Eco Friendly Wall Ties available from KPC reduce heat loss in cavity wall constructions. KPC has been providing a range of eco friendly products for some time now. Our grass blocks for example, produce a great hard-standing surface while allowing better surface water drainage and infiltration. On the other hand our eco friendly wall ties product may be something of an unsung hero because when these gfrp wall ties are doing their job… they can no longer be seen. But their efficiency makes them well worth considering for your construction project.
As we become more and more conscious of environmental concerns we realise that there are more ways to contribute to the reduction of our impact on the environment. In the context of construction, it is very much a win-win situation, with eco friendly solutions generally providing a reduction in post-construction running costs, such as heating bills.
Why Do We Need Eco Friendly Wall Ties?
Wall ties for cavity wall construction come in a range of designs from countless manufacturers, but they are most commonly made in a material such as stainless steel. While this creates a strong metal wall tie that will resist rust, it does introduce one unfortunate and very undesirable side effect. It creates a thermal bridge, frequently referred to in construction as a cold bridge.
Cold bridging describes a situation where heat loss is facilitated across a gap, such as that of a cavity wall, through a thermally conductive material. In the case of steel wall ties (or similar) a large number of points are introduced where heat is conducted through the metal and bypasses any insulation material in the cavity. While the amount of heat transferred across any one single tie may be quite small, the cumulative effect of heat transfer across the many ties used in a whole wall may be considerable.
Eco Friendly Wall Ties from KPC
So how do Eco Friendly Wall Ties from KPC differ? They are made from Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer, a material with very limited thermal conductivity which also provides great tensile strength, in fact, greater tensile strength than stainless steel. These two properties alone make GFRP ideal as a material for use in eco friendly wall ties.
In addition to making these ties from an ideal material, we also designed them with another couple of tricks to prevent cold bridging. The ties are made with a gritty surface texture which not only provides better adhesion to surrounding mortar, but also limits the ability of moisture to wick along the surface. We also designed them with an inverted ‘V’ profile to further aid the shedding of any moisture instead of allowing it to make its way across the cavity.
Dual Purpose – Wall Ties and Sill Supports
Wouldn’t it be great if a window sill bearer was made from a non-conductive material… like our GFRP wall ties? Our Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Wall Ties were designed to span a wall cavity to tie the inner and outer leaves, so we though we could extend their use to supporting the back of a sill over the cavity too.
We submitted the GFRP units in lengths of 275mm, 300mm and 325mm for point-load testing as window sill supports and following the completion of the test protocol, the components were awarded BRE Certified Details and Products Scheme Certificate Number: PTD1004.
- As the ties were designed to span cavity walls in the first place, they have all the water shedding qualities you would expect of a wall tie.
- As window sill bearers, they are tested across cavities as wide as 200mm. Declared load capacities are factored and based on this worst case scenario installation.
- Once in-situ, the incorporation of window sills into the outer leaf construction means that the window sill bearers are subjected to minimal long term loading.
- The GFRP wall ties are a registered product under the BRE Global Certified Details and Products Scheme (Certificate Number: PTD 1004).
Of course, one great advantage in using these GFRP components as Window Sill Supports and is their excellent thermal efficiency properties. Their principal use as Wall Ties was designed around the need to prevent cold bridging across the wall cavity, so they can be incorporated as window sill bearers with confidence, knowing that they will not create a thermal bridge at a key junction point.
Contact the team at KPC to find out more about using GFRP Window Sills Supports that prevent cold bridging on your build project.
Click here for our Eco Friendly GFRP Wall Ties page.
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