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EWI Pro: Approved U-Value Competency Scheme Member

At EWI Pro, we pride ourselves on our technical knowledge and the skills of our employees. We’re therefore delighted to have technical staff who have completed the Elmhurst Energy U-value competency scheme, enabling us to offer accurate U-value calculations for all of our clients.

Accurate and Reliable U-Value Calculations From EWI Pro

EWI Pro can save clients from unnecessary overspend on building materials and ensure that building regulations are achieved without wastage. We can meticulously calculate the exact thickness of insulation required for a particular substrate and then provide the technical specification to go with it.

Our aim is to ensure that everything we do receives a quality mark of competency. That’s why our staff have received comprehensive technical training and have a high level of product knowledge.

Because of the fact that the consistency and quality of our U-value calculations are second to none, our competence has helped to increase the reliability of U-value calculations and drive up industry standards.

What are U-Values?

U-values are a measure of how effective building fabrics are as insulators; this can be anything from walls, roofs or floors. U-values are a measure of ‘thermal transmission,’ which essentially tells us how effective a material is at preventing heat from passing between the inside and outside of a building.

Every building fabric has an existing U-value or a level of heat loss. If you add insulation to the building fabric, then there is less heat loss, so the u-value goes down. The lower the U-value, the better the building element is insulated.

Measured in watts per square metre per Kelvin (W/m2K), U-values will calculate exactly how many watts will be transmitted every square metre. This is a really useful measurement when it comes to adhering to building regulations, as there are certain U-value requirements that buildings need to reach in order to meet with modern standards.

When you’re looking to install external wall insulation, a really good way to make sure that your property reaches building regulations is to calculate the U-values. From this, you can then determine the thickness of insulation that you will need to install in order to bring the U-value of the wall down to meet building regulations.

U-Values and Solid Brick Walls

A 225mm solid brick wall has a starting U-value of 2.15 W/m2K. Building regulations stipulate that when installing insulated render systems onto existing properties (i.e. refurbishment of an existing building), the target U-value that needs to be reached is 0.30W/m2K.

The thicknesses of insulation that you will require for a solid brick wall to reach building regulations are as follows:

  • 90mm of EPS
  • 60mm of Kingspan K5
  • 110mm of Mineral Wool

The U-values stipulated by building regulations are a minimum target. There’s nothing to say that you can’t go above and beyond this and install more insulation to achieve even lower U-values.

If you’re looking for help with U-values, our technical team are happy to help, so get in touch for further information.

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