Cob: Re: FW: Steel Frame?

[Matthew HALL(SED)]

jmygann at yahoo.com writes:
>Can't the steel become part of the internal thermal
>mass ?
The ability of steel to store heat energy is made insignificant by the fact that it has a high
level of conductivity. Heat energy can be absorbed and desorbed very quickly. A very common design
fault in steel frame buildings is thermal bridging (Darel mentioned this) where the layer of
insulation between the exterior wall and the interior is 'bridged' by the steel which offers a path
of least resistance for the heat to escape through. The only way to beat this is to contain the
steel within insulation and also insulate it from the cob otherwise the heat will preferentially
enter the steel rather than the interior space of the building.
> Put the straw(insulation) on the outside.
This may work although i have never seen it done before. I have seen non-loadbearing earth walls
used as a thermal mass material to fill inbetween steel frame buildings before, there are one or
two examples here in England. This was done as part of the design and not retrofit but i see no
reason why this could not be considered.
Regards
Matthew

____________________________________________________________________
Matthew Hall - PhD Research Student
Centre for the Built Environment
Unit 9 Science Park
Sheffield Hallam University
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Sheffield S1 1WB
England

Tel: +44 (0) 114 225 3200
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E-mail: M.Hall at shu.ac.uk