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Insulation materials
Published in Arthur Lyons, Materials for Architects and Builders, 2019
Sheep’s wool has also been used experimentally as loose fill insulation for lofts, sloping ceilings, timber frame walls and timber floors. Natural wool from sheep that have not been dipped is washed several times to remove the natural oil lanolin, then opened out to the required density. It is sprayed with borax as a fire retardant and insect repellent. Supplied loose as hanks, wool is only suitable for locations where it will not get wet, which would cause it to sag, thus reducing its thermal efficiency. Wool insulation is a renewable source with low embodied energy, but it is currently more expensive than the standard mineral wool alternative. (The thermal conductivity of loose wool is 0.037 W/mK.)
Investigation of the occurrence of binder material on airborne respirable mineral wool fibers
Published in Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 2023
M. Solvang, D. V. Okhrimenko, C. Koch
Mineral wool insulation products are used globally in the construction industry for thermal and acoustic insulation of the building envelope, as facade cladding and fire protection. In addition, mineral wool products are used for a variety of other applications such as growing substrates in the horticultural industry, noise-reducing acoustic fences, and urban water management solutions. The mineral wool insulation market consists of three main groups of material, i.e., stone, glass, and slag wool (Yue and Solvang 2021). The division into groups is made based on the raw material used and hence the chemical composition of the fiber. Typically, stone, glass, and slag wool are produced using two different spinning technologies (Zu et al. 2021) that both result in a product consisting of inorganic fibers generally having a geometric mean diameter (GMD) equal to 2–6 µm. For stone and slag wool, the product also includes inorganic non-fiberized and quenched melt particles with a spherical shape.
Retrofitting suspended timber ground-floors; comparing aggregated and disaggregated evaluation methods
Published in Building Research & Information, 2020
David Glew, David Johnston, Dominic Miles-Shenton, Felix Thomas
The case study dwelling has a ground floor area of 44 m², and is a stepped and staggered end-terrace bungalow, which was built in the 1960s and is orientated East to West. The Northside of the dwelling is sheltered by a separate group of stepped and staggered terraced bungalows. The external walls are of traditional brick and block cavity construction, wet plastered internally, with the 60 mm external wall cavity previously retro-filled with mineral fibre insulation. The dwelling has a cold pitched roof, with 200 mm mineral wool insulation located at the ceiling level. It is double-glazed throughout and has an uninsulated suspended timber ground floor. A concrete stepped raft foundation is located beneath the floor, resulting in a 660 mm crawl space. Floor joists run east to west and are supported on honeycomb brick sleeper walls (see Figure 2). Five 229 × 76 mm (9″ × 3″) airbricks are located on the east and west elevation (three on the east and two on the west), providing underfloor ventilation. The cavity party wall is of block construction, wet plastered internally, and has a 60 mm unfilled cavity. Purpose provided ventilation is achieved via trickle vents on the window heads and intermittent extract fans in the kitchen and bathroom.
Cost-optimal energy performance measures in a new daycare building in cold climate
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2019
Paula Sankelo, Juha Jokisalo, Jonathan Nyman, Juha Vinha, Kai Sirén
Luhtaa daycare building has a wood frame construction. The total thickness of the walls is 500 mm, incorporating 400 mm of mineral wool insulation. The U-value targets for the building envelope were 0.09 W/m2K for the external walls, 0.06 W/m2K for the roof and 0.07 W/m2K for the base floor. The windows have a U-value of 0.66 W/m2K, and passive methods are applied for solar shading. Heat recovery from the ventilation exhaust air has a temperature efficiency of 60–80%, depending on the air handling unit (AHU). 56 TopSun TS-S390 solar panels are installed on the south-west facing roof section, each with a nominal power of 390 Wp, totalling 22 kWp of own solar PVgeneration (Nyman 2016; Sankelo 2016).