[Greenbuilding] Insulating slab legally in Texas

[Horacio Gasquet]

I have a different kind of slab insulation question for this group.   
Texas state law requires some exposed concrete slab on the exterior  
perimeter of a home to allow for termite inspection.   In some cases,  
the amount of such exposed slab amounts to huge surface area for  
thermal transfer right under the walls.  I don't care how well  
insulated the walls are if you have a thermal leak right under them.   
I have such a problem on an older home.

My ultimate goal is to insulate the slab well enough that the slab  
and underlying ground serve as a thermal mass to help stabilize the  
interior temperature.  The question is how to do this without  
introducing a sneak path for termites to the base plates for the  
walls.  I have looked for insulating brick or tile, and am only  
really finding refractory bricks for industrial ovens (typically  
Calcium Silicate).

I am currently picturing a termite mesh below grade, that will wrap  
around whatever insulation to keep them from getting in between the  
slab and the bricks/tile.  But I still haven't found a good product  
for serving as the insulator, that is also a termite barrier and  
attractive as an unpainted exterior surface.  Anyone have any ideas?


BTW.  The paints that NASA uses ARE radiant barriers.  They don't  
have to worry about conduction in a vacuum.  You can buy the hollow  
ceramic spheres (looks like fine sand) and mix it with paint to get  
some emissivity reduction for direct Sun on walls, or a metal roof.