Just when you thought you’d seen it all, here’s a new way to insulate basement walls with foam glass by Misapor. More on this topic at my Geopolymer House Blog. (The same material can be used to make lightweight insulating plaster, concrete, etc.)
“Until now, Misapor has mostly been known for providing horizontal insulation. Now as Wall Bags, the foam glass gravel provides insulation for vertical structures such as [basement] walls. These are an ideal solution for a comfortable, energy-optimised structure and for avoiding thermal bridges.
These fabric bags filled with Misapor foam glass gravel surround [basement] walls to provide thermal insulation. As you would expect from Misapor, they are very easy to handle. The Wall Bags are simply positioned against the walls, and these ready-made sacks are then filled. This process allows economical and time-saving renovation in existing [basements]… the closed-cell product does not absorb water and therefore remains a constant weight.
Source: Misapor (with English version)
Image source and direct link to wall bag information: Misapor Wall Bags
A huge thank you to Konstantin for tipping me off on this!
From Robin: When using foamglas you have the option to use it as a piece of board. This way the board is waterproof and joints can be glued(waterproof). It is also easy to cut custom sizes with any type of tool since it is porous.
This is mostly ideal when building a house with square (90 degree) corners. ie not rounded walls.
Price in sweden that I got was around $100 / m3(buying at least 1 truckload about 120 m3). With transportation. So its not dirt cheep but very cool. I have only got the price from the swedish factory and noting in sweden is cheap :-)
Note: they’re showing bags of foam glass insulation against a concrete wall, but of course you could place bags just like this against other types of walls, including earthbags.