Shanghai has taken serious action, almost completely banning and restricting traditional external wall insulation systems!

On October 13, the Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Management Committee issued a notice announcing the "Catalog of Materials Prohibited or Restricted for Use in Construction Projects in Shanghai (Fifth Batch)." It requires strict implementation for projects that have not passed the construction drawing design document review and filing before November 1, 2020, and for projects that have not started wall energy-saving construction before December 31, 2020.

Regarding the design and use of external wall external insulation systems with insulation decorative composite panels, the provisions of the "Catalog" are as follows:

　　01

Prohibit the use of construction techniques for external wall external insulation systems that use binders or anchor bolts, as well as a combination of the two methods (excluding insulation decorative composite panels).

Prohibit the design and use of external wall external insulation systems as the main insulation system on the outer side of newly built, renovated, or expanded buildings.

This ban essentially eliminates all board-type external wall external insulation technologies with anchoring components in a thin plaster system. In fact, the use of adhesive-based external insulation technologies has been prohibited for the past two years. Taking the EPS board thin plaster external insulation system as an example, this is the most widely used external wall external insulation technology worldwide, but it has been directly ignored this time.

　　02

Prohibit the external wall external insulation system using rock wool insulation decorative composite panels.

Prohibit the design and use of external wall external insulation systems as the main insulation system on the outer side of newly built, renovated, or expanded buildings.

Here, the insulation decorative panels made with A-grade insulation material rock wool have been successfully eliminated. Rock wool is one of the best-performing materials among A-grade insulation materials, only slightly inferior to vacuum insulation panels. The use of rock wool to replace rock wool boards for insulation decorative panels is to increase tensile strength. However, domestic rock wool has obvious technical defects, mainly reflected in tensile strength and water absorption. Due to the hydrophobicity of rock wool, its application in external wall insulation easily leads to the formation of cavities, powdering, and falling off, thus failing to achieve the desired insulation effect.

　　03

Prohibit the external wall external insulation system using insulation decorative composite panels with a burning performance of B1 grade.

Prohibit the design and use of external wall external insulation systems as the main insulation system on the outer side of residential buildings over 27 meters and public buildings over 24 meters, and the area of a single insulation decorative composite panel should not exceed 1 square meter, with a unit area mass not exceeding 20 kg/㎡.

In other words, the commonly seen insulation decorative panels with insulation core materials such as EPS boards, XPS boards, and polyurethane boards can be applied to residential buildings below 27 meters and public buildings below 24 meters. We know that these two numbers are the boundary line, and in fact, external insulation systems can use B1 grade insulation materials in conjunction with fire-resistant windows. However, now, fire-resistant windows are also not effective, directly limiting the usage scope to low-rise buildings. It can be said that in the future, the application space for this type of insulation technology will be greatly reduced, and the project volume will become very small.

　　04

Prohibit the external wall external insulation system using insulation decorative composite panels with a burning performance of A grade.

Prohibit the design and use of external wall external insulation systems as the main insulation system on the outer side of buildings over 80 meters, and the area of a single insulation decorative composite panel should not exceed 1 square meter, with a unit area mass not exceeding 20 kg/㎡.

This type of material system can be applied in buildings below 80 meters, and the size specifications and weight must be well controlled. This type of material includes products such as foamed cement boards, foam ceramic boards, foam glass boards, and inorganic modified polystyrene boards that can obtain A-grade test reports. However, this type of product has a characteristic of particularly high thermal conductivity, while the thermal transmission correction coefficient of the insulation decorative panel system reaches 1.44 or even higher. After the improvement of Shanghai's external wall energy-saving design standards, will the insulation properties of these materials be sufficient? It is very likely that these materials will not even pass the design stage due to poor insulation performance.

So many external wall external insulation technologies have been eliminated, whether it is the most widely used polystyrene board thin plaster system worldwide, the most widely used rock wool board system, or the entire type of insulation decorative panels have also been restricted.

The three major "pain points" of external wall insulation.

"Cracking, hollowing, falling off; insulation but not fireproof; fireproof but unable to meet energy-saving building insulation requirements, these have become the three major 'pain points' in the external wall insulation industry," said industry insiders.

The "chicken rib effect" of common insulation materials:

First is insulation mortar. Due to the addition of a large amount of inorganic materials, insulation mortar has the characteristic of being non-combustible, filling a gap in the industry and gradually being recognized by the market. Insulation mortar has a high thermal conductivity coefficient and is mainly used in southern China, contributing to building energy conservation.

However, the technical defects of insulation mortar have gradually become apparent: first, insulation mortar needs to be mixed and stirred on-site, and is difficult to supervise due to factors such as workers' operational skills, climatic conditions, and construction site conditions, which can easily lead to hidden dangers; second, problems such as falling off, cracking, water seepage, and hollowing are common, severely affecting building quality and safety. Finally, by 2020, the total energy consumption of buildings in society must achieve a total goal of 75% energy conservation, which insulation mortar cannot achieve.

In response to the problems with insulation mortar, Beijing and Jiangsu took the lead in prohibiting the use of insulation mortar in the country. Some places followed suit, requiring buildings to prohibit, restrict, or use insulation mortar cautiously.

Next is insulation rock wool. The main component of rock wool is inorganic material, which has good fireproofing effects. However, the production process of insulation rock wool requires a large amount of ecological energy, and environmental pollution issues have been repeatedly exposed. Some rock wool production areas have been named by the National Ecological and Environmental Protection Department multiple times, with deadlines for rectification. To meet environmental protection standards, capable rock wool companies continuously improve and update production equipment, eliminating backward production capacity and technology, leading to a significant increase in the cost of insulation rock wool, making its price advantage no longer obvious.

In addition, ordinary insulation rock wool also has low tensile strength; under humid and hot conditions, dimensions are unstable, leading to hollowing and falling off; the fibers of bare rock wool boards are interconnected with air, making them prone to fluffing and swelling under thermal expansion and contraction and negative wind pressure.

At the end of 2017, Kaifeng, Henan began to restrict the use of rock wool board thin plaster external wall external insulation systems. The head of the city's housing and urban-rural development bureau stated: "Domestic rock wool has obvious technical defects, mainly reflected in tensile strength and water absorption. Due to the hydrophobicity of rock wool, its application in external wall insulation easily leads to the formation of cavities, powdering, and falling off, thus failing to achieve the desired insulation effect." In 2019, Hunan Province prohibited the promotion of rock wool insulation materials, stating: "The rock wool board thin plaster external wall external insulation system does not meet the climatic characteristics of Hunan Province and has safety hazards; the internal insulation system of rock wool and glass wool products without keel and protective panels does not meet standards and poses health risks to humans."

Secondly, organic materials such as XPS polystyrene foam boards have become "accomplices" in multiple fire incidents, leading to calls for a ban within the industry.

High-quality development urgently requires industry "innovation".

"The external wall insulation industry must first address the 'thick-skinned' issue; otherwise, incidents of falling materials causing injury or damage may become more severe," several experts expressed with concern.

Yang Yuzhong, chief engineer of the Energy and Environment Testing Center of the China Academy of Building Research, pointed out that in the past two to three years, there have been significant changes in standards related to external wall energy conservation and insulation. As the requirements for building energy efficiency increase, the thickness of insulation layers has correspondingly increased. For example, the requirements for external wall insulation in nearly zero-energy buildings have risen from the current thickness of 60mm-80mm to over 200mm, which poses higher safety risks for the quality of external wall insulation construction.

"The external wall insulation layers are getting heavier, but the construction techniques have not improved sufficiently, leading to conflicts between insulation energy efficiency and secure installation," said Professor Meng Yang from Shandong Jianzhu University. "Currently, the external wall insulation layer weighs nearly 20 kilograms per square meter, and the requirements for fixing will also increase. However, many workers on site are accustomed to the previously simpler operations, which inevitably leads to some local fixings not being very secure."

How can we resolve the chaos and dilemmas in external wall insulation engineering? The only way out is "material innovation." The NBW integrated insulation structure system developed by Henan DeJiali Technology Development Co., Ltd. adheres to this viewpoint. After several years of hard work, they successfully developed the NBW integrated insulation structure system, which creatively places insulation materials within concrete walls. This not only addresses many risks associated with external wall insulation but also resolves issues such as insulation board displacement during concrete pouring and the appearance of honeycomb surfaces after dismantling. The NBW cast-in-place concrete integrated insulation system uses double-layer welded steel mesh for support on one or both sides of the insulation board, with wires penetrating the insulation board and leaving a certain length to form the NBW welded steel mesh frame insulation board. Concrete protective and structural layers are poured on both sides of the welded steel mesh frame insulation board, connected by connectors to form composite insulated concrete components. This system is reasonably designed, has good seismic performance, excellent thermal performance, improves the lifespan of insulation materials, and achieves integration of insulation and structure. It is suitable for all civil and public buildings in hot summer and cold winter regions, as well as cold and severe cold areas with insulation requirements, achieving over 75% energy savings and receiving numerous positive reviews in practical applications. It has also generated a significant response in the domestic construction market, with widespread belief that a way out has been found and the dilemma has been resolved.

At the same time, it is necessary to quickly implement a lifelong accountability system for building quality. A responsibility accountability system should be formed where those who develop, produce, construct, supervise, and accept are all held accountable, strengthening the sense of responsibility among various departments and promoting the use of new materials and products.

Not long ago, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "National Key Industrial Product Quality and Safety Supervision Directory (2020 Edition)," which includes external wall insulation materials in the national key industrial product supervision directory. It requires that "based on safety assessments, measures such as enhanced supervision and inspection, production licensing, law enforcement against counterfeiting, certification and accreditation, risk monitoring, and recall of defective products be taken according to the level of product quality and safety risk." It is believed that this will compel the insulation wall material industry to accelerate product and technology innovation.

Full text attached:

Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Management Committee

Notice on the Publication of the "Directory of Materials Prohibited or Restricted for Production and Use in Construction Projects in Shanghai (Fifth Batch)"

To all relevant units:

According to the provisions of the "Regulations on the Management of Construction Materials in Shanghai," and with the approval of the municipal government, the "Directory of Materials Prohibited or Restricted for Production and Use in Construction Projects in Shanghai (Fifth Batch)" is hereby published. Projects that have not passed the review and filing of construction drawing design documents before November 1, 2020, and projects that have not started wall energy-saving construction before December 31, 2020, must strictly comply.

This is hereby notified.

Attachment: Directory of Materials Prohibited or Restricted for Production and Use in Construction Projects in Shanghai (Fifth Batch)

September 30, 2020