Thermal insulation of warm ceramics with perlite: a life hack or a waste of money? Let's figure it out together!
Our people are ready for all sorts of construction life hacks and breakthrough solutions. Oh, what, what, but this cannot be taken away from us! Recently, a life hack has appeared on the Internet for insulating warm ceramics without thickening the wall. Let's figure out together whether there is any benefit from such a decision or is it just another waste of money.
What is the essence of such insulation?
The meaning of this technology lies in the fact that the voids of the ceramic block are filled with the finest fraction of perlite insulation. But the block is not completely filled, but about 250 mm from the outer perimeter.
It happens as follows: a row of blocks is laid out, the voids are filled with perlite insulation and another row is laid out on top. Then everything is done according to the worked out scheme.
According to the authors of this solution, perlite should improve the thermal characteristics of the block, reduce its thermal conductivity, thereby increasing the energy-saving qualities of the walls and, accordingly, Houses.
Opinions
There are two opposite opinions on this matter. Some claim that warm ceramics do not need additional insulation, since the air chamber is the best heat insulator. In addition, perlite has the ability to absorb a large amount of moisture (up to 400% of the mass), which will only harm warm ceramics.
Others refer to European, in particular, German technologies, which provide for a perlite filler inside the steam block. That is, a block filled with perlite insulation comes from the factory. And also the voids of various, including brick, partitions are filled with free-flowing perlite insulation.
We (the editors) believe that this type of additional insulation is superfluous and will not give any tangible effect. And this is unlikely to be economically feasible. But, here you need to do a complex heat engineering calculation and only then it will become clear how much perlite increases (and does it at all?) the effectiveness of this popular wall material in recent years.