The Laurels, Felsted, Essex

CHALLENGE

With an increasing amount of self builders turning to timber frame construction, ensuring inspirational homes with the highest standards of energy efficiency and sustainability is no easy task.

The Laurels is a totally unique 200m² timber frame self build property in Felsted, Essex which had an objective of insulating all faces of the home to a high standard. As well as optimising thermal efficiency through minimising the risk of air leakage or gaps, the home would also need to be acoustically insulated and the material used would need to be amongst the most sustainable options available.

The property contains a number of intricate sections, stud depths ranging from 100mm to 200mm thick and several kilometres of data wiring running through the house.

SOLUTION

Self builder and owner Stan Cassels turned to Knauf Insulation’s brand new Perimeter Plus Blow-in-Blanket System (BIBS) to provide the ideal solution for this project.

Perimeter Plus is a specialist high performance loose glass mineral wool designed to be blown into timber frame walls from the inside of a house under construction. The unique system is inherently sustainable as it is made from a high content of recycled glass bottles and the high density installation guarantees that all gaps and voids are completely filled while the tightly packed material ensures no settlement.

A thermal and acoustic barrier is assured thanks to the product’s ability to compress around pipes, plumbing and electrical wires, fixtures and fittings meaning that 100% of the area available to insulate is filled and that excellent sound control is ensured.

There is also visual assurance of a quality installation in every area – as a comparison, inaccurately cut rigid foam boards are susceptible to air gaps hidden by tape or partially filled with expanding foam. Unlike blown cellulose systems, Perimeter Plus does not require adhesives or moisture meaning that working even in a cluttered internal environment does not present a problem plus there is zero waste and no need to allow additional time for clean-up.

In addition to these benefits it is also a highly cost-effective solution and the flexibility of the product means that, as in the case of The Laurels, it can be used to insulate all faces of the home including external and internal walls, ceilings and pitched roofs at rafter level. Already installed in over 2 million homes in the USA the BIBS system is a tried and tested solution which now offers new and optimised solutions for insulating timber frame buildings in the UK.