Balcony Applications

Isokorb® Structural Thermal Breaks. Insulate concrete-to-concrete and concrete-to-steel balcony connections.

Reduce heat loss by up to 90% while preventing mold growth where balconies penetrate the insulated building envelope.

Uninsulated balconies penetrating insulated building envelopes act like cooling fins, creating a thermal bridge between the cold exterior balcony and the warm interior structure that supports it, exposing the developer to potential short- and long-term problems.

• Cost and environmental impact of wasted energy
• Condensation in interior cavities resulting in mold growth, respiratory problems and associated liability
• Discomfort due to cold interior surfaces
• Noncompliance with new energy code requirements

Because of their load-bearing requirement, conventional balconies are designed as extensions of the concrete floor slab within the heated building envelope. As such, they create a thermal bridge in the otherwise continuous insulation of the building envelope, rapidly conducting heat away from the warm interior, through the insulated envelope and into the exterior environment.

For decades, wasted heat and cold interior floors were accepted as unavoidable outcomes in North American buildings constructed with balconies.

Because these buildings also leaked air profusely, interior humidity levels equalized with low exterior humidity levels (typically 18 to 25%) during winter months. Forced hot air typically vented at or near the cold balcony penetration further ensured that interior humidity remained too low to reach dew point, form condensation or support mold growth.

Modern buildings wrapped in airtight vapor barriers require less heat and retain more moisture, producing interior humidity levels of 35% to 50% (typical) during winter. While this humidity increase benefits energy efficiency and human comfort, it also allows the interior air to reach dew point, form condensation and support mold growth where cold balconies penetrate the interior side of the building envelope.

Mold can be growing on the inside face of sheetrock, studs and insulation - and occupants can be breathing it in - years before it becomes visible on interior ceilings and walls, exposing the developer to significant remediation and liability risk.

A Schöck Isokorb® Structural Thermal Break is a fabricated assembly that is cast into the concrete floor slab at the location of the building insulation layer. The thermal break insulates the interior floor slab from the exterior balcony while transferring the loads imposed on the exposed slab edge or cantilevered steel structure back to the interior floor slab.

• Prevent condensation and mold
• Reduce heat loss by up to 90%
• Improve the effective R-value of your building envelope by up to 50%
• Increase warmth of interior floors by up to 34°F/19°C
• Most effective way to meet the code requirements for continuous insulation

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