12″ structural brick wall – air space? insulation?
I have a client who wants to build a home using 12″ utility brick for structural wall with felt applied directly to the brick on the inside, then 2 x 4 studs and a sill plate added just for interior finish nailer (interior finish will be t & g pine) and blue jean insulation between the studs. This is high humidity eastern coastal area and I’m very concerned about moisture and condensation. I am having trouble convincing him to leave an air space and use the brick as veneer or else we have to leave an air space between the sill plate/stud and the brick wall (meaning we would frame the walls first and apply the sheathing and felt, then brick.
Any ideas for a purist building a structural brick green home?
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
Pamela,
If your client goes this route -- an oddball route for sure -- be very careful to address thermal bridges. You will end up with a house-within-a-house. The inside house needs to be thermally separated from the outside brick house.
Be sure the house has wide roof overhangs on all sides to keep water off the brick. You won't have any real WRB behind the brick, and no weep holes at the bottom, so be sure everyone involved has lots of liability insurance and errors-and-omissions insurance. You all may end up in court.
Thanks Martin. I agree with the "house within a house" scenario - waste of materials, too. I may have to pass on this one.
Pamela,
Some further thoughts:
1. It would be good to know your climate.
2. If you are in a hot climate, the idea may not be as oddball as my first response implied. Plenty of Florida builders routinely build structural masonry walls (using CMUs, otherwise known as concrete blocks). Such walls can work well in that climate, especially if they are insulated on the exterior with rigid foam insulation.
thanks again. This is coastal nc. Though because he wants to use the brick as the finish exterior I won't be able to insulate exterior or apply any kind of exterior moisture barrier ( ie stucco or parging) Thats my concern