Masonry Magazine January 2003 Page. 35
DRY-BLOCK Drainage Wall Principles
Moisture Entering Through Cracks.
Wind-Driven Rain.
Moisture Drawn in by Differential HVAC Pressure.
DRY-BLOCK and INFINISEAL DB protect the surface from moisture intrusion.
Section at Base of Wall.
Drainage Through CMU Core with ZONOLITE Masonry Insulation.
DRY-BLOCK Prevents Moisture Wicking into Building Interior.
PERM-A-BARRIER Flashing Directs Moisture Through Weeps.
Building Interior Stays Dry.
this graphic is for illustrative purposes only. Please www.groceconstruction.com to view and download actual CAD deals
cooling loading. It's what really helps maintain temperatures of structures. It's the thermal mass, in the masonry, that ends up providing most of the heat sink for retaining the heat. What vermiculite or perlite does is completely fill the cavities of the concrete masonry unit (CMU). That's required both from an insulation standpoint-so you don't have the radiant heat going out-and also from the standpoint of providing some stability in terms of the moisture that is always associated with CMU."
No matter what concrete you're talking about, it's porous to some degree, and the vermiculite or perlite, another pour in insulation, is treated with either an asphalt-based or silicone material to make it water repellant. It provides a method for getting the water, once it's in the wall, out. "That's one of the biggest advantages over foam," claims Moeller.
Huckabee counters that foam-in-place offers a better "R-value" than loose fill. "From a performance standpoint, the R-value is significantly higher than published R-values of loose fill insulation," he begins. "Typically you will find R-values on a per inch basis for ours and similar products of 4.6-4.9 per inch. Typically we see loose fill product in the 3.0-4.0 range."
Jack Temple III, vice president of Tailor Chemicals adds, "That means, in a standard lightweight density block, foam-in-place insulation will typically have an R-value 20-40 percent higher than any loose fill product-perlite, vermiculite or Zonolite in the same block."
Looks like we are going to have some strong disagreements here. If vermiculite, as the typical pour-in material, doesn't insulate as well as foam, what is its big advantage? After all, adding insulation is done... well... to insulate. Of course, there are other values besides R-values involved.
Acting as a fire retardant, for example. According to Moeller, "In terms of fire code, masons grout either sections or levels and if they're using foam, that grouting provides a break. Foam also is not fire proof. Foam companies have improved the flame spread with foam, but foam will end up either combusting or melting under fire and it does create gas. Pour in insulation meets the UL classification ASTM E-84 that means zero flame spread, zero fuel contribution and zero smoke developed. It's the highest fire classification you can get. No foam I'm aware of even comes close to that."
To which Temple responds: "Our foam does not melt. One of the reasons for this misconception is that a lot of people call these 'foamed plastic' and plastic melts when burned. These products are not plastics. Our foam has, per ASTM E-84, a flame spread of zero and a smoke developed rating of five. I can't speak for other companies but when Core Fill 500 is injected into a two-hour (fire) rated masonry unit, we can increase the fire rating to four hours-which is the same as loose fill can do, not perlite, but vermiculite and Zonolite."
Seems like things are heating up in our discussion. Moeller adds some information to the fire. "Another big advantage of vermiculite is, if you do have a fire, even if it's a spot fire, because vermiculite is completely non-combustible you may have charring or damage but the insulation will be the same as it was the day it was poured in. If you use foam, you can be sure that, under the heat of a fire, the insulation capability will be compromised even if you don't have flame damage. There's no way to get it out of the wall so you're going to have to pump more in and hope for the best."
The Voice of the Mason Contractor.
Before we get burned out, let's move on to another hot topic-installation. Masonry is becoming a year round activity in almost all areas of the country. Can both pour-in and foam be done in all types of weather?
Huckabee says there is no reason to shy away from foam-in-place due to climate-it can be used in the winters of Minnesota and North Dakota as easily as in the summers of Florida. "Our largest dealer is in Florida where masonry is a major way of building and Phoenix is another hot area for us," he puns. "Our insulation goes into as much as 75 percent of the commercial retail and school building work in Arizona."
Since vermiculite is a loose granular material that gets poured in as the wall goes up, if workers can work, vermiculite can be poured. As Moeller says, "It comes in a four cubic foot paper bag that weighs around 25 pounds. You tear the bag open and pour the material into the wall. It's a pretty simple process. The mason tender just takes the bags up and empties them right into the top of the wall before the cap is put on."
On the other hand, foam-in-place requires expensive equipment and certified crews to install it. "We strongly recommend having properly trained applicators and experienced people on the job site," explains Temple. "That is very important. Because the foam is actually manufactured on site, you need competent people to do it, making sure the density of the product meets specifications and that it is installed properly. Having it installed properly means you're going to get 99 percent fill of the wall."
So foaming isn't something the average mason contractor is likely to do. "When we go out to the job site we drive up with an equipment package that's in excess of $80,000," Temple says. "On board heaters maintain a constant temperature of the material and that enables us to install the insulation even in sub freezing temperatures we can work 365 days of the year."
Huckabee comments, "We get calls all the time from masons saying they are unfamiliar with the product and I've got a job here and they want this stuff, can I buy it from you and install it myself? The answer to that is typically "no," unless they want to become a certified installer from one of the manufacturers."
January 2003
Masonry 31