The UK government has an ongoing commitment to reduce net carbon emissions by 2050 and as such the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been carrying out research into retrofit insulation installation. Although there is a large focus by developers to ensure that new buildings are constructed with energy efficiency in mind, experts agree that there needs to be a country-wide insulation retrofit on the UK’s existing building stock to be able to meet the government’s target.
One of the extensive research papers published by the Ministry is focused on the use of internal wall insulation, a form of insulation that is ideal in properties where cavity wall or external wall insulation cannot be used. Unlike cavity wall insulation, it can be installed on solid-walled properties. It will also not change the appearance of the exterior of the building, something that is unavoidable with external wall insulation.
As part of ongoing commitments by the UK government to reduce net carbon emissions by 2050, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been carrying out research into retrofit insulation installation. Although there is a large focus by developers to ensure that new buildings are constructed with energy efficiency in mind, experts agree that there needs to be a country-wide insulation retrofit on the UK’s existing building stock to be able to meet the government’s target.
One of the extensive research papers published by the Ministry is focused on the use of internal wall insulation, a form of insulation that is ideal in properties where cavity wall or external wall insulation cannot be used. Unlike cavity wall insulation, it can be installed on solid-walled properties. It will also not change the appearance of the exterior of the building, something that is unavoidable with external wall insulation.
Despite its versatile nature, internal wall insulation does have a few weaknesses that need to be addressed before it is able to be used in certain types of properties and weather conditions. If it is installed on the external walls of certain solid-walled properties, internal wall insulation can introduce the risk of the interstitial condensation and mould/rot growth.
The external wall will be colder due to the insulation stopping heat from inside passing through. When warm and humid air from the interior of the property meets this drop in temperature, it can condense and increase the risk of mould and/or rot growth between the interface of the wall and the insulation. This is often exacerbated by rain penetration through the weather-facing surface of the wall which will create an excess moisture load at the interface of the insulation.
In the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government research paper ‘Research into Resistance to Moisture in Buildings: Using numerical simulation to assess moisture risk in retrofit constructions.’, it is proposed that the application of a silicone water-repellent cream, referred to in the report as ‘brick cream’, will reduce the moisture content of brick or masonry walls and therefore reduce the risk of interstitial condensation to acceptable levels.
Sophisticated computer simulations were then employed by the Ministry to model the moisture level and condensation risk for various different wall build-ups with internal wall insulation. The brick cream that was modelled was Stormdry Masonry Protection Cream.
Input data related to the brick cream ha[s] been taken from the ‘Safeguard Stormdry Masonry Protection Cream’, as it appears this product is by far the main product used in the industry.
The report also states that Stormdry is the only product in its category that has been subject to testing.
Numerous simulations were run using the industry-standard WUFI software. They simulated various levels of rainfall on different types of wall and insulation build-ups. All the simulations on the build-ups that were not treated with Stormdry surpassed the level of relative humidity that was deemed safe to avoid the risk of interstitial condensation and mould/rot growth.
The simulations on wall build-ups that were treated with Stormdry showed universally better results than the untreated build-ups. When commenting on the results of the treated build-ups, the report states:
These results show that the upgraded build-up[s] with [Stormdry] brick cream . . . are made safer in terms of hygrothermal performance, compared to the build-up[s] without [Stormdry] brick cream.
The results of the Stormdry treated build-up simulations were shown to reduce relative humidity within walls. They were reduced to a level that is deemed safe for internal wall insulation on low-absorption solid brick masonry walls in all but the most severe simulations of different weather exposure zones.
Stormdry Masonry Protection Cream has been scientifically developed by Safeguard Europe to protect brick, stone and masonry walls from rain penetration without changing the appearance or texture of the surface it is applied to. It is the single-coat masonry weatherproofer on the market to be both verified by the Energy Saving Trust and approved by the British Board of Agément. It has also been subject to laboratory testing, university testing, independent review and governmental assessment.
Just a single one coat application of the cream is required to weatherproof brick, stone and masonry walls from the elements for 25 years. A wet wall is a cold wall. By keeping building materials dry, Stormdry Masonry Protection Cream minimises heat loss through walls. This makes Stormdry ideal for helping to protect both internal insulation (as evidenced by the above report) and cavity wall insulation.
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