Installation practice with basement ceiling/floor slab insulation

Insulating the base of a building poses a special challenge. Inevitably the walls rising from the base act as thermal bridges. The only possibility is to extend the pathway of thermal outflow by choosing the right arrangement, thus reducing thermal bridging.

Thermal bridges in the basement area occur where load-bearing external walls penetrate the basement ceiling insulation, and at interior walls or supports.

These thermal bridges can be defused by means of flanking insulation (similar to insulation wedges for interior insulation) that extends the insulation layer of the ceiling over the walls.

Flanking insulation in the basement (source: Schulze Darup, adapted)