Is Ecobrix worth the extra £££?

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

Hi All,

 

Our SE has proposed using ecobrix for our double garage walls, 2 sides of which will be designed as retaining walls and have tanking etc. The Ecobrix proposal sounds great, I spoke to the company and the integral insulation (in the non-retaining walls) sounds really positive, but then my contractor who has priced it up has the ecobrix coming in at c.£7k and he asked whether I’ve considered other options such as standard hollow concrete blocks (c.£2k). The difference in cost has given me pause for thought, but then I will be trading some of the saving for increased labour time (we’re not doing this bit ourselves), plus there will presumable need to be some additional layer for insulation / protection against condensation?

 

I don’t know what the overall cost saving may be, and whether there are other benefits for ecobrix (thermal?, acoustic?). For ecobrix, will we have to line the inside face of the wall? We’re thinking ply/osb as it’s just the garage but I’ll be wanting to fix mounts and brackets to the wall, including bike hooks.

 

Grateful for your thoughts/experience especially if you’ve used it.

 

Many thanks!

[Nickfromwales]

Hi.

 

Ecobix (used to be Durisol) are only part filled with insulation, and part filled with concrete, but the woodcrete construction is also quite porous. Tanking for subterranean conditions would need to be meticulous with that type of product imho.

 

Have you considered an EPS block such as Nudura? The XR35 gives a complete 100mm external insulation shield, is near zero water / moisture permeable, and then has a solid concrete core with a second solid layer of 100mm EPS internally. 

 

That has a nylon spine set into the block every 405mm for fixing sheet material.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

@Nickfromwales no we haven’t considered EPS. Thanks for the response.

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

ecobrix coming in at c.£7k

Have you checked the price yourself?

 

1 hour ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

integral insulation

Why insulation type blocks in a garage? They do thinner cheaper ones that are just concrete filled. You still have the equivalent of a 100mm wood insulation.