Slab edge insulation

NOTE: In 2021, we posted about Generation 3.0 of Insulated Slab Edge Detail here

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Envirotecture have developed a unique slab edge insulation detail that also complies with requirements for termite protection. It has been published in the wonderful Renew magazine.

Insulating under slabs has become commonplace, but slab-edge insulation can be just as important. But how do you do it and still provide good termite protection? Dick Clarke explains the physics and a simple design solution.

IT’S not so long ago that Australian homes were built without any insulation. Anywhere. Extraordinary thought, isn’t it? What’s more extraordinary is that I am talking 2003 here, not 1960. The introduction of Section J of the Building Code of Australia in 2003 has made it impossible for houses to be legally built or renovated without some form of insulation in walls and roofs. But floors have so far been a low priority for the government regulators. Insulating beneath concrete slabs has become widely accepted practice in Australia and some structural systems like waffle pods provide it as a matter of course. But adding insulation to the edge of concrete slabs is still an unusual feature. One issue is that the available thermal performance software cannot model the performance of slab-edge insulation adequately, although both NSW’s BASIX and the National Construction Code (formerly BCA) mandate slab-edge insulation if any form of heating is to be installed in the slab

Click here to read the full article.