Thermal Bridges in Buildings W.P. Brown and A.G. Wilson Walls and roofs designed today often incorporate details that have a lower resistance to heat flow than the main construction.
Thermal bridges can seriously interfere with the performance of buildings.
The difference in the temperature gradient through the bridge and adjacent construction will cause thermal stressing that may result in structural damage. The corresponding exterior surface temperature over a thermal bridge is higher than that over the adjacent wall. This can result in increased wetting of the wall by melting of wind-driven snow, thereby increasing the possibility of damage on subsequent freezing. Thermal bridges result in higher building heat losses, although this is not usually regarded of itself as a major problem. In designing a curtain wall to meet a specified maximum over-all heat transmission requirement, however, thermal bridges at structural ties and joints are usually the major obstacle.