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Warmcel Protects Tree House Integrity
18 November 2005

Ultra high thermal insulation performance, combined with excellent sustainability credentials, ensured Excel Building Solutions' Warmcel 500 insulation was specified to insulate an unusual and visually striking timber frame house in Clapham, South London that is a text book example of sustainable building.

In addition, Warmcel 500's hygroscopic properties will protect the integrity of the timber frame structure for the lifetime of the home, by ensuring that any moisture that gets into the structure migrates to the external face, where it will be harmlessly expelled to the ventilation cavity.

Manufactured entirely from recycled newspaper, Warmcel 500 has an excellent BRE environmental rating.  It's thermal performance is underlined by the fact that the 220mm deep Warmcel 500-insulated walls of the house deliver a U value of 0.17 W/m²K; over twice as good as building regulations requirements.

The insulation was damp spray installed into sections of the wall prior to the internal wall finish of plasterboard being installed.  Because it is a loose fill material, Warmcel 500 ensured that the entire wall cavity was completely filled with insulation, easily accommodating the profile of the 'I' beam wall studs, to produce an airtight solution.  This was borne out by airtightness testing, which returned impressive results.

In some sections of the walls, it was more practical to fully enclose the wall panels before pumping the insulation into the empty cavity that was created.  Again, the loose fill nature of the insulation ensured the empty cavity was completely filled.

Known as the 'Tree House', the house is strongly design-influenced by a giant sycamore tree that dominates the building plot.  The structure is designed to imitate the trunk and branches of the protected sycamore.  It features a rounded elevation, representative of a tree trunk, housing the stairwell of the family home.  This is clad externally with western red cedar timber.  The exposed roof trusses in the top floor rooms of the house resemble the branches of the giant sycamore, which is sympathetically bounded by the curved perimeter of the front of the house.

Apart from the cedar-clad stairwell, the other elevations of the house are finished in a brilliant white render, with the roof finish featuring extensive areas of photovoltaic power and solar panels, which will provide virtually all of the home's electricity and water heating requirements.  Recycled plastic slates were used to complete the external roof finish.

Other energy-saving features of the house include a ground source heat pump, as well as a whole house ventilation system with heat recovery.  Triple-glazed windows complement the high levels of wall, roof and floor insulation.  Extensive use is made of natural daylight to reduce the need for artificial lighting, which is provided in the form of low energy lighting solutions.

Cumbrian slate and reclaimed timber have been used to provide the internal floor finishes and natural paints and finishes have been used throughout the home.