"Construction Assistant" is the name of the new consultation and calculation program for private builders and construction specialists that BASF will be showcasing at the BAU, the trade fair for construction and housing, to be held in Munich, Germany, from January 15 to 20, 2007. This computer program comprises several databases containing BASF insulating materials for construction elements and listing their most important energy-saving properties. This serves as the basis for a calculation module that determines relevant characteristic values such as the U-value (coefficient of heat transmission) and the dew point for various building components and insulating measures in accordance with the German Energy-Saving Directive (EnEV).
It is an astounding 210 years old, this timber-frame house whose floor slab is now being insulated with Styrodur® C, BASF's green, extruded polystyrene rigid foam (XPS). The builder is using Styrodur® C 5000 CS, which stands out for its very high compressive strength, on the 90 square-meter floor space. The Styrodur® C panels fulfill a pressure and load dissipating function, in other words, they are very good at absorbing the compressive load exerted by the external walls.
The German Institute for Construction Engineering has once again approved BASF’s extruded polystyrene foam Styrodur® 3035 CS, 4000 CS and 5000 CS for use in construction as load-bearing thermal insulation under foundation slabs. In comparison to the materials that had been approved until now, the permissible long term compressive strength was raised for each of these products by an additional 10 kPA.
