Exterior Walls

Last week, they started putting up the exterior walls. With every new development, the house feels more real. Of course, with every new development, comes a new decision. This time it is insulation. The exterior walls are mostly pumex block, which is a synthetic block for construction. It is porous, so it provides good insulation. The pillars between the pumex, are concrete and provide less insulation. Now we have to decide whether to add insulation, and if so what type. Since we live in a basically mild climate, insulation is not as important. Although, when it rains in the winter for a number of days, it can get pretty uncomfortable. And of course, the summers are hot. So our choices are:

• Thermoplast: Covers all the external walls (both pumex and concrete) and is very expensive
• Addax: Covers just the concrete pillars, is a relatively new product (about 10 years old), and is moderately expensive
• No additional insulation

I've talked to several people. It seems all three are good options. If money was no object, more insulation would be great. Since we are not on an unlimited budget, will the additional cost be worth it??? Maybe no insulation is the best choice and we will just work the heat and air conditioner a little harder???

Ofer and Iran came by last week. They met us (Eli came with me) at the building site and demonstrated our options. They layered some pumex block, showed us samples of addax and thermoplast, and explained the pros and cons of each. Ofer is pro addax and Iran is pro thermoplast, however both say that the house will be insulated with no additional insulation.