Partial berming - cheap insulation or waste of time?

celerity

Yellow_House wrote:

At the rear of the house we increased the insulation further by building the flower bed right up to the level of the windows. We sealed the outside wall with bituminised paint to make a damproof membrane. We then laid tiles, taken from the demolished extension, interlocking like a vertical roof, to protect the sealed wall and act as a root barrier. The bed was then filled with earth. This form of insulation, known as berming, appears in many new build eco-houses.

Source: http://theyellowhouse.org.uk/themes/insula.html

We have a south facing ground floor bedroom - would this idea be worthwhile do you think? Our bungalow is quite old and the room isn't especially toasty even though we've had cavity insulation and extra roof insulation fitted.

I do rather like the idea of having plant beds up to the window!

/\dam

rogerblack

It's not - quite - !!!!!!!!, but approaches it closely in many cases.

The question is - when does it help.

If you have an uninsulated property, that you heat in winter, then yes, this will help - varying from a little bit to quite a lot.

If you have a meter of soil insulation (neglecting edge effects) it may have as much insulative value as 2-3cm of Kingspan or celotex.
But you really need - to come close to a 'modern' home, something like 10cm equivalent of good insulation.


Damp clay soil is about twice as conductive as brick or stone.

In addition, you may block air vents, which will cause serious problems to the structure - and if you don't arrange for airflow behind the strucutre, it risks getting waterlogged.

Is earth berming a useful addition, when designed in - perhaps.
It increases the temperature under the building by a small degree, and means that the insulation behind the berm is exposed to lower temperature extremes, improving its performance.

If you want to have flowerbeds up to your window, I'd suggest a nice 10cm thick slab of kingspan, spaced a couple of inches away from the wall, with some form of structure to ensure that the soil does not 'sag' onto the wall and load it.
And ventilation pipes to encourage airflow, perhaps even a small fan.

This means the soil is merely decoration for your new very effective insulation.

Cardew

rogerblack wrote: »

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The question is - when does it help.

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If you are under mortar or artillery bombardment!