Styrofoam insulation

[Frida80]

Hello,
my house was built in 58. In the basement and on the second floor, there are many walls that are additionally insulated with Styrofoam. There is a lot of Styrofoam in the house, and I strongly guess that it is not from 1958. Does anyone know when they started additional insulation indoors with Styrofoam?

 

[Per i Hamrånge]

Hi,
my house was built in 58. In the basement and on the second floor, there are many walls that are additionally insulated with Styrofoam. There is a lot of Styrofoam in the house, and I strongly guess that it's not from 1958. Does anyone know when they started using interior insulation with Styrofoam?

Probably never. That is, it's probably not an established method to insulate basement walls from the inside with Styrofoam. Is it directly against the wall, or is there an air gap in between? I'm just wondering how damp it is between the wall and the Styrofoam?

 

[Rabbithole]

Could have been anytime. It is not wrong to insulate with cellplast.

 

[Frida80]

Probably never. That is to say, there is probably no established method for insulating basement walls from the inside with styrofoam. Is it placed directly against the wall, or is there an air gap in between? I'm just wondering how damp it is between the wall and the styrofoam?

Yes, one might wonder about the moisture... the styrofoam is directly on the floor and directly on the inner wall in the recreation room. Yet it seems to be dry, no strange smell or basement feeling, and this part of the basement is also heated.

 

[KnockOnWood]

Is it placed directly against the wall, or is there an air gap in between? I'm just wondering how damp it is between the wall and the Styrofoam?

A small note:
Styrofoam is not a vapor barrier, it is vapor permeable!

 

[Frida80]

That explains it. But do you know when it started being used in houses?

 

[Oldboy]

Presumably in the 90s.

It is not wrong to insulate with foam plastic.

A matter of definition. As I see it, it's almost always wrong to insulate with styrofoam. It's extremely flammable and therefore something you don't want in your house. Additionally, it's a plastic, and plastic per se should be considered an environmental villain. Everyone who has handled styrofoam knows that it inevitably spreads lots of its small plastic beads. If you're outdoors, it ends up in nature, and if you're indoors, it ends up in unsorted waste.

 

[InsidersUnited]

You have already received the answer: Never. Cellplast/frigolit is not suitable as indoor insulation either then or now, as it is flammable. Plastic is mostly oil, not something you want nailed to your walls at home. )

If you want to know when cellplast/frigolit became available for daring DIYers in stores, I would check on Wikipedia.

Edit: 2nd on that ball ))

 

[Frida80]

Yes, I know, I'm not happy to have it in the house myself. But the reason for my question was more that I'm trying to get an idea of when the basement was last renovated... Wikipedia, etc., probably won't give satisfactory answers when it comes to the use of styrofoam. I've heard that it is also used currently in new constructions, etc., even though several fires can be linked to it. But the question remains, when did they come up with the idea that it would be good for insulation?

 

[Oldboy]

That polystyrene insulates well has been known for a long time, but more generally available in hardware stores for DIY, I would think was in the 90s, and from there it has escalated to today's levels.

I think the reason it is used indoors is that it is less unpleasant to work with and handle indoors compared to the main alternative, fiberglass.

(Insulating interior walls with polystyrene is quite silly. The only reason I can think of for insulating interior walls is to dampen sound between rooms, and polystyrene is useless for that. It should be a relatively heavy and compact insulation, usually mineral wool.)

 

[Frida80]

It has been long known that styrofoam insulates well, but more generally available in building stores for DIYers I would guess was in the 90s, and from there it has escalated to today's levels.

I think the reason it is used indoors is because it is less unpleasant to work with and handle indoors compared to the main alternative, glass wool.

(Insulating interior walls with styrofoam is quite silly. The only reason I can think of to insulate interior walls is to dampen noise between rooms, and styrofoam is worthless for that. Then it should be relatively heavy and compact insulation, usually rock wool.)

Thanks for the answer! If I then connect the answers to the question about the plastic mat that I asked in another thread (the mat is in the same room) was redone in the basement sometime during the 80s. The reason for its insulation, I would guess, was heat protection and as you point out that it was easier to handle. I now realize that I expressed myself incorrectly. The styrofoam is on the outer wall but inside the house and directly on the concrete floor.

 

[Rabbithole]

Guessingly in the 90s.

A matter of definition. As I see it, it is almost always wrong to insulate with styrofoam. It is extremely flammable and therefore not something you want in your house. Moreover, it is a plastic, and plastic per se is to be considered an environmental villain. Everyone who has handled styrofoam knows that it inevitably spreads lots of its small plastic beads. If you're outdoors, it ends up in nature, and if you're indoors, it ends up in unsorted waste.

Extremely flammable is also cotton, and that is often near lit candles. As long as you have a surface layer on, there is a very low risk of ignition. Foamed plastic has significantly lower environmental impact during manufacturing than, for example, mineral wool, but I agree about the spreading of plastics in nature.

 

[Frida80]

A small addition about styrofoam: a friend told me today that his dad insulated the outdoor toilet with styrofoam sometime in the '70s to also use it as a kind of hunting tower, flammable or not, it couldn't have been very cozy.