"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
"Doctor Evil" writes:

Cavities are not universal. Only in coastal wind blown regions are
cavities
used and the they use render on the outside to seal in the walls;
Cornwall,
Brittany, etc.

That was true around 1880.


Well actually I hate to say this but if you look at all construction
processes used around the globe today, IMM is on average correct. Cavities
are one way of achieving the goal described earlier in the thread and they
work very well, but some places have more over-riding problems such as
earthquakes and so the insulating and damp-rejection has to be achieved in a
secondary manner to the primary concern of staying upright. There's a lot
of housing in the US built to early 20th century European norms which
everybody knows will come straight down when the big one hits.