In order for the house to be warm, and we do not have to overpay for heating, we need to take care of high-quality insulation walls, floor and roof. It is also important to insulate the ceiling of a private house in the attic. There are several options for how to insulate an attic in a private home inexpensively and efficiently. How to do it yourself, what materials can be used for this? Let's consider this issue in more detail.
An attic is a space under a sloping roof that is not used for residential purposes. If the roof slopes are not thermally insulated, insulating material can be placed on the ceiling dividing the space under the roof with the living rooms.
The roof space that is not used for living often lacks an insulating layer, which creates the need to lay a buffer zone to insulate the roofing. The complete absence of such insulation is allowed only when the room is unheated, for example, a garage. In other cases, it is necessary to retain the heat that is used to heat living rooms, since warm air tends to rise up. To save money spent on heating, it is necessary to prevent its leakage through the roof.
Before starting renovations, it is very important to learn how to properly insulate an attic in a private home; many factors should be taken into account. These include roof design features and attic height.
Concrete floor - monolithic or prefabricated, is usually intended for residential attics. Sometimes, however, this solution is also used for non-residential roofs. How and how to insulate the attic floor in a private house made of concrete?
The concrete floor is insulated after construction and finishing of the roof. This operation will be easy as long as we have easy access into the attic, and also if the height of the attic allows for free movement.
The most commonly used material in such cases is mineral wool. Particularly recommended are compressed mats, which are gradually expanded up to the nominal thickness. The resilient surface easily fills all the nooks and crannies of the attic. The mats should be placed close to each other without any gaps between them that could lead to heat loss.
It is much more difficult to achieve such a result using more hard materials such as expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene or polyurethane foam.
To create the structure, the insulation must be laid between wooden beams, to which boards or wood panels will be screwed to form the floor.
You can also make a mineral lining from a mineral solution, which is poured onto the insulation insulated with foil, but this solution is rarely used.
If the attic is too low, then the work should not be very difficult and time-consuming, good decision there will be insulation using one of the bulk insulating materials:
The thickness of the insulating layer depends on the material used and the thermal permeability of the ceiling. The average thickness is approximately 20 cm.
If the ceiling is wooden, it is better to insulate the attic of a private house with your own hands in a slightly different way. Thermal insulation is placed primarily between the beams. In this case, materials made from mineral wool or wood derivatives are used. How to insulate the attic of a private house with mineral wool? Thanks to their excellent elasticity, slabs or mats fill gaps between ceiling beams very well. Before insulating the attic of a private house with mineral wool, you should lay a lining from the bottom of the roof. If it will be a plasterboard suspended ceiling, it is good to place an additional layer of insulation on the underside of the attic. Wooden beams will also be insulated, which has a very positive effect on the heat transfer of the entire layer.
Additionally, if the ceiling is insulated this way, it will be easier to build a batten or OSB floor on it. If you decide not to insulate the suspended ceiling, then an additional heat-insulating layer will be located in the attic. Construction of the floor will then be more difficult for two reasons. First you need to be perpendicular to ceiling beams nail beams with a cross section of 4 x 6 cm and put an insulating layer between them; in addition, the surface of such a floor will ultimately be higher, thereby reducing the height of the attic.
Photo. When insulating a wooden ceiling, the thermal insulation material is placed primarily between the beams
For insulation wooden ceilings Polystyrene is not used in its traditional form, but the space between the beams can be filled with polystyrene granules. However a light weight such backfill, despite good thermal insulation, does not provide the ceiling with satisfactory sound insulation. Also this type of insulating material does not provide sufficient fire protection wood.
Among loose insulation materials much more profitable than granules made of mineral wool or cellulose fibers. Both products have very good thermal insulation properties, provide good sound insulation and will protect the structure in the event of a fire.
In buildings that have an unused attic, it is cost effective to implement a truss roof structure. Precast elements replace traditional rafters. They form large triangles that are located tightly next to each other.
The space under the roof with this design is severely limited by beveled beams. However, it is almost impossible to insulate such an attic using slabs or mats. Most rational decision in this case, blower insulation using polystyrene granules or cellulose fibers is used.
The space is filled with air flow through holes in the gable walls, through a hatch in the roof, or through the so-called inspection hole.
Bulk material can scatter very densely throughout all the nooks and crannies of this attic. Insulation work should be carried out only after the construction of the ceiling is completed. It is also necessary to check whether the ceiling can support the weight of such insulation, and appropriate reinforcement may need to be provided.
Since many thermal insulation materials, including mineral wool, reduce their insulating properties as a result high humidity, you need to make sure that the attic space is provided with sufficient ventilation. Good ventilation provide air intakes on the eaves and exhaust openings made in the gable walls. They must be protected with a net to prevent the entry of birds and small animals. Upper layer It is advisable to cover insulating materials with high elasticity with a windproof film, then less heat will be blown out of the insulation.
How to insulate an attic in a private house video
To make the under-roof space of a private house warm and even habitable, it is necessary to insulate the attic from all sides - along the gables and roof slopes. This is quite a difficult and troublesome task, given the slopes of the attic walls to which the insulation will have to be attached. Here it is important to maintain the technology so that the thermal insulation “pie” lasts for decades and at the same time retains heat well. Therefore, the question is how to properly insulate with your own hands cold attic, it is worth considering in more detail.
Before considering the list of materials, it makes sense to clarify what the concept of “insulating an attic” means, since the choice of insulation depends on this. Some homeowners put into this concept the insulation of the ceiling and the hatch into the attic in order to reduce heat loss in the house, and the under-roof space itself will remain cold. Others mean thermal insulation of roof slopes from the inside with insufficiently insulated ceilings, as was done in old houses using clay.
Still others want to do attic space exploitable and warm, for which again it is necessary to insulate the attic walls, which are roof slopes and side gables. It is this kind of thermal insulation that will be discussed in detail below. If we're talking about about insulating the floor of a cold attic, the choice of materials here is quite large:
Note. The list does not include options for insulation with polyurethane foam and ecowool due to their high cost, but we have listed the most popular materials for attic floors. In addition, you won’t be able to insulate the attic floor with sprayed polyurethane foam yourself without special equipment.
Now, from the list presented above, we will highlight those insulation materials that are most often used to insulate sloping attic walls. In terms of cost, foam plastic is the cheapest, and thermal resistance it has a high, as well as ability to repel moisture. One problem is that the material is flammable. Therefore, for those homeowners who are concerned about fire safety your home, it's better to buy mineral wool based on basalt fiber. Only mineral wool absorbs moisture well, so you will need to provide for its removal, which will be discussed below.
A few words about glass wool, which is also quite suitable for thermal insulation of an attic. It doesn't burn either, but high temperature cannot withstand, the material becomes charred at 200 °C or more. If you plan to make the attic space residential, then glass wool has no place there at all, it is harmful to human health.
As mentioned above, mineral wool is a porous material that can absorb moisture and also allow vapor to pass through it. Even if this insulation is protected on both sides with a vapor-proof film, then due to the temperature difference outside and inside the house, a dew point will appear in the thickness of the wool. As a result, condensation will begin to form from the air that is already in the open pores of the material.
When insulating an attic with mineral wool with your own hands, you need to learn one rule: the insulation is insulated from moisture only on one side - the inside, and a ventilation gap (vent) is required on the outside. Thanks to it, moisture will be removed from the wool, thereby maintaining its thermal insulation properties.
Also, glass and mineral wool are afraid of direct contact with water, which is why they instantly get wet and cease to be insulation. This means that on the street side it must be protected from wind and precipitation, while ensuring that water vapor escapes in the same direction. This is why it is more difficult to insulate an attic with mineral wool than with foam plastic, which is vapor-tight. The diagram below shows the correct “pie” of thermal insulation of the inclined walls of the attic from the inside:
As can be seen in the diagram, the insulation is laid in the openings between the rafters, but first a waterproofing film is laid between the rafter boards and the roofing - diffusion membrane. It is this that protects the mineral wool from direct moisture, allowing all the vapors to pass out into the air, from where they are carried away ventilation air. The vent must be arranged under the entire plane roofing, as shown in the diagram:
Since the diffusion membrane is at the same time a protection against water that can enter its surface from the outside through cracks in the slate, the film sheets should be laid out horizontally on top of the rafters, starting from the bottom. The canvases are laid with an overlap of 100 mm, and the joints are sealed with tape. When it comes to insulating an old house, where the slate is nailed to the sheathing boards without a membrane, you will have to install it in strips vertically between the rafters.
Important. The membrane strips must be fastened to the side surface of the rafter board using a stapler and as often as possible, leaving a 5 cm wide air vent on top.
The next stage is laying the insulation directly into the gap between the rafters, for which it is cut into strips whose width is a couple of centimeters larger than this gap. By the way, mineral wool manufacturers make slabs 600 mm wide and rolls 1200 mm wide, adapting to the standard spacing of rafter boards. In this case, additional fastening of the insulation is not required; then a vapor barrier film is laid and installed interior decoration.
Like the sloping walls of the attic, the gables also need insulation. But here the composition of the “pie” depends on building material of this roof element. If it is made of brick or timber, then it would be more correct to insulate the gable of the attic from the outside, guided by the following diagram:
It is clear that such thermal insulation implies external insulation of the entire house, which is not always possible due to various reasons. Then we continue to insulate the attic from the inside, installing it vertically on brick wall wooden beams for further installation of insulation. Before doing this, do not forget to lay a diffusion membrane under the beams. The same is done if the pediment has an old design - wooden frame with outer cladding made of clapboard. The insulation “pie” then looks like this:
Note. The same “pie” is used for internal insulation brick gable of the attic. Masonry plays a role here external cladding from the boards shown in the diagram.
It should be noted that insulating an attic with polystyrene foam is somewhat easier than with mineral wool. Primarily due to the vapor permeability of this insulation, so it is not necessary to install an internal vapor barrier. But a diffusion membrane and ventilation are needed in any case, because wood also participates in the “pie,” which must also release moisture somewhere. So the first stage of do-it-yourself attic insulation is repeated as described in the previous section.
Foam plastic with a density of 25 kg/m3 is cut so that it can be tightly inserted between the rafters. Then all joints should be blown out with polyurethane polyurethane foam, due to it, air circulation through the cracks is eliminated and additional fastening of the insulation is provided. Then everything is simple: the interior trim made of plasterboard or other facing material is attached to the rafter boards.
Thermal insulation of gables is carried out in the same way. It should be noted that this technology can also be used when insulating an attic with extruded polystyrene foam (penoplex). This modern insulation has higher performance than polystyrene foam, including strength. If there is a need to lay penoplex in 2 layers, the second can be attached to the first with ordinary self-tapping screws and glued with polyurethane glue.
In modern private homes, the attic is often technical floor, where are located ventilation units and pipes for moving air - air ducts. If the temperature there is significantly lower than in the premises, then the air ducts must be insulated and here’s why:
The cheapest way to insulate ventilation pipes is to buy rolled mineral wool and wrap it around the air duct, securing it with twine.
After which the layer of mineral wool is covered with special foil to prevent moisture from entering. But in compressed form the thermal resistance roll insulation decreases, so it is better to use ready-made foam shells. They are placed on the air duct on both sides and secured with knitting wire.
Ventilation pipes rectangular section It is most convenient to insulate with self-adhesive material made of foamed polyethylene. This is an excellent vapor-tight insulation, one side of which is covered with a sticky layer that adheres well to the metal surface.
In fact, there are more materials and methods for insulating an attic, but we have listed the most affordable ones for doing it yourself. For example, a layer of polyurethane foam does not require any “pie” at all, but it can only be applied if you have special units. So at the moment, polystyrene foam with mineral wool remain the most popular insulation materials, as well as the technology for their use.
Increasing the living space of a private home is the dream of many owners. But sometimes adding another room can be very expensive. After all, in this case you need to make an extension. There is another way to get a new living space - a room in the attic. In this case, the costs will not be so large. How to make an attic from an attic with your own hands will be discussed in this article.
Converting an attic into an attic is not a difficult job. Every owner of a private home can do it with his own hands. But in order for you to understand the action plan, you should first understand the differences between an attic and an attic. Both of these concepts refer to the space under the roof. The word attic is used when the room is not intended for living. At the same time, things can be stored here. If the room under the roof is fully equipped and adapted for comfortable living, then it automatically “turns” into an attic.
Based on the above, in order to make a residential attic with your own hands, you need to insulate it, equip it with the necessary communications, finish it, and so on. In this case, the room under the roof of the house will be called an attic.
Before making the attic habitable, it is worth deciding on the purpose of the new room. There can be a lot of options here. For example, in a room in the attic there may be:
In addition, a room located in the attic under the roof of the house can be used for non-living purposes. For example, if you have a lot of valuable things that are best stored in a warm room well protected from moisture, then the attic can be equipped as a storage room. This option can be considered the most easily feasible, since it will not require large expenses for arrangement.
Most often the attic is used as a bedroom. According to many experts, this option is the most effective method use of additional space under the roof of the house. How to arrange a room in the attic as a bedroom will be discussed in the next part of the article.
Attic bedroom or other room starts with a plan upcoming works. Without such a “document” it will be difficult for you to complete this work and not forget about all sorts of little things. In addition, creating such a plan will allow you to be better prepared from a financial perspective. The costs can be quite significant and it is better to be aware of them in advance.
The work plan related to how to make a second floor in the attic will include the following main stages:
1. Calculation of the dimensions of the future room in the attic. This takes into account the area of the attic itself and the height of the slopes.
2. Arrangement of windows. A room in the attic will not be cozy without natural light. You can just expand dormer windows from the ends of the roof. This option will be inexpensive. But for greater convenience, it is better to make windows in the slopes themselves, the so-called attic option.
3. The attic is not exactly the second floor, so during construction it is rarely equipped with a good staircase. But the living space, for example a bedroom, must be equipped convenient device in order to get into it. Therefore, it must be included in your work plan;
4. Converting an attic into a living space under the roof of a house is impossible without installing good thermal insulation. Of course, you can do without such insulation. For example, if you will only use a room in the attic summer period. If you wish to use it all year round, then you can’t do without thermal insulation. During the process, it is worth thoroughly inspecting all elements of the roof and ceiling; perhaps some of them already need repairs.
5. Summing up all communications. It will be difficult to create a living room in the attic without electricity, ventilation and other systems. Without such communications today it is difficult to imagine comfortable living.
6. To make something out of the attic living room, you need to do the finishing. Without proper decoration and design, a bedroom or other room in the attic will not be cozy and easy to use.
It is impossible to make a residential attic without fulfilling the above points. As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done. A significant part of them can be done with your own hands, and some can be entrusted to professionals. For example, an electrician would be the best person to do the electrical wiring. In this case, the safety of further operation increases.
A bedroom located in the attic, or any other room in the attic, should be warm. Therefore, your most important task will be insulation. In this case, the installation of a heat-insulating layer is done both on the attic floor and under the slopes.
First of all, you should choose suitable material for insulation. The most popular options are:
There are also more modern materials, such as polyurethane foam. This insulation has better thermal conductivity compared to the above options. This means that the layer of polyurethane foam can be much thinner. But even here there are some drawbacks. The fact is that such material, or rather its installation, is quite expensive. To apply it, special equipment is used and it is impossible to do without hiring a specialized team.
If you decide to make a room in the attic, then it is better to use mineral wool or polystyrene foam for insulation. The work itself on installing the thermal insulation layer will look like this:
After such insulation, the room under the roof will be reliably protected from the cold. But the living attic room itself is not yet ready for use. To make a bedroom or other room cozy and comfortable, you need to think through the design and finishing.
I decided to dedicate this article to those people who want to insulate the attic of their house on their own without large financial costs. Next, we will familiarize ourselves with suitable for these purposes thermal insulation materials and the nuances of their installation.
We will conditionally divide the insulation of an attic in a private house into:
Floor insulation can also be divided into several steps:
First you need to decide on the choice of thermal insulation material. There are quite a lot of options. However, our task is to insulate the ceiling with minimal financial costs.
The only thing, keep in mind that before using the sawdust it is necessary to dry it and also treat it with an antiseptic composition. Also, to protect sawdust from biological influences, you can use slaked lime mixed with carbide.
If sawdust has traces of fungal infection, it cannot be used for insulation;
IN Lately Cellulose-based insulation – ecowool – has become widespread. This material is treated with an antiseptic and fire retardant, therefore it is fireproof and not susceptible to biological influences. The cost of ecowool is 1200-1500 rubles per cubic meter.
Everyone must choose the best way to insulate an attic in a private home, depending on the needs and availability of a particular heat insulator.
In addition to thermal insulation, you will need other materials:
Start insulation attic floor only after completing the following preparatory work:
This completes the preparation.
Insulation of the attic floor is carried out as follows:
If the house has a concrete floor, to insulate the attic, you need to lay mineral mats or extruded polystyrene foam on the slab and pour a screed. In this case, the insulation on both sides must be closed waterproofing film, especially if mineral mats are used.
It must be said that the ceiling can be insulated not only from the outside, but also from the side of the room. True, in this case the choice of insulation is limited, since using bulk materials will not work.
As an example, let's look at how to insulate a ceiling in a private house with isover, i.e. mineral mats:
In most cases, roof insulation is not required. But, if you are going to use the attic space as a living space, then you cannot do without this procedure.
Do-it-yourself roof insulation in a private house can also be divided into several stages:
Since it is inconvenient to use bulk materials for roof insulation, you can use mineral mats. To save even more, you can make mats from reeds.
In addition to insulation, you will need the following set of materials:
Before you start insulating the roof, you need to do some preparatory work:
Do-it-yourself roof insulation in a private house is carried out as follows:
Now all that remains is to insulate the gables, if, of course, they exist. It must be said that it is more expedient to insulate them from the outside in parallel with the insulation of the entire facade. However, if the facade will not be insulated, then thermal insulation must be done from the inside.
For this we will need the same materials as for finishing. The only thing besides them is to prepare beams or boards. Their width should correspond to the width of the insulation.
The insulation work is similar to the thermal insulation of ordinary walls:
Keep in mind that the slats must form a smooth vertical plane. Therefore, if the gables are uneven, the slats must be leveled during installation;
Now all that remains is to complete the finishing. Choice finishing materials depends on the purpose of the home and the attic itself. If the house is used for permanent residence, and the attic will be heated, you can cover it with plasterboard and use any finishing materials.
Finishing a cold attic should be done with materials that are not afraid of low temperatures. Therefore, from using wallpaper and plastic panels It's better to refuse.
Insulating an attic yourself, as you can see, is not at all difficult. Therefore, you can safely get to work, the only thing I recommend is that you first watch the video in this article. If any nuances are not clear to you, contact me with questions in the comments, and I will be happy to answer you.
One of the main places of heat loss in a house is the roof. This conclusion can be made thanks to practical observations and basic physics, because warm air tends to rise. This is why the attic should be insulated. If you do not perform high-quality thermal insulation of the attic floor during the construction stage of the house, later on when winter sets in, there may be strong blowing from the ceiling cold air. Suspended ceiling Armstrong is an excellent solution for a private home. The question arises, how to insulate the attic of a house. At the same time, the wishes of home owners can be completely different: for some, the main thing is for it to be cheaper, for others, for the work to be easier, and for others, they want to insulate exclusively with environmentally friendly or natural materials. In this article we will talk about general technology attic insulation and materials that can be used for this.
Before moving directly to materials for insulation, I would like to clarify a little why it is necessary to insulate the attic in a private house and what function it performs. Our ancestors were not stupid or ignorant, which is why old houses stand for more than 100 years, while the house is always warm, and the roof and wooden structures are always dry. What's the secret? The thing is that the ideal insulation is air. Free, natural, always present, and also changeable depending on the time of year. Previously, the roof was always made of a gable roof, with such a slope that it was easy to linger on it. snow. Also, by the way, cheap insulation. An attic space was made under the roof slope with one or two windows in the gables of the house. When necessary, these windows were kept closed, then the air trapped in the attic space acted as a heat insulator. In another situation, in the summer, for example, windows were opened at night to cool the air, and then closed before a hot day, thus controlling its temperature.
With the onset of winter, a cap of snow fell on the roof. Even in the most extreme cold, this natural insulation was enough to ensure that the temperature in the attic did not drop below zero, even if it was -25 °C outside. Attic air and additional thermal insulation of the ceiling were necessary in order to ensure a temperature in the house of about +20 - + 25 °C. At the same time, the roof slope was never insulated from the inside to prevent the snow from melting, and the rafters remained open for diagnostics and repairs. A heated attic space with an insulated slope is no longer an attic, no matter what shape it has. This is an attic, with all that follows from here.
IN modern construction These principles also work. Therefore, let's talk about how you can insulate the attic of a private house, what material to thermally insulate the attic floor, i.e. attic floor or house ceiling.
First of all, the material for insulating the attic is selected taking into account what the ceiling is made of. If it is made from wooden beams, and a wooden floor is laid on top, then you can use lightweight bulk materials, rolls and slabs. Those. the choice is as wide as possible. If the ceiling is a concrete slab, then to insulate it you will have to use dense slab materials or, in extreme cases, heavy bulk ones, since a cement screed can be placed on top of them.
Bulk materials for insulating the attic:
Roll materials for insulating the attic:
Materials in slabs and mats:
When choosing the best way to insulate an attic, you should be guided by: thermal insulation characteristics material, availability in a particular region, its ability not to change its properties with temperature changes, ease of installation and then use of the room, and also, importantly, environmental friendliness, or better yet, naturalness. For example, build wooden house and insulating the attic with polystyrene foam would be, to say the least, stupid, because wood is a breathable material, but polystyrene foam is not. As a result, the house will be damp and disgusting, and over time, wooden structures will begin to rot and deteriorate. And, of course, the choice of insulation will depend on the financial capabilities of the owner.
Insulating an attic with backfill materials is the oldest method that has proven itself over the centuries. Most often it is used if the floors are wooden, then it is simply poured between the joists.
The general technology of this insulation is as follows: kraft paper or other similar material (glassine, loose cardboard) is laid on wooden floors, or the floor is coated with clay, thermal insulation material is poured on top, a layer that is calculated taking into account the region of residence, boards are laid on top, on which you can will walk. The hatch leading to the attic is also insulated.
Rumors that natural insulation materials quickly cake are somewhat exaggerated. Therefore, without fear, you can choose the one that most appeals to you and is available.
To insulate an attic with your own hands, you don’t need any special skills. Dexterity and basic knowledge of physics are enough. The first step is to seal all the cracks in wooden floor. They can be covered with clay, or with modern materials. Then kraft paper is laid on top or the entire surface of the floor is coated with a 2 cm layer of clay.
Bonfire- waste from flax processing. The material is very cheap in some regions, resistant to fungi and microorganisms, does not rot, and is lightweight. Mice cannot breed in a fire, since it is impossible to make a burrow (nest) in it; it immediately crumbles, filling the passage. The material cakes, but you can always add it directly from above or replace it with a new one. An undeniable advantage The main advantage of flax materials is that there are no problems with their disposal; it is enough to simply remove them from the attic and then burn them, which cannot be said about glass wool.
The fire is covered with a layer of 180 to 350 mm. There is nothing covering the top; for ease of walking around the attic, you can lay out the boards, but do not fill the entire space, do not make a full-fledged floor. This will allow the material to breathe and release moisture. In the attic, ventilation must be provided in the form of small or medium-sized windows. From time to time the material is checked, if it is slightly damp, the windows are opened to dry the space and linen.
When wondering how to properly insulate a cold attic, many are inclined to use the old fashioned method - insulation with sawdust. This is especially true in regions where there is wood processing nearby, where you can buy sawdust for ridiculous money or even get it for free in any quantity.
To begin with, as in the case of linen insulation, all cracks in the floor are coated with clay. You can sprinkle a little sand on top. It is necessary so that if the clay cracks, sand can be poured into the crack. Next, sprinkle everything with slaked lime and carbide. This will be protection against mice. Cover the top with sawdust in a layer of 100 - 200 mm. Since sawdust is a flammable material, they were usually sprinkled with slag waste on top. Especially in areas around chimneys or other hot objects. Instead of slag, you can use other materials, for example, treat sawdust with fire retardants. There is also nothing laid on top of the sawdust, except for boards on which one could walk.
Instead of sawdust, you can use straw or chaff from grain crops. Kraft paper or glassine is also laid under it, but you can coat the floor with clay with a layer of up to 5 cm. Straw is immediately poured in a layer of 200 - 500 mm, depending on the region and the severity of the winter cold. To reduce the flammability of straw, you can coat it with a 1-2 cm layer of clay on top. The same method is used against mice as with sawdust, or any other folk remedy.
Ecowool- a modern material, a product of processing newspapers and other waste paper with the addition of mineral binders and other additives that provide a low flammability class.
Due to the fact that ecowool can absorb moisture from the air in its fibers, it is not necessary to lay vapor barrier material, but it’s still worth laying some kind of film.
Ecowool is immediately laid directly on the wooden floors, this is done using a special blowing installation. This installation principle makes it possible to make the insulation layer monolithic, without a single gap, and it will also be enclosed in large quantities air serving as a heat insulator. For many regions of Russia, a layer of ecowool of 250 mm is sufficient, but a layer of 300 or 500 mm can be arranged.
Important! After about 1 - 3 weeks, a protective crust forms on top of the ecowool. This is lignin, which binds the fibers of the top layer. Therefore, sometimes during installation this insulation water spray is used to speed up the process of lignin formation.
Due to the fact that ecowool cakes, its layer decreases, therefore, when blowing, you should use 5 - 15% more than the planned amount of ecowool.
A fairly common way to insulate an attic floor is to cover it with fiberglass in a layer of 150 - 250 mm. Although this material does not burn, does not rot, is not afraid of moisture, mice and microorganisms do not grow in it, it is quite toxic. When laying it on the attic floor, be sure to be dressed from head to toe in thick clothing, gloves and a respirator. After all the styling work, the clothes will have to be burned.
Once the material has caked, it must be replaced with a new one, and here some difficulties arise, since the material is not recycled in the usual way. The biggest inconvenience occurs when there are no windows in the attic through which it can be thrown into the street, and it has to be carried through the house.
Expanded clay is very suitable for insulating concrete floors. It is filled with a layer of about 200 - 250 mm, and poured on top cement strainer layer up to 50 mm. This allows you to create a floor in the attic on which you can not only walk unhindered, but also on which you can arrange or lay out unnecessary things. Cement-sand mixture for the screed it should not have a liquid, but a dense consistency, so as not to flow too much into the expanded clay backfill.
Rolled materials are good for insulation because they can be laid in the space between joists up to 180 - 200 mm high. Mostly materials are used that are easy to cut and quickly take the required shape.
Mineral wool is a modern thermal insulation material that is ubiquitous. It is very often used for attic insulation, since it does not burn, does not rot, and is not afraid of microorganisms and rodents, as well as moisture.
From below on wooden floor Be sure to lay a vapor barrier film, the joints of which are taped with special tape, because cotton wool absorbs moisture, but practically does not release it.
Rolls of mineral wool can be laid on top of the film. During work, you must wear thick clothing, as is the case with fiberglass. Vata takes its full size within 15 - 20 minutes. There is no need to cover it with anything, but you can lay down boards for walking. Waterproofing material to protect wool from leaks is laid only under the roof.
Seaweed ladders - wonderful natural material for insulating attics. Thanks to sea salt and iodine, with which the algae are impregnated, mice do not grow in them, and they also do not rot and are not afraid of microorganisms. The ladders are pierced mats made of sea grass zosters. According to thermal insulation properties this material is in no way inferior to modern synthetic materials. One of the main advantages is environmental friendliness, as well as the fact that the drains practically do not burn, only slightly smolder and do not emit toxic substances.
Algae are not afraid of moisture, so there is no need to vapor barrier the floor; you can immediately lay the drains on the floor with a layer of up to 200 mm or more. On top you can install a wooden floor or lay boards for walking.
Using algae for attic insulation is very beneficial for the health of home residents, as they provide ideal conditions and microclimate in the room, and also release beneficial iodine into the air.
Modern linen insulation is produced in the same rolls as mineral wool. Their only advantage is that they are absolutely environmentally friendly. Linen is an excellent choice for attic insulation wooden house or houses made of other environmentally friendly materials - adobe, for example.
Before laying the rolled material, all cracks in the floor should be sealed with clay; no other vapor barrier is needed. Linen insulation is laid on top, joining neatly and leaving no gaps.
Insulate wooden floors slab materials It makes no sense, even though it is possible. These materials are mainly used for thermal insulation. concrete slabs floors. With subsequent arrangement of the floor in the attic.
Polystyrene foam or polystyrene foam is not a very dense material, but it can be used to insulate an attic. But extruded polystyrene foam is ideal for these purposes, as it is much denser. Before laying polystyrene foam or extruded polystyrene foam, the floor slab must be checked for unevenness. The surface should be leveled so that the insulation boards can be carefully laid. A vapor barrier material should be laid on the leveled surface.
Next, the slabs are laid in a checkerboard pattern, and the joints are sealed with polyurethane foam. After the foam has dried, it is necessary to pour a cement-sand screed on top with a layer of about 4 - 5 cm. After the screed has dried, it can be used as an attic floor.
Reed slabs began to be made relatively recently, when the demand for environmentally friendly materials. In terms of thermal insulation properties, reeds are no worse modern materials. Even without treating them with fire retardants, the flammability class is G2 - G3, and after treatment - G1. The same cannot be said about polystyrene foam and EPS, which burn and release toxic substances.
Reed slabs can be used to insulate both wooden and concrete floors. In this case, a vapor barrier is not necessary. And on top you can install a wooden floor or decking.
The modern market is replete with a variety of thermal insulation materials, and sellers are trying to praise them, attributing non-existent advantages. Therefore, in conclusion, I would like to say, when choosing a material for insulating an attic, focus on general concept home and life priorities. If your home is made from environmentally friendly pure wood, then the insulation should be natural, so you will not only preserve the wood, but also your health. If your house is made of foam blocks or other non-breathable material, you can use mineral wool, it won’t get any worse.
