Hello folks,
I live in central Italy where the ambient temperature varies from 40C in August to -11C in February. Our house dares from the 1800s and is made of stone. We are in a valley at the end of a terrace and in winter a cold wind blows down the valley severely cooling our gable wall. Behind said wall is our sitting room and above the ceiling there is the roof terrace. I've been considering the possibility of insulating both the gable wall and the ceiling and would like to run the following idea past the members of the forum.

I’m considering a simple 3x2 based wooden frame along the full length of the wall onto which I will affix wooden paneling. The question is would it be worth the extra cost to place some form of insulation between the wooden paneling and the wall or would it be sufficient simply to leave an air gap? For the ceiling I’m considering a simple suspended ceiling using plaster board or perhaps paneling there as well. I suppose it depends on the cost/benefit analysis. Air doesn’t cost anything and has, I think, fairly poor thermal conductivity. Clearly the points of contact between the wooden panelling and wall via the frame will form thermal bridges but I would assume that wood is a fairly reasonable insulator. Thermal insulating panels would cost ‘x’ amount and would exhibit, I assume, lower thermal conductivity than air. Any thoughts would be welcomed.

Hello Ed, Yes that's right. The room in questions is on the third floor and more or less impossible to access from outside.

Thanks tony, I'll do that then and we'll see how it goes.