Posted by CMPC Staff on January 24, 2002 at 13:57:38:
In Reply to: insulation posted by kathy on January 17, 2002 at 09:09:07:
If you can insulate on the exterior of the wall - this would enable you to take better advantage of the thermal mass capabilities of concrete masonry. That is to say, utilize the masonry to store thermal energy and release it later. What this does is to reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool an interior space. This also allows one to shift the time when energy is needed to heat or cool an interior space.
Because masonry has high thermal mass it is capable of storing heat and cold -- what does this mean? it means that when the heat is running the wall (exposed to the heat with the insulation on the exterior) absorbs heat. This "stored" heat can be used to transfer heat back into the conditioned space - the same (or opposite) is true for air conditioning.
If you have to use interior insulation, there is no "best" type to use. You can use rigid foam, batt insulation, blown in insulation or such - typically installed by attaching studs to the interior surface, insulation in between, and finished with drywall.