Minimising thermal bridges around steels

As part of the remodelling of the space three structural steel elements have been added:

1. A steel beam between the party walls to offer structural support to the new staircase

2. A steel post into the floor, which is supporting the ceiling post

3. New structural steels across the new opening we have made, helping to keep the house up!

As we know, steel is a good heat conductor, so we're introducing potential thermal bridges at all these details that we need to address and minimise as far as possible.

Foamglas to the rescue!

To minimise thermal bridging at points 1 & 2 we have created some detailing with the structural insulation product Foamglas. This has involved using Foamglas to create a thermal break around the steel to minimise the thermal bridge at these points. The details obviously also needed to be checked carefully with our structural engineer on the project, Dan Sawyer.

1. For the steel beam going into the party walls the risk of thermal bridging was minimal (because it was not an external wall). Nevertheless, as a 'belt and braces' measure we added a box of Foamglas around the beam end (and behind) going into each party wall.

2. We also added 65mm Foamglas beneath the steel post going into the floor. It was important that the post was bolted firmly into the concrete below.

Structural steels in the new door opening

We are still working out the detailing to address point 3 but are likely to be wrapping it internally using timber fibre insulation.

The only challenge with this will be ensuring we still have a good 2 metre head height as we have reduced the ceiling height by adding a floating floor. More on the floor strategy in our next blog!