Block wall insulation?

[no704]

Sent my plans for my upcoming hobby shop build to my father today. The question of insulation came up. I’m trying to match the construction of of the house so the drapes match the curtains. He said that the original house blocks were likely filled with vermiculite. But in today’s technology it will be better to fill them with foam.
I know nothing on this subject. What’s best practice? In Tempe AZ so more concerned with keeping heat out. Will be like 36x42x12 planing on a double head mini split.

 

[The Cobbler]

I think just insulating the cores is a low return on Rvalue as the webs will wick a lot of heat , my guess is far more than the air space in the cores do
Curious what others thoughts are

 

[u2slow]

The last concrete-block building I worked on, the cores got solid-filled with concrete, and spray foam on the outside - after clips were attached to accomodate brick veneer and steel stud w/siding.

 

[paulsomlo]

It appears that you've got a 25 to 30 deg F delta between daytime high and night time low temps. If it's in the plan asthetically, it might make more sense to put rigid insulation on the outside, and keep all the thermal mass inside the envelope.

 

[no704]

It appears that you've got a 25 to 30 deg F delta between daytime high and night time low temps. If it's in the plan asthetically, it might make more sense to put rigid insulation on the outside, and keep all the thermal mass inside the envelope.

That would be ideal. But I don’t think it will be possible with the aspects of this build.

 

[kyrbz]

I’m renovating a property that is CMU construction. To meet current residential building codes I had to fill the block cavities that were not grouted with perlite and cover the interior walls with 1.5” of rigid foam covered with 1/2” sheet rock. If your hobby shop is attached to your residence, you may have to comply with your local residential building codes. If it’s detached, you probably wouldn’t have to comply with residential insulation requirements, but you may want to for comfort. I found the perlite alone made a noticeable difference over the original hollow walls, and adding the 1.5” of rigid foam really made an even bigger difference in energy usage.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I tap conned fitting strips on the outside with 3/4 foam sheets between them and covered with OSB. It was then topped with vinyl siding on the outside.

The inside got 2x4s tap conned flat with 1.5" foam in between and 7/16" OSB.

For me, it works well in Ohio.

What is your plan for exterior finish ?

 

[no704]

Exterior will just be painted to match the house. The large south facing wall (most important) will be an ally wall. City comes thru monthly and cleans the ally with a front loader. So I don’t really want anything easy to damage on the exterior of that wall.
This is a detached structure.
Might put some foam on the inside of that wall.

 

[NUTTSGT]

You could tap con 2x4s flat, foam in between and cover the exterior with metal rubby siding.

Simple one and done or easily power washed once a year.