Several years ago, a large manufacturer of batt insulation produced television commercials comparing the insulative R-value of 6" of batt insulation to 15" of wood and to 84" of brick masonry. This was a deceptively true statement. However, neither wood nor masonry is marketed as an insulation material. The comparison of R-values of batt insulation to other types of insulation materials (21⁄2" of polyisocyanurate, or 31⁄2" of extruded polystyrene, or 41⁄4" of expanded polystyrene) was not made because the comparison would not favor the batt insulation manufacturer in the general public's perception.

 If the masonry industry had responded using the same illogic, you would have seen commercials on TV with the three little pigs building a brick house, and one little pig would be saying to his brother, "Do you realize it takes one half square mile of 6" batt insulation to have the same compressive strength of one square inch of brick masonry?"… After a five second pause, the other brother, with a questioning look on his face, would say "Did you have some bad beer last night?"…

Masonry is a structural and/or architectural material. You don't build buildings with just insulation. In the Midwest climate, the Masonry Advisory Council encourages the use of insulation with masonry. The masonry industry needs insulation with its product, with the exception of masonry used as a passive solar heat storage medium.