Royal Roads University, Cedar Building, Victoria, BC

Client
Stantec Architecture

Building Type
Existing Building, Built in 1913, Renovated in 1980

Building Info
Two-Storey with Terracotta Block Walls

Service Performance Date
2014

Challenge

The building was originally a cattle barn with attached farmhouse, which was renovated in 1980’s into an office space. The existing walls were made out of 8″ to 10” terracotta blocks with 1” painted stucco on the outside. On the inside, there was 1 1/2″ rigid extruded polystyrene insulation against the terracotta blocks, complete with the interior finishes. 

In 2014, the building went under major interior renovation, including improving the thermal performance of the walls. Alteration to the exterior of the building was not in the scope of work. Given that the exiting wall assemblies were very old, a question was raised by the architect as to what would be the optimum level of wall thermal insulation that would not compromise the moisture performance of these aged wall assemblies

How Did We Help?

HDB was brought into the project to provide an engineering opinion on the required level of thermal insulation for the exiting terracotta block wall assemblies. Given that the exiting terracotta blocks were quite aged, and the rain penetration control strategies were not ideal, our team looked at the risk of reduced drying potential due to the increased level of thermal insulation.

We used in-depth hygrothermal and sensitivity analysis using WUFI® Pro to determine the optimum level of the thermal insulation that would improve the thermal performance of the existing walls, without compromising the satisfactory moisture performance. Our approach managed to come up with a solution towards balancing heat loss reduction, improved drying potential, and improved air tightness.