TL;DR
A thermal bridge is a conductive path, such as a wall stud, slab edge, or steel fastener, that carries heat around the insulation beside it, lowering the assembly's real R-value below the rating of the insulation alone. Wood framing can occupy a quarter of a wall's area, which is why energy codes in cold zones now require continuous exterior insulation to break the path.
What it means
A thermal bridge is a conductive path, such as a wall stud, slab edge, or steel fastener, that carries heat around the insulation beside it, lowering the assembly's real R-value below the rating of the insulation alone. Wood framing can occupy a quarter of a wall's area, which is why energy codes in cold zones now require continuous exterior insulation to break the path. The telltale symptoms are stud shadowing on infrared scans and ghost striping where dust adheres to cooler drywall over framing.
Where it sits in the glossary
Thermal bridge is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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