ISO Chemie’s thermal insulating and load bearing bracket support system and sealing tapes have been specified for a new energy improvement initiative being carried out by a Yorkshire housing association.
The move sees WINFRAMER units being retrofitted at three 1940s – 1960s built houses in Northallerton and Stokesley as part of Yorkshire-based Broadacres Housing Association’s pilot project. This will eventually bring hundreds of poorly insulated properties up to zero carbon ready standards and provide improved housing for BHA customers along with long-term cost savings.
Passivhaus certified and fire-rated to up to 30 minutes, WINFRAMER is a prefabricated installation frame, manufactured to accommodate cavities up to 250mm that allows windows to be supported independently from the face of the wall regardless of any external cladding being in place.
Quick and easy to install, the product’s application at The Crescent, Northallerton has been integrated alongside ISO Chemie’s ISO BLOCO One sealing tapes to achieve Passivhaus certified window perimeter sealing performance. The flexible humidity variable sealing foil ISO-CONNECT VARIO SD and ISO-TOP FLEX tape have also been chosen to deliver greater internal airtightness around wall, floor and ceiling joints. These products have also been used at a fourth property in Myton on Swale which will receive internal wall insulation.
The Broadacres project comes as a wider Government strategy aims to reduce carbon levels in housing that has single skin, cavity or non-cavity walls — these buildings have a reputation for losing considerable amounts of energy, heat and sound.
The ISO Chemie products have already contributed to ‘impressive’ results of 2.52 m3h-1m2 during initial air testing at the pre-plaster stage, delivering improved levels of air tightness and thermal performance across the pilot properties.
Eddie Grant, Project Manager for Broadacres, said the housing association’s new sustainability strategy outlines a roadmap which will lead to all its homes and operations having net zero carbon emissions within the next 30 years.
Eddie said: “With our sustainability programme in mind, we are currently retrofitting the four initial properties to help them achieve zero carbon ready standards, which will further inform our longer-term approach. This work is scheduled to complete later this year and the ISO Chemie products have already proven their value in delivering demonstrable energy efficiency improvements.”
Nick Thompson, ISO Chemie’s Technical Adviser, commented: “As new Building Regulations continue to take effect, property owners and landlords are increasingly requiring smarter ways to deliver their refurb projects through sustainable technologies. Our tapes can support this activity, providing high performance airtight, acoustic and thermal sealing solutions.”
The composite WINFRAMER brackets can bear heavy windows loads, including bi-fold doors, to provide a reliable, strong and high-performance support frame. Installation is quick with windows attached directly and secured mechanically using either standard fixing screws or fixing lugs in the usual manner.
A hinged insulation core combines with the composite wood structural bracket to become an integral part of the overall wall structure, providing compliance with window energy saving regulations (EnEV) and the RAL quality assurance association.
A multi-purpose foam tape, ISO-BLOCO ONE provides effective and rapid sealing of windows from inside the building during construction, avoiding the need to use time consuming and costly external access systems. This can deliver cost savings of up to 70% when compared to traditional three component systems.
