"Hugo Nebula" abuse@localhost wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 22:39:21 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named
"Colin" randomly hit the keyboard and
produced:

As a bit of an offshoot from this topic, is there any information on the
heat retaining properties of homes with (as mine) solid concrete walls as
apposed to a 'cavitied' wall? Are concrete walls as bad as it gets?
(aside
from maybe.....copper or ice?)

It's unusual for a house to be built entirely of cast in-situ
concrete, or even concrete panels. Is this what you mean, or do you
mean concrete blocks?

Reinforced structural concrete by itself is a poor insulator (having a
conductivity of 2.3W/m°C compared to 0.77W/m°C for brick), but isn't
used over a whole wall, only to form a frame. There is usually some
form of infill panels with internal or external insulation. There
were other types of system builds (such as 'no-fines' concrete) which
were used by Councils in the '60s and '70s. I would have thought most
of these have been upgraded (or demolished) by now.


Sadly i think this is a house that has not been knocked down, or upgraded.
It is according to the survey, a 1950s ish system build, and the concrete
seems to be made up of pebbles some of which seem to be quartz in hardness!
I think there is method that the council have used to insulate them by
putting an outer layer of something clever on to the walls but i understand
that unless it is being done on mass then the figure would probably come
close to buying a new house.

Thankyou,
Colin


Most houses in the last 20 years have been built with concrete blocks
of varying density to the inner leaf. The conductivity can vary from
1.13W/m°C (worse than brick) to 0.11W/m°C (better).
--
Hugo Nebula
'What you have to ask yourself is, "if no-one on the internet wants
a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?"'