Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sean O’Keeffe
Class 2B
Construction Studies
National Certificate in Construction
Assignment due: 13 Feb 2007
Lecturer: K Coleman
History of Property:
My house is located in Rockforest, Killavullen, just outside Mallow parish.
Originally, the house had a suspended timber floor. (This is evident from the
vents that were left in the external walls (below floor level)). This was replaced with a
ground supported concrete slab at some point. However, no insulation was placed
under the slab. This came to my attention when I was putting channels in the slab to
facilitate upgrading of the central heating, when I first purchased the property.
I also insulated the attic as there was no insulation in the attic. I used 150mm
deep glass wool insulation. The roof is of a cold roof construction.
Upvc double glazed windows and doors had been put in the house in the
recent past.
The external walls of the house were constructed with cavity blocks.
Assumptions:
• It is assumed there is no internal heat loss. Therefore I have not
considered heat loss through internal walls or doors.
• The external wall is of cavity block construction. I have viewed the
wall for the purpose of determining heat loss as a homogenous
structure. Plastered on the inside and outside. With two leaves to
the wall of 40mm aerated concrete and a cavity in the middle
130mm wide. This is not really correct since the cavity is breached
at the ends of the blocks by the blocks.
• The roof is of a cold roof construction. I have considered the attic
space as external to the house because its air temperature should be
the same as the outside air temperature.
• I assumed a value of 0.75 air changes/hour for calculating heat loss
due to ventilation.
2
Calculations of U-values:
External Wall:
The above diagram shows a section through the external wall of the house.
It is composed of:
• 70mm sand and cement render on the outside
• 210mm cavity block with a 130mm cavity in the middle
• 10mm sand and cement render inside the block
• 5mm of gypsum skim coat
Kvalues:
Aerated concrete – 0.14 W/mK
Sand + cement render – 0.53 W/mK
Gypsum plaster – 0.40 W/mK
3
5mm Gypsum plaster = 0.005/0.40 = 0.013mK/W
(I choice the Rsi and Rso values from the third page of our handout, which
apply to the emissivity of internal surfaces. I considered the bottom of the
slab to be internal because it is not exposed to the elements.)
4
Ceiling:
The above diagram shows a section through the ceiling showing the
following (The ceiling is closer to level than shown here):
• 150mm Glass wool insulation
• 20mm Gypsum plasterboard
• 5mm Gypsum plaster
Kvalue:
Gypsum Plasterboard- 0.15 W/mK
Gypsum Plaster- 0.40 W/mK
Glass wool Insulation -1.02 W/mK
Rvalue:
Gypsum Plasterboard- 0.020/0.15 = 0.133 mK/W
Gypsum Plaster - 0.005/0.40 = 0.0125 mK/W
Glass wool insulation – 0.150/0.034 = 4.412 mK/W
Uvalue
(I used the same values again for the Rsi and Rso as with the ground
slab. I considered the top of the ceiling as internal because it is in the
attic.)
I was not able to establish a realistic Uvalue for double glazing using
the Kvalues in the handout i.e. 1.02 W/mK for glass .I did obtain a
Uvalue for double glazing in the irish-energy.ie website.
5
Calculations to determine Heat Loss and Radiator Sizes
Rather than calculating the fabric heat loss and ventilation heat loss for each
room individually I used a spreadsheet into which I put the formulas. This allowed me
just to add the room, window, door and external wall dimensions for each room
individually.
I have shown below how the spreadsheet was setup before dimensions were inserted.
Room:
Length C3
Width C4
Height C5
Window:
Width C8
Height C9
Door:
Width C12
Height C13
U Temp.
Component: Area value Diff Qf
D16= E16= F16=14. G16=D16
Floor c3*c4 2.755 0 *E16*F16
D17= E17= F17=14. G17=D17*
Window c3*c9 2.800 0 E17*F17
D18= E18= F18=14. G18=D18*
Door c12*c13 2.800 0 E18*F18
External E19= F19=14. G19=D19*
Walls D19 0.915 0 E19*F19
D20 E20= F20=14. G20=D20*
Ceiling =D16 0.208 0 E20*F20
Number of air
changes: 0.75
Inside
environmental
Temp: D30=D25/(4.8*D24)+21
6
Bedroom 1:
Room:
Length 4.250
Width 3.550
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 2.800
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 25.171 C
A radiator (870W/ metre square) of 1.242 square metres would be required for
bedroom 1.
7
Bedroom 2
Room:
Length 3.150
Width 3.550
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 1.400
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 25.160 C
8
Bedroom 3
Room:
Length 3.300
Width 2.760
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 1.400
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 24.805 C
9
Bathroom
The bathroom has two windows. (1.150 x 0.480 and 1.150 x 0.920) I
have entered these as one window 1.150 x 1.400.
Room:
Length 2.900
Width 1.640
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 1.400
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 25.097 C
10
Kitchen
Room:
Length 4.350
Width 3.650
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 1.750
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 24.830 C
11
Living Room
Room:
Length 3.300
Width 3.650
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 1.950
Height 1.150
Door:
Width
Height
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 24.846 C
12
Hall
Door:
Width 0.950
Height 2.150
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 25.551 C
13
Utility Room
Room:
Length 2.500
Width 1.640
Height 2.650
Window:
Width 0.600
Height 1.150
Door:
Width 0.950
Height 2.120
Number of air
changes 0.750
Inside
environmental
Temp 25.585 C
14