Construction · Southern Europe · 2023
Mediterranean architecture studio
The cork-grain layer removed approximately 95 kg/m² of dead load versus the original specification while improving the floor's U-value by 18%. The heritage structure required no reinforcement.
- Dead load reduction
- −95 kg/m²
- U-value improvement
- +18%
- Fill density
- 70 kg/m³
- Structural reinforcement
- None required
Challenge
Add a thermal layer to a 19th-century stone building during a hospitality retrofit, without exceeding the load capacity of the original timber-and-tile floor structure.
Approach
The original specification called for a 60 mm screed-and-foam buildup adding roughly 130 kg/m² of dead load — beyond what the existing structure could carry. We supplied loose cork grain at 70 kg/m³, blown into a leveled cavity and topped with a thin engineered floor.
Outcome
The cork-grain layer removed approximately 95 kg/m² of dead load versus the original specification while improving the floor's U-value by 18%. The heritage structure required no reinforcement.
Heritage retrofits live or die on weight. The original timber-and-tile floors of a 19th-century building were never sized for a modern thermal buildup, and the conservation officer was clear that structural reinforcement would compromise the listing. The studio needed a thermal solution that disappeared into the existing assembly.
We supplied cork grain at 70 kg/m³ as a pourable fill. The contractor leveled the existing floor cavity, blew in the cork to depth, and topped it with a thin engineered floorboard. The buildup added a fraction of the weight of the original screed-and-foam specification while improving the U-value enough to satisfy the energy assessment.
The conservation officer signed off without conditions.
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