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The exte­ri­or wall thick­ness of a home sig­nif­i­cant­ly impacts the house’s ener­gy effi­cien­cy, dis­as­ter resis­tance, and IEQ. Learn how thick exte­ri­or walls should be.

Build­ing a strong and reli­able foun­da­tion is a sig­nif­i­cant step in the con­struc­tion of any home or build­ing. The cost of this process varies depend­ing on foun­da­tion type, mate­r­i­al, and labor require­ments.

When con­struct­ing a build­ing, ensur­ing its sta­bil­i­ty and resilience is crit­i­cal. Two essen­tial com­po­nents that play cru­cial roles in build­ing sta­bil­i­ty are shear walls and load bear­ing walls.

Absolute­ly. The exte­ri­or walls are two lay­ers of con­tin­u­ous insu­la­tion, the den­si­ty of sol­id con­crete and a lay­er of ½” gyp­sum board on the inside all con­tribute to supe­ri­or sound sup­pres­sion of STC 50 for the whole build­ing enve­lope. Note: A wood frame sys­tem of equiv­a­lent STC rat­ing would be 2 x 4 studs spaced 16˝ o/​c, with 3½˝ absorp­tive mate­r­i­al, 1 lay­er of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on resilient chan­nels spaced 16˝ o/​c, and 2 lay­ers of 5 /8˝ Type X gyp­sum board on the oth­er side. (Cour­tesy of 1995 NBCC Sec­tion A9.10.3.1 Wall #W5a)

For gen­er­a­tions, the con­struc­tion of exte­ri­or walls has fol­lowed tra­di­tion­al prac­tices that have pri­mar­i­ly involved wood or steel fram­ing. These meth­ods have been the back­bone of res­i­den­tial and light com­mer­cial con­struc­tion, by pro­vid­ing shel­ter, sta­bil­i­ty, and a cer­tain lev­el of insu­la­tion.

Build­ing a tsuna­mi-proof house requires strate­gic plan­ning and the use of spe­cial­ized mate­ri­als. Coastal homes face unique chal­lenges that demand solu­tions capa­ble of with­stand­ing pow­er­ful waves and the debris they car­ry.