Retrofitting facades of modern/industrial era from inside – Hygrothermal performance

Internal insulation is often the only measure to reduce heat loss for facades that are worth preservation, both from a sustainable and architectural point of view. However, insulation from inside may make the original wall vulnerable for moisture related problems. Recent years, quite a lot of research on moisture safe internal insulation of solid brick masonry walls has been conducted. This study takes up the challenge of transforming the experiences from solid brick masonry walls to facades of modern/industrial era up to 1980’s. Brick masonry is still often on the exterior side but combined with concrete or light weight concrete on the interior side with or without a cavity. Hardly any research on this topic has been conducted and therefore this paper introduces some first investigations of the hygrothermal performance of retrofitting above types of facades from inside. The study is conducted as a simulation study, where a number of relevant constructions and insulation systems are analysed. Solid brick masonry is used as reference. The results indicate that internal insulation has a good potential for most masonry facades of modern/industrial era. However, insulating solid concrete facades from inside is only possible under certain circumstances.