Extensive reuse of insulation in a two-unit home
In a two-unit home in Gentbrugge, the choice was made to use recovered insulation as much as possible for all building elements. Together with materials trader TROVO, the team looked at which insulation materials were available in the necessary quantities.
A single-family home was converted into a two-unit home. The architect opted for a far-reaching circular approach and used recovered materials as much as possible for all building elements. The new timber structure was built with existing timber beams that were sawn to size, and the insulation was reused too.
Insulation
For both thermal and acoustic insulation, recovered insulation was chosen wherever possible. Below is an overview of all the reused insulation applied:
The external facade was insulated with PIR with mineral facing.
The flat roof with PUR insulation from sandwich panels and XPS from a roof shed.
The floor was insulated with a combination of recovered PIR boards and new PIR boards.
The interior walls were insulated with recovered mineral wool.
The intermediate floors were insulated with a combination of mineral wool and the cellulose that was already present.
The existing pitched roof was already insulated with cellulose ; this insulation was left in place.
Lessons learned
Applying reused insulation in such a far-reaching way is of course not self-evident. This made it a very valuable case for drawing some lessons about the reintegration of recovered insulation material:
It is very important to set up good collaboration with a reuse trader, as they have an overview of the materials already available, but also of materials that are still in a donor building and will become available in the short term.
Knowledge of materials is essential. Because insulation material is usually not reused like for like, but often changes application, it is important to have a good understanding of the required material properties of both the original application and the intended application.
Allow for an extra time investment. The insulation does not arrive calibrated in fixed dimensions with sharp edges and corners. It often still needs to be cut and fitted. Cutting losses must therefore be taken into account when ordering. Time to piece the puzzle together, cut the boards and make small filler pieces must also be factored in.
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