R-value (insulation) typical straw bale houses have very thick walls and thus are well insulated. Snow is roughly R-1 per inch. Brick has a very poor insulating ability at a mere R-0.2 per inch; however it does have a relatively good thermal mass. Note that the above examples all use the U.S. (non-SI) definition for R-value. When determining the overall thermal resistance of a building assembly such as a wall or roof, the insulating effect of the surface air film is added to the thermal resistance of the other materials. In practice the above surface values are used for floors, ceilings, and
Construction industry of Japan non-housing structures (see table 19, Appendix). After employment peaking at 9.9% in 2003, the construction industry in Japan has entered a long, steady decline with workers share dropping to 7.0% by 2017. This decline is attributed to gradually slumping demand for the new houses. Japanese construction worker productivity have surpassed US productivity in 2006, but as in 2017, productivity of 0.24 houses/worker*year is still below peak value of 0.32 houses/worker*year in 1992. This downward trend (although less pronounced than in the US) is mostly attributed to the increasing median age of the construction workers. The productivity on concrete-making industry remains