Thermomass Home Merivale

Thermomass is a patented connector and insulation system for constructing insulated concrete sandwich walls. It was an ideal system to incorporate in the design of the new concrete home built in Merivale, Christchurch.  Canterbury is subjected to wide diurnal swings in temperature in summer and has cold winters. Protected mass is the best solution to even out these temperature variations.  Concrete allowed Kerry Mason of MAP Architects to design a modern functional home with concrete surfaces internally and externally. Concrete while excellent for durability, fire and acoustics does not perform so well thermally. By using Thermomass to create Protected Mass, concrete becomes very strong thermally, performing better than lightweight structures unable to store energy. Thermomass is a fully tested system that is designed to last the life of the building. The Thermomass system has been tested to a life cycle of 150 years. Tests were performed on connectors in a wall with 50 mm (2 in) insulation. The wythes were displaced 11.2 mm (0.44 in) for 2,000 cycles with no deterioration of the connectors or their strength. This represents over 150 years of exposure in a climate with wide temperature swings.  Thermomass is a simple system to build with, outstanding in thermal performance and will allow concrete construction to meet and exceed the new insulation standards.