Concrete Floor Edge Insulation

The option to add exterior perimeter edge insulation to floor slabs is particularly pertinent for the rebuild of christchurch.

Concrete floor edge insulation.

Ly 80 of the heat lost from a concrete floor slab is at the edge and that the thermal resistance does not significantly improve by fully extending the insulation under the slab or by increasing the thickness of the insulation under the slab see build 109 pages 28 29. Such spaces typically have a sound level concrete slab floor but lack sufficient floor insulation to achieve the thermal performance targets for new habitable rooms. The edge of the concrete floor slab is usually uninsulated. These floor slabs may contain more concrete and steel and the ground underneath the slabs is compacted to a higher density which increases potential heat loss from the slab.

Remember that the thermal envelope is the boundary between the inside conditioned space and the outside. Upgrading concrete slab floors. This suggests that insulating slab edges is far more effective for preventing heat loss than insulating the underside. The sides of the concrete slab also referred to as the perimeter wall is often forgotten or not considered at all with respect to the thermal envelope.