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Insulating walls

A large proportion of traditionally constructed houses were built with solid masonry walls, either of brick or stone or sometimes a combination of the two. Though these materials look very different, their thermal properties are quite similar. Masonry walls are not good insulators and they often feel cold to the touch because they are conductors of heat. For this reason they are often considered suitable for insulation. Unfortunately walls are very difficult to insulate effectively because of compatibility and potential damp problems. Insulation has to be individually designed for each building and carefully installed to address these potential problems. The cost of such bespoke upgrading often makes other measures (e.g. roof insulation, draught-proofing, energy efficient lighting) better investments for reducing energy use.

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For timber framed buildings the introduction of insulation demands great care being taken in the design and installation to ensure thermal bridges are not created and that problems of damp and associated timber decay are not triggered in particular to the structural timber frame. However, the nature of timber framed construction provides more opportunities for the provision of insulation to the walls without the introduction of as many technical risks as there are with solid walls.

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