Posted By: SteamyTeaYou may have already posted it up, but do you have figures for embodied energy and CO2?

Thanks for your question!

The embodied energy and the related CO2 is estimated by complex and time consuming process called LCA, life cycle analysis, typically done by environmental consultants, a technique used to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life. So the embodied CO2 would even consider were you get your electricity in order to produce your product, from coal burning or nuclear, and the energy and CO2 spent by suppliers of suppliers of suppliers....The problem is that there is no rigid standard on the LCA process, and the outcome is, that the numbers from one consultant, running an LCA, might be much different from another consultant, even is they asses the same manufacturer and the same product. There is lack of consistency in my view, suggest a prescriptive LCA standard needs to be in place. We've seen some companies claiming some ridiculous numbers on embodied energy...

What is clear is that Bauwer saves hundred times more energy and CO2 emissions during his life time (50+ years) vs. the relatively small amount of energy consumed and related CO2 emitted during Perlite mining and manufacturing of Bauwer insulation. Bauwer Group is member of the Association for Environmental Conscious Buildings, please see our environmental credentials at:

http://www.aecb.net/services-directory/profile/?pid=554

Also Perlite is a great sustainable and Eco friendly material, known reserves of Perlite will be available for many generations. In the past 60 years less than 1% of the world’s perlite reserve was used. You could see Perlite sustainability fact sheet:

http://bauwer.co.uk/templates/Default/images/Sustainability_Factsheet_Perlite.pdf

We are committed to reduce our carbon footprint and energy use in every part of the Bauwer Group supply chain.


Regards, Alexander

PS. You could see the industrial Perlite mine on the photo below, after the reclamation, at Milos, Greece.

" We have now to finish-paint, which will be the Seciltek silicate stuff with Secitlitek primer under, as will the remainder of the cob walls, which were last limewashed around 8 years ago.

So now we we’ll find out, over the coming winter, how much difference is actually achieved in thermal and wall dampness properties: I’m expecting the outcome to be good, as external insulation is a far superior solution (to the thermal problem of old housing stock) than internal insulation. For any building needing water vapour breathability - i.e. most over 60 years old), these lightweight permeable renders are an ideal solution. More to come."

Trial of Bauwer Light in solid wall house, internal.

Though it might be helpful to note first impressions of my own experience using Bauwer Light. My project is a 100 year old stone cottage in Western Isles that we have stripped back, removing all existing timber frame and lath & plaster - all in very poor condition.

After lime pointing and repairing internal walls my nest step was consideration of effective insulation, especially of materials sympathetic to an old house. I am no expert but my research has convinced me that air vapor permeability is an advantage, meaning many of the current phenolic-based systems were ruled out.

That left woodfibre batts within a frame - until I discovered Bauwer!

For my own project it seemed well suited - it made sense to have just one physical barrier ie a well insulated wall as opposed to a cold wall, air space, woodfibre insulation, boarding then plaster. It seems over complicated for what is in the end a fairly simple task - keeping a old house warm.

So onto the trial. We received one 25kg bag of Bauwer Light, and it was light. No small consideration when transporting lots of bags. Following instructions and the online video it matter of few minutes to mix. Application was easy with high adhesion to the wetted stone surface. The resulatant mix was very easy to work withThis the dried fully after a few days to leave a pleasantly firm textured creamy-coloured - and insulated - wall.

Seemed to do exactly what was required in a simple, straighforward and cost-effective material.

A successful trial and so far so good.

Posted By: snyggapa

Posted By: jackcarnan
So onto the trial. We received one 25kg bag of Bauwer Light, and it was light.

I can't believe that it would be any lighter than any other 25Kg bag though?

Presumably the bag would be much bigger than say a 25Kg bag of cement - does that make it feel lighter or easier to handle? I guess it should be lighter by volume when mixed so maybe easier to move about when working with it

-Steve

Hi Steve,
It is 25 liters, not 25Kg, in fact it is much lighter than 25kg, so Jack is right :)

One bag of Bauwer Light is sufficient to cover one square meter at 25mm thickness or 2.5 sqm@10mm which is times more vs traditional plaster or render.

Bauwer Light hardened density is only 280kg/m3 vs 1,500kg/m3 of the traditional plasters and renders.


Regards, Alexander

Bauwer Light application with a plastering machine:

Vapour permeable insulation for traditional buildings, cottages with solid stone or brick wall

https://youtu.be/mykekzbXnAw

and manually:

https://youtu.be/oxogp2uRgaw

I was interested how Bauwer Light compares to similar insulating, renovating and dehumidifying renders and plasters sold in the UK. We identified several different products, manufacturers. Interestingly Limelite from Pozament, specialist construction products division of Tarmac, appeared to be of the exactly of the same composition as Bauwer Light, but almost 3 times heavier which impaired it's thermal performance. Generally speaking the lighter material is, the better thermal performance and vise versa.

Materials list:
http://bauwer.co.uk
http://www.pozament.co.uk/products/limelite-renovating/
http://www.sovchem.co.uk/renderlite-25k.html
https://www.mikewye.co.uk/product/secil-ecocork/
https://www.diasen.com/sp/en/p/diathonite-evolution.3sp

The attached table to this post was deleted by the moderator.

>> Diasen seem to quote the lambda value of Diathonite Evolution as 0.045W/mK, apparently quite a bit lower (better) than the other products listed in the table above>>

Hi Nick,
Good to hear from you!

The devil is always in the details. As you could see we ranked Diathonite with estimated thermal conductivity of 0.07 vs declared value of 0.045, there is a reason behind it.

Basically the hardened density of insulation plaster correlates well with the thermal conductivity via so called thermal curved, please see it attached and the link below:

http://www.hipin.eu/publication/files/EnergyAndBuilding.pdf

The lighter the material, more air entrapped in it, therefore insulation value is better and vise versa.

As you could see the hardened density of Bauwer Light is 280kg/m3 vs 360kg/m3 of Diathonite, which means 20%+ heavier.

Perlite, filler of Bauwer, have a better thermal performance vs Cork, filler of Diathonite.

As you could see from the curve it is physically not possible to achieve thermal value of 0.045 at the density of 360kg/m3. We thought Diathonite declared a thermal value of the filler, eg Cork, but not the material itself.

Hope this clarifies the discrepancy,

Best regards,
Alexander
http://bauwer.co.uk

Posted By: Bauwer>> Diasen seem to quote the lambda value of Diathonite Evolution as 0.045W/mK, apparently quite a bit lower (better) than the other products listed in the table above>>

Hi Nick,
Good to hear from you!

The devil is always in the details. As you could see we ranked Diathonite with estimated thermal conductivity of 0.07 vs declared value of 0.045, there is a reason behind it.

Basically the hardened density of insulation plaster correlates well with the thermal conductivity via so called thermal curved, please see it attached and the link below:

http://www.hipin.eu/publication/files/EnergyAndBuilding.pdf" rel="nofollow" >http://www.hipin.eu/publication/files/EnergyAndBuilding.pdf

The lighter the material, more air entrapped in it, therefore insulation value is better and vise versa.

As you could see the hardened density of Bauwer Light is 280kg/m3 vs 360kg/m3 of Diathonite, which means 20%+ heavier.

Perlite, filler of Bauwer, have a better thermal performance vs Cork, filler of Diathonite.

As you could see from the curve it is physically not possible to achieve thermal value of 0.045 at the density of 360kg/m3. We thought Diathonite declared a thermal value of the filler, eg Cork, but not the material itself.

Interesting. The Diathonite documentation seems to be quite clear that they are stating the value of the product, and they have detailed the test standard they measured against and have self-certified with a CE mark. So are you saying they are lying about the properties of their product?

You may well be right; I don't know. But if you think they have made a mistake then surely the correct thing to do is to contact them and suggest they put it right? Or perhaps contact the regulatory authorities who supervise these measurements and ask them to check. But simply choosing not to accept their published figures and publish your own guess with no measurements at all does not seem very professional.

I'd say that using anything other than a manufacturer's published and certified values without specific comment was grossly misleading at best.

>> djh >> I'd say that using anything other than a manufacturer's published and certified values without specific comment was grossly misleading at best.<<

Diathonite is declaring thermal performance of 0.045 at 360 kg/m3 density.

This is the better performance level vs achieved by thermal plaster with 80% to 90% of aerogel in it, even at a lower density of 275-300 kg/m3 (page 11): http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/9/5839

Could you please see more on correlation between density and thermal performance of thermal plasters (thermal curve) at: http://www.hipin.eu/publication/files/EnergyAndBuilding.pdf
You could predict thermal performance easily if you knowing density, based on above.

Thermal conductivity of Cork is about 0.04, thermal performance of cork based material at such density should be in the range of 0.07 to 0.08 based on 360kg/m3 density and not even close to 0.045

Aerogel based thermal plaster delivers 0.045 - 0.05 at lower density 275kg/m3 while aerogel thermally much superior to cork.

We do not claim to be more catholic than a Pope, but we can not publish performance data which does not make sense from physics point of view. We discussed this issues with other Italian manufacturers of thermal plasters, renders and their view was consistent with ours.

Bauwer introduced a simple on-line U value calculator !

Check your home as-built U value and look at the improvement opportunities. Available in desktop version; mobile version will be available soon.

U-values measures how effective your walls thermally. The lower the U-value is, the better thermal property of a wall. For example typical U-value of a cavity wall (built before 1975) is 1.6 W/m²K while solid stone or brick wall is about 2.75 W/m2K.

With Bauwer Light, your solid stone or brick wall U value could be improved by 3 to 4 times to below 0.7 W/m2K at a reasonable budget, while keeping your home breathable with no need to worry about damp, mould or trapped moisture.

Bauwer Light is breathable insulation for traditionally built properties which installed by plasterers and renderers and available with the next day delivery across the UK and Ireland.

http://bauwer.co.uk/Calculator.html

I'd be interested in your thoughts as to how "flexible" bauwer lite is compared it its lime equivalents. From my limited research your product is cement based which has a reputation for setting hard and solid whereas the others (i.e. ecocork) are lime based which traditionally tolerates movement in the building.

Thanks

Steve

Bauwer vapour permeable insulation applied internally. Traditionally built homes are made of permeable materials and do not incorporate the barriers to external moisture such as cavities, rain-screens, damp-proof courses, vapour barriers and membranes which are standard in modern construction. As a result, the permeable fabric in older buildings tends to absorb more moisture, which is then released by internal and external evaporation thanks to highly breathable Bauwer insulation. Project by GS Plastering, Liverpool.

What thickness is the render, and what are the 'before' and 'after' U values? As this job appears to involve 'Renovation' as defined by the Building Act ('Adding or replacing a layer') I assume Building Control were involved.

There are about 6 to 7 million homes in the UK with non insulated solid wall and no plan to insulate at all, no government funding, etc

Sure if you improve U value of your 100 years old home at least by two or three times it helps a lot, as the rate of heat bleeding would be reduced by 2 to 3 times correspondingly