Biowaste as effective house insulation – salzburg.ORF.at
environment
Larch bark occurs as waste at sawmills. A house insulated with exactly this material is in St. Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgang. It is the first building in the world with larch bark insulation on the outer wall. Planned and built with Salzburg participation.
A research object high above the Wolfgangsee attracts curious glances from afar. Nature and design combined in a British wooden house made of 300 spruce trees that has some special features. The entrepreneur Max Eisl has thus fulfilled a dream and broken new ground. It is the first residential building in the world with larch bark insulation on two outer walls. For Eisl it should be a showcase project: “A lot of people come to the house from the street and want to look at it and also attack the material.”
Protects against heat and cold
The Goiserer timber construction pioneer Günther Kain had the idea. He is a teacher at the HTBLA Hallstatt and lecturer at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Together with a start-up from Puch near Hallein (Tennengau), Kain has developed a process for pressing larch bark into large panels. He has been researching the new insulation material for nine years. The bark insulates well and protects the tree from heat and cold, says Kain: “I now use these properties on the building as well. That means I have protection against overheating in summer on the one hand, and protection against heat loss in winter on the other. “
Larch bark as a new high-tech material
And Max Eisl adds: “We were really enthusiastic about it right from the start and asked ourselves why it had never been used in this form before.” Large quantities of larch bark are produced in sawmills. 90 percent are burned. Bernhard Lienbacher, Managing Director of Barkinsulation in Puch near Hallein: “The bark is still seen today by the wood industry as a secondary product. We see high-tech material in it and you can do even more with it than just utilize it thermally. “
The pilot project is scientifically supported
Now is the practical test. The pilot project is scientifically supported by the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. EisI has set up an office and four holiday apartments in the house: “We are now expecting Günther Kain to be able to evaluate the measurement data very well and then you can really see how valuable this insulation material is.”
The potential is huge, they say. Cain assumes that the properties are very promising, but – worthy of proper research – it will also raise many new questions. Max Eisl hopes that with his eco house he can at least make a visible contribution to climate protection.
Biowaste as effective house insulation
Larch bark occurs as waste at sawmills. A house insulated with exactly this material is in St. Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgang. It is the first building in the world with larch bark insulation on the outer wall. Planned and built with Salzburg participation.