Is a cardboard box a good insulator?

As regards to its insulation properties, cardboard is actually a great insulator as it has poor thermal conductivity. The definition of conductivity is actually the property of a material to transmit energy.

criticalconcrete.com - Out of the box – Insulation vol.2 - Critical Concrete

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Although water is one of the substances that creates it, when cardboard comes to contact with water, it loses its properties enormously and becomes vulnerable to mould. Therefore, the use of cardboard should be restricted in interior space, not in immediate contact with water or rain. However, other than repelling water from the exterior, cardboard should be also protected from air moisture. Cardboard, is an hygroscopic material which means that has the ability to absorb moisture from the air and eventually create mould and lose its strength. For a short amount of time, cardboard can efficiently absorb an amount of moist, but if it is going to be used as a construction material in humid places, it should be somehow protected. So the first problem that we have to cope with is: Is it possible to protect our cardboard insulation panels from humidity and make them water resistant?

While examine the different examples of cardboard construction, we found different ways to protect cardboard from water and humidity: a) Minimize the edges between the cardboard panels. To accomplish this solution, we have to make panels that are big enough to cover a surface(wall or roof) with as less pieces as possible. At the same time we should find a size that is not too big and can help us treat the cardboard easily before installation. b) Use solid cardboard (or plywood board) for the first and the last layer. As we explain precedently, it is important to seal cardboard panels from water entering from the exterior surface. Corrugated cardboard is consisted of a middle fluted layer covered by two thin and flat paper liner boards. This automatically makes it vulnerable to water and damages, so if we use as a cladding of our panels a solid cardboard layer, we can protect our insulation panels. The solid cardboard can be well protected from moisture and water, as its consistency is dense and does not form open cells. Simultaneously, it can efficiently protect the inner layers from damages as it performs better in load pressure. c) Cover the cardboard with plastic layers or foils. This solution had been applied in several projects in which the cardboard was used in places that it could come in contact with water or rain[8]. Nevertheless this solution can prevent cardboard from being recycled. More specifically, one of the most important benefits of cardboard as a material is that when its life is ended it can be recycled. A coat of plastic adhered on it can difficult the recycling process. d) Apply a coat of paint, lime or varnish on the last surface. This solution consists the most efficient one as we can use lime plaster to cover the last layer of solid cardboard and then protect it efficiently from water and moisture, without using plastic materials. All these solutions about how to cover cardboard and protect it from mould and water, gave us ideas on what information and knowledge we can use on our prototype.

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Another major disadvantage of cardboard which is the reason why people don’t prefer it as an insulation material, is its resistance to fire. The most important thing about fire safety in a building is the time that the users have to get to safety. That is why the materials used in construction have to be fire retardant. Generally, cardboard is a paper product so as we can imagine is almost unachievable to transfuse fire resistant properties, no matter how many fire retardants will be placed in order to protect it. On the other hand, Dr Andrew Cripps who participated in the construction of the Cardboard School claims that cardboard it is flammable, but it does not contribute to the spread of the flame[9]. Nevertheless there are several fire retardant materials that can be used, such as borax or chalk, but we should have in mind that they have the tendency to increase the development of smoke during the fire. Fire retardant cardboard (as well as water resistant), can be found nowadays on the market, but in our case we will search other — cheapest— ways to ensure fire safety. a) Borax dissolution, the one we used in wool insulation, consists a fire retardant mineral which can also be insect repellent. b) Thickness of cardboard: as illustrated by tests conducted during the development of Cardboard School in Westborough[10] a thick cardboard piece behave like thick wood pieces which has the tendency to char, protecting itself from burning immediately. c) Cladding with a protecting board. The covering of the insulation with a plywood board or a solid cardboard can efficiently protect the inner layers from fire. This is because solid cardboard has dense consistency and therefore its behavior to fire is similar to wood. Furthermore, this last layer can be easily treated with a fire retardant coat used for wood. Collecting all this information and through our experience in experimenting with cardboard and sheep wool insulation prototypes, we will now present you the queries and difficulties we faced, during the process of making our prototype, as well as the ideas and solutions we found in order to succeed.

criticalconcrete.com - Out of the box – Insulation vol.2 - Critical Concrete