VIU Underwriting & Claims

Handling Academy
Advanced – technical lines
10-12 October 201

12 October 2016 Seitz-Lackner

Insulation materials
for buildings

1
Introduction

Common insulation material at sites

Insulation material

• Made of foamed plastic since 1950 (oil product)

• Now: expanded (EPS = white) or extruded (XPS = pink) polystyrene
• For industrial buildings: polyurethane (PU or PUR) in combination
with metal cassette panels (Sandwich Elements)

2
Insulation material

• USA: Exterior Insulation Finishing Systems (EIFS)

• Europe: External Wall Insulation System (EWIS)
• Germany: Wärme-Dämm-Verbund System (WDVS)

(Dis)advantage

+ low costs
+ easy application technique
+ good thermal performance
+ ideally suited for insulation

- Usually hardly combustible (B1) but with HBCD!

- Flame inhibitor HBCD (Hexabromcyclododecan) since 1950
- Highly poison und durable
- Since August 2015 = toxic waste -> high costs for removal
- Burns very well…

Video Fassadenbrand!

3
Property losses
Examples of residental fires in germany of EIFS:

• 24 April 2009 – Konstanz: A burning scooter, which was parked near the
façade, lead to ignition of the façade of a 4-story residential building

• 22 May 2009 – Aachen: Starting from a fire in an annex, the façade of the
adjacent 4-story building was fully destroyed over 2 floors.

• 11 June 2011 – Delmenhorst: 5 apartment buildings with over 50 units were

almost completely destroyed through arson in a garbage container, which was
placed near the EIFS façade.

• 20 May 2012 – Frankfurt: Arson on a construction site caused the large-scale

destruction of the façade of a 6-storey EIFS covered building.

Property losses examples

4
Property losses examples

Risks at Fire with EIFS

• Extreme fire load of foamed plastic

• High temperature leads to spread of fire
• Intensive, poison fire smoke
• Highly contamination of building parts
• Expensive restoration
• Highly effort for fire fighters

5
Risk management

• EPS Boards can use fire with a small ignition

source and could lead to a heavy fire scenario

• Storage far away from sources of ignition

• Not flammable Insulation (stone wool) is

preferable to the EPS/XPS products

Video Fire Test

Risk Experts DI(FH) Manuel Lackner

Technical Expert
Risiko Engineering GmbH
Schottenring 35
A - 1100 Wien

www.riskexperts.at
+43 1 713 50 96 - 365

Personal Skills:
University Studies in Construction Engineering
E-Mail: m.lackner@riskexperts.at
Civil Engineer exam since 2013

Expert for water damage and renovation

Knowledge in leak detection and all kinds of

sealings

6
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