*Perforation (Pockets) is the on-site thermal break method. During the perforation process, a balcony is formed with the reinforced concrete beams, instead of the monolithic reinforced concrete slabs. Space between the beams is filled with the rigid styrofoam.

Does this method work? Every material has its own thermal conductivity rate. In reinforced concrete members, the most conductive element is the steel rebar. Steel is approximately 50 times more conductive than concrete. Instead of having a uniformly distributed rebar in the balcony slab (without a thermal break), perforation creates several very conductive reinforced concrete beams (concentrated steel rebar). This results in massive condensation and thermal losses at these localized connections and speeds up the deterioration of the structure. As such, perforation leads to a premature deterioration of the structure and is, therefore, not recommended from a durability perspective.

** Precamber is the adjustment of the concrete formwork to compensate for additional deflections at the balcony due to installation of low rigidity thermal break solution.

*** Additional Reinforcement is an on-site requirement for the low rigidity thermal break products, as these products need extensive additional on site reinforcement along both sides of the element to improve load transfer and rigidity of the connection.