Steel beam and columns thermal bridge

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stavros.london

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Hi forumites,

I have some internal walls knocked through and the engineer specified a steel picture frame for one of the walls in order to distribute the load better. This is where the steel beam is supported by two columns which then in turn sit on a spreader plate. The spreader plate would be placed under the beam and block sub floor on top of the foundations, and of course parts of the two columns will also be below the subfloor and thus outside the thermal envelope.

So my problem is: wouldn't this create a massive thermal bridge? How does one work around this and break this bridging?

Thanks in advance.
 
Although steel is a good thermal conductor, the cross-sectional area of the column is reasonably small.
 
Thanks for your responses and links, very useful. I've seen the farrat pads and was planning to discuss with my engineer. I'm very concerned about condensation around the steels so I'm thinking of drowning them in insulating foam regardless of whether or not we'll put thermal break pads in the structure.
 
You're worrying about nothing, wrap some bubble wrap around them if you're that worried. The thermal breaks mentioned are for balconies and penetrations in walls not floors especially some **** pot little columns in a domestic extension. You're panicking over nothing. we assume the columns are not protruding past the outer face of the inner skin and that the insulation in the cavity is to be maintained across the face of the columns.
 
Indeed the majority of the structure will be within the insulated envelope of the house the little bit that isn't will have little effect on cooling the rest
 
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