1-1/2″ wide rigid foam strips on interior of wall studs?
Brian Ducharme| Posted inEnergy Efficiency and Durabilityon
I was recently speaking with a contractor who said a builder he knows of is installing 1-1/2″ wide strips of rigid foam on the interior side of each wall stud to stop thermal bridging. He is doing this as a more affordable method than applying rigid foam to the exterior. He is the installing furring strips for drywall. Is anyone doing this? I am also curious how thick these strips would have to be to effectively stop thermal bridging. It seems reasonable to me but I want to make sure this approach would be beneficial.
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Replies
Brian,
Martin has written about this - it may even have been the subject of a blog - but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the technique to search for it.
As I recall the conclusion was that it works, but is probably held back from wider adoption by being too labour intensive.
Brian and Malcolm,
This approach is called "the Bonfiglioli approach." To learn more, insert the word "Bonfiglioli" into the GBA search box, or read the original article on the Fine Homebuilding website. The article and link are provided below:
"Breaking the Thermal Bridge"by Stephen Bonfiglioli.