Ways of breaking a thermal bridge

1. A continuous external layer

Continuous insulation running outside the sections. The strongest solution, because it eliminates the through heat path rather than merely reducing it.

Its advantages:

• the section stays on the warm side, so it does not cool down,
• the condensation risk drops considerably,
• the thermal calculation becomes simpler and more favourable.

Continuous external insulation.

2. A thermal break layer

A low-conductivity layer between the section and the lining. It reduces the transmission but does not eliminate it: wherever a fixing passes through, contact remains.

Useful where the thickness is limited and a full external layer will not fit.

3. Cross battening

The internal lining goes onto battens or profiles running perpendicular to the sections. This:

• breaks the direct contact,
• forms the service cavity for the cabling at the same time,
• and improves the acoustic decoupling as well.

One solution handling three problems at once, which makes it particularly valuable in practice. Service cavity.

4. The geometry of the structure

Sections exist whose web is perforated or profiled, lengthening the heat path. They can be effective, but:

• they affect structural behaviour,
• the design has to handle that,
• and they cannot be produced on every line.

What to watch at the connections

Thermal bridging handled well over the surface tends to go wrong at the connections:

• where the wall meets the foundation, Slab edge,
• at the installation plane of a window or door,
• where a balcony, canopy or bracket connects,
• at the corners of walls and the wall-to-floor connection.

A steel bracket carried through takes more heat out over a few centimetres than many square metres of good wall.

The point

Handling thermal bridges is not a choice of material but geometry: designing the continuity of the insulation. It is decided at the connections, not on the wall surface.