Foam glass insulation for the floor slab

As we wanted to avoid polystyrene, XPS or Styrodur in our solid wood construction as far as possible, we came across glass foam during our research. Our architect, Karl Lepic, had already told us several times about the advantages of this material and also about its use in his own house. As we had to keep a constant eye on our building budget, we weren't sure whether insulation made from this material, which is based on recycled glass, would really work out.

During our search, we came across a calculation that actually surprised Karl and us. It described that a strip foundation is not absolutely necessary for glass foam insulation. The insulation layer only needs to protrude 1 meter above the base of the house and be heavily compacted, then it shouldn't be a problem. The very optimistic calculation of only 40% of the XPS price initially sounded incomprehensible to us. In the end, however, it turned out that, contrary to our expectations, the Scheutz construction company was able to offer us a better price for the ecological insulation than for the conventional strip foundation with a petroleum-based insulating material.

The pipework for the waste water disposal system and the pipes for the main electricity distribution system have already been laid under the glass foam insulation.