A sprawling home in Bangkok

[shunpike]

Horribly hot and humid today here in Bangers...I wouldn't want to be working construction today...

[Eliminator]

Ali foil for insulation, you've got to be kidding us, or at the very least, kidding yourself.

[DrAndy]

Ali foil for insulation, you've got to be kidding us, or at the very least, kidding yourself.

it is not aluminium foil, it is a sheet with foil and insulation combined and it works very well

There has been a bit of interest recently about aluminium foil insulation. This is a composite product that is about 25 to 30 mm thick and comes in 1 metre or so wide rolls. The foil is basically a sandwich of fibre insulation materials and aluminium foil. The idea is that you simply stable it to studs or rafters, plant a 25 mm thick batten on top of it and fixed to the underneath rafter or stud (this will compress the foil to zero thickness at this point) and then install plasterboard by fixing to the planted on battens. This sounds a simple and quick procedure and it is claimed that a 0.2 U value can be achieved by this method, very impressive if true.

I think the value claimed is a bit optimistic, and would not be useful in cold climates. The main problem is that it gets compressed at the rafters and so loses that efficiency. For Thailand, however, it is a good option, cheapish and effective