Thermoblock

manufan16

Hi All,

I am due to start building an ICF house in the next couple of weeks.

I was originally thinking of building the rising walls in ICF too to avoid thermal bridging but that meant a wider foundations cost and an ICF rising wall cost so it was adding too much to an already pretty tight budget.

I spotted in the self build mag a product called Thermoblock.
I was wondering had anybody any experiences using this product?

Below is the link - and I have no connection to this company.

http://www.marmox.co.uk/products/thermoblock

Thanks in advance for replies

BryanF

yes it reduces the thermal bridge but not as much as ICF or a hoist of other options including good detailing with timber frame and ewi (with preformed icf type footings). there are another 2 or 3 similar products on the market to what you posted. It appears due to cost you've gone back to a more traditional route. now you must ask yourself

• what Cav block width you will go for. 150min! preferably 2-250mm cavity
• and what long lasting insulation you will include to ensure you get to reduce the thermal bridging
• going this route requires much tighter site control/supervision
• and great details form an arch with a knowledge of thermal bridging
• what impact this will have when you re-visit your BER/ PHPP software
• the ICF savings/benifits are in part on labour and time, is the cavity block just to suit the preferred/lowest price contractor?

if your starting in a couple of weeks, I hope you have reworked the above with the aid of a competent arch/arch tech. good luck with the build.

sydthebeat

the posting about specific products in this thread is deemed approved by the forum moderators.

PLease this product is similar to another available on the market called perinsul foamglas.

As far as i can ascertain there are no IAB or BBA certs for these products. Im open for clarification on this

edit: http://www.marmox.co.uk/uploads/product_images/33/MarmoxThermoblockBBACertificate.pdf
thanks to fclauson

manufan16

Hi Bryan,

I am not sure if you mis-understood my post as I am still building ICF, this post is about the rising walls only and what method they are constructed in to help reduce thermal bridging.

The foundation specified with my archtect is 25N/20 with A393 Mesh then 225mm block work rising walls to support external 300mm ICF extneral walls.

I initially thought this thermoblock product could replace the top layer of the rising walls but looking at the diagram and site in more detail just now I think this is more for a trad build rather than ICF. I am going to talk with them again tomorrow.

Thanks for the feeback.

BryanF

my bad
what about quinlite insulated blocks?

Radiotower

Should the rising walls not be at least as wide as the external wall? Are you saying the rising deadwork is 225mm then the 300mm icf coming off that?

I'd consider using quinnlite for the rising deadwork.

manufan16

Radiotower wrote: »

Should the rising walls not be at least as wide as the external wall? Are you saying the rising deadwork is 225mm then the 300mm icf coming off that?

Thats my interpertation of the drawings but Im not a builder so I will question that with my architect, at a guess the concrete is only 150mm with 75mm EPS on either side so that could be all that is required for the load but thanks for pointing out, I will clarify.

BryanF wrote: »

my bad
what about quinlite insulated blocks?

I will look into this option thanks for the info.

fclauson

sydthebeat wrote: »

the posting about specific products in this thread is deemed approved by the forum moderators.

PLease this product is similar to another available on the market called perinsul foamglas.

As far as i can ascertain there are no IAB or BBA certs for these products. Im open for clarification on this

Syd - check http://www.marmox.co.uk/uploads/product_images/33/MarmoxThermoblockBBACertificate.pdf
and for the fomglas block I understand "from their sales dep" that a BBA cert is imminent

All - also interested - as this looks like a good way of reducing the cold bridge without going all the way to and EPS type foundation

I think I am about to spec it as part of my internal leaf make up

Also - there is now available a 150mm solid board cavity insulaiton which going 100 regular /150 board /100 refular will give you a 0.13 somthing U value

Francis

fclauson

BryanF wrote: »

my bad
what about quinlite insulated blocks?

Spoke to Quinn recently - they have advice on the way foundation blocks are used - they seem to suggest that they now should be coated once installed reduce water ingress underground - also an additional DPC needs to be used

speak to them to get the full gen - it is all about the amount of water that might be present in the ground around your build

Francis

Mellor

BryanF wrote: »

my bad
what about quinlite insulated blocks?

There is no such thing

Aerated concrete is not insulated

BryanF

Mellor wrote: »

There is no such thing

Aerated concrete is not insulated

ye, what I'm meant was low thermal conductivity blocks

0.12 to 0.19W/mk

Mellor

BryanF wrote: »

ye, what I'm meant was low thermal conductivity blocks

0.12 to 0.19W/mk

I know what you meant, it's called aerated concrete.

Whiles its lower han standard concrete, its still a thermal bridge.
The product with a TC of 0.12W/mK wouldn't have the compresive strength I would imagine. The 0.19 W/mK would have to be used to match the product in the OP. 0.19 is still 2.5x higher than the product in the OP.
Aerated concrete may be an option, but remember that subground, these blosk let in more water than normal, which ruins the thermal conductivity. So that has be be considered
Foamed glass is similar in values to the product above. You'll jsut have to look at the pros/cons from a cost point of view.

fclauson

any feedback on the usage of this product - thinking of using it soon

manufan16

Sorry no feedback yet, I sent linear meterage and drawings to them last month but still no reply! I will follow up again today and let you know.


wrt:
Originally Posted by Radiotower
Should the rising walls not be at least as wide as the external wall? Are you saying the rising deadwork is 225mm then the 300mm icf coming off that?

My architect advised he has seen both 225mm and 300mm rising walls used with the ICF.
I asked him to change construction drawings to the 300mm as shown in the technical PDF guide from manufacturer.