/floor.
The building structure itself is quite good, so until now we have not asked ourselves whether we should tear down the ground floor – because: why... The materials used for the walls are solid clay bricks. The renovation plan of the house also includes insulation of the building’s exterior shell.
Because of the solid clay bricks, I think that the exterior walls contribute little to thermal insulation. However, I also have the concern – and now to the question – that the solid clay brick is and will be the reason why the house takes quite a long time to warm up. Hence my question whether at this point it might be worthwhile to use modern building materials and also rebuild the ground floor – at least the exterior walls – to counteract the long warming times of the solid clay bricks.
In short: Is my concern about the solid clay bricks justified or, due to our overall renovation plan (external thermal insulation, floor insulation), is the energy balance of the building only slightly worse or equally good compared to if I used newer materials for the construction?
Thanks for your help.
I would first like to describe our project before getting to the actual question:
We have a house, partially basement, ground floor, converted attic - intermediate ceiling between ground floor and attic beams. The house is being converted to ground floor + full upper floor + roof. For this, the current roof will be torn down and the upper floor will be built on the remaining ground floor. On the ground floor, two walls will be moved and the ground floor will be built up by one brick in height in order to have enough room height after installing heating and floor insulation – because the house is not insulated towards the basement/floor.
The building structure itself is quite good, so until now we have not asked ourselves whether we should tear down the ground floor – because: why... The materials used for the walls are solid clay bricks. The renovation plan of the house also includes insulation of the building’s exterior shell.
Because of the solid clay bricks, I think that the exterior walls contribute little to thermal insulation. However, I also have the concern – and now to the question – that the solid clay brick is and will be the reason why the house takes quite a long time to warm up. Hence my question whether at this point it might be worthwhile to use modern building materials and also rebuild the ground floor – at least the exterior walls – to counteract the long warming times of the solid clay bricks.
In short: Is my concern about the solid clay bricks justified or, due to our overall renovation plan (external thermal insulation, floor insulation), is the energy balance of the building only slightly worse or equally good compared to if I used newer materials for the construction?
Thanks for your help.