Heat dispersion at home: the interventions

The house has always remained the place where we carry out most of our daily activities outside the hours of work. Also for this reason, the search for comfort inside remains in first place among our daily needs, not only considering the quality of the furnishings and the structure of the internal spaces, but also paying attention to the perceived temperature.

Live in a climatically comfortable house It allows you to significantly improve the quality of life, bringing tangible benefits on health, on the quality of night sleep and obviously on mood (there is in fact A concept called thermal well -beinga parameter not really measurable through instruments, but which is more a psychophysical state, just a person who does not feel an excessive feeling of warmth, nor a feeling of pungent cold).

Optimizing this feeling is one of the challenges of construction in recent years; Numerous progress have been made, especially for the latest generation buildings, but much is needed for old buildings of at least 30 or 40 years ago, which have not been designed thinking about the benefits that a good thermal insulation can bring.

An intervention that can certainly be carried out is what minimizes the impact that thermal loss has on our home. To talk about it in a more specific way, we made this short interview with a Expert in the thermal insulation sector; These are Federico Calvanelli, owner of the company to inspect a house, who since the 70s has already introduced the use of polyurethane foams for the thermal insulation of cavity, attic and bins in Italy.

When do we talk about the concept of «thermal dispersion» what do we really refer to?

It is one of the first considerations that we must do with all those who contact us because they are in a house in which they cannot live with the desired thermal comfort level; When we talk about thermal dispersion we refer to the thermal energy sold by the house from the inside to the outside Through the walls, the roof, the windows, the walls behind the radiators of the radiators or even the shutters of the roller shutters.

If you have high thermal dispersions, this happens substantially this:

· In the summer the heat easily enters from the outside to the inside and above all If we turn on the air conditioners, the fresh air generated tends to dissipate quickly out of our home walls;

· In winter, the heat produced by heating systems (even those of the latest generation such as condensing boilers, underfloor heating, pellet stoves) is lost quickly through all surfaces not thermally isolated by making it go in smoke so much money unnecessarily and what is worse without having a feeling of thermal well -being;

Eliminating the thermal dispersion completely I consider it an impossible thingalso considering that homes are not found in an independent context from the external environment and climatic variations, which unfortunately in recent years have become increasingly extreme, creating many problems … But you can definitely work intelligently, so that you can minimize them!

At what level do thermal loss affect in the various parts you have just named us?

A distinction must be made: for the apartments in the condominium that are located among other apartments (therefore i intermediate plans To understand) the greater dispersion is given by the external perimeter walls that affect about 65-70% of the total dispersions. The rest of the heat losses of accommodation to the intermediate plans is given by 15-20% fixtures-10-15% built-in bins and radiators.

For single houses and for the apartments of the last condominium plans, the percentages of dispersion are as follows:

40% walls- 50% roof or non-isolated attic- 10% bins and recessed radiator

Consequently, is the advice to intervene on the thermal insulation of the walls primarily?

In most cases it is the most recurring and most recommended intervention because what for almost all homes brings the greatest benefits.

Each house has its own constructive feature, with different exhibitions and perimeter surfaces exposed differently than others.

Through an inspection or by consulting a plan a competent person is able to perform a quick but punctual thermal diagnosis of the house.

Many people make the mistake of doing alone without relying on competent people and often end up spending a lot of money without getting the hoped for thermal benefits.

More and more customers call me by saying that I have renovated a house, having changed fixtures (spending a fortune) and not having hoped for thermal comfort, many of these complain of problems of mold and condensation.

Of course yes! We stopped the house with ultra performing fixtures but we did not think of isolating the walls that with the thermal overhang between inside and outside lead to condensation and therefore to mold. Homes where 80-90% of relative humidity also verifies!

But is it possible to intervene on the single condominium apartment? Are there no constraints?

Of this thing they are not yet aware of it, but Thermally isolating the single condominium apartment is possible without forced to have any kind of green light by the condominium assembly (what would be the request to insist with common parts of the condominium itself, such as the roof, or request the installation of a thermal coat on the condominium external facade); In the case of a single accommodation, however, we can safely proceed with an insufflation of the cavity without making any type of communication.

Do you mainly deal with the insufflation of the cavity with your work … is it the best methodology? How do you do it?

As mentioned above, each property has a constructive peculiarity and its need .. the use of the intercaphae’s insufflation technique It can obviously be performed in all the houses that are equipped with empty cash or empty cavity and allows you to help solve the problem of heat dispersion, because it helps to isolate the wall, the area from which more than half of the overall values ​​of dispersion.

It is a method of insulation that it is not subjected to any constraint (which instead happens with the thermal coat) and in many cases allows to recover even up to 3-4 degrees centigrade, bringing concrete benefits already in a few hours.

We often use it because it is a fast intervention, which does not require masonry, permits and is really cheap. But be careful to think of doing a insufflation work without having experience on the subject. As for any job if you don’t know how to do this job not to improvise yourself with the presumption that it is easy and banal! The insufflation requires experience and knowledge. The cost of a insufflation is certainly much lower than that of the thermal coat and the recovery of this cost takes place in a short time (3-4 years thanks to the savings in the bill; which is very different from the thermal coat that requires the return times of the ’10-15 years investment). It is already an investment in all respects! Within 3-4 years (between energy saving in the bill and tax deductions) the cost incurred is recovered and then there are huge earnings … in a short time you will have:

• · remarkable decrease in thermal dispersions;
• · greater thermal well -being with less need to resort to radiators and air conditioners;
• · energy saving which translates into less dear bills;
• · improvement of the reference energy class, with the possibility of re -evaluating the overall value of the building;

·effective contribution to the environment thanks to the lower CO2 emissions.

It is called insufflation precisely because We literally insufficient the insulating material inside the wall consideredcoming to completely fill the emptiness of the Attarcapedine. Once this is entirely covered, it will be prevented that air currents can be created within it (thermo-technician studies have shown that the air present in the cavities above 3 cm thick creates convective motions that is true and true and their own currents and therefore thermal dispersion!); A proof of what has been said you can check it in person by practicing a hole on the wall of 2-3 cm in diameter and putting a hand in front (you will hear air leave the hole as if you are away from home!)

How do you work?

If we operate in inhabited houses in advance we cover on the ground where we will have to work and with PVC sheets we cover the Mobilia present.

We create a lattice of holes all the same by size and distancing, thanks to a drilling system by means of aspiration that does not produce or dust or dirty … later we insert the insulating material until total filling of the void, then fill the holes and cleanse on the ground … In one day the work is over!

Which insulating material advice for this type of processing?

The market offers numerous solutions, from the loose insulating materials like cellulose, glass wool or rock wool, up to expanded materials such as polyurethane and ureic foams. Each material has its own characteristics and it is always necessary to evaluate on a case -by -case basis, but from my point of view the use of breathable foams It is very advantageous because it allows you to fill the voids of the Attarcapedine completely without leaving spaces (which can happen with the bulk insulators) … and above all you can get insulation of greater thermal effectiveness are also materials not flammable that let the wall breathe in the right measure (on this topic we can make a new interview) And they don’t even leave residues as they solidify already after a few hours.

In conclusion we can tell those who still have not decided not to wait for the arrival of the heat, but to move immediately to intervene on their home

Let’s see it so .. if you feel that you are not satisfied with your thermal well -being at home and in this period you have a house that does not hold good temperatures I really think you will have to do something serious to improve the lifestyle and rely on professionals in the sector is Always the right choice!