Application of thermal insulating plaster for retrofitting of a building under conservation protection

The article presents the results of measurements of selected thermal, moisture and mechanical properties of thermal insulating plaster, which is one of the alternatives to traditional methods of retrofitting the walls of buildings under conservation protection. An insulating plaster based on perlite was tested. Its thermal conductivity, vapor permeability and compression strength were determined. Images of the tested plaster under the microscope, at a magnification of 10-45x, were also taken. Through computer simulations, the possibility of improving the energy efficiency of an educational building by applying a layer of such plaster on external walls was determined. Changes in the heat loss structure were analyzed, and the obtained results were compared with the effectiveness of reducing heat loss through the walls using a traditional thermal insulation material. It turned out that the thermal conductivity coefficient of the tested plaster obtained by measurement was 0.0877 W/(m∙K), which confirmed the value declared by the manufacturer. Application of thermal insulating plaster with a thickness of 5 cm on the walls of the analyzed building, with other partitions of good thermal quality, reduced its energy demand by over 20%.