High thickness or low thickness thermal coat?

The thermal insulation achieved by a coat is the main energy efficiency intervention to think for a building.

Thermal insulation is the first thing to consider, before photovoltaic and heat pump, just not to make other energy saving systems that you want to install.

Insulation by thermal coat

The thermal coat has always been the traditional solution for insulating a building. The most frequently used insulation materials in construction are however materials that need large thicknesses, several centimeters, to be effective.

In recent years, several innovative solutions have been introduced to the market that allow for low-thickness thermal insulation. The advantage of low thickness is obvious, because it allows to avoid all those expensive, long and aesthetically annoying structural works. These are needed to install insulation panels 8, 10, 12 or 15 cm thick.

Low thickness or high thickness?

But what are the differences between the two solutions?

In order to answer this question, we will only focus on low-thickness solutions known as “nano ceramics”, although these are not the only ones available.

How does an high thickness coat insulate heat? It isolates because it works with thermal resistance, that is the ability of those materials (polystyrene, polystyrene in general, rock wool etc) to slow down the heat passage. Even if the heat passes through, it takes time thanks to the thermal resistance of the insulating material. The time of passage is called thermal shift. So, for example, in winter the heat generated by heating will not come out immediately. It will accumulate on the insulation panels and only after 12-14 hours will be passed and come out, outside. But after 12 or 14 hours it will be already evening and normally the heating is lowered during the night hours. So that, just when it was necessary to have the warmest house, the heat was kept inside and also saved on the bill.

Unfortunately, the mechanism works less well in summer. Even if it is technically the same, the heat comes from outside and when it gets dark, the panels will release the heat to the apartment. For this reason, a part of the insulating capacity is lost.

The Manti Ceramic Microcoat and its operation

A quality nano ceramic, such as Manti Ceramic, insulates in a completely different way: the molecular lattice of the product works like a thermal shield that almost completely blocks the heat passage. So no phase shift, but just an impenetrable barrier to heat (or almost). That’s why a few millimetres is enough and why Manti Ceramic works just as well in winter as in summer.

For more information you can read the following page: https://www.manticeramicitalia.it/en/building/