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FOAMGLAS® Floorboard and Floorboard F

FOAMGLAS® Cellular Glass Insulation can be installed above or below a structural floor/raft foundation. The unique feature of cellular glass which makes it different from other insulants is that it neither creeps, nor settles, under loads carried down to the ground. The designer can start from the principle that the modulus of stiffness of the cellular glass insulation material is generally higher than that of the ground under the raft. This feature leads to advantages when dimensioning foundation rafts and compression slabs. 

 

If the building’s foundations are in an area subject to high water and humidity levels in the ground, the joints of the FOAMGLAS® boards can be sealed using a FOAMGLAS® PC56 two-component bituminous adhesive or, as an alternative, FOAMGLAS® slab can be bonded in hot bitumen and protected, if necessary, with a multi-layer bituminous waterproofing prior to laying the polyethylene foil and casting the slab. The FOAMGLAS® with sealed joints acts as a secondary water resistant layer.

 

If the question of the most economical foundation is raised, an oversite raft bearing on a layer of FOAMGLAS® Board often provides the best solution. Simple to detail, work can be carried out at an advantageous price and the connection of the insulation under the raft to the underground walls is possible without thermal bridging. FOAMGLAS® Boards with sealed joints can be used to form a total thermal and water resistant envelope around the basement.    

 

Products suitable for use in this application are:

 

FOAMGLAS® Boards:            Floorboard / Floorboard F

 

FOAMGLAS® Slabs:              T4 / S3 / F

 

 

 

 

For the insulation of concrete ground floors, under concrete slabs with pile foundations or strip footings, different FOAMGLAS® products and techniques are available dependent on load requirements and building use.

 

Dependent upon the load to be transmitted via the ground level concrete slab and the structure, different FOAMGLAS® products can be used in conjunction with each other under the slab. For example, for the pile housings FOAMGLAS® Floorboard F (with a compressive strength of 530 kN/m² after a safety factor of 3 has been applied) is recommended; whilst underneath the slab itself standard FOAMGLAS® Floorboard (with a compressive strength of 233 kN/m² after a safety factor of 3 has been applied) is the most appropriate.

 

For waterproof concrete tanking, the joints of the FOAMGLAS® Floorboard can be fully sealed with FOAMGLAS® PC56 adhesive to obtain total water-vapour diffusion tightness.

Within the normal tolerances for the movement of waterproof concrete; FOAMGLAS® insulation with sealed joints assumes the function of secondary waterproofing. The inside of the building is protected against the diffusion of water vapour and moisture infiltrations in liquid form, and therefore the basement rooms should never be compromised by damp problems. If the foundation raft and underground walls are constructed from normal concrete, a primary waterproofing tanking membrane is required.

For more information visit http://www.foamglas.co.uk/structural-floors.htm where further literature is available on request.