The main type of utility expense for residents of the private sector is heating. It’s easy to cut costs by insulating your house with polystyrene foam on the outside with your own hands. This material will not only save you from the cold in winter, but also keep your room cool in summer. In addition, it will maintain the integrity of the walls of buildings. It is possible to do such work with your own hands, you just need to select the right materials and not deviate from the technological map.
Foam plastic is the simplest and most convenient material for use. facade insulation, finishing them external walls won't be difficult. Manufacturers suggest using polystyrene foam in two types of slabs to carry out such work with your own hands:
Which material is better? Insulating walls with foam plastic from the outside involves the use of specially designed slabs. The most suitable for DIY installation would be façade polystyrene foam brand PSB-S M-25F. Its density is 25kg/m3. You can purchase material of a higher density, but lower density is not possible. Insulating facades with lightweight polystyrene foam is undesirable; although it costs much less, it loses in design indicators: water resistance, vapor permeability, heat protection, durability.
You can correctly determine the strength of a sheet visually: the smaller and denser the granules, the higher it is. The looseness of the structure is especially clearly visible on the cut. As for the extruded look, it is better to choose slabs with L-shaped edges. Although they are more expensive, they prevent the formation of “cold bridges” that reduce thermal conductivity and destroy the building.
So as not to be deceived and acquire poor quality material, pay attention to the presence of factory markings on the ends of the sheets, fire and sanitary certificates, GOST indicators in the quality passport.
What needs to be done before insulating the facade of a house with polystyrene foam correctly? The first step is to clean the walls from dirt and make them as smooth as possible. Permissible differences from the plane - concavity and convexity - should not exceed two centimeters, so that in the event of an accidental impact, deformation of the sheet does not occur. If possible, the paint from the wall should be completely removed, rust spots. If there are metal parts, coat them with an anti-corrosion agent.
It’s easy to check the wall’s readiness for cladding by running your palm over it. If small particles fall off, you need to continue cleaning the surface. If this does not help, you should prime the surface or apply a thin layer of putty with PVA glue. It is better to apply the primer with a brush, but if it is very liquid, you can use a sprayer.
Finishing the facade with your own hands using ordinary foam sheets does not require preparation. As for extruded ones, they need to be processed for better adhesion to the wall surface. You can use a drywall needle roller, a stiff wire brush, or a simple stationery knife, which is used to cut small grooves. It is even easier to purchase corrugated slabs, but such material is more expensive.
It is advisable to sew up the external slopes with your own hands and install flashings before installing polystyrene foam boards on the façade of buildings. For the first, choose sheets that are thinner than for the main work. The insulation should extend beyond the slopes by about 2 cm. Then use it façade cladding docks quickly and accurately.
You should not cut sheets of expanded polystyrene on slopes flush with the facade wall. It is recommended to leave a protrusion for better joining with the main plates when installing it yourself.
The technology for insulating walls with foam plastic from the outside is divided into stages; do-it-yourself installation must be done sequentially.
Finishing begins immediately upon completion of the cladding of slopes and ebbs. How to properly install slabs on glue with your own hands:
It is important to know
When finishing with foam plastic is carried out, standards fire safety require the installation of special fire protection belts made of non-flammable mineral wool around window and door openings.
Before strengthening the insulation, you need to wait until the glue hardens. Otherwise, the sheets along the edges may begin to move away from the wall surface. Then you need to correctly perform the following operations:
When insulating the facade with foam plastic with your own hands, you must definitely increase mechanical strength structures using a special facade mesh based on fiberglass. The mesh for reinforcing walls must be chosen dense and hard, and for corners, slopes and decorative parts - soft. It is recommended to strengthen all corner elements of the house with perforated aluminum corners.
After this, glue is applied to the surface of the slabs in a continuous layer approximately two to three millimeters thick. The reinforcing material is fixed at the top, then rolled down and immersed in the adhesive composition with a spatula. Each blade should overlap the adjacent one by about five centimeters, and at the corners you need to bend by no less than fifteen centimeters. The base is reinforced in two layers.
Apply another layer of glue on top of the canvas and carefully smooth the surface. As a result, the mesh should only show through the glue a little.
The final stages include treatment with a primer and subsequent finishing. It is correct to carry them out no less than two days after installing the façade mesh. You can decorate the walls with paintable putty or special plaster. Exist various techniques plastering, such as fur coat or bark beetle.
You should also know that in addition to the wet facade technology, there are also ventilated facades, but the use of polystyrene foam in structures of this type is not recommended, since rising air currents can contribute to the combustion of polystyrene foam.
A warm home is the key to a calm and pleasant life. Many construction technologies, in pursuit of cheapness, miss such a point as protection from the cold. If you are faced with such a problem, then insulating the walls with polystyrene foam yourself will help you make your house warm.
House insulation with polystyrene foam began to be used relatively recently. Behind short term this material has confidently taken a leading place among other insulation materials. Polystyrene, with its low density, can withstand high mechanical loads.
But main reason The use of polystyrene foam for wall insulation is its high thermal insulation. After finishing your house with this material, you will be able to significantly save on heating. After all, foam plastic perfectly retains heat indoors.
If we compare the thermal insulation of this material with silicate or ceramic bricks, then initially the last material wins here. But when using a 25 cm sheet of insulation, polystyrene foam can replace three rows of bricks. The advantages of the material in question immediately become clear.
For each home you can choose your own type of foam. But the most common models are 15, 25, 35. Markings depend on the thickness of the material in millimeters.
Less commonly used is 100 mm foam. Due to its density it can be almost finished wall. This material is usually used to maintain the original temperature in rooms, for example, in above-ground cellars.
To the main positive aspects Do-it-yourself wall insulation with polystyrene foam includes:
Naturally, in addition to its advantages, polystyrene foam also has a number of disadvantages. These include:
All shortcomings are compensated by the low price and good properties. Insulating walls with polystyrene foam from the inside with your own hands is quite profitable.
As with any job, careful planning needs to be done before starting. First of all, you need to take measurements of the walls and determine the zero point. If you are going to do the insulation of external walls with polystyrene foam yourself, you can ask the suppliers of materials to calculate according to your dimensions required quantity materials and advised what insulation density would be optimal for your home and your region.
At the next stage of planning, you need to stock up on the necessary tools for the job. To successfully insulate a house with foam plastic with your own hands, you need the following materials and tools: polystyrene foam, primer, glue, as well as a mounting profile, fixing foam, reinforced mesh and dowels. From the right tools It’s worth preparing a serrated and smooth spatula, a puncher, a plastic grater, and a hammer would also be useful.
Particular attention should be paid to ensure that the materials are suitable for outdoor use, and also have all the necessary certificates and protective treatment. When necessary funds For insulation of walls with polystyrene foam, assembled with your own hands, you can begin preparatory work.
This stage plays an important role. The thermal insulation of your home depends on the tight fit of the foam. If the structure is new, then no special preparation is required; for old dwellings, a certain technology must be followed. Do-it-yourself insulation of walls with polystyrene foam should begin after preliminary work.
Only after removing all the interference and making high-quality preliminary preparations can you proceed to installing the starting profile.
Do-it-yourself insulation of walls with polystyrene foam should start from the bottom. Initially, the lower limit is determined using a level and fixed using a cord. This line is clogged starting profile. Its purpose is to hold the first row of foam in a static position until it is fixed with an adhesive mixture.
Depending on the thickness of the insulation, the starting profile is selected. It is attached to the wall using plastic dowels and nails, as well as screws. Optimal distance between fasteners - 30-35 cm. At the corners it is contraindicated to fix the planks one on top of the other. For proper fastening, it is worth using plastic connectors that will protect the structure from deformation.
The next step in insulating walls with polystyrene foam with your own hands will be preparing the adhesive mixture. It is sold in bags anywhere hardware store. The entire preparation process consists of pouring the mixture into a suitable container, adding water according to the instructions and stirring using a construction mixer. It is not recommended to prepare large volumes of glue, as it tends to harden after 1-2 hours.
Beat the mixture at low speed until small lumps disappear completely. Afterwards, let the solution stand for a few minutes and mix again. The optimal container for glue is a large plastic bucket.
Depending on the evenness of the wall, there are several methods for applying glue to the foam. In the first case, when the unevenness is up to 2 cm, the method of dotted application of the mixture is used. A retreat of a couple of centimeters is made from the edges of the slab. Using a spatula, place a pair of 2 cm thick beacons in the center of the foam for better adhesion of the entire insulation. Then, with the same thickness, the mixture is applied to the entire slab with slight interruptions to avoid the occurrence of air jams. In the second case, with relatively flat walls, the glue is applied using a notched trowel evenly over the entire surface of the foam.
If you are planning to insulate the walls of your house with your own hands, it is better for you to invite an assistant. One will apply glue to the slab, and the other will place it against the wall. As already stated, installation should begin from the bottom, on a pre-nailed strip. Using one and a half, you need to press the foam evenly over the entire area. The gap between the plates should not exceed 3 mm. If for some reason it turns out to be larger, then the resulting crack is filled with foam or a strip of insulation is added. Excess glue must be removed immediately to avoid the above-mentioned gaps. Each slab should be leveled.
We continue to insulate the walls with foam plastic - we insulate the walls in the middle of the joints of the first level. The indentations must be at least 20 cm. Further work according to the studied scheme will go much faster. You just need to use the recommendations correctly. Insulating walls with polystyrene foam with your own hands will even bring pleasure in the process.
Glue is not the only means of fastening foam boards. For more durable fixation of the insulation, special dowels are also used. This stage of insulating external walls with foam plastic with your own hands should be started only 3 days after gluing. During this time the mixture should dry.
The dowel should fit 5 cm into the wall. To do this, its length is selected taking into account the thickness of the foam and adhesive solution. The plate is fixed in the corners and in the center. You should first make certain holes in these places. Next, the dowel is inserted until it completely touches the insulation. The next step is to drive the umbrella 1.5-2 cm deep into the slab.
Before you start installation reinforced mesh, all seams on the foam should be thoroughly rubbed. A special grater is used for this. Then the entire wall is treated with a primer.
To avoid cracks and ensure a better fit of the plaster, a reinforcing mesh is applied. After the primer has dried, you can begin to work. It is better to start from the corners of the building and slopes. A thin 2 mm layer of the mixture is applied to an area of 1 sq.m. A reinforcing mesh is inserted into it using a spatula. If the latter protrudes above the surface, apply another additional layer of plaster mixture. Each section of the mesh is overlapped with each other.
The next step is grouting the seams and priming the entire surface of the insulated house.
After reinforcement of walls, there may be the following types finishes:
If decorative plaster or painting is planned, then finishing putty is applied to the reinforced wall. That's it, insulating the walls with foam plastic from the outside with your own hands is completed. Now your house or apartment is reliably protected from any cold. In addition to external walls, foam insulation can also be used indoors.
Before you start insulating interior walls foam plastic with your own hands, you should take into account such nuances as quality installed windows, openings near slopes. If there are defects and cracks, they should be eliminated first. Bad heating batteries should also be replaced with better ones.
The walls should be prepared in the same way as outside. Remove first old plaster, remove all bas-relief elements, remove screws and nails. Also need to be removed old paint job. If the walls have unevenness, then they must be leveled with a plaster mixture. That is, the main requirement for successfully insulating walls with foam plastic from the inside with your own hands is that the surface must be smooth, clean and dry.
To ensure that the area of the recessed room does not decrease significantly, it is advisable to use foam plastic with a thickness of 20-25 mm. It is most convenient to start installation work from the far corner and, as usual, from the bottom. The last row has to be leveled with pieces of foam plastic. The insulation is installed using screws, 5-6 pieces per slab.
The next step is to hide the seams and caps of the fastening elements. If the gaps between the plates are small, they are filled with foam; if they are large, they are filled with strips of foam plastic.
After the work has been done, you can begin decorating the wall according to the plans.
For all its similarity to buildings from different materials There are some nuances to how to insulate the walls of a house with polystyrene foam with your own hands.
Brick house. Probably, in terms of frequency of use, buildings made from this material are the most insulated. Thin brick walls cannot retain enough heat. The cladding of a building can be carried out using different methods. The first is directly on the brick, which makes it possible to save on the plaster mixture. When insulating walls with polystyrene foam is done with your own hands, the price per sq. m. m on average is 325 rubles. Therefore, it is beneficial to first level the walls and then lay the slabs, this will significantly save glue consumption.
Frame house. In such a structure, the insulation must be fixed between the sheathing. It is very important to carry out initial treatment to protect against moisture. For frame house Foam boards with a thickness of 50-150 mm will be optimal. Such insulation will be enough to provide the building with a good energy-saving effect.
Wooden house. In buildings of this type, it is best to insulate the walls with polystyrene foam yourself inside. IN in this case insulation, in addition to its insulating role, also has a soundproofing role. Foam plastic for wooden house used with a thickness of 40-50 mm. During the installation process, a small gap is left between the slabs and the wall, the purpose of which is to protect the wood from excess moisture. You can then lay drywall over the foam or do other finishing work.
Do-it-yourself insulation of walls with polystyrene foam inside an apartment, house or outside a building will allow you to be confident in the quality of the work if you have the talent and dexterity for this. Otherwise, you can always turn to professionals who will carry out the work responsibly and guarantee their quality.
This article is aimed at those people who have decided to insulate their home from the inside with polystyrene foam. Next, I will try to cover in detail all the nuances of this procedure so that you can complete this work as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Newbies often ask on forums: is it possible to insulate a house from the inside with polystyrene foam?
To be honest, I am generally against insulating walls from the inside for the following reasons:
Therefore, most often the walls are insulated indoors if it is not possible to perform this operation outside or, for example, it turns out that external thermal insulation not effective enough.
As for foam plastic, this insulation is also not best choice For internal thermal insulation for several reasons:
A good alternative to polystyrene foam is extruded polystyrene foam, which is often fireproof due to the presence of a fire retardant in its composition.
Therefore, I do not recommend insulating permanent residences with foam plastic. But if you need to insulate country house, which is used from time to time, or a balcony, then in general polystyrene foam is a good option.
The fact is that, for all its shortcomings, it also has some important advantages:
There are two ways to perform foam insulation from the inside of walls and ceilings:
First of all, we will consider the frame method of insulation. In my opinion, it is the most optimal, as it allows you to level out some of the shortcomings of internal thermal insulation.
This process includes four main steps:
So, to insulate the house frame method you will need:
Before you insulate the walls with foam plastic from the inside, you need to prepare them as follows:
The ceiling is prepared according to the same scheme.
Now you can begin to insulate the walls.
Instructions for performing this operation look like this:
The thickness of the slats should be one and a half to two centimeters. As for the width, it should be such that you can subsequently attach hangers to the sheathing.
The slats should form several belts in half-meter increments, as shown in the diagram above. In addition, make a horizontal gap of several centimeters between the slats;
It must be said that when insulating the ceiling, there is no need to create a ventilation gap; in addition, there is no need to use a waterproofing film.
Keep in mind that ceiling profiles may bend, so they should be leveled during installation. To do this, you can even stretch the threads between the outer profiles.
The frame can be made not only from metal profiles, but also wooden beams. In this case, the insulation is inserted into the space between the racks.
This completes the insulation. Now the last stage remains - this is the sheathing of the frame. For these purposes, you can use drywall, lining, plastic or other materials.
I will not describe this procedure, since you can familiarize yourself with it from other articles on our portal.
Now I will tell you how to insulate a house with foam plastic inside by gluing it, i.e. wet method. This technology also includes several steps:
First of all, I note that to insulate walls and ceilings using the wet method, it is advisable to use denser foam than for insulation using frame technology. The fact is that in this case the material will not only insulate the walls and ceiling, but also perform load-bearing function, and also absorb all shock loads. Therefore, the best option is polystyrene foam with a density of 25 kg/m3.
In addition to insulation, you will also need:
We will omit the process of preparing the walls, since I have already talked about it. The only thing I note is that before installing the insulation, the walls need to be primed using a brush or roller. Moreover, the primer is applied in two layers with a time interval so that the first layer has time to dry.
The instructions for installing foam plastic look like this:
Thus, 5-6 fasteners are required per slab. To save dowels, they can be placed at the joints of the slabs. Thus, one cap will fix several slabs at once.
The process of installing fasteners is quite simple - you need to drill a hole to the required depth, then insert the “umbrella” itself and hammer a nail into it. The nail is driven in so that the head is slightly recessed into the insulation.
At this point, the installation of the thermal insulation material is completed.
Preparation for rough finishing is carried out as follows:
Now all that remains is to do the rough finishing of the ceiling and walls with your own hands, which is done like this:
If the level of differences exceeds several millimeters, use starting putty.
At this point, the insulation of the ceiling and walls from the inside with foam plastic is completed.
Polystyrene foam can be used to insulate not only walls and ceilings, but also floors.
Moreover, there are two technologies for using it for these purposes:
To insulate the floor on the joists, you need to prepare the following materials:
The work is carried out like this:
To insulate a concrete floor with polystyrene foam, prepare the following materials:
The insulation process looks like this:
This completes the insulation of the house.
From this article, you learned about all the main nuances of insulating a home from the inside with polystyrene foam, so you can safely get to work. I recommend watching the video in this article. If you have any questions, write in the comments, and I will be happy to answer you.
How to insulate walls with foam plastic from the outside
If the walls of a house are not able to retain heat, then no ultra-modern heating systems will be able to warm it up. At low temperatures in the room, the humidity rises sharply and fungus and mold quickly develop, affecting not only things and furniture, but also the building itself. Experts say that up to 30% of heat is lost through walls, so you should take care of their insulation in a timely manner.
Features of working with foam plastic
Foam plastic is one of the most popular and inexpensive materials. It is an excellent heat insulator, is not afraid of moisture, does not rot and is easy to cut using simple tools. However, this material very quickly loses its properties under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, so walls lined with foam plastic are never left open.
Another significant disadvantage of polystyrene foam is its flammability. That is why it is most often used in so-called wet façade systems, when a layer of foam plastic is covered with a layer of plaster fixed to a reinforcing mesh. This technology has gained great popularity due to its ease of finishing and low cost.
Important! Any tree is capable of absorbing and evaporating moisture, i.e. "breathe". Polystyrene foam has low vapor permeability, so it is not used for cladding a wooden house. In this case, it is better to use glass or basalt wool.
Finishing the house with polystyrene foam followed by coating with plaster (wet facade system)
“Wet” façade system with a decorative layer of plaster
To detect peeling sections of the wall, you should tap. The crumbling plaster, layers of soot and mold are removed with a metal brush. You can also use a special attachment for an angle grinder. To ensure that the foam lays flat, parts of the wall that are too protruding are knocked down. Grease stains are treated with a solvent. On painted oil paint On walls, to improve adhesion, it is better to make small notches with an ax.
Primer of walls
Important! You should carefully study the instructions for use: the glue must be frost and moisture resistant.
To work with foam plastic, you can use any facade adhesives, silicone sealants or liquid nails. Polyurethane foam is used for tile joints. The composition for fastening foam plastic should not contain organic solvents (acetone, gasoline, ethers, etc.).
The most suitable glue is special composition for gluing foam plastic. There are several varieties of it:
1. Universal for foam, which is suitable for both gluing and reinforcement.
2. Glue for gluing. It has high plasticity and stickiness; when used, foam sheets do not slip during the drying process.
3. Adhesive for foam reinforcement: has high strength, but less ductility.
Bonding foam
If irregularities are found that prevent the string with the load from lying flat, they need to be knocked down. You can apply glue or construction foam. Transverse (horizontal) markings can be applied using a hydraulic level and strings.
Aligning the wall with beacons
The profile size is selected according to the thickness of the insulation. Fastening is done with 6 mm dowels with washers at intervals of 30-40 cm. The corners of the profile are joined using the method of oblique cuts or using a corner connector.
Attaching the starting profile
All work should be carried out in the spring, about a week after the heating in the houses is turned off. You can glue foam plastic in the fall, when the ambient temperature drops to +17-18°C. You should not start work in warm, windy weather, as the glue will set too quickly.
It is not recommended to use foam that is too brittle: it is better to choose a material with a density of 20 kg/m3. The thermal insulation of denser sheets is less, so it is better not to use them for insulating external walls.
Finishing order
You can start gluing the foam one day after applying the primer. The slabs are laid with the long side of the sheet down, starting from the bottom corner. The second row should be offset, as when laying bricks (see photo). To do this, the first sheets of odd rows adjacent to the corners are cut in half. The most convenient to use are slabs measuring 0.5×1 m and 5 cm thick.
The gaps between the sheets are sealed with foam. Too much large gaps Can be sealed with styrofoam scraps.
Styrofoam gluing scheme
Dowels for foam plastic
To install dowels in a wall covered with foam plastic, holes of appropriate depth are made into which the dowels are inserted. They should fit into the foam by 1.5-2 mm.
Holes for dowels
The “umbrellas” are attached using an envelope: at the corners of the sheet and in the center. Thus, to secure each sheet you will need 5 dowels. The dowels must be included in concrete base to a depth of 50 mm, in brick wall by 90 mm. For example, when the width of the foam is 8 cm, “umbrellas” measuring 13-17 cm are used. After inserting them, they are additionally tapped with a rubber hammer so that each of them is recessed into the foam by a couple of millimeters.
Foam grout
Important! Walls insulated with foam plastic should not be left unfinished for a long time. Even after 2 weeks ultra-violet rays are already capable of damaging its top layer. If this does happen, the damaged surface is removed with a grater, and only then the wall is lined with a mesh.
Reinforced corner and corner spatula
Reinforcement of walls insulated with foam plastic is done using a mesh with 3-5 mm cells. The mesh is cut into strips of the required width. A special reinforcement adhesive is applied to the wall so that the mesh is buried in it. Its edges are secured last. After fixing the mesh to the wall with a spatula, it is leveled and excess glue is removed. Too much of it can lead to cracking.
Applying reinforced mesh
The second layer of glue is applied only after the first has dried. After 3 days, the reinforced layer is primed, plastered, and then a layer of façade paint is applied to the wall.
